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Paul M Sotkiewicz's avatar

Malignant narcissists never feel shame despite their underlying insecurities. Having seen this first hand among executives in the workplace, it is absolutely toxic. Rather than feel shame, they deflect and project on to those who tell them they are behaving badly. These people get a high out of this! They get a high out of abusing those who allow it! But what they hate is being called out, being forced to look in the mirror. How do you know you have gotten to them? They double down on their abuse and attacks. Their vitriol increases. Their statements and views become increasingly unhinged from anything resembling reality. At this point what it takes are strong people who say enough is enough and gains a critical mass to ostracize of strip the malignant narcissist of any power to control others. This is exactly what happened to McCarthy. He basically was self destructing, and all Welch did was deliver the blow that ostracized him. But the act of self-destruction can entail much collateral damage if it is not addressed early enough. And that collateral damage can last for years.

The problem today with gerrymandering and self selection/separation is that the methods of confronting these narcissistic politicians is now gone. They have no consequences for self-destructing because they can simply ignore those who oppose them as they will always have their power base and groups they can abuse from afar.

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John G. Ata's avatar

Alas, shame needs two sides to be effective. Yes, we have people with no shame. But it needs some amount of public acquiescence to be effective. Where is the public’s insistence on upholding virtue instead of celebrating vice?

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