Humble servant of the Nation

My narcissism is better than yours

SHARE
, / 15081 669

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.

669 Comments

  • Henry Blofeld says:

    A “Barry Crocker” of a Newspoll result for PM Milton Trumble, Mr Insider, but he’s 2 years out from an election yet. Am sure he’s being “looked at” very closely by his hopeless Party. Scott Morrison am sure would give a good account of himself as PM?
    http://tinyurl.com/gwjs6c6

  • Boadicea says:

    Quite obviously the Tony Abbott white-anting is likely to finish off the Coalition.
    Which makes one wonder what may have happened if Turnbull had given him a portfolio and kept him closer rather than a loose cannon on the back bench.

    • Jean Baptiste says:

      I’ll tell you what would have happened if Turnbull had given Abbott a portfolio! Half of the coalition would be in the looney bin weaving baskets and the other half would be overdoing the Serapax with negligible outcomes.
      The love child of Johhny and Bronny is karma with a supercharger.
      What is it you don’t understand about “head case?”
      He was always going to “bugger him up proper” the Liberal Party whether he was Prime Minister or errand boy.
      I’ve been telling you that for years.
      Malcolm has done bloody well keeping them together, and he may save them.

    • Dismayed says:

      Does the sky ever stop falling in down there in Oakey oaks. Talk about chicken little.

    • smoke says:

      makes me wonder when will warringah get pulled up. ….disendorse the poor fellow

  • Henry Blofeld says:

    The Federal Liberal Party tearing itself to pieces, Mr Insider, as they sweat on the next move by ousted ex PM Tony Abbott to cause mayhem and dysfunction. The man who had 30 consecutive negative Newspolls is on the warpath aiming to stuff Turnbull as much as he can. And he said he wouldn’t “snipe”, then again he went back on everything he promised b4 he was elected PM when he came to office. Abbott a complete waste of Taxpayers money!
    http://tinyurl.com/hnu9wbt

    • Boadicea says:

      At this stage it looks like Abbott has decided to destroy his party. Hell hath no fury like a dumped PM………

      • Bella says:

        Speaking of ‘destroying’ Boadicia, have you heard or seen anything about this heritage-listed house that developers got stuck into without permission. 1890s.. Such a shame.
        Hope the Council throws the book at them.
        http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-27/anger-over-heritage-house-being-demolished/8305830

        • Boadicea says:

          Yes Bella. Everyone here is appalled. They haven’t named and shamed the culprit yet. My bet is a mainlanders who thinks he can show Tasmanians how to go about ignoring heritage stuff.
          We are all hoping he gets stopped from developing the site for the 10yrs maxi m um penalty. Also huge fines for the asbestos contamination that was wafting sll over the adjacent properties Fines are useless as they are often built into the costs.
          It was the lifelong home of an old digger – loved by the neighbourhood. He died last August at 97. They even lopped two magnificent heritage trees. My neighbour is so upset he couldn’t even read the article.
          I was hoping that they would make them rebuild as it was. Bloody disgusting, arrogant arsehole.

          • Bella says:

            Developers think they are a law unto themselves. ‘Heritage’ must indeed be a dirty word to them. Let’s hope your council stands strong & by that I mean doesn’t get bought off by whoever it was behind this crime.

      • JackSprat says:

        No I do not think so.

        He knows that they are destroying themselves with their inability to do anything and are losing their base to One Nation in droves.
        The message he is giving is that, if they do not address the concerns of the right of their party, they are destined to spend the next 9 years on the opposition benches.
        When they lose the next election, all Turnbull will do is retire and those who, when he was vying for leadership, were saying that all he would do is to destroy the Liberal Party will be proven to be correct.

        All those issues that Bassman noted above, with the exception of the Republic issue which he stuffed up originally, would have a bigger negative effect on his base.
        The battlers worry about the next paycheck, housing affordability, jobs for their kids, electricity prices, and a many other very practical things like that.
        None of which is he addressing with any enthusiasm.
        But you have Cormann prattling on about free trade with countries that have a tenth of our wage structure which will send even more jobs off shore..
        Turnbull is clueless when it comes to politics.

  • Dismayed says:

    Here is another one for Milton. Again his claim it was “harder” in the 80’s is disproven. Oh and Keating for President of Australia.
    http://www.theage.com.au/money/borrowing/todays-housing-crisis-is-worse-than-the-17pc-home-loans-of-the-1980s-20170224-gukd59.html

  • Dismayed says:

    BASSMAN says: February 26, 2017 at 2:43 pm” Could be a one off” Steve O’Keefe has 237 FC wickets at 22.90 with a strike rate of 53.9 with 10 x 5 wicket in an innings hauls from 67 FC matches. Lyon has 351 FC wickets at 37.12 with a strike rate of 69.6 with 7x 5 wicket hauls in 110 FC matches. You are right SOK does not spin it hugely he skids it as JTI noted some time ago. But he has taken wickets consistently for a long time. He deserves his opportunity and more credit than he has had so far and it has been good to see him do well to date. He keeps the pressure on makes the batsmen play and does just enough it seems. Good luck to him , he is a good team man. I am sure the Indians will attack him initially next test which may again help him. I would be surprised if the next pitch is as bad as the first one.

    • BASSMAN says:

      I never said he didn’t deserve the opportunity. I wanna see him do well…but….I think he bols the Flipper. No one mentions it though.

  • Bella says:

    Jack the Insider 12.21pm

    “Yours always ends up there Bella.”

    I’m spam??! Hardly the tick of approval is it (sniffle/sob) but ta very much for rescuing me from the trash bin JTI, you’re a gem.

  • Jean Baptiste says:

    Henry Blofeld 6:13 pm 25th.

    Cheers Henry, I have been helping Kimmie with some grief counselling. Although they didn’t always see eye to eye, (in fact I think they never did) the death of Kimmie’s brother has affected him, Kimmie, greatly. Not as much as it has affected his brother obviously, but Kimmie and family members are devastated.
    It’s clearly a case of the capitalist running dogs committing the murder and trying to frame the North Koreans. The official story is preposterous says Kimmie, bro was affected by a non lethal substance and then killed on the way to hospital. Hence they are not allowed access to the body of the dear departed in order to expose the puff adder fork tongued culprits.
    As for ” pig eyes bloated blancmange with cheating straw hair” Trump, Kimmie says Trump fat faceness is too stupid to understand game of politics, is necessary to preserve North Korea as whipping boy and real danger enemy to keep cow brains American citizens in fear, is necessary for racket arms suppliers to gouge public. Kimmie say CIA soon put spokes in wheel for pig eyes blancmange if he spoil sport mega profits for fat capitalists.
    “Where you think we get secrets for building rockets and nuclear bombs? You think Chinese crazy enough to tell us how to make these things?”

    Watch at least the first part of this link Henry. It is very funny.

  • Dismayed says:

    Why lower wages and cuts to penalty rates will not grow the economy.
    “That is a massive waste of labour and foregone income. It cannot be explained through worker preference. It is all about a shortage of job creation stifled by excessively restrictive fiscal policy settings
    “In turn workers are adopting a much more cautious approach to spending and firms are demonstrating that they will not lift the investment rate while sales are flagging.”
    “The on-going subdued economic activity will also undermine the Government’s fiscal strategy, which can be summarised as squeezing net public spending out of the economy in the hope that in three years they will achieve a fiscal surplus.That folly will be exposed. Economic growth will not be strong enough to match their assumptions and that means the growth in tax receipts will be less than assumed.” You know it makes sense.

    http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=35424

  • Dismayed says:

    JS likes a good debt story. This article highlights just how bad the howard, abbott and Costello show was for Debt in this country.
    http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=35413

    • Mack the Knife says:

      Bill gives the Labor (which he can’t spell) Govt a thumbs up for their strategy when the GFC first hit in 2008, 2009, then this:

      “Fast-forward to July 2014, and the price of iron ore was in the middle of a worldwide sell-off. Commodities prices crashed, as did Australia’s terms of trade.

      Which built on the disastrous attempt by the previous Labour government in 2012 to ‘consolidate’ its fiscal position (aka hacking into discretionary net public spending) because all and sundry (except me) were claiming Australia was about to run out of money and the deficit (that saved the nation) was too large.

      It was idiocy no doubt. And since then the Australian economy has stalled and the labour market gone backwards.”

      Well put. Onya Labor, only that doesn’t jive with neoliberalism. If anyone can find a really good definition please post a link Bassy.

      • Dismayed says:

        Mack the knife. So now you agree Labor cut spending. You really don’t understand what you read and you have deliberately cherry picked a paragraph to try and further your bias and obvious lack of understanding. The writer is talking about the biggest Fiscal consolidation in Australian history under Labor and how continued cuts under the coalition has stalled the economy along with showing that Mining did NOT “save” the economy during or just after the GFC. He then goes to highlight the huge increase in personal debt under the coalition each time they come into government. Note how he uses data and research to show his objectivity. Something a coalition now one nation supporter like you is incapable of doing. You really should get someone to explain it all to you.

        • Mack the Knife says:

          Come in spinner.

          “Which built on the disastrous attempt by the previous Labour government in 2012 to ‘consolidate’ its fiscal position (aka hacking into discretionary net public spending) because all and sundry (except me) were claiming Australia was about to run out of money and the deficit (that saved the nation) was too large.

          It was idiocy no doubt. And since then the Australian economy has stalled and the labour market gone backwards.”

          Quoting your source Dismayed. Don’t shoot the messenger. What is “one nation” ?

          • Dismayed says:

            HAHAHAHA Mack you again highlight the savings Labor made in government. You don’t mention the Professor said that the stimulus measures stopped the economy going into recession. You obviously don’t understand data and continue to try and cherry pick and putting things out of context in an effort to have a go at me. Pathetic and dishonest . No Surprises there. All you are doing is highlighting Labor’s savings which for years you claimed did not happen. You have picked out a couple of paragraphs that state Labor cut spending TOO MUCH but you refuse to acknowledge the article goes onto say the coalition continuing to make cuts when the economy had obviously stalled made the situation much worse. Just the usual weak effort by you to try and point score against me which continues to highlight you just don’t grasp economic matters. It is no wonder you support the hansonite’s your grasp of economic matters in almost as bad as theirs. Try looking at the data and comprehending what is actually written rather than your usual pathetic attempt to attack me.

      • BASSMAN says:

        If Costello had the same revenue as Labor under Rudd had, 9 of his budgets he brags about would be in DEFICIT…and how did he get those surpluses? Highest taxer, sold off everything we own, a $324billion revenue hit from the mining boom pissed up against the wall in 3yrs. No fiscal wizardry in that Bald. Know any other Treasurer who had such a windfall drop from the sky and land right into his lap? No. Me either!

  • JackSprat says:

    Yvonne
    I do not have an Android phone and I do not know what browser you are using.
    However, according to the Android Documentation
    “To reload a web page, touch the Refresh icon. If you don’t see that icon on the screen, touch the Action Overflow or Menu icon to find the Refresh or Reload command. Refreshing updates a website that changes often, and the command can also be used to reload a web page that may not have completely loaded the first time.”
    Hope that make sense.

    • Boadicea says:

      Thanks JS – I’m fine now. It was the android phone that was presenting more of a problem – was away in outback Tassie and no other gadget. But I found the secret. I thought it puzzling that it was a newly arrived syndrome on the site and was worried it may be the precursor of site malfunction. But all seems well and it’s no hassle to refresh or clear browsing data
      Cheers

Leave A Reply

Your email address will not be published.

PASSWORD RESET

LOG IN