I developed the political theory of anarcho-narcissism recently when thinking about the ways in which My disability and the tools I’ve developed to overcome it factor into My anarchism. This theory is one part tongue-in-cheek, one part proclamation of My own worth in the face of hate, one part serious political analysis, and a dash of mental health advice.
Reactionary socialists would have you believe that people with Narcissistic Personality Disorder are the cause of fascism and/or capitalism. On a basic level, this is simply because ableist society says narcissists are the root of all evil, and socialists think fascism and capitalism are evil. So if you have an ableist socialist, you will get someone who believes in this.
The argument made by reactionary socialists is that people with NPD are in fact an elite class of amoral and fabulously wealthy cultists who control society from the shadows, and openly in the form of world governments and Wall Street. Those of you who have the slightest bit of political literacy will recognise all the tropes of the antisemitic conspiracy theory. Apparently, (((narcissists))) control the government, the economy, and the media.
These conspiracy theorists, who obviously got sick of being told off for attacking jews and decided to find another vulnerable minority to harass, claim they have lots of evidence. They say that Trump, Musk, Depp, Hitler, Walsh, Putin, Kanye, and any other figurehead of conservativism you can name is a narcissist. By the way, this is considered medical malpractice if a doctor does it. You’re only supposed to give diagnoses to a patient you’ve spent time alone with and have a clinical right to treat. You can’t do medicine on the street at random people, whether they’re famous or not. It’s unethical. That’s why the APA has a rule against it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldwater_rule
As for the logic of their accusations, it is astoundingly simple: narcissists don’t care about other people, so the political parties saying not to care about others must be narcissists.
Let’s apply some actual fucking psychology to these claims.
The 9-criterion model of NPD in the DSM-5 (which is itself rather old and controversial) lists two relevant criteria: “Interpersonally exploitive behavior”, and “A lack of empathy”. Reactionaries will object and say that “A grandiose sense of self-importance” constitutes direct violence against others, but they are wrong. They just want to control other people’s egos. Reactionaries will also point at “A sense of entitlement” as being a conservative position, but as a narcissist I have to say I feel very entitled to my surplus labour value and I think communism is the best way to get it back. Let’s get into that later.
The two criteria that have actual relevance to reactionary claims are problematic to begin with. First off, exploiting others isn’t a sickness. Psychologists are doctors, their job is to heal patients. Morality is not their job, and if you thought it was, you’re thinking of priests. Second, the lack of empathy is tremendously reductive. Speaking from personal experience, the truth is I simply have more control over My empathy. I can turn My empathy off when I’m dealing with assholes, and since NPD is caused by child abuse, I think we can all agree narcissists have very good reasons to leave their empathy off most of the time.
Also, the relevance these two criteria have to reactionary claims still doesn’t establish a causal link with promoting this mindset in others. If I were an evil abusive manipulating narcissist, why would I want everyone else acting like Me? We aren’t Fry from Futurama. This attitude only makes sense as the behaviour of the most non-gifted at effective manipulation (who are definitely not leading conservative movements), and as the behaviour of the current rich. And are narcissists rich? No, we’re poor! NPD makes it harder to maintain relationships, which include professional relationships.
Narcissists do not control the world, we are not responsible for [insert bad thing here], and we do not fit the stereotypes often said about us. Mostly because those stereotypes are based on the people we think of as narcissistic, who were labelled based on stereotypes, and it ends up being a massive orobouros of Telephone with no grounding in fact or science.
But what about the positive effects of NPD on politics? What about anarcho-narcissism?
Well, we’re entitled, and that makes us good communists because we don’t want the capitalists stealing our money no more. Every one of us is familiar with tactics of abuse and can offer a unique perspective on these issues, #metoo. We know the harms of neuronormativism and mental ability discrimination from direct experience. We can turn our empathy for bigots off at will. We’re obsessed with perfection, which often leads into moral perfection and wanting to be a better person. We have a tendency towards being good orators and creatives, which can lead us to doing some powerful praxis if we can overcome our interpersonal flaws. We only want to associate with high-status people, and if that status is moral, that means we spend all our social effort building relationships in progressive communities. We can’t stand someone having more or being better than us, #equality.
Awesome! We’re great communists and revolutionaries if we put our minds to it! And we’re also great soulists. I’ll explain why:
Narcissists have no experience of the self being real. Our egos, our identities, are ephemeral and malleable. This is the principle symptom, the cause of the vulnerability to criticism, proclivity to feelings of inferiority, and the need to create a bigger ego as a buffer against these feelings. But it’s also a strength. Narcissists are, universally in My experience, gifted magicians. Every day that we get out of bed and don’t want to kill ourselves is an exercise in controlling our perceptions, and at the most fundamental level, the self. We have so much practice!
When we look at anarcho-antirealism, the political ideology of acknowledging nothing is real and creating our chosen experiences, the two-way synergy with NPD is incredible. We’re better at it and it makes us better. It offers solutions to our feelings that we are objeectively flawed, objectively worse than others. It enables us to use our magical talents to improve our lives, and the lives of others.
Real people will always be flawed. Anyone who’s idolised a celebrity or artist only to find they’re an abuser, or a bigot can relate. Anyone who thought AOC was a hero to the workers, and then saw her vote to end the rail workers strike, for example. Real people will never be perfect.
But narcissists aren’t real people. I’m not saying that makes us perfect, but it does give us an immense drive to strive towards perfection. I have met so many people who refused to self-crit on their attitudes about certain races, certain genders, certain disabilities. Everyone’s flawed, and our strength is how well we can admit that. Narcissists have to admit that to ourselves every day, we don’t have a choice. Our brains will always self-crit, and we can deny it, but it happens anyway. We can use that as a force for growth! And I did! It’s possible!
I truly believe that people with NPD have a deeply profound potential for improvement and for revolutionary behaviour, both internally and externally. The only thing we need to do it is hope.
