So often people in our modern society confuse egotism with self respect. Egotism is the practice of talking and thinking about oneself excessively because of an undue sense of self-importance. Self respect, on the other hand, is a feeling that one is behaving with honor and dignity. With undue reliance upon egotism our society finds itself both at odds with itself, and unable to compromise. It becomes unable for it to honestly examine its past (because of either denial, or guilt,) or its present (because of greed or fear.) And when the paradoxical marriage of politics and religion is included in the bargain a disaster awakens. As a result, two things occur: One, people see themselves, their endeavors, and their associations as being far above those around them, and two, they madly dash to conform to any and all entities that will bolster their view of themselves and their assumption of their social standing. Thus they cease being themselves. They cease being human, and they lose the all important capacity for empathy and compassion, or the simplest common sense. They then become the very institutions and belief systems that they think will promote their self involved views. They become walking billboards, testimonials of their mental and social self-imprisonment. They will wear their affiliations on their sleeves and have not a clue as to what the hell they are talking about for, by then, their thoughts will have become controlled by the outraged opinions, and obsolete ideologies that had ensnared their consumption driven attention as they strived to mimic those they deemed to be successful. Individuality soon becomes a foreign term to them as they race to claim their place in the dream, that social Nirvana where they and those who look like them are in charge of the world. Those who they think dont measure up are called lazy, freeloaders, or a drain on a hard working society as they reinforce their self imposed ignorance by becoming ever more territorial and ever more dogmatic in their literalist beliefs. In the end they are controlled by their economic betters and fed a bland diet of outrage, controversial issues, and religious strict constructionism. And they will never escape. Their egotism will keep them there. --RThomas
Posted on: Wed, 16 Jul 2014 06:42:11 +0000
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