Narcissism as a Privilege, Not a Right, and the Cult of Celebrity

Some time ago I had occasion to write about "narcissism." What seemed to me to distinguish narcissism from milder forms of selfishness and self-absorption is that the narcissist does not only put themselves first, but expects others to put them first as well at all times.

This is, of course, an unreasonable attitude for anyone to take toward others. However, as with much that is unreasonable in this endlessly moralizing society we live in with its double and triple and quintuple standards, it is treated as perfectly acceptable in those of high status, whose narcissism is given free rein, while any self-love at all in the less privileged might be unfairly accused of being narcissism of this kind.

As I have remarked, we see narcissism indulged in this way in royalty--every stupid detail of their life given breathless treatment by an unhinged media which treats anyone who finds this foolish as a low and unworthy person, and by no means in just those particular royals' countries. (As Joseph Scalice quipped, Elizabeth Windsor was monarch of Britain, "[b]ut anyone watching TV or reading a newspaper could be forgiven for thinking she was . . . queen of the world" from the attention accorded her in the United States.)

However, there are other sorts of "royalty," as figures from the entertainment world, for example, never cease to remind us. ("I'm still the King!" rants one unhinged example of the type on the track "King" from his latest album.) Their insanity may be less widely and deeply supported than that of crowned heads of state--but it nonetheless finds a measure of backing such as would be inconceivable for even far slighter self-assertion on the part of a "nobody." And in that, I suppose, one can find a measure by which to judge whether or not a person who has for some reason or other ceased to be obscure can really be regarded as a celebrity--the extent to which the media Establishment is prepared to indulge, even to promote, insane narcissism on their part.