Narcissism in Young People

NEW NARCISSISM Assignment A 1. Narcissism is a notion, which describes the trait to have an exaggerated feeling of self-esteem, based on the person’s ego. A person who “suffers” from Narcissism feels a demand for being treated better than others. The person is very busy concerning wealth and fame, and considers himself as a person who naturally has to be in the centre of everything. An example of a person who suffers from Narcissism is a boy from Bumfuck, Tennessee called Chris Crocker. He became famous from one day to another, only by uploading a film on the internet. In this film he cries and screams “leave Britney alone! , because he believes that people have been too hard on her and don’t think of what she has been through. The strange thing is that he has filmed all this and even, vain enough, uploaded it on YouTube. Maybe Chris Crocker didn’t do all this only to express his strong opinion, but also to become famous. Because already two weeks after the uploading he talks in an interview about hiring a bodyguard. You can definitely say that Chris Crocker lives up to the idea of Narcissism. He is definitely busy concerning fame and he finds it obviously natural that everyone wants to hear his opinion of Britney Spears’s situation. But don’t we want that?

The film has been watched nearly 40 million times, and this proves that we actually want to see and hear his opinion, but also that we, as society lets people as Chris Crocker become famous, despite their lack of talent. Our acceptation of this vain behavior is definitely caused by the phenomenon: NEW NARCISSISM: It all begun with the myth from Greek culture, which is the story behind the notion Narcissism. The myth tells us about the handsome youth Narcissus, who is obsessed with his own beauty. The myth tells that the Gods punish him, by letting him fall hopelessly in love with his own reflection, which he sees in the water of the lake.

He turns mad and develops a desire to maltreat his beautiful body. Many years later Freud reviews the notion, and was the first to use it in connection with psychiatry. Soon afterward people recognized narcissism as a medical condition with the symptoms of vanity, self-importance and egotism. A narcissist is described as a man who, if he was given the choice to bring one effect to a desert island, would choose a mirror. 100 years after Sigmund Freud, the social critic Christopher Lasch relates narcissism to society. He maintains that society reproduces its culture and the ego is a mirror of this culture.

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Lasch uses fashion to describe narcissism, by explaining that it has existed for a very long time. The Victorian dandies, who tried to imitate aristocratic values, in the same way as the New Romantics reflected the materialism of Thatcher’s Britain. Lasch tells us that narcissism has developed so that it isn’t only elitist followers of fashion, but also middle class men in their early forties, who submit to surgical operations, especially penis extensions. How vain can you be! As Nacissus did in the myth, people maltreat their bodies by surgical operations.

But in the typical spirit of narcissism, the doctor Viel says that these operations do nothing but help people’s self-esteem. The new narcissists are not only obsessed with their looks, now they also want immediate stardom. A fine example of this is the X-Factor audition, where more than 150. 000 people were ready to be humiliated in front of many million people. As we see for ourselves on TV Friday nights: more than 80% are classic narcissists and convinced that they deserve success, even though they can neither sing nor perform.

When the narcissists can’t get famous because of their lack of talent, they use the internet to get attention, as Chris Crocker did, believing that people want to read their everyday doings. The narcissists use the internet to promote themselves, by showing their private snaps, blocking about themselves and attempting to interest people in their badly demos. On the internet they have the opportunity to talk about themselves all the time, without anyone interrupting them. Facebook, MySpace and the other blocking sites are simply the dream world of every narcissist.

Christopher Lacsh believes that the internet, apart from being a site to promote yourself, also offers a feeling of solidarity and even a substitute family. The author Andrew Keen says about this that it’s even damaging for the social cohesion. The internet lumps all people together, in other words: tars with the same brush. You can compare it with the story of Chris Crocker. A few years ago he would have been described as a freak, but nowadays the attention-seeking freak is famous. This is due to the fact that he merely reflects society and its culture.

In short narcissism has developed from ‘just’ being synonymous with a medical condition where the patient has an exaggerated feeling of self-esteem. Now it’s called new narcissism and has changed from being self-absorbed to focusing on fame, wealth and perfection. The new narcissists see themselves as exceptional and set unrealistic goals for their future, but especially for their looks. Therefore the expression new narcissism means that people today are willing to do anything to achieve fame, attention and wealth for their own benefit, even though it’s only “15 minutes of fame” (Andy Warhol) . . “Student narcissism on the rise” (text 2) has the same message as “Me, Me, Me,” (text 1), that the young people are more narcissistic than ever before. Janice McDuffie partly blames the parents for being too soft on their children: protect them from the real, tough world, which causes the children to believe they are allowed only to be thinking about themselves. This makes them too optimistic and confident about their futures, which doesn’t commit them enough in the process of education and social needs.

McDuffie believes it can be dangerous in the long run, if the young continue their narcissism. ”Do today's young people really think they are so extraordinary? ” (text 3) says, unlike the other two articles, that there has not been any significant change in the student’s attitude towards themselves. Jimmy Carter supports his statement with a research from a university in Western Ontario where they were unable to show any increase in the narcissism of today's youth, compared to earlier studies, and therefore disproving the term ”generation me”.

The two texts couldn’t have said anything more different. Text 2: “Student narcissism on the rise” says that today’s youth are more narcissistic than ever before, whereas text 3: ”Do today's young people really think they are so extraordinary? ”, says the totally opposite and maintains that the students today haven’t been more narcissistic than their predecessors. But both texts are supported by scientific studies, which only make it more difficult for the reader to find out which is correct.

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