Pathology or Pathetic?

MSN has a feature article on its website attributing the wave of me-generated bad behavior to narcissism, perhaps in a thinly-veiled attempt to excuse the arrogance and greed of the financial institutions and employees who have caused not just a recession, but, perhaps, have taken the economy directly into a depression.

Horse feathers. Bad behavior is selfish, non-regulated choice-making that individuals indulge in because it gets them what they want when they want it. Someone in the child's life who said "no," but didn't mean it often enough, taught the child how to behave as an adult: throw a major temper tantrum until the target gives in and then gloat about controlling the behavior of the person who said no, but didn't mean it.

Narcissism, on the other hand, is pathological, the arrested development or regression to the infantile stage of development in which one's own body is the object of erotic interest. Remember the Greek legend of Narcissus, who loved his own image so much that he fell into a pool of water and was transformed into the beautiful flower that bears his name? A narcissist can't move away from the mirror because (s)he is transfixed on the image of their physical beauty (or perception thereof). It is truly all about me, beautiful me, not about manipulating the world around me to ensure that I get anything I want without consequence or remorse.

A sociopathic personality is without empathy for and/or engagement with the society in which (s)he lives, which more describes the actions of those who are not just able, but willing, to cause this kind of traumatic consequence for the world economies while absenting themselves from any responsibility for it. This is not about how I look, but how I live, and it truly is all about me for a sociopath.

If a person is a clinical narcissist, I'd cut him/her some slack when it comes to excessive time in the bathroom, but when it's just ordinary bad behavior by self-centered, selfish individuals, my reaction is "go to your room until you get over it." I abhor seemingly responsible adults allowing bad behavior by assigning it a pathology, rather than holding responsible the individual to control their own behavior.

The sooner we stop allowing the bad behavior, the sooner we can move past it. In my world, silence is permission, and hiding what individuals have done under the guise of a justifiable pathology is inexcusable. People who commit criminal acts need to be held accountable, not be given plausible deniability based on someone's perception that in order to do what they did, they must have a pathological excuse.

Far too often, bad behavior is just bad behavior.