Narcissism is destroying us
Narcissism is destroying us
How we can stop enabling a shameless society
Once in a while I think I’ve written everything that I needed to write about interpersonal narcissism and its contributing factors. I freak out a little at the prospect of running out of things to write about then something captures my attention, sparking new insights about interpersonal narcissism and its reflection in society. This time, the lightning bolt came from
and his review of John Henrich’s book on the topic of WEIRD people.
WEIRD stands for Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic. These people need attention and seek it out through their uniqueness and “authenticity”. This constructed identity is no different to any other expression of narcissism, ironically making their narcissism commonplace.
They are norm conformists with non-conformists beliefs who believe this makes them different. They followed all the right rules and made all the right moves according to society’s standards of success. They have the freedom to express their desires of a better world and luxury beliefs without considering the consequences of actioning these beliefs on those who are not like them. Their actions are not what matters - it’s what they think and believe that does. They signal through their beliefs and thinking, not the quality of their character and behaviour.
WEIRD people aren’t alone in these behaviours. Social Injustice Warriors, Marxists, communists, postmodernists, supremacists, nihilists, transhumanists, globalists and their devotees in Western countries who hold specific ideologies that, if implemented for the sake of progress, can have long lasting negative and destructive consequences on populations.
I have a different word to describe them - assimilated.
Assimilation is a complex concept and process. I have used this word exclusively in other posts to describe a process in which a person suppresses undesirable personality traits and enhances desirable traits and beliefs to enable belonging and acceptance by a dominant group governed by morally questionable or immoral beliefs and behaviours. Moral erosion or immorality reinforcement is necessary to embody the desired traits, beliefs and behaviours of the culture. This coincides with identity erasure and reconstruction necessary for embodying a superior fantasy reality that also provides an escape from the shame of Imposter Syndrome that accompanies the assimilation process. The result of successful assimilation is the narcissism of self and collective moral and intellectual superiority that entitles members to spout the in-group propaganda and act out narcissistic behaviours in public.
I promise to dedicate a post to the good, bad and the ugly of assimilation so please nudge me if you don’t see something within one month of reading this.