Thursday, April 23, 2009

The Narcissism Epidemic

In this Newsweek article, writer Raina Kelley mentions a new book, The Narcissism Epidemic, and reflects on how societal forces have caused today's young people to become self-centered far beyond having healthy self-esteem. An issue I have with this article is that Newsweek seems to be using this article to appeal to narcissists looking to identify with other narcissists: 1) they include photographs of young people partying recklessly, looking in mirrors, etc. that don't portray the people in a negative way and 2) the writer seems to use the mention of the book as a jumping-off to discuss how her own life experiences have cured her of narcissism... (This may have just been a symptom of the fact that the article was not centered around a tight thesis.) Despite this, the article is worth reading because it brings up good points about how it is good for young people to be taught humility. Society should say "no" to us and give us grades lower than B's every once in a while.

Isn't it a good thing that even Newsweek recognizes that it is important to remind me that it's not all about me? ;)

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