Being Petulant and Egocentric

From Dictionary.com petulant is defined as: moved to or showing sudden, impatient irritation, especially over some trifling annoyance: unreasonably irritable or ill-tempered, peevish. Contemptuous in speech or behavior.

Egocentric is defined as: having or regarding the self of the individual as the center of all things: having little or no regard for interests other than one's own.

As the "spoiled rotten second son of a middle class first generation New York Jewish Mother and Father I can speak as a certifiable expert on my "petulance" and my moments of being "egocentric."

When I did not get my way, I was capable of having a "meltdown", which I often did,

I was crazy enough that If "something" broke and my parents gave me a new whatever it was that had broken, I rejected it and would point to the broken one screaming, "I WANT THAT ONE!" I was in so many ways an overindulged child. It was not until my purported adulthood that "the universe" instructed me as to the obnoxiousness of my behavior.

I don't believe that I ever displayed significant egocentric behavior, but perhaps my ex-wife and many others would disagree with my assessment.

I evolved out of being a petulant child and being egocentric by the time I was fifty, but have observed it in so many other purported grownups particularly our President, Vice President, and now the President's possible successor Senator John McCain.

As an engineer and a media executive, what do I know about petulant or egocentric behavior, but what the hell, I am entitled to my opinions about stuff, even when they are indeed "a stretch?"

Senator McCain's critics speak at every opportunity of his hair trigger temper, and for the most part I have not witnessed it. Having said that, I watched him the other day get annoyed at a reporters question (a reasonable one) and demonstrated "... sudden, impatient irritation, especially over some trifling annoyance." This to me is not a good thing. He is not my worst nightmare as our president, but certainly would be a contender for the title.

Our Vice President Cheney could be the "poster child" for both behaviors. He appears to me to me sitting on the edge of his chair just waiting to demonstrate his "petulance and egocentric behavior." Perhaps it is just my perception, but when he walks into a room, all light is sucked out of the moment and replaced by his dark persona. Have you ever seen him be interviewed and asked a question he didn't like? He brings his petulance and egocentrics to the forefront immediately. You can tell that he wants to kill the questioner.

For the first six years of his Presidency, President Bush had "his way" with the electorate, congress, and the media, His "aw shucks" attitude that he demonstrates is no longer working for him as the Congress, the Courts, and the electorate have now pointed out for us all how he has overstepped his presidential authority, and done so big time.

I expect that in his last six or so months in office he will not get his way on so many things and we can look forward to new heights of petulance from our egocentric president.

In conclusion, we as a society need to beware of presidential candidates who become petulant or are egocentric and believe that if something is not their idea it is somehow idiotic and doomed to fail.

Bill Clinton to me was always "the smartest guy in the room" and I never did see him be petulant or egocentric. I expect that if you "have it" you need not "flaunt it,"

Norman Horowitz
Formerly an egocentric and petulant person

Comments

[shrinqrap]

Silly Me. I thought this was a post about angry Hillary voters who swear they're going to vote for McCain just to prove ..... something. lol

[dexxjones]

there is also the component of antisocial (or sociopathic) behaviour. bush and cheney and many media types certainly display this disorder. in bush's case, there is a bit of the sadist as well. the litany of evidence on this is thankfully documented for posterity. :) thanks norman. your posts are highly valued.

[Snowball]

I fear that many people identify with these same qualities. The entire idea of Conservatism is nothing but egocentric pathology masked as political ideology.

[Gma11]

Truly scary.

I hope these personality traits are more obvious during the course of the campaign. The press seems so enthralled to be in McCain's "circle" that I am afraid we're going to see more covering up for the man.