Author Topic: NPD of American Politics  (Read 2621 times)

roses in her eyes

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NPD of American Politics
« on: September 01, 2007, 12:42:10 PM »
Another sudden insight.  I've certainly felt a growing frustration with American politics lately, which in itself not a rare thing these days.  So what about it irks me so? It's not really the injustice or suffering or torture. I think it's the NPD-like duplicity that really resonates with me.  Especially the candidates running for president.  Everything is positioned as being for US, THE PEOPLE THEY CARE SO MUCH ABOUT, when we can easily see in their actions that they obviously don't.  The candidates (and the process) are so completely self-involved, it's really grating.

Whenever you hear the phrase "politically impossible" in response to a solution that makes complete sense, it really means that some small powerful group doesn't want it to happen. It's not impossible and it's not an accident. Someone has a vested interest in the status quo.

It's the same feeling that I would get from my NM, "it's so easy, why can't she just help me? She says she would do anything for me."

Okay, without delving too much further into politics, I found this essay by humorist Will Durst, that seems to touch on similar themes. But does anyone else here feel hyper-sensitive to it?


What's Wrong With America
Will Durst

You know what's wrong with America? I mean, besides a headache medicine that you apply to your forehead? Our national obsession with "me." Me. Me. Me. Me. Me. Nobody ever thinks about "us" anymore. It's all about "me". "You" are on your own. "We" is a convenient umbrella for a collection of like minded "me's," of which "I" better play a feature part and "they" and "them" are simply obstacles to be steered clear of at all costs and knocked down and run over with track cleats if unavoidable.

It's not totally our fault, as we are engaged in learned behavior. We, the people, or rather, me, the people, and you, the rabble, can legitimately claim to be magnificently obsessed with ourselves, because of the conduct we witness in our leaders. Dim luminaries observed daily giving less thought to what is good for the whole than an alligator gives to the mood of a brood of baby ducks before hungrily gobbling up both parents.

Take our presidential primary process. Please. Over 20 states will declare their 08 party preferences on February 5th, foreshortening a six month winnowing process to less than four weeks of industrial strength filtering. Not front loaded enough apparently, since Florida decided to sneak ahead of the pack by a week, a move compelling South Carolina to leapfrog ahead to January 19.

Now we know New Hampshire is more likely to offer Fidel sanctuary than give up their First in the Nation status; besides, they have a state law that says they MUST be first, so they will precede South Carolina, probably on the 12th. And Iowa is certain to supercede that, because they got caucuses, a totally different animal than primaries. Don't ask.

Financial considerations are obviously at stake, but mostly it's ego that is fueling this jump-starting mania. The survival of the primary process itself, or whether it is good for the country or even the political leaders participating, is of little if any concern. Cutting in line used to be considered the action of a bully, now it's on legislative fast track. We don't just want our cake and eat it too, we want to have it, eat it, save it, hoard it, clone it, shrink it and freeze dry it so we can carry the frosting around in our pockets for later, making sure nobody else ever gets a taste.

Not only do we fail to see the big picture, nobody bothers faking the slight lateral movement of the head pretending to look for it anymore. People are either boarding up the big picture with the custom cut plywood of self-indulgence or they're staring just to the side of where the big picture used to be, at that more fascinating rectangle called the mirror.

We're just spoiled little kids who never learned to share our toys. And stay tuned. If one more self-centered ghost jumps through the primary machine, we could be looking at a Christmas Caucus in the Hawkeye State this year. And if the thought of Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul dressed in Santa Claus costumes doesn't scare the bejeesus out of you, some sort of headache remedy should be applied directly to your forehead. Like a mallet. But enough about the state of the nation, let's get back to me.

JanetLG

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Re: NPD of American Politics
« Reply #1 on: September 02, 2007, 01:31:04 PM »
Roses,

I'm in the UK, but our political 'farce' of a system is rapidly becoming more like the 'American model'. One thing I do think about this theme, which is probably rather obvious from the lack of responses this thread has had, is that people are too afraid to speak out about political issues any more. Whether that's for real or imagined reasons (and I don't hink it's because of apathy, as the politicians like to say it is), I think people are unlikely to want to discuss this one much.

Pity, really.

Janet

roses in her eyes

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Re: NPD of American Politics
« Reply #2 on: September 02, 2007, 02:36:36 PM »
Janet- Thanks for the response.  I was beginning to think I peed in someone's corn flakes with this topic, so to speak. I'm not surprised it took someone from the UK to comment. I think apathy is exactly the desired result!  There are just so many parallels, that's why it struck me.

Straying off topic (no one was commenting anyway): There was a BBC doc on the evolution of sex and rock n roll that I found really interesting, because everything I always saw about of the "Summer of Love", Punk, Disco, etc. were always shown from an American perspective.  One of my main takeaways from the series was that it appeared as if Britain used to be much MORE sexually repressed than America--considering homosexuality was a criminal until 1967!!  But then at some point after the UK seemed to grow up, while the U.S. has slipped backward.  Our entire nation was derailed by a nipple shown on TV!


JanetLG

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Re: NPD of American Politics
« Reply #3 on: September 02, 2007, 02:51:23 PM »
Roses,

Ha, ha!

I like this:

"I was beginning to think I peed in someone's corn flakes with this topic"

If the UK ever grew up, I think at the moment it is regressing rapidly. 10 years of Blair have seen to that. And I used to vote Labour, too.


Janet

teartracks

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Re: NPD of American Politics
« Reply #4 on: September 02, 2007, 02:56:27 PM »


Hi Roses,

IMO there are many possible reasons for the lack of response to your thread.  Here's my two cents worth.

1)  My impression is that for the most part people plug in here to heal a 'self'.  It's pretty hard for an individual to take on the politics of the world on a forum like this when they're struggling to keep their heart and soul, home and hearth intact.  I think discussing the political narcissism of the Western World on a forum designed to address Voicelessness, as defined (my understanding) by Dr. G,  would be psychological displacement on a wholesale level.

2)  It is wise to keep in mind that discussing personal dogma regarding politics, religion, and sex  are known flashpoints.

I am a fairly well-versed citizen politically.  And though politics, sex and religion can't be strictly ignored here, I  think that comments on those subjects should adhere as much as is possible to the intent of the board, which I understand to be Voiceless Narcissism and its fallout in individuals.  Besides, there are forums designed specifically to discuss politics.  I expect the word narcissistic is a much used term on those forums.

As I said, this is my two cents worth.  My input may not be worth any more than you paid for it! :oops: :roll:

tt





 

JanetLG

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Re: NPD of American Politics
« Reply #5 on: September 03, 2007, 06:07:31 AM »
S + Safe,

Probably, any community (if there's one left) where consumerism hasn't taken a hold might not be so narcissistic yet. I think the 'me,me,me' idea of consumerism just encourages very selfish behaviour, so N behaviour gets included in behaviour that's 'OK'. I can't think of any culture which ACTIVELY discourages N, though.

I do think though, contrary to what teartracks says, that the global political picture is relevant to this forum, because if this kind of behaviour wasn't tolerated so easily, then parents, partners, etc., would be held accountable for their behaviour sooner. But, I do agree that this forum might be not necessarily the best place for people who haven't sorted their own circumstances out yet, to debate. But for those who want to, I don't think it's the WRONG place, if you see what I mean. If the subject's not for you, it's easy to just not post on a topic, IMO.


Janet

roses in her eyes

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Re: NPD of American Politics
« Reply #6 on: September 03, 2007, 10:01:42 AM »
I think it's a bit like some of the overtly religious content here. I completely understand how the topic is relevant, even being completely non-religious myself, though I probably would not comment on a religious post.

S + S, your comments were really interesting to me. I've lived in most of the places you described and hated them. Maybe that's why I liked people in Chicago so much more than LA or NE.  Where are you now S+S?

JanetLG

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Re: NPD of American Politics
« Reply #7 on: September 03, 2007, 10:29:36 AM »
Roses,

Yes, the comparison with religion is interesting. I think that, in the US, peole are very willing, generally, to discuss religion - but then, something like 80% of Americans go to Church on Sundays.

But in the UK, it's almost unheard of to mention religion - very, very touchy subject! And only about 7% of English people go to Church, now, although around 40% say they believe an a God of some kind.

But just about everybody with an opinion on politics will give it freely - even to total strangers (like, if you''re in a shop, or bus queue, or whatever).


Janet

Stormchild

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Re: NPD of American Politics
« Reply #8 on: September 03, 2007, 11:37:17 AM »
Hello Roses...

it seems to me that we basically have the same split in our politics that we have in our workplaces, our churches, and pretty much everywhere else.

the party of abusers, to make it really simple, and the party of enablers.

not hard to see which one is which, looking at our recent history.

there are very, very few really healthy voices heard, and very, very few really healthy stands are ever taken.

brave of you to bring this up.

[edit in: and the failure of the Constitutional separation between church and state, I think, basically comes down to the tendency of the powerful to seek to consolidate their power, by whatever means available. God knows there are abusive churches teaching abusive doctrine now, while their less ferocious brethren wring their hands prettily and stand for little or nothing, lest someone be dismayed.]
« Last Edit: September 03, 2007, 11:40:48 AM by Stormchild »
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mudpuppy

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Re: NPD of American Politics
« Reply #9 on: September 03, 2007, 11:52:00 AM »
  Theoretically, I don't care too much one way or the other about politics being discussed here but I wonder what the cost benefit ratio is.
 People discuss spiritual matters because it is a deeply personal thing which has helped them through crises not to argue a viewpoint. What personal benefit is there to someone here dealing with a sociopathic spouse or whacko mother if the conversation is whether Rudy Giuliani or Hillary Clinton is more N like?
 To me the main risk occurs when people begin assigning NPD to those they disagree with politically. When members here see someone they agree with politically described as an N because of those political beliefs, they will not unnaturally feel attacked and labeled themselves.
 There are about 227 million sites to discuss those matters, most of them pretty unpleasant. There's only about one to reasonably discuss what is discussed here. I'd hate to see this place become the 227 millionth and one of the other kind.

mud

teartracks

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Re: NPD of American Politics
« Reply #10 on: September 03, 2007, 01:55:43 PM »



Hi S&S,

I'm wondering if there is any culture which discourages people from becoming narcissists? If so, where?

Whether traveling the Seven Seas (By the way which of the seas are the fabled Seven?), or moving across the wilderness with a hunter gatherer tribe, there would be no shortage of narcissists.   The per capita percentages might change depending on the culture, but I think they're everywhere.  I believe the best guessers believe  that narcissism is fifty percent genetic and fifty percent environment.  

tt     
« Last Edit: September 03, 2007, 04:15:55 PM by teartracks »

teartracks

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Re: NPD of American Politics
« Reply #11 on: September 04, 2007, 02:34:46 AM »


Hi Everyone,

Greetings from your friendly garden variety, amateur social psychologist... :wink: 
 

IMO there are many possible reasons for the lack of response to your thread.  Here's my two cents worth.

1)  My impression is that for the most part people plug in here to heal a 'self'.  It's pretty hard for an individual to take on the politics of the world on a forum like this when they're struggling to keep their heart and soul, home and hearth intact.  I think discussing the political narcissism of the Western World on a forum designed to address Voicelessness, as defined (my understanding) by Dr. G,  would be psychological displacement on a wholesale level.

2)  It is wise to keep in mind that discussing personal dogma regarding politics, religion, and sex  are known flashpoints.

I am a fairly well-versed citizen politically.  And though politics, sex and religion can't be strictly ignored here, I  think that comments on those subjects should adhere as much as is possible to the intent of the board, which I understand to be Voiceless Narcissism and its fallout in individuals.  Besides, there are forums designed specifically to discuss politics.  I expect the word narcissistic is a much used term on those forums.

As I said, this is my two cents worth.  My input may not be worth any more than you paid for it! :oops: :roll:

tt

Perhaps I should say that I've never thought VESMB members should please me with their posts/opinions.   By the same token, I don't feel bound to please members with my posts.  Does that seem fair? 

tt


« Last Edit: September 04, 2007, 03:51:20 AM by teartracks »

Iphi

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Re: NPD of American Politics
« Reply #12 on: September 04, 2007, 04:40:31 PM »
Well I'm not sure I have any big thoughts about this but I will share something I've noticed that always makes me laugh in a rueful/could-cry way.

When a big event happens in the U.S. orto the U.S. (such as 9/11), the news coverage first is all about us, and then when they have run out of their footage/content on that topic, the coverage switches to what the rest of the world thinks about us.

It is so, so, "Oh enough about me. What do you think about me?"

Thank goodness for the internet so I can easily read the press of other countries and learn about the rest of the world. Sheesh!
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