“… a poor player
that struts … his hour upon the stage
… full of sound and fury … signifying nothing."
New Narcissus
America is polarizing into a new two-party state — socialists and non-socialists — that will be devoid of the stabilizing checks-and-balances in the former Republican-Democrat two-party system. Convinced of this, I believe my offspring will not only never enjoy a tenth of the freedoms I’ve enjoyed, but also will toil their lives away in a futile effort to pay off debts that President Obama is now running up.
With so much at stake, I asked myself: What drives a man to offer ephemeral pleasure and plentitude in the form of insane financial largesse at the expense of so much pain and suffering to future Americans, born and unborn (including those babies lucky enough to evade Obama’s “what-the-hell, don’t-ask-don’t-tell” abortion policies)?
My answer is ego. Only someone with an insatiable ego could charm his way to the world’s most powerful position. But ego is only a component of a psychological package that captivated a majority of voters, especially those whose educations are so paltry as to leave them with little or no powers of discernment, who needed only to hear “hope and change” to be swept off their feet. It is much more than just ego: It is narcissism.
This word’s etymology is rooted in Greek mythology. As the story goes, wherever he went, the beautiful lad Narcissus caused maidens by the score to swoon, as he scorned them and mocked their outpourings of love. Angered by this pretty boy’s arrogance, the goddess Nemesis levied a curse upon him: “May he who loves not others love himself.”
The curse undid Narcissus. While slaking his thirst, he saw his reflection in a clear pool and fell hopelessly in love with himself. Suffering his victims’ fate, he died of unrequited love. Where his body laid, a lovely flower, known to us today as the Narcissus, bloomed.
A pretty piece of fiction … but not pretty at all when, in a realistic setting, a narcissistic individual swoons the masses with charisma, tantalizing body language, and articulate oratory, irresistibly harmonious and hypnotic to fools by the millions whose eyes became too glazed over to see the charade and shallowness of phony political posturing.
One doesn’t have to be a shrink to psychoanalyze a narcissist’s pathological genius for manipulating the masses. Even those not easily duped must be wary of such dominant diabolical demagogues whose focus never strays from what they crave most: unlimited power.
When Macbeth pondered life in his famous soliloquy, he could just as well have been speaking of narcissistic leaders like Obama: “… a poor player
that struts … his hour upon the stage
… full of sound and fury … signifying nothing.”
America’s sustained strength is the world’s only hope. The squandering of that strength will be an open door to those who hate freedom and seek to destroy the world’s only hope.
Living in a strong, secure, free, productive country as I have is a blessing my children and grandchildren will never enjoy if Americans don’t depose their leader: a new Narcissus.
| | Jimmy Reed
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Oxford, Mississippi, resident Jimmy Reed is a newspaper columnist, author and college teacher. His latest collection of short stories (Boss, Jaybird And Me: Anthology Of Short Stories) is available via squarebooks.com at 662-236-2262. An e-book version version is available via Barnesandnoble.com. For information, contact him at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). or
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