“Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don’t mean to do harm; but the harm does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves.”
What can I say but that you hit the narcissistic nail on the head.
I had the misfortune to have a narcissist for a mother, when growing up I used to think of her as a big spider sitting in the middle of her web to cause mischief one way or another. Unfortunately as well my eldest brother turned out exactly the same way, so a double dose of unsettling behaviour.
The other weird thing I noticed about narcissists is that when they tell a lie or some airy fairy story, within a couple of times of saying it, it becomes their total truth and nothing will sway them from it. Even physical evidence won't shake them, a case of how dare you challenge their truth!
The narcissistic behaviour in England alone has become the norm, sad but true.
I agree about the narc truth field of misery. I know a few myself. Theirs is a very very limited world view. Inflexible and lacking in empathy. Very hard work.
I recognize some of these tendencies in myself, I think it’s part of the hollowness of the reward when climbing the ladder. It’s sobering to consider that success may be a badge of adjustment to an ill-adjusted system…no wonder it feels so empty
Psychopaths (or sociopaths as they are also known, though neither term is used clinically as far as I'm aware) are violent, it is one of the key features - unrestricted violence against anyone getting in their way, according to their understanding and perception of the world.
And the violence is spontaneous, immediate and brutal - there's no step between impulse and action.
The hypothesis that psychopaths are present in leadership-positions is ludicrous: they cannot delegate, nor can the co-operate in the slightest, as both takes at least a modicum of empathy, something they are incapable entire. To the psychopath, they are the only real person.
To someone with som type of narcissistic disorder, other people are extras and stagehands in the grand performance that is them; while they act maliciously, they need not be sadists in any psychological sense: they're simply wired that way, and think everyone else is too, as such is their experience (and repeated experience/reaction increases the probability of the neurons firing in the same pattern whenever similar input occurs - especially in childhood, as you mention).
This neurological part of it means it is largely untreatable, at best some state of detente can be achieved where the person with the disorder is made to restrain themselves due to it being improfitable. Something which doesn't work at all on psychopaths, as no-one else matters at all to them.
As a tangent, if your re-read your text and consider what kind of political-economical system has been foisted on the world post-1950s, it seems (to me) rather obvious that american liberal-democratic capitalism self-selects for people with personality disorders of the narcissist kind, especially Cluster B-types.
"Rights" employed as a weapon to dominate others? Check.
Freedom as long as you only use it according to script/narrative? Check.
Profit for you before all other concerns? Check and mate, too.
Violence as the go-to response when someone says "no thanks" or don't follow your arbitraliy imposed rules? Check and cross-check.
Saint/martyr-complex as key component of personality? Check.
Wrecking the game rather than accepting a loss? Check.
(If it's good enough for dr Peterson to diagnose ideologies as if they were people, it's good enough for me.)
All great stuff. I agree. And I believe the prominence of cluster B types is a reflection of our society. They have always existed.
The part at the end, where competency is needed. This is what has changed. How can you criticize the new boss if he is hopeless and a diversity hire? You can't. So over time no one can be criticized. We are all just differently able.
The spirit of the age is one of death and despair. Every dead civilization boasts a proud history of architecture or art that cannot be duplicated in the 21st century. We must accept the inevitable. We are ruled by corrupt oligarchs and the United States the founders dreamed of has been mortally wounded by the WOKE.
I think the Woke are a symptom not the cause. They reflect our underlying weakness and loss of confidence. What are rainbow flags needed for if they are confident in their position. It is insecurity that produces fanaticism, not confidence.
And who can blame them. I'm coming to pity many of the groups caught up in this. They get them young and corrupt them after all. We are eating our young it would seem.
Future books will document the connections between the Jonestown Massacre, the Heaven's Gate suicides, and the United States of America. Once it is clear to Moscow, Iran, China, and North Korea that America has lost its belief in itself, the wars will expand and Amerika will be surrounded by enemies. It will be like NATO in reverse.
I believe this to be true of all nations who lack confidence. The world is hostile. Always will be. Things like national defence and protection of borders exist for a reason. Inviting your enemies in via airports is suicide. And I think they know that.
I think this is right, and yet it’s leaving out an important feedback loop that enables the broken regime to keep rolling on: money printing. Normally, recessions and financial limits would make reality intervene. Low interest rates means institutions can keep shambling on and covering up their incompetence with debt. I don’t think this system can handle higher rates for too long: it simply owes to much.
I have been called a narcissist on many occasions. Maybe I am? I am quite self absorbed but lack the micromanaging and domineering side. I really am not that interested in what other people do or what they think of me. I DID have an upbringing that had an insistence on perfection. Did I create a persona for protection? Maybe. It feels kinda genuine. It's not an easy diagnosis.
Very much. Best explication of narcissism I've ever read. Tell me..what percentage of the population do they make up in your opinion? I know what the psychology guys say..but I think it a lot higher than it was 20 years ago ? Just curious..not looking for scientific data..I'd really like your honest opinion or guess.
I am not sure if I am honest. Overall I think the percentage is probably small. In younger people I think it is higher.
If we are considering only full blown malignant narcissism, it is at most five percent, probably less. More general narc traits would be 20 percent plus.
I think narcs in leadership positions surround themselves with non-narcissistic sycophants. Narcs have a real knack of spotting the sensitive.
Thank you…my gut is telling me all narcissist mightnow amount to about 3 in 20 people? Not including those w narcissitic triats and I know im guessing really high …but Toby rogers opened my eyes to the injuries that Vaccines cause - almost everyone gets dinged and lots in the empathy area…so I think yes..more so in those born after the 90,s..cause that's when they really ramped up childhood schedule here….but I do think there has been a big increase in autism and also cluster b types,, and sometimes I think i might be underestimating ( esp. When I am on the road driving w others:-)). Yes narcs do love empaths...normies I think are not the majority of synchophants
Exactly my view. You can indulge diversity and climate bullshit when the share price is buoyant. When it is in freefall and very serious people are baying for your blood, that is what separates the wheat from the chaff.
“Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don’t mean to do harm; but the harm does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves.”
T. S. Elliott
Absolutely. Caught up in their own little world.
What can I say but that you hit the narcissistic nail on the head.
I had the misfortune to have a narcissist for a mother, when growing up I used to think of her as a big spider sitting in the middle of her web to cause mischief one way or another. Unfortunately as well my eldest brother turned out exactly the same way, so a double dose of unsettling behaviour.
The other weird thing I noticed about narcissists is that when they tell a lie or some airy fairy story, within a couple of times of saying it, it becomes their total truth and nothing will sway them from it. Even physical evidence won't shake them, a case of how dare you challenge their truth!
The narcissistic behaviour in England alone has become the norm, sad but true.
I agree about the narc truth field of misery. I know a few myself. Theirs is a very very limited world view. Inflexible and lacking in empathy. Very hard work.
👍.
I recognize some of these tendencies in myself, I think it’s part of the hollowness of the reward when climbing the ladder. It’s sobering to consider that success may be a badge of adjustment to an ill-adjusted system…no wonder it feels so empty
Many have some narcissistic traits. It is full blown malignant narcissism we should be concerned about.
True but it’s how easy it is to go along to get along with the narcissists in charge that sticks in my craw, and the incentives to be a lackey.
Psychopaths (or sociopaths as they are also known, though neither term is used clinically as far as I'm aware) are violent, it is one of the key features - unrestricted violence against anyone getting in their way, according to their understanding and perception of the world.
And the violence is spontaneous, immediate and brutal - there's no step between impulse and action.
The hypothesis that psychopaths are present in leadership-positions is ludicrous: they cannot delegate, nor can the co-operate in the slightest, as both takes at least a modicum of empathy, something they are incapable entire. To the psychopath, they are the only real person.
To someone with som type of narcissistic disorder, other people are extras and stagehands in the grand performance that is them; while they act maliciously, they need not be sadists in any psychological sense: they're simply wired that way, and think everyone else is too, as such is their experience (and repeated experience/reaction increases the probability of the neurons firing in the same pattern whenever similar input occurs - especially in childhood, as you mention).
This neurological part of it means it is largely untreatable, at best some state of detente can be achieved where the person with the disorder is made to restrain themselves due to it being improfitable. Something which doesn't work at all on psychopaths, as no-one else matters at all to them.
As a tangent, if your re-read your text and consider what kind of political-economical system has been foisted on the world post-1950s, it seems (to me) rather obvious that american liberal-democratic capitalism self-selects for people with personality disorders of the narcissist kind, especially Cluster B-types.
"Rights" employed as a weapon to dominate others? Check.
Freedom as long as you only use it according to script/narrative? Check.
Profit for you before all other concerns? Check and mate, too.
Violence as the go-to response when someone says "no thanks" or don't follow your arbitraliy imposed rules? Check and cross-check.
Saint/martyr-complex as key component of personality? Check.
Wrecking the game rather than accepting a loss? Check.
(If it's good enough for dr Peterson to diagnose ideologies as if they were people, it's good enough for me.)
All great stuff. I agree. And I believe the prominence of cluster B types is a reflection of our society. They have always existed.
The part at the end, where competency is needed. This is what has changed. How can you criticize the new boss if he is hopeless and a diversity hire? You can't. So over time no one can be criticized. We are all just differently able.
The spirit of the age is one of death and despair. Every dead civilization boasts a proud history of architecture or art that cannot be duplicated in the 21st century. We must accept the inevitable. We are ruled by corrupt oligarchs and the United States the founders dreamed of has been mortally wounded by the WOKE.
I think the Woke are a symptom not the cause. They reflect our underlying weakness and loss of confidence. What are rainbow flags needed for if they are confident in their position. It is insecurity that produces fanaticism, not confidence.
And who can blame them. I'm coming to pity many of the groups caught up in this. They get them young and corrupt them after all. We are eating our young it would seem.
Future books will document the connections between the Jonestown Massacre, the Heaven's Gate suicides, and the United States of America. Once it is clear to Moscow, Iran, China, and North Korea that America has lost its belief in itself, the wars will expand and Amerika will be surrounded by enemies. It will be like NATO in reverse.
I believe this to be true of all nations who lack confidence. The world is hostile. Always will be. Things like national defence and protection of borders exist for a reason. Inviting your enemies in via airports is suicide. And I think they know that.
and i might add this happens on all levels from macro (national) to micro (local)…
The Post Office horizon scandal instantly comes to mind….
I think this is right, and yet it’s leaving out an important feedback loop that enables the broken regime to keep rolling on: money printing. Normally, recessions and financial limits would make reality intervene. Low interest rates means institutions can keep shambling on and covering up their incompetence with debt. I don’t think this system can handle higher rates for too long: it simply owes to much.
In the US it is $171T and counting. Collapse imminent.
I have been called a narcissist on many occasions. Maybe I am? I am quite self absorbed but lack the micromanaging and domineering side. I really am not that interested in what other people do or what they think of me. I DID have an upbringing that had an insistence on perfection. Did I create a persona for protection? Maybe. It feels kinda genuine. It's not an easy diagnosis.
No, it can be tricky. But malignant narcissists are easy to spot. They are quite damaged people.
Nailed it.
Thank you. Glad you liked.
Very much. Best explication of narcissism I've ever read. Tell me..what percentage of the population do they make up in your opinion? I know what the psychology guys say..but I think it a lot higher than it was 20 years ago ? Just curious..not looking for scientific data..I'd really like your honest opinion or guess.
I am not sure if I am honest. Overall I think the percentage is probably small. In younger people I think it is higher.
If we are considering only full blown malignant narcissism, it is at most five percent, probably less. More general narc traits would be 20 percent plus.
I think narcs in leadership positions surround themselves with non-narcissistic sycophants. Narcs have a real knack of spotting the sensitive.
Thank you…my gut is telling me all narcissist mightnow amount to about 3 in 20 people? Not including those w narcissitic triats and I know im guessing really high …but Toby rogers opened my eyes to the injuries that Vaccines cause - almost everyone gets dinged and lots in the empathy area…so I think yes..more so in those born after the 90,s..cause that's when they really ramped up childhood schedule here….but I do think there has been a big increase in autism and also cluster b types,, and sometimes I think i might be underestimating ( esp. When I am on the road driving w others:-)). Yes narcs do love empaths...normies I think are not the majority of synchophants
Accurate numbers would be difficult to know. But we are definitely becoming a more narcissistic society.
Exactly my view. You can indulge diversity and climate bullshit when the share price is buoyant. When it is in freefall and very serious people are baying for your blood, that is what separates the wheat from the chaff.