Last March, Dr. Drew Pinsky wrote about "Narcissism and the Economic Crisis?" for the Huffington Post.
And I think it is time to look even more deeply into this disturbing trend. There are simply more and more narcissists than there were a few decades ago. There is less community and more selfishness. And this will affect how quickly we come out of this financial crisis, as well as how. When the narcissist is confronted with harsh, unpleasant and unflattering realities or relationships, he or she flees them. And there are most definitely some American high rollers who have stashes of cash (and all those offshore no tax bank accounts being looked into at the moment) and are ready to move on to kinder countries as the dollar falls into the abyss and the huge, superficial profits dry up. They trade in the old for a new younger model and leave. But what about when the narcissist has nowhere left to go? In other words, when America and other places that are suffering from the past excesses, are stuck with themselves, the healthy sane folks get to work at making their communities (or what is left of them) better places to live. While those with unhealthy narcissistic tendencies follow the money to places where their grandiosity remains intact. And they can leave havoc in their wakes (Ponzi schemes which fall apart, pensioners, wives and children left to clean up the mess).
When a narcissist hits a wall, that's when it becomes really ugly. Narcissists are poor losers. They are the ones who either turn over the Monopoly board when they are behind, or, what tends to be more common these days, when confronted with a mirror which shows them their true selves, they become silent, and walk away. They deny and negate those people and situations which do not supply them with narcissistic supply and go looking for new victims. In other words, most of them are vampires. And they leave people with debt, empty bank accounts, broken hearts and not even turn around to look back. Entire lives, marriages and businesses have been built around this kind of emptiness, and when the bubble is shown to be hollow, the narcissist is usually already long gone.
No wonder vampire films, books and television series have become increasingly popular in America ... we are living surrounded by narcissistic financial and emotional vampires. In fact, these people were considered to be "successful" "role models" with lifestyles people aspired to even though nothing they did or said or "felt" was sustainable. Hey, some of them even committed horrible crimes, and were defended publicly by their fellow narcissists when they fled the "reality" of the crime scene. The society which has grown up around the economy of distracting America and the rest of the world from reality (video games, Facebook, cinemas, bowling alleys, sports related everything ...) all of the sudden benefits, as people at first try to deny the reality of the difficult situation, but later, as that same economy sucks from them like vampires, they wake up to the harsh light of day. The projector is turned off and the images of what could be now appear to be simply plays of shadow and light.
The hard lesson to learn is simply this: Avoid Vampires and anything that resembles them as they are too good to be true and turn into nightmares. They never cared about you and never will. Madoff not only cheated his investors, he cheated his wife. And unless you want to write a book about it or create another TV series, leave the vampires out in the cold, alone with themselves, or better yet, in prison, where they belong.
Follow Vivian Norris on Twitter: www.twitter.com/vivigive
Dr. Cheryl Pappas: Putting Up A Pretty Fence
Okay, what about the millions of people who work for corporations or the hundreds of Congressmen and Senators who are supposed to represent us the real breathing people of the US of A or the millions of people who are manipulated by lies and distortion spread by the corporate media, including defenseless children and semi-literate or completely illiterate people who are unable to penetrate the fog of BS generated by the likes of corporate clowns like Glenn Beck, Rush Hairball and Bill O.? I could go on.
Right, corporations are weak little fluff balls that need to be protected from the mean people. Right. I mean far right.
- You castigate Glenn Beck, O'Reilly and his ilk? What about the daily lies, spin and general obfuscation that politicians spew? If not for guys like these in the media....we would not know the half of what our government is doing to screw us over....we probably still do not know the half of it even with these guys.
- Yes many people work for large corporations. However, they are not required to stay at any given company. They are free to seek other employment any time they want to. And if fact many do just that....and usually get a nice raise when they do......so not much power there.
- I am as disturbed as you seem to be that our elected representatives tend to cater to those who contribute to their campaign coffers over the voters at large. However, not just corporations peddle this kind of influence. Lawyers contribute a great deal to government officials, so do groups like ACORN and public employee unions are actually larger contributors than corporations now a days. Do you think these folks have the greater common good in mind any more than you think corps do? If you do I would consider you very naive. State and local governments also are subjected to influence peddling and they in turn lobby higher levels of government.
- Illiterate people? I don't think people that cannot even read or write would do good in any system that man could devise.....straw man argument IMHO.
or do narcissists become conservatives?
The real issue between the warring political factions boils down to how much individual freedom should each person be entitled to?
Liberals never see individual initiative as a benefit to society....conservatives do. Along these lines I always like to ask....who enriched more people's lives in a positive manner?....Bill Gates or Mother Teresa? Bill Gates built a company that enabled thousands of people to make a good living in good jobs (as have many entrepreneurs)...MT attended to those with unfortunate disabilities or other difficulties in life.
It all depends on your overall outlook but I would venture to say that each type of person is vital in our society. BG was motivated by wealth.....MT was motivated by the good feeling you get from helping someone...maybe even the notoriety she eventually received. The point is...is it really important what the motivation was if good is done in the end?
All of us contribute to this just by going to work every day. Our jobs and businesses are a benefit to someone else...how do we know this. They purchase our products and services.....why would they do this if they did not see some kind of benefit from doing so?
Modern conservatism was formed to fight the Enlightenment and the French revolution.
Conservatism hate democracy, the middle class, and individual, the "mob" they call them.
Conservatives love plutocracy.
HoweverNarcissism is like knowing a living death,- the only way to truly be safe from a Narcissist is to shield yourself from their abuse, and to escape.
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/vivian-norris-de-montaigu/the-narcissistic-ego-and_b_311188.html it is true
fear and dishonesty divides people. they become situational narcissist due to mistrusting every one else around them. plus you have a government that uses fear tactic to sell wars witch in turn breads more fear. the more fear the more people will horde and take care of only themselves!
"The customer is always right."
"Just do it."
"My Space."
"The Me Generation."
"The iPhone, iReport, iEverything."
"The customer comes first."
"One God."
Everybody has lost their money and are afraid of losing their jobs. They are more than happy to throw their (former) friends under the bus to save themselves.
Avoid Vampires? Ha. Can't be done. They are everyone.
Cheshire Cat: "Oh you can't help that."
What do you expect from a society that cultivates individuality as an unquestionable principle?
Where do you think it will end up.
Sometimes evil is only realized in the outcome of things...
P.S. Death to the Conservative movement (Minus Ron Paul)! These guys have lied to us so much, their lies have become our reality.
Absolutely right! I have long thought that somebody should write a book on THE POWER OF NEGATIVE THINKING.
The Narcissist as Vampire or Machine
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/narcissisticabuse/message/4944
Sam Vaknin:
http://samvak.tripod.com/
The Health Insurance Industry in America is an example of Corporate Vampirism, run by narcissists, ruining the lives of its victims, discarding them, and moving on to fresh blood.
NOW IS THE TIME TO START A REAL, POPULIST MOVEMENT TO SHUT DOWN THE VAMPIRE HEALTH INSURANCE INDUSTRY.