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Beware of ‘the Productive Narcissist’

Here are a few concepts that informed citizens will want to be familiar with as we navigate the next few years. Awareness of these concepts will help us interpret the actions of political leaders and the government policies they promote.

Kleptocracy: a government in which rulers use their power to exploit the people and the natural resources of their own territory in order to increase their own personal wealth and political power.

Privatization: a situation in which a public service is taken over by a for-profit business that holds profit as its highest goal.

We’ve already seen this concept in action with private ownership of prisons and hospitals and fire departments. We’re now hearing pressure to increase its application to schools, the Veterans Administration, Social Security, and Medicare.

Narcissistic Personality: a category of personality disorder that is characterized by preoccupation with admiration and entitlement, a tendency to speak of oneself in boastful and exaggerated terms, and a pattern of feeling justified to punish those who do not show the expected inflated level of respect, admiration, attention or obedience.

This personality disorder is common enough that you probably have run into it and its effects in work or family settings.

In a column published in The Marietta Times (Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2016), Star Parker identified Donald Trump as a “productive narcissist” but cautioned the public about the negative characteristics of the narcissistic personality: oversensitivity to criticism, unwillingness to listen to others, untruthfulness, hair-trigger anger, grandiosity, and paranoia. Trump, himself, cited Michael Maccoby’s book The Productive Narcissist in one of his own books.

Uproar: a situation in which people are upset, angry, disturbed, in turmoil.

When the narcissistic personality does not think he is the center of attention, he feels entitled to create a scene or uproar to regain that attention. If you are feeling agitated and uncertain these days, notice how the reports of overnight twitters, contradictory claims, and exaggerated, baseless proclamations are jerking you around. Uncertainty is the playground of the narcissist.

Martha McGovern

Williamstown

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