[LJ Idol, Season 8-4] "What does narcissism have to do with me?"
This week, Gary asks of us "What does narcissism have to do with me?" Oh Gary, Gary, Gary. What a silly question. This is LJ Idol. EVERYTHING has to do with you! There you stand, creator and lord of your realm, and we come running season after season to worship you in your way. Every day we wait with eager anticipation for your every word, celebrating when we get the chance to be first to respond to each day's communication. We live and die in your world by your hand, with a little help from the polls, organized and divvied out by you! What could be more narcissistic than that!
Well, let's take a look at that. Is it narcissistic if the world really DOES revolve around you? Wikipedia (cause that's always right, right?) says narcissism is characterized by a lack of empathy, a willingness to exploit others, and an inflated sense of self-importance. So does it fit?
1) An inflated sense of self-importance. From Idol's point of view, the very world exists and time marches because of you. We are all here because of you. How could anyone over-inflate the importance of the reason we exist? I hear people already saying "But it's the participants that are important, without them there wouldn't be Idol!" That is true to a point, but without you, Gary, it wouldn't be Idol. Compared to that, no one writer is all that important. We throw the winner out every season and things still work! Point one, in my opinion, is not met.
2) A willingness to exploit others. Uh oh. Fake eliminations, fake intersections, tossing us rewards to fight over so we can affect each others existences in his world. You pull our strings and watch us dance like the little puppets we are! But here's the catch. Just like on Survivor, we've seen the show already, seven seasons of it! Everyone knows that you are evil and will torture and torment us for months and months! Even knowing that, we gladly sign up, pick up our straight jacket, and come running. Is it exploiting when we welcome it and volunteer time and again for it? I don't think it is, so again you get a pass.
3) A lack of empathy. Ten out of ten hippies polled said you're a right bastard with a godlike soccer kick.
Sooo, I guess two out of three isn't bad? The original question you asked was "What does narcissism have to do with me?" I think, even though everything has to do with you, narcissism has nothing to do with you. Just don't ask the hippies.