Much has been said about narcissism, and yet it still pervades the human consciousness. It continues to break the hearts and minds of people in relationships of all forms. The bad news is that narcissistic people will always be around. This is simply because people are a result of the environments that they grew up in. And we all know that some environments are better than others.
Truly, many of us have already been victimized by a narcissist without knowing it. Generally, narcissists crave attention, and many of them are able to get it successfully. Somehow, this tells me that they can be pretty intelligent people. After all, it takes a lot of smarts to deceive, manipulate, and do all other sneaky tactics they use to control other people. Narcissists can be so high-functioning that they even make it to the top of notable careers.
It really isn’t surprising that a lot of narcissists make their way into government and politics. Further, is it too much of a leap to think that we are being governed in a narcissistic manner? Read on and you might be surprised.
Let’s take a look at some of the outstanding characteristics of narcissistic disorder and how these may be exhibited by the powers in government.
1. Gaslighting
In the context of narcissism, gaslighting is an emotionally abusive tactic that is used to create doubt in the mind of the abused person. The narcissistic person does this by misleading you with a false or twisted narrative.
In a marriage, a wife may call out her narcissistic partner who has suddenly been coming home late without notice, for instance. The narcissist would then tell her that if she was having any doubts about whether he was being unfaithful, she must be losing her mind. Note that the wrongdoing here is the lack of notice, and yet he implies that the wife is being distrustful.
The government behaves similarly when you call them out on unreasonable healthcare policies. You’re quite free to let them know how you feel if you somehow don’t qualify for benefits when you get injured. If all they tell you is that you should take care of yourself better, this is gaslighting.
2. Hoovering
Hoovering is yet another typical behavior among narcissists, which works as a counter-strategy. Reality has it that there are victims of routine narcissistic abuse. But there are those who start to decide that “enough is enough,” and they pull away. Because the victim is a source of narcissistic supply – the very thing that keeps narcissists going – the act of pulling away causes them to panic. They reorient themselves so that they could get back their source of power. They do all sorts of things to suck the victim back into their control, like a vacuum cleaner.
In relationships, hoovering could come in the form of temporarily changed behavior. What was once cold could turn a bit warmer. Narcissists would even display extraordinary gestures like buying the victim an expensive gift or taking them on an unplanned leisure trip. Politicians might do this in the form of passing a bill that favors an aggrieved party. And of course, you can expect them to give you all sorts of promises to make them appealing in your eyes again.
3. Superiority
A narcissist has the uncanny ability to make their victims feel inferior. Sometimes, this is where you really catch a narcissist in the act. There is such a thing as narcissistic parents who exercise their superiority quite liberally upon their own children. They often rattle off verbal put-downs like “You’re never gonna be good enough.”
However, acts of belittlement can take a milder, more subtle form. You might make an inquiry and ask a government health expert what the active ingredients are in a particular medicine. You know in your heart that you are only asking because you want to be more educated about it. If the person only tells you not to worry because it’s perfectly safe, this is an example of superiority, too.
You are worth a quality answer, even if it is a technical one. Nobody has the right to brush you off and decide that you don’t understand as much as they do. In fact, it should make sense for experts like them to do their jobs and give you some peace of mind.
There are more characteristics that are worth talking about, which we will feature in the next blog.