Shouldn't Millennials (including progressives) love Trump for his Narcissism?

When more and more of today's youth the past several decades have been emerging increasingly narcissistic, it's kind of a surprise that Trump isn't totally obsessed (with admiration) over by essentially all the young people.

Millennials Believe They Are the Most Narcissistic Generation
A new study has found that “millennials” (adults born between 1980 and 1994) consider their own generation to be the most narcissistic ever. Older generations agree with this assessment, but go even further to say that the millennials’ levels of narcissism are even greater than what millennials will admit, according to the new findings based on a series of studies led by Joshua Grubbs, a doctoral candidate in clinical psychology at Case Western Reserve University.

“Millennials and older generations agree that millennials are the most narcissistic,” Grubbs said. “They just disagree to the extent of the narcissism.”

Who could deny it? I argue it is something in all of us, everybody, to one degree or another. It's part of our ego-evolution. It's inherent to our survival instinct.

That is, we have a biological situation where it's essentially inevitable... when under the right developmental social/psychology conditions an effectively inherent outcome of most individuals becoming narcissistic.

And that's exactly the 'world' most of us reading this find ourselves in.

I, narcissist – vanity, social media, and the human condition
The numbers alone tell a powerful story of self-obsessions. More than 80m photographs uploaded to Instagram every day, more than 3.5bn ‘likes’ every day, and some 1.4bn people - 20% of the world’s population - publishing details of their lives on Facebook.

Is social media turning a relatively modest species into a pack of publicity-hungry narcissists? Or were we already inherently self-absorbed?

In the US, diagnoses of narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) have risen sharply over the past 10 years: the rate of increase is comparable to the rise in the rate of obesity.

What I find in this election is 'everybody' is obsessing over Donald Trump, where who could argue he isn't drawing a love him OR hate him outcome.

Perhaps this is an unspoken metric in this 'measuring' if we're all becoming more and more narcissistic as a people.

Of course politics do play a huge role in all of this ordeal.

But then again maybe many people who 'love' him aren't afraid to identify with his narcissism, while his 'haters' can't stand seeing in him what they are themselves.

You tell me...

a reply to: IgnoranceIsntBlisss

While not a millennial, I love Trump despite putting others before me(usually).

a reply to: IgnoranceIsntBlisss

Older generations agree with this assessment, but go even further to say that the millennials’ levels of narcissism are even greater than what millennials will admit

Roger that. Narcissists hate it when you call them that. Their whole over inflated image depends on others, any criticism is considered a personal attack.

Narcissists don't like other narcissists.

Too much competition for everyone else's attention.

It feels so good to be insulted just for being born in a certain year, yay!

Sorry for choosing to be born millennial old timers, if I ever get the chance I won't make the same mistake again.

Gen X definately not millenium. Sure he's a narcissistic show off at times, but 'key word here' He gets the job done!

I think that's more important than anything right now. He's a pretty giving guy too, i made a thread on it somewhere around here.

I say give him a shot at it, i mean who's left? The establishment bullies and people who like to blow up entire countries?

I'd Definately Vote Trump!

originally posted by: Indigent
It feels so good to be insulted just for being born in a certain year, yay!

Sorry for choosing to be born millennial old timers, if I ever get the chance I won't make the same mistake again.

As you should be!

Just kidding lol

That's painting a whole generation of people with a pretty wide brush. Sounds like the author might be a closet generationists, a real generationalphobe.

a reply to: intrptr

Narcissism doesn't inherently mean having an over-inflated ego. Not the way I'm trying to describe it in this innate context.

But when 'everybody' becomes higher order narcissistic, where not everybody can have the actual substance to warrant such a notion, then yeah that's when people get all thin skinned and "trigger unhappy".

I argue the neural underpinnings involved in the 'root' of narcissism make the subject a complicated one.

I simply couldn't imagine a person that NEVER stokes their own ego. Maybe some form of monk, or at least they tell themselves that. Maybe it could be achieved with drugs, but I'm even doubtful of that.

But like anything, like everything, it's a spectrum. In this case, like most any other in psychology, it can develop into a "personality disorder" (for many, anyways, that dont deal with it right).

Narcissism [basic broad defintions]:
excessive or erotic interest in oneself and one's physical appearance; extreme selfishness; a grandiose view of one's own talents; a craving for admiration; self-centeredness; the pursuit of gratification from vanity or egotistic admiration of one's own attributes; an inflated sense of ones own importance;
synonyms: vanity, self-love, self-admiration, self-absorption, self-obsession, conceit, self-centeredness, self-regard, egotism, egoism

I wouldn't dare say none of any of that ever applies to me, or at least doesn't in outward appearance.

While to ever be a truly great person, that is smart enough to know it, I doubt it's possible to not show any such characteristics ever if you're a real person. If you're an actor well that's another story.

And of course career politicians, whom are the worst kind of celebrities, they're actors just the same as most typical celebrities.

Maybe Trump isn't an actor, for a change.

I know for me, my own version of 'narcissism' (which I argue we ALL have our own version of it), I use it to drive my own ambitions to live up to having just cause for such an idea.

The problem today, with these kids each year more and more of them like this, they take it for granted like refrigerators and smart phones. Where when it is so hollow, not achieved, it leads to the worst kind of people. The kind that resort to evangelical Identity Politics agendas to "prove" they really are SPECIAL. When that becomes the majority, we're in uncharted territory as a species....

Surely this will be my most popular thread ever! LOL!

We all want change, for that we will ALL have to look inside ourselves, and be honest (at least with ourselves), to be able to grow.

We've ALL emerged from this most bizarre and dark many overlapping generations run of a social engineering experiment. One that is specifically the design of the enemy of us all.

We're ALL "nuts"! But not all in a good way. Know thyself! Find your own faults and figure out how to tame them into positive results. We all have to learn to live together, where banding into tribal mentality herds isnt actual progress. Our species depends on this, this Century. We all learn to be able to be individuals who CAN compromise, or we will all die together this century. Period.

What I do think is he should be more popular amongst blacks.

If you don't like stereotypes, don't read further....

but blacks love egos, love stars, love showboating, love flaunting success, love alpha males, it's part of their culture, whether the rap scene or sports, they glorify success, money, being top dog, rising to the top, beautiful women, all the fine things in life, etc. Many of them are also extremely non-PC and just say what's on their mind.

Black culture is alpha culture, full of style, showboating, bragging about success under capitalism.

It's somewhat insane more blacks don't see they have far more in common with conservatives.

a reply to: IgnoranceIsntBlisss

I argue the neural underpinnings involved in the 'root' of narcissism make the subject a complicated one.

I simply couldn't imagine a person that NEVER stokes their own ego. Maybe some form of monk, or at least they tell themselves that

Big difference between healthy self esteem, and over inflated self image. People that live with a narcissist understand. Nothing about you matters to one except how you help, serve, honor them.

Its called narcissistic supply, has a lot of links if you google that. Heres one tldr if you have the time...

Why the Narcissist Has to Frenetically Avoid Self

The narcissist’s inclination towards addiction is horrific. All addicts have a reduced threshold to self-soothe – meaning to be with self to process emotional disruption and insecurities.

The ability to self-soothe requires emotional maturity and an “inner solidness,” which is reliant on healthy emotional development. Emotional intelligence is granted from healthy role models as a child, or self-created purposefully as result of inner emotional resolution and development work as an adult.

The narcissist is emotionally stunted – somewhere between the age of 3-7 years of age. Even though he or she may even be mentally brilliant in certain aspects, emotionally he or she is severely immature and has never developed. At a young age the narcissist “killed off” his or her inner self, deciding it was unacceptable and unable to get needs met, and developed a False Self replacement.

This False Self, because it is a false self is not real, authentic or stable. It is a childish fictitious character ever reliant on outside approval or attention. Because it is childish it is dependent, precarious and easily emotionally triggered. It does not possess the mature integrity of love, truth or loyalty.

Link

(emphasis added)

originally posted by: IgnoranceIsntBlisss
Surely this will be my most popular thread ever! LOL!

I doubt that, mine is much more popular than your thread (i jest you not) 'laffs'

Update: no wait, it's a tie!

a reply to: intrptr

I've known narcissists before to my own misfortune, there's only one to deal with them. Run the other way and keep running.

I'll name the things that won't get listed. Old people are going to blame social media, electronics, etc.

reduction of civil institutions/community during childhood, The first children raised by a lot percentage of single mothers. Everything deemed too dangerous by media thus by parents, like hanging out in the neighborhood.
excessive materialism by parents which lead to the same by children
grandparents instead of seeing their grandchildren often, or being under the same household, are now too busy during retirement to take johnny fishing and sally to the arts show.

Law punishments for teenage deviant behavior increased dramatically from the days of parents of grandparents.

Recently on news "teenager driving accidents up"
Grandpa: Darn kids are too busy are their darn phones not paying attention.
ME: Umm you and my father talk about the times everyone had drag races down blank hwy. And I hear the stories about how you guys would booze cruise down main street, and if the cops pulled you over they dumped out your beer and told you to get out of town.
Grandpa: well those were different times.

originally posted by: IgnoranceIsntBlisss
a reply to: intrptr

Narcissism doesn't inherently mean having an over-inflated ego. Not the way I'm trying to describe it in this innate context.

It often means this in relation to studies.

Besides that though, it doesn't actually mean NPD as in the personality disorder in studies. They just have people self report, and even then the data is messy. We live in a world where you're taught from being a teenager that you have to sell-sell-sell your personal brand then we get surprised when you end up with a group of sales people. What gives?

The problem today, with these kids each year more and more of them like this, they take it for granted like refrigerators and smart phones. Where when it is so hollow, not achieved, it leads to the worst kind of people. The kind that resort to evangelical Identity Politics agendas to "prove" they really are SPECIAL. When that becomes the majority, we're in uncharted territory as a species....

I'd ask is this really the problem with anything?

I actually want to know. I simply don't see a connection between phones and fridges (which are near requirements for modern life now) and identity politics. Guess what all my conservative friends who hate identity politics have? Phones and freaking fridges.

I think this study is garbage. I'm 48 years old, I work with a whole bunch of "millennial" folks and they're all fine people.

And this: "“Millennials and older generations agree that millennials are the most narcissistic,” Grubbs said. “They just disagree to the extent of the narcissism.”"

Asking a bunch of people what they think about a subject is a poor excuse for science. You could probably have asked any generation from the 20th century the same questions and received the same answers.

Sigh. Millennials, boomers, generation X. Left and right.

Doesn't anyone tire of applying these stupid labels to ourselves?

You can't classify people this way, it's not that simple.

Divide and conquer.

a reply to: IgnoranceIsntBlisss

Just goes to show you don't understand much about most Millennials.

As for this:

while his 'haters' can't stand seeing in him what they are themselves

Is that seriously your conclusion? You really don't understand that his "haters" might not like him because of his policy proposals and petty comments against Mexicans, women, immigrants, & Muslims? Or his proposals to kill the families of suspected terrorists, ban abortions, bring back the Bush-era torture techniques like waterboarding? Or his hypocrisy about creating jobs in America while making his own products overseas; his call for a foreign govt to hack American operations; or his widespread support from actual white supremacists? Or his idea to obliterate everything in ISIS-held lands then send in the big oil companies to take the oil (which is Syrian and Iraqi govt oil, for the record).

And of course, maybe we don't want him to be responsible for the next wave of Supreme Court nominees or to have control over the FBI, CIA, NSA, every other alphabet agency, or the nuclear codes. But I guess we're supposed to pretend that none of this exists, and that we must support or reject him because of narcissism. (facepalm)

a reply to: jellyrev

Grandpa: Darn kids are too busy are their darn phones not paying attention. ME: Umm you and my father talk about the times everyone had drag races down blank hwy. And I hear the stories about how you guys would booze cruise down main street, and if the cops pulled you over they dumped out your beer and told you to get out of town.

Ahh , the good old days. But even under those circumstances we still had "common sense" . Something sadly lacking today.

Ah the good old but but but the next generation is so insert insult here.

Simple answer there too smart to vote for trump.