Alterman on Narcissists

[capriccio]

Excerpt:

This race does not even enjoy that phony patina of party-building he claimed last time, since he has split with the Greens, whoever they may be.

All of this mitigates against people making the same mistake they made four years ago, so perhaps I can get excited about something else…. Except for those Dean<****>. The media are filled with quotes from Dean bloggers saying some variation of, “How wonderful. A candidate who makes me feel morally superior to everyone else but who will actually accomplish nothing but the destruction of the very things about which to care.” How many are like this? That’s what I don’t know.

I also don’t know if these people would have bothered to vote anyway. Perhaps it’s up to Dean himself to rescue these folks from their own narcissism and make good on his promise to build a movement that will force the Democrats to remain loyal to their “Democratic” wing.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3449870/

[shance]

1. Dean needs to rescue Alterman from his own narcissism

and perhaps "force" Alterman to show quotes to prove his demented accusations.

Perhaps he will then wake up to the fact that hes adding to the disloyalty by trying to marginalize and invalidate Dean supporters

Eric just probably needs to get laid. Being jealous and angry towards people who support Dean is an indication he needs to mellow out and quit targeting those that are essentially on the same team. (I think*)

It might also be helpful for Eric to become more informed on the subject of narcissism.

A true narcissist despises unity, likes to divide and control others, and certainly doesnt make anyone feel morally superior.

A narcissist tries to make everyone else feel inferior. It could be argued that Alterman is trying to do the very thing he describes.

[Rich Hunt]

2. not AGAIN!

The media are filled with quotes from Dean bloggers saying some variation of, “How wonderful. A candidate who makes me feel morally superior to everyone else but who will actually accomplish nothing but the destruction of the very things about which to care.” How many are like this? That’s what I don’t know.

If you 'don't know', you should keep your mouth shut until you've verified this 'information'.

How many pundits and 'journalists' are repeating things about the Dean campaign & Dean supporters that they got from secondary sources ? So many of them have done this - people who should know better.

It's not responsible journalism. I don't expect that from the right, but I expect better from progressives.

He's not sure how representative these 'bloggers' are - that doesn't stop him from bringing it up.

Plus, the word 'narcissism' reeks of the inaccurate stereotype of Dean supporters - as 19-year-old computer geeks with blue hair and multiple piercings or whatever.

This is just lazy. They keep calling Dean the 'internet' candidate while only getting their information from secondary sources.

[lyonn]

3. What a strange description of

Dean supporters, I'm one of them. Dean supporters "feel morally superior to everone else", is a very strange conclusion. We liked what he said, thought he had good ideas for this country, not just for "me." This logic is absurd. Maybe this is about group thought, like let's vote for the electable one, or vote for someone that doesn't appear to rock the boat, in other words we need a yes man that will do what they think the majority wants since that's how we voted. We shouldn't vote for someone that tries something somewhat different, and that's all Dean was proposing. Like getting rid of some the deregulations that has smothered progress. Like letting govt. know we are important not corps. where all the money is clustered.

[Rich Hunt]

4. actually...

He is using second-hand sources which quote blogs by "Deaniacs" who are praising Nader. The 'morally superior' stuff is probably a caricature of what was actually said, too.

Of course, he is neither responsible nor fair enough to provide references to these articles in the media or the blogs in question.

It's just more unfair linking of Dean with Nader. I'm sure some Dean people might be sympathetic to Nader, but that overlooks how many supporters of current or past candidates who would also consider voting third party. It doesn't square with my personal experience with the Dean supporters I know, who are working hard to defeat Bush.

If I wanted to be as unfair as some people, and divine some people's motives, I'd say they're a bunch of masochists who prefer the Dem establishment - maybe they find it comforting. But nah, that would be unfair and illogical of me. But it's almost as if they -want- to believe certain things about Dean supporters, and go digging for any proof that their suspicions are true so that they can write a 'gotcha' column. It's funny how their exaggerated fear of the 'cult of personality' is limited to certain types of candidates.

It would be nice if many of these people followed Dean's example and used reason instead of emotion and dubious character assessments when addressing the Nader issue. Not all of us enjoy feeling like we're in church.

So many 'progressive' or left-whatever people have come out of all of this primary season looking really bad by reacting to their emotions instead of using their head.