The Culture of Narcissism

Protocol, competition, hostility and fear have replaced the circle of affection that might sustain us against a hostile universe.

There’s a second plotline here: the well-intentioned and disastrous shift toward overprotecting children and restricting their autonomy in the real world. Children need a great deal of free play to thrive. It’s an imperative that’s evident across all mammal species. The small-scale challenges and setbacks that happen during play are like an inocula

One of Margaret Thatcher’s most cited political pronouncements was, ‘There is no such thing as society.’ She went on to make this come true.* The dissolution of society gradually eroded people’s sense of community, and increasingly turned individuals into each other’s competitors.

A child can be falsely empowered through neglect, as happens when kids are parented by gangs of peers in lieu of appropriate adults to guide them. Children need limits. Children’s natural grandiose, selfish tendencies need to be ameliorated by an adult.