Enough About You, Let’s Talk About Me
Though tragic, Gigi Wu’s 15 minutes of fame are over. Unfortunately, her story is not that unusual since we regularly read about some ‘adventurer’ whose exploits went horribly wrong. For some reason, the media generally mourns the passing of these individuals as if their exploits were the leading edge of human existence. We can think of many people whose personal pursuits wound up as unfortunate misadventures:
Recently, a young missionary, John Allen Chau went to North Sentinel Island, an isolated place in the Indian Ocean populated by savage cannibals. Despite warnings from his fellow religious friends that he would be killed by cannibals, he went…and he was. There have been various BASE jumpers and flying suit daredevils who have plunged to their deaths while leaping off high structures. Numerous people over the years have tried to climb Mt. Everest but froze to death in their pursuit of the summit.
It can be debated as to whether smart decisions were made in many of these cases, but we can all appreciate that all individuals have some kind of inner conviction that they needed to address. We could never denigrate exploring the boundaries of the human spirit. The death of Miss Wu is tragic, but especially so because there were no boundaries of human existence being pushed. She was a victim of the rampant cult of narcissism that has taken hold of people the world over.
Younger people, but especially a disproportionate number of girls, have fallen prey to the cult of narcissism gripping (mainly) Western society. A half dozen years ago, the now ubiquitous device known as a selfie stick didn’t even exist, whereas these days, they are as common as smudges on smart phones. With the inexplicable popularity of the Kardashians, the need to have coquettish images of oneself is like an out of control virus in society. Girls of course are not alone in their self preening. Boys do it as well, but it’s preening nonetheless, only in a different way. Some may recall the “Jackass” movie phenomenon from a few years ago when boys were publicizing stunts that conspicuously threatened life, limb and often the octave of their voices. The ultimate exponent of narcissism must be Oprah Winfrey, whose eponymously labelled magazine, “O” is all Oprah, every issue, every magazine cover. You couldn’t make this up.
The mainstreaming of You-Tube videos, Facebook and Twitter have only encouraged the fame seeking narcissism that has exploded over the past decade. Technology has unleashed into society, both exhibitionists and voyeurs on a scale never seen in history. Unfortunately, the very large majority of this is hardly time capsule stuff. It’s mostly ephemeral drivel that fuels the smart phone business. If rampant vacuity were the only consequence of this phase of culture, we could probably accept that. Unfortunately it is not.
Narcissism (and its closely related cousin, tribalism) is at the root of much of the malaise that has affected the functioning of modern society. We can blame some of this on Fred Rogers, late of the Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood childrens’ show fame. Some may recall that his most poignant message repeated at the end of every episode was that ‘you are special, there’s no one else like you’. A powerful and compelling message of self esteem for children at an impressionable age to be sure, but it seems to have morphed into a grotesque manifestation of ‘me me me-ism’ as the kids became adults. Now that message has been taken to heart by an entire generation resulting in people supporting narratives that are not well thought out, are grossly erroneous, or of no use at all, other than that they like them.
This narcissism has become its own justification for imposing these views upon others, compelling them to have the same held views or be otherwise ostracized. Given enough exposure, popularity takes the place of fact. We see this expressed in politics with increasing frequency. Without the guardrails of logic or sanity as barriers, all kinds of obtuse views are given validation because to oppose them would be parochial fuddy-duddyness and a denial of individualism. The consequence is what you see today; utterances by people at all levels of influence unrestrained from voicing even the most naked stupidity. There’s even a label now for this disorder, Absent Occipital Cortex syndrome or AOC, coincidently the initials of the new congresswoman from New York, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
We see people championing views held by an inconsequential minority as if they were the interests of the majority. We see views expressed, without reservation or shame, that are diametrically at odds to an established stable society or even to logic and common sense. I can tell you that these people aren’t the oracles of society…they are the barnacles.