“We need to stop endlessly repeating ‘You’re special’ and having children repeat that back,” said the study’s lead author, Professor Jean Twenge of San Diego State University. “Kids are self-centered enough already.”
I prefer, “Listen up, maggots. You are not special. You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake. You’re the same decaying organic matter as everything else.”
Fortunately for me, I am special. I, however, didn’t learn it by being told. I learned it by consistently out-performing my peers in almost every measurable way, including conceitedness.
The standardized inventory, known as the NPI, asks for responses to such statements as “If I ruled the world, it would be a better place,”"I think I am a special person” and “I can live my life any way I want to.”
You can also bet your ass that the world would be a better place if I ruled it.
Twenge, the author of “Generation Me: Why Today’s Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled - and More Miserable Than Ever Before,” said narcissists tend to lack empathy, react aggressively to criticism and favor self-promotion over helping others.
It seems that if you continue to lie to your child about how special he/she/it is, he/she/it will turn into a Republican.
“Current technology fuels the increase in narcissism,” Twenge said. “By its very name, MySpace encourages attention-seeking, as does YouTube.”
Is buying a domain with your name in it included?
“Permissiveness seems to be a component,” he said. “A potential antidote would be more authoritative parenting. Less indulgence might be called for.”
I have to agree with that. And remember, the world would be a better place if I was raising its children.
