Cloudbusting
Not your average chicken
- Joined
- Jul 19, 2020
- Messages
- 728
I'm not on social media a huge amount, however I use it to a small degree and I tend to read forums etc.
Over the past year, I've noticed a trend of an increasing number of people determining other people's actions and behaviour to be narcissistic. These people are often talking about family and friends and obviously I don't know these people personally so I can't really comment, but it's not uncommon to see people writing about how they've cut others out of their lives for 'narc' behaviour. When I've read some of the situations involved (one sided of course) some of it strikes me as unpleasant/rude, but not truly narcissistic...
I guess what surprises me is the number of people I've seen calling others 'narcs' as if it was a defining character trait. We all have a capacity for narcissism and I have certainly witnessed this, but I have rarely thought another person is a 'narc', or actually has narcissistic personality disorder. In fact, I'm more convinced of a couple of psychopaths I think I've come across (admittedly, probably an 'overdiagnosed' condition over the past 10 years).
I wonder what this says about our society. Is it sloppy/misunderstood language, or is it just a convenient catch all term for bad behaviour that's currently in vogue? On the other hand are we becoming less tolerant as a society and happy to cut off others, a personal form of cancel culture?
Just some observations really, interested to hear what others think.
P.S. To be clear, I understand sometimes you have to cut people out of your life for very good reasons (that don't need to be explained to the entire internet!) but the linguistics of this has intrigued me.
Over the past year, I've noticed a trend of an increasing number of people determining other people's actions and behaviour to be narcissistic. These people are often talking about family and friends and obviously I don't know these people personally so I can't really comment, but it's not uncommon to see people writing about how they've cut others out of their lives for 'narc' behaviour. When I've read some of the situations involved (one sided of course) some of it strikes me as unpleasant/rude, but not truly narcissistic...
I guess what surprises me is the number of people I've seen calling others 'narcs' as if it was a defining character trait. We all have a capacity for narcissism and I have certainly witnessed this, but I have rarely thought another person is a 'narc', or actually has narcissistic personality disorder. In fact, I'm more convinced of a couple of psychopaths I think I've come across (admittedly, probably an 'overdiagnosed' condition over the past 10 years).
I wonder what this says about our society. Is it sloppy/misunderstood language, or is it just a convenient catch all term for bad behaviour that's currently in vogue? On the other hand are we becoming less tolerant as a society and happy to cut off others, a personal form of cancel culture?
Just some observations really, interested to hear what others think.
P.S. To be clear, I understand sometimes you have to cut people out of your life for very good reasons (that don't need to be explained to the entire internet!) but the linguistics of this has intrigued me.