[lbo-talk] God's humor [was RE: Bulletin: Nothinginthosesquare pants!]

[Carl Remick]

>From: Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com>
>
>Carl Remick wrote:
>
>>Hmm, I can't see how RWE's "I am nothing" is "all about the disappearance 
>>of the *rest* of humanity"; how it translates into "some fanatasy of 
>>self-sufficiency"; or how it points the way to the America, Fuck Yeah! 
>>fever that grips us now.
>
>... Here's a checklist <http://www.mentalhealth.com/dis1/p21-pe07.html>. 
>Ralph exhibits more than a handful.
>
>>Narcissistic Personality Disorder
>>Diagnostic Criteria
>>
>>A pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for 
>>admiration, and lack of empathy, beginning by early adulthood and present 
>>in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the following:
>>
>>1.   has a grandiose sense of self-importance (e.g., exaggerates 
>>achievements and talents, expects to be recognized as superior without 
>>commensurate achievements)
>>2.   is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, 
>>brilliance, beauty, or ideal love
>>3.   believes that he or she is "special" and unique and can only be 
>>understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status 
>>people (or institutions)
>>4.   requires excessive admiration
>>5.   has a sense of entitlement, i.e., unreasonable expectations of 
>>especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with his or her 
>>expectations
>>6.   is interpersonally exploitative, i.e., takes advantage of others to 
>>achieve his or her own ends
>>7.   lacks empathy: is unwilling to recognize or identify with the 
>>feelings and needs of others
>>8.   is often envious of others or believes that others are envious of him 
>>or her
>>9.   shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes

How QED can you get?  Now that you mention it, yes, narcissism describes 
Emerson to a T.  I mean, what could be more self-indulgent and grandiose 
that this, from Emerson's essay on Napoleon:

"Every experiment, by multitudes or by individuals, that has a sensual and 
selfish aim, will fail. The pacific Fourier will be as inefficient as the 
pernicious Napoleon. As long as our civilization is essentially one of 
property, of fences, of exclusiveness, it will be mocked by delusions. Our 
riches will leave us sick; there will be bitterness in our laughter, and our 
wine will burn our mouth. Only that good profits which we can taste with all 
doors open, and which serves all men.

<http://www.rwe.org/works/Representative_Men_5_Napoleon.htm>

Carl