Jack the Exploiter - LIE/ENTj

[Aria]

I'd say a healthy LIE would always be something of an opportunist but can use those powers for good. Being an exploiter isn't inevitable since character is separate from cognitive functions. Since you're seeking real life tales, it got me thinking about two LIE males I know. One is married to his dual ESI, and one is married to an EII.

The dualized LIE is a great guy, probably 3w4. I think he's Sx first, and he treats his wife well. It's cute. I wouldn't describe him as exploitive at all (of her or in general), he's a team player and observant of others' needs. He works full time, is a landlord, and hands on with their daughter. One funny little story, though. They hosted a Japanese foreign exchange student last summer. I said, "Oh, that's cool of you." He was like "yeah, we've both wanted to visit Japan, so now we have a connection there in case we need a free place to stay." Haha.

The LIE married to an EII is also a type 3, but So/Sx. She financially supported him to go to grad school first even though she wanted to go back to school, too, had just had a young daughter, and they were paying off his student loans. It's one of her biggest resentments against him. He barely made it through after three awful, stressful years, and stalled and stalled taking (and failing) multiple expensive certification tests for several years after grad school. He's tried multiple part time jobs that are sort of related to what he said he wanted to do at the beginning, but can't seem to make it work for a variety of reasons and blames it on everyone else in his environment (coworkers, bosses don't understand him, it's not what he likes to be doing, etc. etc.). He has a better job now and she only works part time, but I think those 7 years wore her down and drained a lot of the love.

Is that exploitation? I don't know. He's definitely not interested in leaving her. She's acknowledged her role in the dysfunction and that it was a mistake to give up her dreams for someone else, but it's really hard for EIIs to apply pressure to anyone. She's so soft on him even when she thinks she's being tough.

I also think the second LIE struggles with narcissism, while the first one does not. Not more than any other person, at least.

[Alonzo]

To be a Te lead means to exist in a perpetual state of evaluating something or someone's objective utility. I don't care if it's a toaster, a schedule, an app, an accountant or a Basketball player, I'm always asking "to what extent do you effectively fulfill your raison d'etre?" and "how can I best utilize this to some end?" 4D Ne allows LIEs to see an object's potential utility and the plethora of ways in which it can be applied. Yes, put together, this sounds rather cold, impersonal and exploitative, but we're hardwired to see the world through a utilitarian lens--that's simply the nature of the beast.

They hosted a Japanese foreign exchange student last summer. I said, "Oh, that's cool of you." He was like "yeah, we've both wanted to visit Japan, so now we have a connection there in case we need a free place to stay." Haha.

lol Yes. I'm always scanning and mining for the valuable stone (read: utility and its potential for application) buried beneath one's soiled, sooty surface. And once they are sufficiently refined and polished, they become resplendent jewelry that can be readily worn or stashed away for the right occasion. Throughout my life, rarely have I taken the time to help someone realize their potential and not reaped a benefit in some way, whether I intended for that or not. The thing is, I can't help but be generous with this ability; I'm compelled to not only see potential and opportunity everywhere and in everyone, but to speak to it, and if possible, actualize it. It's not as intentionally predatory (in the sociopathic sense) as Strat would have you believe.

LIEs don't require immediate returns on the resources (including energy and effort) we've invested because our Ni allows us to play the long term game. I've literally helped people "gratis," not seen or heard from them in years, only for them to reemerge at the opportune moment with some "payback" they felt obliged to offer because of my previously showcased "generosity of spirit." In that way, it's hard to feel like I ever truly lose or am down for the count, because I've cumulatively devoted so much time to spreading and sowing seeds that somehow blossom and produce fruits when I've needed them. That's the practical, realistic way that "karma" has manifested in my life. I see how LIEs might be great leaders and generals in the sense that we can go throughout life building an army of sorts, a network of people willing to follow us into war, whether out of appreciation/gratitude, debt or potential gain, and usually because we were able to open them up to their hidden potentialities (or of some endeavor) they might not have otherwise seen. It should go without saying that Ne PoLR types are probably the most susceptible to this approach, whether that be to their benefit or their demise.