Our Culture of Narcissism

We have phony rich people (with interest-only mortgages and piles of debt), phony beauty (with plastic surgery and cosmetic procedures), phony athletes (with performance-enhancing drugs), phony celebrities (via reality TV and YouTube), phony genius students (with grade inflation), a phony national economy (with $11 trillion of government debt), phony feelings of being special among children (with parenting and education focused on self-esteem), and phony friends (with the social networking explosion).  All this fantasy might feel good, but, unfortunately, reality always wins.  The mortgage meltdown and the resulting financial crisis are just one demonstration of how inflated desires eventually crash to earth.

Jean M. Twenge, Ph.D. and W. Keith Campbell, Ph.D., “The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement,” introduction (2009), as cited by David Kupelian, How Evil Works, p.81