Recently, many people started accusing me of being a narcissist, most stemming from my recent blog posts, driven by aimless rage and inability to accept simple rebuttals, often with little evidence to support their claims. In this post, I will explain the concept of narcissism and reveal who the real narcissists are.
So what exactly is narcissism?
Simply put, nobody knows. By no means am I the best philosopher or a qualified psychologist, but I, your humble blogger, will try to explain to you what narcissism really means. Let's jump back a bit through the passage of time and track down exactly what "narcissism" means.
A typical Narcissus
"Narcissus was a handsome Greek youth who rejected the desperate advances of the nymph Echo. As punishment, he was doomed to fall in love with his own reflection in a pool of water. Unable to consummate his love, Narcissus 'lay gazing enraptured into the pool, hour after hour', and finally pined away, changing into a flower that bears his name, the narcissus."
The Roman philosopher Cicero first described Pompey as "SUI AMANTES SINE RIVALI - lovers of themselves without rivals." Fast track to 1898, Harvelock Ellis, an English sexologist described narcissism as "excessive masturbation, whereby the person becomes his or her own sex object."
Trust him, everyone else does.
In 1914, Sigmund Freud, one of the most profilic Psychologists in history, further evolved the definition of narcissism by publishing a single paper exclusive devoted to narcissism. In this introduction, Freud suggests that self-love and excessive masturbation is not at all abnormal. According to Freud, people develope a sense of individuality throughout their lives, usually in the form of expectations and control from higher authorities. Through exposure to the social environment, an ideal ego is developed - an image of perfect self as a goal of aspiration, and narcissism is what drives them to these highly placed goals.
In recent times, it has become all but a buzzword for media and flamers to degrade formidable gentlemen. Politicians and actors are frequently accused of narcissism simply because they are famous and have self-pride. Narcissism has taken on thousands of definitions by philosophers, reporters and imbeciles alike. In Psychology, Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) is even considered a mental illness. So where on Earth would I obtain a clear and simple definition for this post? For my (and your) convenience and laziness, Google-sensei describes a narcissist as "someone in love with themselves."
Why I am not a narcissist.
Oh hell no, I am certainly not in love with myself. I would much rather prefer a clichéd romance with a fellow human of the opposite gender. Believe it or not, I do not regard myself very highly at all. I do not care much for obligatory praise and I'm more than happy to take honest criticism. As much as I hold pride of my countless strengths, I nevertheless do not ignore any of my weaknesses. For example, I am well aware of have the tendency to procrastinate over a wide variety of tasks, such as writing this post when I have an exam in two days.
I do however, believe that I am the centre of the universe, my universe. Not yours, not hypocritical politicians', and certainly not Chuck Norris,' just mine, only mine. If you do not regard yourself as the centre of your own universe, there must be something wrong with you or you're just madly in love. For both of which I give you my dearest condolences.
I do however, hold my views with high regard and refuse to give in to baseless or malicious manipulation. If you do not use at least decent grammar, I will ignore you. If you do not base your claims, I will decimate you with logic (Read INTJ). Unless you are able to persuade me otherwise, my views are better than yours and will always be better than yours.
The 1%.
Another supposed symptom of narcissism is a greed for unlimited wealth and power. Yes I am a poorfag, and I have every right to be a poorfag. Why could someone that can hardly sing obtain a million dollars in a week when I can't even increase my hourly pay by $2? I am jealous of your extravagant beach palaces and will certainly attempt to obtain it from you if given a hassle-free opportunity and you can't do anything about it.
Sure, my personal philosophy and moral codes may not be perfectly in line with what you believe is essential for every living person on Earth. Does that make me any more of a Narcissist or any less of a gentleman?
Why you are a narcissist.
Unless you are one of the people that have accused me of narcissism, you may casualy skip this post.
Judging from the methods shown by certain flamers. I shall assume that you, the reader who chose not to skip this section, have the attention span rivalling an average American movie-goer. For which case I shall remind you that a narcissist is "someone in love with themselves." Hang on a second, Kanra, isn't this exactly who these people are?
Hmm... It appears to me, as is accepted by most prolific psychologists, that the main motive behind these types of accusations is exactly the same as a commonly accepted syndrome of Narcissism - a refusal to accept other people's opinions. By accusing me of narcissism, you are attempting to degrade my self-pride and make me appear less magnificent to yourself, for which you are failing rather massively. All you want to do is to empower me and assert your ignorant views over my own far more superior ones.
Well, look at what we have here, a classical case of hypocrisy.
TL;DR? Unless you masturbate furiously every night and refuse to listen to others, you are not a narcissist. Thank you and have a good day.
