Narcissism -- what a gift!

(Anyone else -- begging the question whether there's anyone here but me, heh -- see the irony here? Most blogs, MySpace pages, Facebook pages, etc. have to have some element of narcissism at work in order to exist. I flatter myself that I don't care whether mine is ever read by anyone else, but of course it would be much more flattering if it turned out someone had actually enjoyed even one of my self-absorbed little posts!)

Where to start? Well, the need to vent started when I heard about first this , then this -- both of which were videoed by the little creeps! They wanted their fifteen minutes of fame, and they didn't care how they got it. "Me, me! Look at me! Not looking? Let me do something appallingly brutal -- now are you looking? No such thing as bad publicity!" Where is this coming from? How did we get to this point? Of course, the desire for attention is nothing new -- that's as old as the human race -- but this willingness to do anything at all, even commit despicable acts of violence in order to get it, isn't that new?

Somehow, we have slipped from "Character is doing the right thing when nobody's looking" -- J.C. Watts -- to something more like "Doing the wrong thing while everybody is looking makes you a character!" I'm all set to start serving up blame, so, apart from the kids themselves, who are ultimately responsible for their own evil choices -- or darn well ought to be! -- how about stupid, lazy parenting, liberal doctrines in the education system, a media-driven culture, and a recent flood of easily accessible, new technologies and media outlets? Works for me!

Compulsory free public education -- a plank of the Communist Manifesto, no less -- has served to allow a lazy parent to cede the raising of a child to the school. Yet who actually ends up raising the kids there? Simple answer: they raise each other. The minute they're unsupervised, which is frequently, it's Lord of the Flies! And when little Johnny or Susie misbehaves, how often do we hear the parents defending their evil little spawn and blaming the schools?

So the kiddies, when they are being supervised, are being fed a load of hogwash. Along with a lack self discipline and proper respect for others (not to be confused with the phony, condescending pseudo-respect of multi-culturalism -- let's not even go there!), there's a gross over-emphasis amongst both parents and educators on 'self-esteem' as opposed to genuine self respect. How helpful is it to a child to build up his or her ego? And what else, pray tell, is 'self-esteem'? I'm not saying you have to grind the little boogers into the dirt (well, not constantly, anyway :) ), but in order to function in society, they can't go around believing that they should be rewarded just for existing and that they are owed respect without having to earn it. That certainly won't serve them in the workaday world!

So what do these under-supervised little egomaniacs do in their spare time? Watch TV? Ya think? And what do they learn from the flickering blue parent? Morals, values? Or maybe that Britney gets lots of attention by being a very bad girl? And attention is what it's all about -- everybody wants to be your next American Idol! Or, failing that, how about the next subject of a Michael Moore 'documentary' -- fame and immortality! Too lofty a goal? Okay, then, how about just notoriety on Youtube, Facebook, or MySpace? Kewl!

And it's just so easy now, because all these pampered little shites have way fancier cell phones than they could possibly have earned (built-in video and online access -- einh?), not to mention their own laptops in their rooms where their parents can't see what they're getting up to.

Thus their kindly elders have given them: the motive (ego, once fed, is ever hungry), the opportunity (Mommy and Daddy are too busy working, paying for all the fancy toys their brats 'need', to actually provide guidance and supervision), and the means of achieving fame, any fame, at any price.

Thanks a pantload!

Update (Updata?): I left out one other, very damaging aspect of the self-esteem cultivating practices of liberal educators, one that is fairly new -- no competition allowed! Once upon a time, kids were permitted to expend their excess energy and to work through their pecking order issues on the playground! No More! Not here! And Not Here Either! Tell me that doesn't contribute to the problem of violent behavior in kids? At the risk of incurring the wrath of dog lovers and child advocates alike, what's the first thing Cesar Milan does with an aggressive dog? Physical Exercise! And after that? Mental Exercise! So take the physicality and mental challenge out of school -- because if you don't dumb everything down to the lowest common denominator, someone might get his feelings hurt -- and you create a breeding ground for aggressive little monsters. Oh, yes! And it costs us more every year! God help us all! (Oh, wait, I can't say that in school.)