Narcissism sounds really benign. It gives a slightly comic mind-picture of a person puffed up in their own vanity and believing that they are at the centre of the world. Remember that in the myth Narcissus fell in love with his own reflection in the pool and died contemplating it. Which is pretty dumb, when you think about it, although an interesting study in compulsive behaviour.
It sounds comic but it can, of course, be deadly. The murderer Clayton Weatherston, who had mapped out every inch of his perfect life, brought it crashing down around him when he stabbed poor Sophie Elliott to death. Her crime, in his eyes, was that she had rejected him and was achieving life dreams that were better than his.
His claim, that she provoked him, was outrageous and distressing for the family and indeed the whole of New Zealand, and not only failed at law but led to the ending of the defence against murder of ‘provocation’. But her abilities and talent did fatally ‘provoke’ (lead) his narcissistic personality into a deadly anger and an intentional killing.
Leslie Elliott’s work over the subsequent years to warn young women that there are plenty of narcissists out there has been exceptional. Her ‘loves me not’ education programme points out that girls are often flattered when a boyfriend says: “I want to keep you all to myself”, but this is one of the key markers of upcoming danger. Narcissistic relationships abound and are very dangerous.
Donald Trump is a narcissist. While I don’t think he has actually killed anyone (there are plenty of stories about the big T but I haven’t heard any about dead bodies in concrete boots at the bottom of the Hudson River), he lives life on a dangerous edge of immense sensitivity to criticism and a retaliatory instinct. His disregard for other people, his lack of empathy, the feeling that he is the only actor who counts on his own stage, all demonstrate his deeply narcissistic streak. Someone once noted he was personally unfit to be President, and that indeed is true.
It is worrying that he appears to hold all life as cheap, except his own. Some lives to him, though, are more valuable than others, and that beleaguered minority, white males (especially the wealthy and powerful) are at the top of the totem. And, as a recent book notes, especially if they defer to, praise and please the Trump. Women are arranged hierarchically on whether Trump has urges to ‘grab their pussy’. Good pussies are low on the ground, while bad pussies dwell in the primordial ooze, along with the illegal immigrants who suck the lifeblood from the greatest country on earth (I am paraphrasing Trump’s apparent views here, you understand)(not mine).
Kin Jong Un is a narcissist, too. Unlike Trump (probably), he suffers from what we might call generational narcissism, which is probably imbued through politics, family, culture and practice rather than some hereditary disorder. Trump would love to be Kim on a daily basis. Whereas Trump has trained several cliques of obsequious minions to clap whenever he opens his mouth, Kim only has to appear for a whole nation to clap. If the goal of the narcissist is to be universally loved, Kim has achieved that dimension in his own land. Poor old Donald is constantly being criticised, and this angers him.
He cannot even escape his detractors. A Federal Judge has this week ruled that Trump cannot block anyone from being a Twitter friend, because doing so blocks their first amendment rights to free speech. How terribly annoying that must be for the narcissist, sort of like having a hive of angry bees buzzing around your head while contemplating one’s fair reflection in the pool.
We know very little about Kim’s relationships with women. His father was apparently married twice and had three mistresses. They had no official roles. Young Kim is married and has two or possibly three children, but his wife rarely appears. He is always surrounded by men and uniforms and the sounds of clapping.
Now the question that we need to consider is what would it take for two such narcissists to do a deal that would turn North Korea into a partner, not an antagonist. Because in the end it is up to them. We have never seen even a sliver of hope that any of the twin narcissist’s advisors could pull them back from going nuclear, whatever that now means.
A shared Nobel Peace Prize? The kudos of saving the world? Perhaps a meeting of minds, a sort of narcissist convention? It may be that the meeting is on again. I just wish the people of Korea well.
Among my father’s Royal Navy medals, and the final one he received (except for the Arctic Convoy medal awarded posthumously) (which is a whole other story), was the UN medal for serving in Korea. That was the first of many ill-fated actions and lost battles of the Cold War. It is time to heal the harm, reunite families and step back from the encroaching midnight of the Doomsday Clock.
Dr Liz Gordon began her working life as a university lecturer at Massey and the Canterbury universities. She spent six years as an Alliance MP, before starting her own research company, Pukeko Research. Her work is in the fields of justice, law, education and sociology (poverty and inequality). She is the president of Pillars, a charity that works for the children of prisoners, a prison volunteer, and is on the board of several other organisations. Her mission is to see New Zealand freed from the shackles of neo-liberalism before she dies (hopefully well before!).
The Nobel Peace prize has little standing. It was awarded to war mongering Obama and other criminals.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/oct/01/the-nobel-peace-prize-is-a-whos-who-of-hawks-hawks-hypocrites-and-war-criminals
But the Nobel is a sign of being in “The Club” who control and manipulate the illusion of public approval which is independent of factual examination.
Trump stands for the state that inflicted gross genocide and destruction to Northern Korea because they rejected US annexation.
The continued hostility of the US and “allies’ against this already heavily punished population, defies any sane judgment of fairness.
When the US and allies withdraw all sanctions, withdraw from occupation of South Korea and its political infrastructure and pay retribution for the widespread intergenerational damage done to this now divided country, then perhaps peace will come and the North and South will be reunited and under sovereign rule of their own making.
Trump is a puppet for US Imperialism. That may well be Nobel candidacy.
So few seem to know what the United Nations really is and why it was located In New York.
This is the very latest link I’ve found: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMaXZvhdIQ8
I think it worth taking the time to research Georgia Guidestones.
All Heads of Government gather at the United Nations at sometime and attend the Bilderberg. Trump, like the rest, (Helen Clark, jonkey, Kin Jong Un, Ardern) follows the script given to him.
Gosh these dangerous men are ‘human, all too human’ after-all, what a surprise. I’m sure the American (boomeristis) philosopher Ken Wilber would totally agree with you. Don’t worry, as soon all baby boomers will probably be sent to ageist concentration camps for extermination.
“Don’t worry, as soon all baby boomers will probably be sent to ageist concentration camps for extermination”
Will there be wifi?
Sorry mate no wifi, what ever that is? Asset striping, extermination & pet food for millennial’s & those who follow them.
Here’s what needs to happen.
Get Un and Trump in a cinema and load them up on GOOD ecstasy, schrooms and LSD. Turn up the central heating to 30c, give then sarongs each then screen Planet Earth2, American Beauty ( Yeah, I know. Kevin Spacy.) and three hours of dog and kitten youtube clips to some world class house music followed by some serious sativa weed to take the bump out of the landing.
Problem?
Fixed.
We must always remember; narcissists are made, not born. They can be un-made. They just need a different ‘perspective’.
“Lords of Peace”, “Fathers of the Golden Age”, “The Great Reconcilers”. These and other honorifics await them if they’re savvy and read the writing on the wall. Otherwise, only mediocre notoriety awaits. Plug that into the narcissism nodes and you should be good to go
“While I don’t think he has actually killed anyone (there are plenty of stories about the big T but I haven’t heard any about dead bodies in concrete boots at the bottom of the Hudson River)” You could argue that the 56 dead in Gaza the day the US embassy opened in Jerusalem were Trump victims.
I would also imagine that the de-funding of women’s clinics in third world countries, that as well as providing basic health care also provide advice on abortion has lead to many deaths also. The so called gag order. Closer to home. the needless deaths and bankruptcies of American citizens due to Trumps rollback of Obama care (often indirectly but deliberately) also count as victims.
Trump is merely a symptom of the problem. He in turn fronts for other narcissists. Those who believe Atlas shrugged is a plan for life. That they and their friends are born to rule and we are merely here to provide fodder for their aspirations.
Psychopathy has been THE most enduring problem our species has lived with.
Over and over, throughout human history, no matter what economic system or political philosophy or social structures are in place, the same thing happens.
Those without conscience – that 1 to 5% of the population (actually, no one knows the exact figure) genetically hardwired to be inacapble of experiencing empathy EVER, rise like scum to the top of the pond.
They become our leaders, our CEO’s, even our doctors, lawyers, teachers. Anywhere where they can exert their sense of power on a weaker, captive audience.
To understand why the world is the way it is. To understand why we are heading toward certain extinction without seemingly a care from our leaders. To understand why oppression and inhumanity keeps reasserting itself over and over and over again throughout human history.
You. must. first. understand. the. human. mind (and in particular, the pyschopathic mind and all it’s many forms). Look up Dr Robert Hare and others. Read the literature. Grasp the nettle – it’s not nice, and you’ll probably realise you know people like this in your daily lives.
Again, no sinister new world order. No alien mind control. No hidden plan of a supernatural deity. Just the worst forms of the human mind.
Trump has been one of the more overt examples of ASPD in the Western world in recent times. There are plenty of others unfortunately, that are far more subtle.
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