My last post introduced you to one of t.v.'s most flaming narcissists; "Don Draper" of Mad Men fame. Expanding on that theme, I will now present to you my two cents on what I believe is our current Culture of Narcissism...
As I said in my last post, narcissists by their very nature are willing to throw anyone under the bus if they feel it is going to get them what they want and when they want it. Now imagine entire groups functioning in this way. It isn't so difficult to imagine. If you want a really big picture of what I am talking about here, let's look at our own country for a moment. I remember when Gene Simmons (yes, that one!) of Kiss was interviewed by William Shatner and described the first time he walked into a grocery store after emmigrating to America as a youngster from Israel. He described it as "streets of food". Think about that for a moment. I sure didn't as I would yell for the specific type of Pop Tarts I preferred my mother buy me as a kid in my local grocery store. I also remember a friend hosting a visitor from Africa who had never before been to our country. As she and her husband were debating which fast food restaurant burger the visitor might most enjoy, he interrupted their debate by simply stating, "As long as it is edible, I will eat it." Wow. Talk about culture shock...
Our culture of narcissism has developed over time and space and has burrowed deeply down into the very fiber of our individual beings. So deeply in fact, we don't hardly even notice it is there. I hate waiting in line as one example. Why? Because I just do. I wonder if my mother-in-law hated waiting in line too...for water during World War II....from a well that she stumbled upon along with all the other local area residents fleeing from the war machine in Italy. I wonder if that water, when she finally got a bucket full, tasted more like Perrier or Evian?
My point is that when we allow what we believe we are "owed" to control our every thought, word, and deed....it is amazing how quickly we can transition to taking "whatever" whenever from whomever because...?? Because we want it now. We live in a time and culture when "more" and "more right now" has become our collective drugs of choice. And that's not a good thing. As a matter of fact, it's a very sad thing. A very sad thing indeed....
