I wish I could CHOOSE, have a CHOICE about not being connected to a narcissist in some way, in this spiderweb network of life, but I think it is impossible, every big company and every government and even every little town's community council is going to have a sneering narcissist sitting at the front of the table where decisions are being made about the world that I have to live in since, unfortunately I am human instead of alien.
LAST POST on this topic, from me... until the discussion moves into more than just inflaming fear and creating more "monsters" under the bed and engaging everyone's reptilian brain. I'm not running to buy more ammo or building seige fences.
I choose to not live like that, Muffin Buster. I choose to not grant the rampant-running N-monsters the power to create a hell that I don't want to live in. I quoted you above, because what you've said is - in my experience - true. And it's also true, that some of them have political power, gobs of money, and make the rules that affect the daily lives of many people (and these Ns are of all political and religious persuasions). And I know that it's true, that their power is an illusion. It's an illusion because the only power they really have is to make one afraid. Even that power isn't as great as they think it is! Some of us aren't afraid to say:
WHAT new clothes, Emperor? You're stark nekkid!! And then laugh.
Back when I was also afraid my mom would steal my organs and afraid that, that fear made me insane... I was drawn to information and stories and pictures of Holocaust victims. My nightmares included these stories and images. Even when my stomach was turning in fear and disgust at what some humans were capable of - and the reasons why - I kept reading and learning. I ran across these stories again after therapy, when I was researching PTSD. And I found what I was unconsciously looking for, finally.
No one has the power to tell me what to think; to feel is right or wrong. No one can tell me what to choose for myself. Yes, every choice has consequences... and some choices are only "bad" and "even worse". But if I choose to live free to say - "that is WRONG" - I still can. And no one has to agree with me. And I believe that it's the people who can see N in the world and say "that is wrong" who have the real power - not the people spinning the "end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it" stories or the people at the head of institutions, appointed to committees, or elected by people looking for the "lesser evil".
The sun still shines and comes up every morning - and the birds still sing. Someday in the next week, it might rain and cool off. Meanwhile, there's sweet tea, ice, people I like - and people I don't, and it's just FINE with me that some bozos think they control the world or know what's best for the rest of us or think they can hide (from??) the consequences of their own decisions and actions. I know that's not the way it works. There IS justice in the world - even if it's not always public knowledge or posted on the internet.
When the asteroid finally gets close enough to disrupt the gravity on earth - someone will be N-ishly oblivious to his or her job of monitoring space and sounding the alarm and summoning the cavalry until it's too late. And all the Ns will be sucked off the earth by the asteroid because they're so full of hot air. It's just as real a possibility, to me. And there are a lot more "alternate endings" I can think of... and they're all just as possible... and I think I'm going to go try to think up a whole bunch more.
