If you read this and scoff, if you see projection or hypocrisy in these words, I urge you to look left and look right. Examine those around you. If it is the rest of the world that is wrong, if you stand above and beyond the mere mortals whose presence you are forced to tolerate, if you smugly judge every human being whose Facebook, Twitter or discussion site account you view ... perhaps it isn't those around you afflicted with pervasive NPD.
Maybe ... just maybe ... the narcissist is you.
I hope I am not the narcissist. I hope nobody thinks that I am the narcissist! But, ya know? Phil Elmore is right! The internet, the web of webs, it can be the perfect tool... for narcissists!
I have found that Phil's columns - Technocracy- are of great assistance in understanding how the Information Age is shaping society. In Phil's last few columns (see list below), he gave us something that we really need to see in ourselves. Phil held up the mirror. All we have to do is look into that reflection to see what we have become.
It hit me today. About a quarter-century ago, I read a book written by John Naisbitt. The book I am talking about is: "Megatrends: Ten New Directions Transforming Our Lives." It's the story of the collectivist mindset being able to shape society in their narcissistic viewpoint... Oh, boy! What a revelation! It just hit me! Narcissists become liberals or progressives! They know better than the rest of us, they indoctrinated our kids in the public schools and media, and now they have the internet as a media tool to establish their agenda as doctrine.
What Phil has done with this series that has covered his last few articles (see the list below), is to verify how in tune John Naisbitt was with what the effects of technology would amount to be. Naisbitt had it pretty much right when he wrote that there are "major transformations taking place right now in our society." I very much doubt that Naisbitt knew what the internet would look like 25 years later. I think he just understood that being able to transmit information would give those with some kind of an agenda a way to distribute their ideas.
And now, Phil Elmore poses the potential difficulties with this ability that nobody probably imagined 25 years ago, when we were using 300 baud modems in our computers. With the tools that we now have at our fingertips - literally - society now has a way to transmit all of the social ills, the personality defects, that we can come up with! What I am struck by is Phil Elmore's influence in finding a way to deal with all the possible personality disturbances that are present on the web. He has helped us by making us aware of what we could become, whether it is being a victim of a cyber-bully or "troll," becoming a nation of mental weaklings, being intimidated by technology and social networking, or actually becoming a narcissist. I'm just sayin'... RELATED COLUMNS by Phil Elmore:
In the last few Technocracy columns, I have dealt with topics that have in common the theme of your mental and emotional fortitude. How do you approach your use of the network of networks we now take for granted as integral to our communications, data transfer and entertainment infrastructures? What does your use of the Internet tell us about you? How does your reaction to the experience of interacting with others online inform your personal choices, emphasize your personal strengths and betray your personal shortcomings?
Our contemporary society and its medical and psychological establishments have concluded that there is an ailment, a condition, a disorder – and a spectrum on which that disorder is found – for every single negative human behavior and character trait. Whether it is increasingly common or simply increasingly revealed online, there is a "personality disorder" whose descriptors seem stunningly appropriate for much behavior that takes place on the Web. That is Narcissistic Personality Disorder, or NPD. The site Narcissism101 explains the disorder thusly:
Someone with Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) has at least 5 of these symptoms:
has a grandiose sense of self-importance (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents, expects to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements)
is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love
believes that he or she is "special" and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions)
requires excessive admiration
has a sense of entitlement, i.e., unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with his or her expectations
is interpersonally exploitative, i.e., takes advantage of others to achieve his or her own ends
lacks empathy: is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others
is often envious of others or believes that others are envious of him or her
shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes
Doesn't paint a pretty picture, does it? Yet I guarantee it perfectly describes many people with whom you've interacted online ... especially if your interaction with them takes place exclusively on the Internet. The platform of the Internet and sites that share personal activity on the Web is tailor-made to facilitate NPD.
The Net gives each self-involved individual the opportunity to define, redefine, reinvent, or otherwise package himself to whatever degree he desires. He can claim to be whatever and whomever he aspires to be; he can manipulate the presentation of what he shares to bolster those claims; he can engage in a variety of behaviors (such as trolling or accusing others of trolling) to defend his fantasies and delusions, or to draw attention and criticism from himself.
This is the grand stage of the Internet, the public forum that is all Internet activity. There is very little Internet activity that is genuinely unedited and unscreened. The result is an epidemic of NPD inflicted on every member of every social media site, bulletin board, discussion forum and mailing list.
Schools are merely brainwashing centers. And I, for one, refuse to sacrifice my children on the altar of government indoctrination.
It took me a couple of days to think about this column by Patrice Lewis. I absolutely agree with Patrice in regard to homeschooling. For now, it is the only way to make sure that your kids learn the values you believe in.
However, there is a problem. For many of us, we can not take the time off to homeschool our children. Seriously, many of us can not even take the time off from work for meetings at school with our kids' teachers.
When I was a kid, parents were involved in our education. The PTA (Parents and Teachers Association) was a local organization that was involved in our education. It really did make a difference in how we were taught and what we learned.
Things changed over the last 50 years since I was in public schools. Yes, I believe Patrice is right. Kids are being indoctrinated! But can we stop it? Should public schools be abolished? Should we all be responsible for our kids' education, quit our jobs, and homeschool them all? No, and you and I know that can not happen.
I have a better idea.
We need to shift the reigns of education from a Federal program to a more local plan. Parents need to take more control in education. And as parents, homeschool your kids while they are going to the public schools. Parents, teach your kids when you get home from work. Have dinner together, as a family... We can be teaching our kids the values that you see lacking in the public schools. We can be teaching our kids ANYTHING that we feel the public schools are not doing.
That's right. It is up to the parents, not the schools. Just sayin'...
However, there is something that gives me hope with regards to greater parental control over our children's education. That something – oddly – is the Internet.
Prior to the Internet, most people were only exposed to information through mainstream sources such as newspapers, magazines and television. I hardly need to point out that these mainstream sources are biased toward the liberal/progressive agenda. People were spoon-fed only what the government-approved media wanted them to hear. As my husband points out, it was never the "information" age, it was the "propaganda" age.
But the Internet has changed all that. We are now truly in the "information" age because parents who once thought they were lone voices crying in the wilderness found out they weren't alone. (A common divide-and-conquer tactic for a parent concerned about his child's school agenda is to be told he's the only one to complain.)
As a result of entering the real Information Age, the progressives are furious and helpless to stop the tide of true and honest information flooding Real America.
I got a troll on my blog this week. Although allegedly a "conservative Christian" (though I have my doubts), he indulged in a spate of name-calling about my "barely coherent little articles" and "ridiculous" content (not to mention my horrible "grammer" [sic]) without actually pointing out specific examples of what he found offensive in my writing.
But in one thing he was clear: He took exception to my self-description as a "gun-toting homeschooling" mom by saying I "know little about American history" and that "violence is a part of [my] DNA." He then went on to laud public education. "One of the greatest accomplishments of American [sic] was to create a public school system that enabled all children – all GOD's children – to attend school and to learn from each other – i.e., children from all backgrounds." (Read the entire snark here.)
Actually, I flatter myself that I do have some familiarity with American history, certainly enough to know that a) the Second Amendment was included in the Bill of Rights for a reason, and it wasn't because we all have "violence as part of our DNA"; and b) public education was not included in the Bill of Rights because the education of children was presumed to be a private affair or at most a state issue, not a federal matter.
But times have changed, and thanks to the influence of such (cough) luminaries as John Dewey (the father of our modern educational system), we now view education as strongly – some would argue strictly – a government matter.
I thought Dewey's Marxist leanings were common knowledge, but I guess there are still many people who don't realize Dewey's obsession for public education stemmed from his desire to "socialize" children into state-controlled compliance. "What is important under the Dewey system is not adherence to some universal and absolute standard of the true and the good," notes Gennady Stolyarov in a fascinating essay, "but rather conformity to whatever social standard has been established within a given age group – which is virtually always the dismal lowest common denominator."
The realization that schools are merely indoctrination centers is becoming more obvious as the years go by. Consider the words of Rep. John Sarbanes, D-Md., who said that environmental education in schools can "promote the agenda" of climate change and population growth through the influence it has on children.
Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.) Calls For Schools To ‘Promote The Agenda’ Of Climate Change, Population Limitation
I'm sorry, but you're not going to convince me that public schools are anything but the seat of brainwashing.
Critics accuse me of trying to push my notions of morality on others; but what about when they push their loathsome notions of morality on us? Or more specifically, our children? Why are they surprised when we object?
Homeschooling parents are understandably leery of government involvement in their children's education. In a recent article by MSNBC, reporters concluded that one of the reasons the exact number of homeschoolers in this country is so hard to pinpoint is because of homeschoolers' desire to avoid government involvement – "a sentiment echoed by several researchers and homeschoolers who spoke to TODAYshow.com." No duh.
In a superb article called "Get the State Out of Education," David Warren writes, "The state has no business in the minds of the nation." He also writes:
"The notion that 'education is too important to be left to chance' is so universally accepted, that the public at large is capable of overlooking universal failure. Our state schools, which were (contrary to myth) never all that good, have degenerated into dysfunctional propaganda mills."
"We easily accept the associated notion that 'in a democracy, public schooling is necessary to assure minimum standards for citizenship.' That schools should provide the machinery for the indoctrination of the masses follows naturally from this. … And remember … all 'progressive' educational proposals require political compulsion." [Emphasis added]
"We could hardly do worse, than achieve this state in which a child homeschooled in the most derelict family may emerge into adulthood in better moral and intellectual condition than the child criminalized by his peers in the perpetual day care."
The notion that public education should be eliminated in favor of parent-chosen educational options is too radical to be done easily. The government propaganda machine is too strong and the notion is routinely ridiculed, since progressives refuse to recognize the depth to which public "education" has sunk. But if a bunch of uneducated yokels called parents can produce a homeschooled crop of children that routinely beat the pants off public school kids in all standardized tests, then perhaps it's a notion whose time has come.
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