Guest Post by Jesse
“Learn what is to be taken seriously and laugh at the rest.”
Hermann Hesse
“Narcissism falls along the axis of what psychologists call personality disorders, one of a group that includes antisocial, dependent, histrionic, avoidant and borderline personalities.
But by most measures, narcissism is one of the worst, if only because the narcissists themselves are so clueless.”
Jeffrey Kluger
“Narcissistic personality disorder is named for Narcissus, from Greek mythology, who fell in love with his own reflection. Freud used the term to describe persons who were self-absorbed, and psychoanalysts have focused on the narcissist’s need to bolster his or her self-esteem through grandiose fantasy, exaggerated ambition, exhibitionism, and feelings of entitlement.”
Donald W. Black, DSM-5 Guidebook
The silliness of these markets and those who enable them make me laugh.
The politicians of the day are almost unbelievable— stylized caricatures of human beings. If you take them out of their Capitol elements they seem out of place, oddities.
The vanity of the self-important is both sad and amusing. They are truly clueless.
I would laugh harder if I were much further away.
Even a little problem conquered lifts the spirits and renews our energy.
Today was a good day.
First time in a long while I have been unable to decipher the meaning of a piece posted on TBP.
I have either begun my descent into senescence or the author has.
I think he’s saying politicians and top financiers are psychologically and emotionally impaired. These people are able to impose their laughable but dangerous schemes on the rest of us. The cartoon implies Trump is a big problem, but not the only problem.
A more accurate cartoon would have Obama looming largely in there somewhere, perhaps in the dark clouds behind Trump.
Today Jesse is viewing life as a comedy instead of a tragedy.
A normal person would never be allowed to be elected. No, the system only accepts perverts, pedophiles, narcissists, and the like. Trump is exactly what the system deserves. We the people will live on….after all, we’re at the bottom. Trump bothers me a lot less than Hillary Killery. ha, ha….wonder what they’ll all do when their pension checks don’t cash?
perhaps its a poem.
This is a redo of a political cartoon of the early 20th century, or even older. Implications are obvious. Google government, bureaucracy and octopi. Such a useful metaphor.
Given I am sitting with someone very close who is also in the very last days of her life, I think I get what Jesse means.
Combine full-consciousness of what is happening in the markets – and the world – today with the heart-stopping grief that accompanies the sum totality that is death, I think I get it. It is both “sad and amusing”, and had I greater distance, I also would cry less, and laugh more.
Yes, I think I get it.
With the ascent of Trump, Jesse came out as a very unhappy liberal, something completely unexpected to someone who read him for years. He hasn’t made sense in a while.
Jesse: And your point is?
BTW Where were you for the previous 8 years when the King of Clowns was in town?
Yeah, you’re going to have to flesh that out a bit.
Please be kind to Jesse. He is a gentle soul and going through a very rough time at the moment.
Hardhead. Europe is full of gentle souls. Most are smart enough to not throw stones at the vikings they are going to need to protect them. Soon.
Pretty clear if you leave your chosen space. The whole bunch of them swim daily in their own self-importance. Donald is pictured as the Octopus King of Narcissism. Denial of “what is” is not just an affliction suffered by the other side.
The title of Jesse’s post immediately brought this 10 Years After song to my mind, so this is for Jesse and his wife…hopefully it will bring good memories of their time together: