Personally, I don't have a lot of use for this pop-psychology catchall epithet of 'narcissism.' For all the genuine or verifiable meaning it may have when applied, one might as well call somebody one disapproves of a 'counter-revolutionary', or an 'enemy sympathizer.'
It's just one more thoughtless and self-defining example of what I regard as the real threat to civilized behavior on the whole, which is the addiction to false-dichotomy illogic: if you're not for us you're against us, if you're not a Republican you're a communist practitioner of witchcraft, if you don't support Ukraine you're a Kremlin agent, if you don't agree with X-Y-Z policy against illegal immigration you're a liberal, if you're not hanging on the every word of The Donald you're a Bible-denying apostate who'll get 'left behind' when Jesus comes back, et cetera ad absurdum.
It's everywhere, and the cult of false dichotomy has no ideology: polarizing and aggressively alienating behavior is the new normal, and any attempt at constructive dialogue to resolve rather than inflame any dispute is met with refusal to listen, refusal to hear out, refusal to engage. If you're not wrapped in the flag of (enter vicarious and uninvested trendy raving-point here), you're the enemy.
I am a carpenter, not an 'activist.' I believe in results, not ideology. The house ain't gonna build itself. The floor is either level or it isn't, and how anybody feels about it ain't gonna tilt that bubble. You can accuse and refuse and block streets and pass one-sided legislation and call anyone you want any damn thing you like for disapproving of them, but the house either stands or it doesn't. A house divided against itself never has, and never will.
For all this talk about 'we need to have that conversation', when was the last time you participated in one?
Personally, I don't have a lot of use for this pop-psychology catchall epithet of 'narcissism.' For all the genuine or verifiable meaning it may have when applied, one might as well call somebody one disapproves of a 'counter-revolutionary', or an 'enemy sympathizer.'
It's just one more thoughtless and self-defining example of what I regard as the real threat to civilized behavior on the whole, which is the addiction to false-dichotomy illogic: if you're not for us you're against us, if you're not a Republican you're a communist practitioner of witchcraft, if you don't support Ukraine you're a Kremlin agent, if you don't agree with X-Y-Z policy against illegal immigration you're a liberal, if you're not hanging on the every word of The Donald you're a Bible-denying apostate who'll get 'left behind' when Jesus comes back, et cetera ad absurdum.
It's everywhere, and the cult of false dichotomy has no ideology: polarizing and aggressively alienating behavior is the new normal, and any attempt at constructive dialogue to resolve rather than inflame any dispute is met with refusal to listen, refusal to hear out, refusal to engage. If you're not wrapped in the flag of (enter vicarious and uninvested trendy raving-point here), you're the enemy.
I am a carpenter, not an 'activist.' I believe in results, not ideology. The house ain't gonna build itself. The floor is either level or it isn't, and how anybody feels about it ain't gonna tilt that bubble. You can accuse and refuse and block streets and pass one-sided legislation and call anyone you want any damn thing you like for disapproving of them, but the house either stands or it doesn't. A house divided against itself never has, and never will.
For all this talk about 'we need to have that conversation', when was the last time you participated in one?