Insulated. One of the more serious problems with narcissists is that they insulate themselves from the rest of the world, preferring to believe their own self-aggrandizing inner perspective of the way things are and what events mean rather than accept a potentially humbling truth which suggests that they aren't quite the person that they imagine themselves to be. When such people gain access to the halls of power and make decisions which affect the lives of millions if not billions of people then what began as a simple character flaw which merely annoys and offends the people close to the narcissist morphs into a massive blind spot behind which great suffering and even mass death can disappear. And when one of those narcissistic leaders is the populist president of a seemingly vibrant democracy one wonders just how democratic that nation truly is when the people’s voices can be misinterpreted and cast aside so easily.

The evolution of ideology reveals a pronounced movement towards holding one’s leaders accountable for their actions, in essence combating the tendency of narcissistic leaders to completely insulate themselves from the people whom they are charged with leading. Even though ideologies require false promises and the devotion of fanatics to thrive, a healthy dose of realism keeps them from pursuing a narcissistic leader’s extremist notions and rapidly self-destructing, and thus successful ideologies make sure that those at the top don’t become detached from those at the bottom. Whether it be primitive forms of democracy in ancient Greece and Rome, the many humbling and anti-narcissistic passages in the New Testament, the writing of the Magna Carta and the foundation of the rule of law in England, the rise of Democratic Republics in the West after the enlightenment, or the rise of Communism and Socialism in the East in more recent times, the trend towards using a variety of methods to keep a nation’s leaders from ignoring their people is quite clear, and yet narcissists always try to thwart those methods, believing that they know what is best for their subjects and seeing no problem with acting outside of the agreed upon ideological contract. Indeed, the power of the people has been transgressed upon by our leaders in many forms in recent years: labor unions have been disempowered as the laws protecting them have been dismantled and the amount of unfair trade permitted with third world countries has grown, corporations’ power over their employees in such forms as mandatory arbitration, intellectual property rights, and non-competition clauses in contracts has been greatly increased and numerous mergers have been allowed which have created monolithic corporations the likes of which have not been seen since the age of robber barons, civil liberties and human rights which have formed the basis of the civil society going back more than a millennium have been degraded and disregarded altogether in a growing number of cases, and the wealthy have been steadily given more and more access to the political process as well as being awarded political speech rights equal to the size of their bank accounts to name a few. Now we see the voice of the people being drowned out by the person whom it is most assuredly directed against, a person whom many of us believed truly listened and did care. It’s enough to make one lose one’s faith not only in one’s president but in one’s entire ideology.

This is not to say that the opposition is correct in its assessment of what has transpired in the voting booths of Massachusetts during their special senatorial election in which one of the most beloved members of the Democratic party was replaced with a newcomer from the other side of the political divide. The right-wing punditry’s narcissistic self-delusions of a popular revolt against the sitting president are every bit as much of shoving words into the mouths of the voters as those of the president’s apologists. Indeed, once again we see the ideological war between opposing political and social forces explode in our faces with each side presenting their own “narrative”, that being the current trendy word describing an ideological repackaging of real world events to fit a narrow political perspective, in order to increase the standing of their side in the eyes of others. In essence this is like watching two narcissists doing battle with each other, each so desperate to win the support and admiration of the populace that they attack each other using the fiercest language possible to tear the other down while painting a picture of their side being ever and always the one true way. And the more that We The People tell our leaders that we want an end to it, the more our leaders blame the other party for inciting hatred, disillusionment, and cynicism. It’s a vicious circle. The less that they get along the angrier we get about their lack of progress and the more they blame each other for their problems. If you like you can log on to the internet to get a more vulgar and nonsensical version of what can be seen in the mainstream media although that which is broadcast is getting more and more insufferable as time goes forwards. And on the internet you too can be a participant in the lunacy if you desire to and test your own personal philosophy against the all too numerous self-important individuals haunting chat rooms, forums, and video games looking to boost their fragile egos by winning some sort of “victory”, usually against a straw man of their own making. Personally I’d recommend becoming well versed in logical fallacies beforehand and seeing if you can spot the many examples of them being used as you watch the vehemently argued ideological disputes from the sidelines. Doing so is good practice and it will help you spot the logical fallacies which our most visible pundits and leaders use when presenting their cases, something which is flat out embarrassing.

But as much as the ideological ground troops seem to be connected to the goings-on of our political system they too are quite insulated from reality, choosing to view the world either through their own personal perspective or through a commonly professed one which generally fits what they already believe. “The customer is always right” or so the popular saying goes in the highly competitive retail industry and that concept has become the new recipe for catering news-based programming to an audience of narcissists. The media: newspapers, books, television, radio, and the internet; has learned that challenging their consumers with unfiltered reporting is the fastest way to lose ratings, advertisers, and become a has been in a world of ideological rivalries, and so it has sought to do with its news content the same thing that any content provider does with its broadcasting services: find a lucrative demographic and tell them exactly what they want to hear. News content consumers respond with lavish loyalty to their chosen sources of information, and since they have many different perspectives to choose from in the marketplace of biased ideas they can pick their favorite and remain insulated from the perspectives that contradict their worldview. Furthermore, they don’t believe that they are being led down an ideological cattle chute as their media sources are careful to appear fair and balanced, exposing their customers to carefully controlled doses of the opposition’s view so that the opposition’s leaders look like brainwashed extremist clowns. It’s debatable as to whether it means that the media outlets take the same political position as the content that they present, certainly some are “liars who believe their own lies” and others are just doing whatever they have to in order to make a buck in a highly competitive industry, but the effects that they have on the public are the same either way. The public is becoming more radicalized and intolerant of other perspectives as well as becoming more insistent upon convincing others that what they believe is correct. In essence people are becoming more ideologically narcissistic.

Of course, this is part of the narratives being woven by either side: whenever the other side has some sort of popular victory it is claimed to be due to the propaganda being spread by the opposition’s loyal media outlets. And as the president mentioned in his quote above the proper response to suffering a loss due to such propaganda is to go to the public and tell them the “truth”, which will of course turn the misinformed voters towards the “correct” side. There is at least some truth to this, that the propaganda broadcast by either side is affecting popular sentiment as well as influencing polls and elections, but for a rather large segment of the population the implication that casting a vote or holding a certain belief is proof that one has bought into the propaganda that one side or the other is peddling is not only wrong but terribly demeaning. In effect it trivializes the decision-making process of the masses, reducing it to being a mere byproduct of the influence of biased media sources and making democracy look impossible in the age of mass media. “If only we could present our side of the story to the public,” the ideologues lament. “Then they would see things our way.” Lost of course is the most powerful of all influential techniques: actually delivering the promised goods.

To be sure, Massachusetts was a perfect place for a referendum on health care reform as the state imposed its own version of mandatory coverage in 2006. It was also a perfect place to judge how popular the president was with his own party given how the state has a strong majority of Democrats. Polls show that a significant number of Obama voters sided with the Republican candidate not because they supported his agenda or were turning center-right as the conservative party’s pundits would have you believe, but that they felt betrayed by Obama’s concessions on important issues, such as helping out Wall Street more than Main Street in economic matters and abandoning the public option in the Health Care Reform bill, things which Obama continues to strongly defend as he did in his State of the Union speech. Simply put the people of Massachusetts were sending a message to Obama that he wasn’t doing the job that they elected him to do and that he should push the type of legislation that he promised to get passed when he won by a landslide. The people know a sellout when they see one and it doesn’t take a genius to understand that mandatory insurance with no cost controls is just going to end up being another fleecing of the taxpayers for the benefit of big business. Again and again we are being sold up the river to the Corporatocracy and people left, right, and center are desperately trying to find a way express their collective displeasure to those in power. But such is the truth that neither the left wing nor the right wing wants to hear and thus it’s getting lost in all the noise. Our leaders talk and talk and talk, trying to convince us that they know what we want and promising us that they can deliver it if they can get just a little more support from us. To be sure, as long as one is talking one can’t hear the things which are contrary to one’s point of view and thus speaking loud, long, and often is a perfect way to insulate yourself from a world which is very much not what you want it to be.

Speaking of things not being the way neither you nor I want them to be my health situation is still in a state of flux. December was a pretty rough month with lots of ups and lots of downs. January was much improved though with my health becoming more balanced. I was even able to start doing some singing workouts and the good news continues to be that my voice is getting stronger and my control is improving. The bad news is that I am only capable of singing that way every now and then and for only a few minutes at a time. But should I be able to put all this chronic fatigue garbage behind me I think that I will be better than ever. Of course, merely ending up as good as I used to be would be perfectly acceptable to me now. The battle wages on.

A big ‘Hello’ to anyone receiving the Burning Blade for the first time. This is the Fireaxe newsletter.