Look, we all do it. We hurl about terms like psychopath and narcissist with reckless abandon and almost always without fully understanding the nature of the terms and the subtlety and nuance that goes into a clinical diagnosis.
Former PM Kevin Rudd was labelled “a psychopath” by former MP Steve Gibbons, and “a psychopathic narcissist” by former NSW premier Kristina Keneally. Peter Garrett ratcheted it up a notch by calling Rudd “a megalomaniac”. And that’s just the diagnoses from within Rudd’s own party. Why, the man must be a veritable walking copy of the psychiatric bible, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
It is arguably true that Canberra is a magnet for narcissists of various stripes. In fact, anyone who wants to get into the caper knows that getting elected to parliament involves a bevy of posters featuring their name and smiling face being nailed to lampposts and wedged in front gardens all over their home suburb. It has to be more satisfying than looking in the mirror for hours.
The trouble is, once these narcissists get to Canberra, they find themselves outgunned by bigger, badder, more vain, more hollow, more manipulative narcissists. Interacting with narcissists more narcissistic than they are must be a real blow to their bloated egos.
Full column here.
Does my narcissism look big in this?
298 is not a bad lead thus far. Another 100 should seal the deal.
Good read. But “any of the street corner attempts at psychoanalysis are a waste of ink and kilobytes.” ?
Nah! Bagging the crap out of that chauvinistic con artist can only be a good thing. Who cares if the analysis is correct or not, as long as people get the idea he is a psychopath whether they understand what it is or not, they know its not a good thing. And that’s a good thing!
There was a story from one of the Southern States back in the 60’s where a Republican candidate successfully accused his opponent of being a heterosexual. Nobody knew what a heterosexual* was back then, but it sure sounded mighty suspicious. I cant remember if the guy was lynched or tarred and feathered.
Not only a closet heterosexual but a Caucasian as well. The worst type of Asian if you ask me!
My father was never quite sure what the word meant either, but he did assure me once that he was a definite hertosexual….
Jack The Insider says:
February 24, 2017 at 4:49 pm
“Harry Frankfurt, Carl? That sounds like bullshit to me.”
It wasn’t meant to Jack. Harry Frankfurt is a fair dinkum bloke. He is an American philosopher and professor emeritus of philosophy at Princeton University. He has also taught at Yale, Rockefeller University and Ohio. Harry was influenced by Emmanuel Kant, Rene Descartes and Ludwig Wittgenstein.
He has done groundbreaking work on “traditional arguments”, “moral responsibility” and “alternative possibilities.” He has also written quite a few books, including on Inequality, Truth, Bullshit, and Love to name a few. His collection of essays in the book ‘The Importance of What we Care About’ is certainly worth a read.
On the matter of Harry’s stuff being “bullshit”, he may attest that a rare or odd name does have a tendency to have a negative psychological effect on others because we are said to be generally drawn to people that most resemble us.
I was kidding, Carl but it still sounds made up.
His nickname at Uni was Hairy!
By God i’m childish.
Trivalve (previous)
Apologies for going OT for a sec but this just in might interest you.
http://countercurrentnews.com/2017/02/hell-hole-on-earth-discovered-at-fukushima-radiation-levels-unimaginable/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_campaign=FB_Biz_Part&utm_medium=FB
Don’t have to be an activist to know this is bad.
Regards, Bella
And if it was happening in Russia, it would be on the front page every day.
Bella, I’m not disputing the toxicity of Fukushima. (But did you check the actual NOAA map of the dispersal?) This is not really about Fukushima at all. I’m saying that no-one should take a map of one indicator, call it another, totally unrelated indicator and claim that it proves dire consequences. It’s known as luying, and if that’s what they think is required to get their message across then they might as well apply for a job in the US cabinet.
If there’s a problem, fine, but be honest about it.
Your initial post could be , well would be, interpreted as a suggestion that all activists per se are unreliable.
That’s the problem
It’s very common JB. I’m frustrated by it.
It’s not just “activists” tho is it.
It’s a percentage of them that’s way too high. And no-one has yet acknowledged the gross lie that I highlighted. I’m giving no ground until that happens.
Do recall that I’m a green-tinted leftie JB. I enjoy bullshit in spades but not when it matters that the bull be constipated.
Piffling compared to the bullshit some governments feed us. And a million times worse, it becomes “fact.”
Dodgy wickets in India? Who woulda thunk it?
Who woulda….seems to have blown up in their face somehow.
Anything you can do, I can do better.
I can be a bigger loony than you…
There certainly seems to be something of a Freudian element to Trump anyway: a better father and we might not be in this mess 6 decades later.
Not to mention he doesn’t appear to be a particularly avid or competent reader either, i.e. he doesn’t seem to have even read his own autobiography or the other stuff published in his name (Bush turned out to be just incompetent, not illiterate as well), which is even more dangerous a proposition as a President in a job where it’s pretty much a good chunk of the job description.
I just hope his sluggishly-progressing schizophrenia doesn’t imperil us all. 😛
Oretty sure the Donald is not a reader. When asked he falls back on All Quiet on the Western Front as his fave book but thee don’t seem to be a lot of others.
Obama was well read and pretty well useless.
Some of the better leaders have had a gut feel for what was right and got a lot done.
testing
That’s two of your testes I’ve counted, Carl.
it’s not my testes Milt, it’s my posts. Still not sorted.
Try the refresh ting Carl. Further up I have described the android phone procedure. Not sure what device you’re using though.
Amateur or not I still think they nailed K Rudd.
Calling someone a bed wetter also seems to have come into vogue.
Geez you’ve got me worried Jack.
First a correction. Daughter number two did a business/psychology undergraduate degree and went into the commercial world. She then decided to to clinical psych, and got first class honours last year which entitles her to do the Masters to give her a CP certificate to practice. So it aint an easy road, she had to be in the top 30 of 120 to progress.
Back to my worry, if she reads your article I’m not sure how my diagnosis will go.
God the cricket is good, Awsome effort by O’Keefe. Handscomb could be picked as a specialist fielder! Lyon bowled brilliantly, I’m sure Dismayed will agree. Starc set it all up. Even at lunch it was not to be expected.
True, Carl but I was talking about a oerson who sets themselves up as a counsellor and fir that you really don’t need much by way of qualification. Some people have concluded The column is an attack on psychology but what I’m saying is any diagnosis taken from a distance as is te case with the numerous Trump diagnoses is worthless.
JTI and Lou OTOD, I remember when psychology was a University subject in the Bachelor of Arts. When you completed it, it gave you all kinds of powers to psycho-analyse you friends, your family and anyone just walking down the street.
Now you can get a Certificate in Counselling Services, which apparently is all you need to set up as an expert in marriage guidance, mental health issues etc.
I do know a couple of properly trained phychologists with genuine qualifications, that took years for them to get and the problems they deal with would make your hair curl.
I think I’d rather go with them and your daughter Lou for any correct assessment of someone’s mental state.
Call me Carl one more time and I’ll have you certified. Now be quiet everyone, I’m off to see my counsellor to fix this identity problem I’ve suddenly developed.
JTI, psychology is a set of observations looking for a science. Like economics.
Have to agree about the cricket – one expects something to happen every ball.
It does mate!