Legend’s View
Being self-centered not entirely bad
So many of the cultural critics and intellectuals of the past foresaw the extremely selfish state of affairs that our society is currently in. For instance, in the 1970s history professor and social critic Christopher Lasch called life in America a “Culture of Narcissism.” Perhaps no moniker is more on point than the one provided by the man who’s one of, if not, the biggest influence to our cultural selfishness. And that’s “godfather of public relations” Edward Bernays, who is associated with the term “Century of the Self.”
The names they provided to identify these times are more accurate than ever before. Look no further than the man chosen to lead the country as president. We must ask ourselves, however, “Why was I born into this particular time in human history of all the others?” From there we can begin to assess some of the many advantages that come along with the many disadvantages of being a part of such a wild age of selfishness. Our introduction to narcissism thanks to high school greek mythology and Narcissus tragic outcome, rightly helped us to identify the term with predominantly negative connotations.
So it’s difficult for us to accept there might be such thing as ‘good’ narcissism. There are benefits to living in an era that supports looking at yourself all the time. It’s imperative to self-reflect on one’s behaviors and motives. And also to have self-care which is related to self-protection. One man who’s been a hot topic been in the media a lot lately because he embodies well the polarities in selfishness is Lavar Ball.
On one end, the father of 3 California basketball stars exhibits the several of the negative traits of narcissism like hisSelf aggrandizing and attention seeking. But on the other end, it’s clear his motives are rooted in him caring tremendously about his boys’ destiny. In one interview he sort of admits his selfishness and reminds the audience that if he’s not than others in the business with selfish intents will.
