The irony of the dark triad sociopath trope is that it justifies the very malice toward the bad people that it affects to predict or explain in them. The point

The irony of the dark triad sociopath trope is that it justifies the very malice toward the bad people that it affects to predict or explain in them. The point I'm emphasizing is the dark-triad trope misdirects from the less interesting, low-cunning of most psychopaths, and arguably that of just the banal people you see trying to survive in institutions who are much more common. When you see someone motivated genuinely by malice, there is no difference between them and these more abstract ideas about psychopaths. None of the criteria for psycho/sociopathy are necessary conditions for behavior (like malice) that is objectively equivalent either.