Week 2

Quite by coincidence, I happened across a general interest website that concerned psychological conditions. It hosts a variety of short, simple articles about psych buzzwords. This is not a rabbithole I'd ordinarily want to enter, and the leading questions posed by the articles only increased my trepidation ("Is Narcissism the New Norm?"). However, there is a degree of nuance to their coverage of narcissism, in both its 'normal' and pathological versions. This article delineates the difference between normal and pathological narcissism, noting that normal narcissism is just the healthy attention-seeking all human beings perform. The hot button topics, like selfies and social media, are dismissed as corrupting influences.

Likewise, this one, about parents' overvaluation of their children, would seem to provide fodder to boomer scorn of 'participation trophies,' 'snowflakes,' and other generational stereotypes. But closer reading suggests almost the opposite: it's okay to see yourself on the same plane as others, and dangerous to feel superior. From this framing, it's hyper-competitiveness and privilege that fosters narcissism, not inclusion/'coddling.' I was also interested in the observation that warmth produces high self-esteem, while narcissism is detached from it.

A recurring theme in these articles is that pathological narcissism is a way of protecting abnormally low self-esteem. The lay perception of narcissism is that narcissists genuinely believe they're superhuman, belonging to a higher echelon of humanity than their worthless fellows. But to believe this about narcissists cedes ground to their illusions. Narcissists are very fragile, and they will melt down spectacularly at even the smallest displays of defiance. These explosions are defensive and reactive in nature, used to avoid self-reflection and force submission by the offending party. While they may be able to feel some empathy, it's highly conditional, and trying to get acknowledgment from a narcissist can be draining to the extreme.

(Especially if you're a woman, and the narcissist is a man).

Note that the synthesis I'm attempting here is not exactly scientific, nor have I carefully vetted the articles. I'm speaking from a mix of personal experience and educational/professional experience in Applied Behavior Analysis. I'm trying not to overstep the limits of my knowledge and make baseless generalizations.

Moving on:

Jed Dietz founded the Maryland Film Festival 20 years ago and has served as its Executive Director ever since. Yesterday he announced his retirement. A "nationwide" search to replace him will soon begin. From my street-level view, it seems like Dietz deserves a good deal of credit for building up the MDFF and spearheading the Parkway Theatre's revitalization. I can't imagine life as a cinephile in Baltimore without them. At the same time, I don't know everything that's gone on behind the scenes in that time -- though I've heard some faint whispers. I also don't know much about Sandra Gibson, who will serve as the Interim Director starting November 1. According to the MDFF's announcement, she "became intimately familiar with the Maryland Film Festival through her work on our Strategic Plan as part of our collaboration with DeVos Institute of Arts Management." ...See any familiar names? I wonder where that money trail leads.

The Korean War may finally end.

Brexit masochism reaching its fullest expression. Richard Seymour weighs in.

More on England, and the whole Western crisis of legitimacy. In tweeting this article, Dan Hancox adds that the centrist era is hardly a lost utopia, citing the Seattle WTO protests as one among many ferocious disputes.

I've felt for a while now that China has its own Internet already. Google ex-CEO Eric Schmidt suggests as much here. (Though, of course, his use of 'freedom' should be taken to mean 'gameable by right-wing media/advertising companies.')

Another piece of the infinite puzzle that is US global hegemony.

I don't even know what to say. I despise Abe, and nothing in all these years of power has seriously threatened his position. It's clear that there's a strong conservative bloc in Japan, and that whatever left factions remain are facing a formidable enemy. If Japan renounces pacifism -- as Abe keeps hinting -- the shadow of Imperial fascism will haunt East Asian relations to an even greater, possibly unmanageable degree. What a nightmare.

In a similar vein: Narendra Modi's worried me for a while, and it appears the seeds he's planted are growing roots. (Surely some of this is just alarmism about young people, but even granting that, which parts aren't? It remains to be seen.)

An excellent post from a truly great thinker. I've grown annoyed with simplistic debates over poptimism, but something is changing, and we're already navigating this rocky terrain. How do we treat corporate products boasting of superficial diversity? How much of this is earnestly clueless liberalism, and how much is cynical PR pandering? And how to defend intersectionality from the people who see potential for profit in it?

Last for now, and pertinent to the above: this podcast interview with Nancy Fraser highlights a lot of complex questions. In reintegrating domestic, socially reproductive labor with its masculinized + waged counterpart, Fraser takes what she calls an 'expanded view' of capitalism's more recent mutations. This is my first real encounter with her, and though I'm only halfway through the interview, I like what I hear so far. Her wikipedia page suggests she's been a sharp critic of 'identity politics,' which...does concern me a little. But I'll definitely be looking to engage her frameworks further, hopefully in book form.