Comments | imomus: What's not to self-love?

imomus

What's not to self-love?

Feb 07, 2010 12:44

Am I a narcissist? The question itself is self-indulgent and self-absorbed, but I can't help asking it. Maybe my six years demanding your daily attention here at Click Opera have been nothing but "digital narcissism", a daily seduction, an attempt to put myself at the centre of the world, to spin myself into every story, to make myself the ( Read more... )

Comments 52

Vanity anonymous February 7 2010, 12:01:01 UTC

Both Stuart Goddard and Prince (I think) had affairs with Vanity.

I mean, the singer Vanity, not the concept:

( ... )

Re: Vanity imomus February 7 2010, 12:24:25 UTC

I think Back's findings -- at least as reported on PsyBlog -- have a suspiciously teleological narrative structure. Having established the narcissist as a charming and impressive cad, this narrative (and Back maps it explicitly to the narrative in Reality TV shows, when the initially-interesting get voted out in the end) gives us normal folk a satisfying comeuppance in the form of "eventual shunning". It's the classic structure of Greek tragedy, in fact: hubris followed by nemesis.

Is life like that? I'm not so sure. To the hubris-nemesis structure I'd counter with a more realistic idea from The Bible: the wicked flourish like the green bay tree.

(The comment has been removed)

imomus February 7 2010, 12:28:13 UTC

THREE MORE POSTS BEFORE THE BIG SLEEP!

anonymous February 7 2010, 13:52:08 UTC

I would like to see a book compiling click opera's most interesting posts. Have you thought about that?

imomus February 7 2010, 14:00:16 UTC

I'd love that. Publishers?

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most_ghost February 7 2010, 13:42:20 UTC

Have you seen chatroulette >>> the random video chat website. It's kind of mind blowing/disgusting.

imomus February 7 2010, 13:59:24 UTC

Ha, it would be funny if I chucked in Click Opera to become a camwhore on Chatroulette!

No, I don't think so.

microworlds February 7 2010, 18:16:52 UTC

DO IT MOMUS I WOULD DIE LAUGHING IF I GOT YOU AS MY STRANGER THEN IT WOULD BE EASIER TO DISPOSE OF ME AS AN ADMIRER WITH YOUR NARCISSISM

anonymous February 7 2010, 14:03:53 UTC

Tho i have just came across your blog yesterday i have viewed almost every post i think i could in a day looking at it for hours i really enjoy your outlook and you are a very interesting person by far.

-Brian
www.seeyouinsleep.com/blog

anonymous February 7 2010, 14:17:32 UTC

I find your narcissism quite boring, to be honest. I don't tend to spend long on the posts where you're just endlessly spewing out pictures of yourself. I much prefer it when you're talking about something other than yourself, because you have some interesting ideas about the world.

imomus February 7 2010, 14:32:13 UTC

Oh, I quite agree! I also hate it when other males show pictures of themselves on their blogs. But my attitude is reversed if it's a female. Then I want them to be complete camwhores. So then I question the sexism built into that -- men encouraged to show their knowledge / control of the world, women encouraged to show their personal attractiveness -- and decide to deconstruct it. Which brings me back to posting pictures of myself.

anonymous February 7 2010, 14:58:33 UTC

Conversely, however, you could be highlighting the flaw of narcissism. You don't want to "be a blogger at 50" but for writing centred on "knowledge/control of the world" it would make no difference what age that writer was. Your disappearance could be a reminder that "blogger" is best detatched, unlinked with self-lover / flirter / social-networker, or any element of wanting people to admire you.

imomus February 7 2010, 15:10:27 UTC

Yes, but I'm very suspicious of the idea of disembodied, disinterested knowledge. This is an arts / sciences divide, CP Snow's "two cultures". You can see the rift in this entry, where I berate psychologists for their criticisms of narcissists, and imply that this is a form of narcissism in itself (love me for my disinteredness, baby!). That's an arts type looking at a science type and seeing his own motivations concealed beneath a carapace of "objectivity".

The kind of blogging I do has to be based in personal obsession, in spats and rivalry, in a kind of light, oblique but perpetual autobiography. There has to be a subject for all this data to make any sort of situated sense, and that subject has to be seen to have a body, clothes, a way to wear those clothes, and so on. As soon as I get tugged out of that embodied, situated world I get bored and anxious and mistrustful. I want to know always who's speaking, how old they are, what culture they were raised in, what their vested interests are, and so on. I do think pictures supply ( ... )

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