During the course of the last week we have seen the full range of Narcissism on display. The Oscars have always been a celebration of Narcissism (who can ever forget Sally Field's famous squeals of delight, "they like me, they really like me") but recently Hollywood has outdone themselves. Ben Stein points out the striking omission of any mention, even a dismissive perfunctory mention, of our men and women in uniform overseas helping to protect the very freedoms the glitterati take for granted; instead they applaud their faux bravery, which costs them nothing:
The idea that it is brave to stand up for gays in Hollywood, to stand up against Joe McCarthy in Hollywood (fifty years after his death), to say that rich white people are bad, that oil companies are evil -- this is nonsense. All of these are mainstream ideas in Hollywood, always have been, always will be. For the people who made movies denouncing Big Oil, worshiping gays, mocking the rich to think of themselves as brave -- this is pathetic, childish narcissism.
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Hollywood is above all about self: self-congratulation, self-promotion, and above all, self-protection. This is human and basic, but let's not kid ourselves. There is no greatness there in the Kodak theater. The greatness is on patrol in Kirkuk. The greatness lies unable to sleep worrying about her man in Mosul. The greatness sleeps at Arlington National Cemetery and lies waiting for death in VA Hospitals. God help us that we have sunk so low as to confuse foolish and petty boasting with the real courage that keeps this nation and the many fools in it alive and flourishing on national TV.
The MSM take their Narcissistic grandiosity to another level. The New York Times, among others, have proclaimed, while defending their publication of top secret information, that they believe they are better suited to determine what is harmful to our national security than the professionals.
MacRanger offers another example and is more caustic about it than I am; his take on the MSM is worth reading:
Aside from the fact that the vaunted and out of control - and stragegically dangerous - MSM is out of about to get their ass handed to them, it's fun to see them whine about their percieved self-importance.
Get over yourself, you lost that importance when you stopped reporting the news and began commenting, bloviating and outright manufacturing the the news. You lost credibility a long time ago. Yet like the stuck pig you are you just have to squeal about it.
He also offers an example of exactly what he is describing. While you are at his site, you might want to check in on what happens when a United Sates Senator puts his own Narcissistic needs ahead of his duties and responsibilities to his country. It is not a pretty sight.
Both Dr. Sanity and Neo-neocon point out that the left and too many Democrats rationalize their unpatriotic behavior which is in the service of their narcissistic needs. Dr. Sanity says:
You also see the pursuit of cheap glory in the left's sneering contempt and devaluation of their fellow citizen siblings who are willing to defend freedom in the real world, instead of the fantasyland that exists only in the windmills of the leftist mind.
Meanwhile, in that real world, there exists real evil, as well as real threats to our freedoms. People are dying to defend Freedom of Speech. People are being murdered for desiring freedom and democracy. Standing up against those real world villians, though, is far too frightening for the narcissistically preoccupied (why, they might get hurt! And they want to make sure they stand on the correct side of history, after all).
Neo-neocon points out the infantile roots of their behavior:
I'm not saying leftists--or those liberals who join the "blame America first, often, loudly, and last" chorus--are children. They are not. But in their relationship to their own government they seem to be acting out a similar dynamic.
Infants who have tantrums can be ignored. Unfortunately, we cannot ignore our MSM and the left-wing of our polity; they control organs of information dissemination, control our schools, and are damaging our war efforts. This could all be dismissed as just noxious and annoying if not for the real world consequences.
The most dangerous form of Narcissism is on display almost everyday. While it is always problematic to diagnose from a distance, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad offers all the signs of being a Malignant Narcissist. He is grandiose, heedless of other people's lives and desires, and believes he is divinely inspired and chosen. People who try to paint President Bush's as a theocrat and a fascist in their inane confusion try to obscure the differences between our President and a true fascist theocrat; Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is the "real thing." Dinocrat has more:
We are pretty much obsessed with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad because we take him at his word. He has famously said that Israel should be wiped off the map, and that the EU should relocate the Jews back to Europe if they feel so guilty about the Holocaust. Here’s his latest, from Tass (HT, Captain Ed):
Islam will soon be the domineering force in the world, placing first in the number of its followers among all other religions. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad expressed this confidence here at the end of his state visit to Malaysia. Following a meeting with Sultan Jamalullail I, the supreme head of the federation of nine states where Islam was proclaimed the state religion, he pontificated: “The world will be in the hands of Islam over the next few years.”
Dinocrat also wonders how Ahmadinejad can bring his dream of murder in the name of his own grandiose vision to fruition; he paints a frightening and plausible scenario.
All of which brings me to the critical question:
At such a dangerous time, when we face implacable enemies who wish to destroy us and our freedoms, why do so many bright people continue to do things that place our nation and our friends at great risk for what seems to be the most minimal, narrow and partisan of advantages?
As luck would have it, a partial answer has been offered by those on the farthest reaches of the American left and tomorrow I will use their words to explore what motivates them and their witting and unwitting allies.
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