Today’s culture rewards selfish and arrogant behavior.
Narcissism is validated and reinforced everywhere you look. We have celebrities who have become famous for being rude, insensitive, and arrogant. We have shock jocks and women like Ann Coulter who say cruel and mean things about the widows of 9/11 to get attention. American culture rewards this behavior by putting them in the spotlight. The media caters to them.
Today, the most photographed and written-about female celebrity is famous for no other reason than her ability to spend her inheritance. Yes, Paris Hilton. She has done nothing to earn this money, and certainly has not made a contribution to the art or welfare of our society. Yet, she is the most popular youth icon of our times.
We consume celebrity gossip and watch entertainment news as if our lives depended on it, as if the lives of these celebrities somehow have an impact on our well-being. We do not know these people, nor will we ever likely meet them, but for some reason we are fascinated with what they are wearing and who they are dating.
On February 27, 2007, the Associated Press reported in an article on MSNBC’s Web site, “Today’s college students are more narcissistic and self-centered than their predecessors, according to a comprehensive new study by five psychologists who worry that the trend could be harmful to personal relationships and American society.”
I will illustrate how narcissism negatively impacts the quality of our personal relationships. I would also like to point out how it impacts us as a society. Look what has happened to our economy. I believe American society has been overtaken by narcissism.
As a result, our economy has suffered greatly. We can no longer afford to deny the fact that we live in an era of narcissism, where most people are out for themselves and have no regard for how their behavior impacts others.
Would we be in the mess we're in if CEOs had given any thought to the numerous employee pensions they were stealing from in return for a fat bonus check or golden parachute? Our economy has suffered at the hands of individuals who will most certainly go down as some of the most infamous narcissists in history.
As historian and moralist Lord Acton said in a letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton in 1887, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
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