Let's cure Narcissism, not Autism

 

By Helen Said, Autistic advocate, Melbourne Australia

The damage narcissists do to their fellow human beings is incalculable. Narcissists use aggression, manipulation and exploitation to gain power and control, and gravitate towards prestigious and influential professions like sales, entertainment, academia and politics (although most people in these professions are not narcissists). This allows them to abuse their power and create toxic and bullying work environments. Some even become cult leaders who brainwash their victims into believing conspiracy theories and committing unthinkable acts.

Narcissistic parents damage their children and their partners. Up to 75% of narcissists are men and they can be more prone towards domestic violence. Threats to their self-esteem can evoke feelings of shame, humiliation and wounded pride, leading to aggressive behaviour.

According to psychologist Mary Trump, her uncle, President Donald Trump, is a narcissist and this contributes to him being "the world's most dangerous man" who "now threatens the life of every American". Yet there is currently no cure for narcissism. 

Psychologists routinely advise people to look out for red flags that someone is a narcissist, limit or cut off contact with this person, and take steps to heal from the abuse, while letting the narcissist go off on their merry way to find another victim. Clearly this is an unsatisfactory way for society to deal with its aggressive, manipulative, exploitative minority, yet we are told to accept that narcissists will never change.

By contrast, Autistics are renowned for being down-to-earth, honest and lacking in under-handed agendas, yet we are being portrayed as a burden on society and in need of a cure. The rip-offs, family break-downs and psychological damage perpetrated by narcissists surely outweigh the cost of the therapies and educational services sought by Autistics and their families. Charismatic, narcissistic, conspiracy theorists have caused an untold number of deaths by spreading anti-vaxxer propaganda, blaming vaccines for Autism. Vaccines do not cause Autism; vaccines save lives and anti-vaxxer conspiracy theories, and the narcissistic cult leaders who promote them, kill people.

Another contrast between narcissists and Autistics is that narcissists are overwhelmingly the perpetrators of bullying and Autistics are overwhelmingly their victims. Autistics are often told to change our behaviour to avoid being bullied, in much the same way as women are told to change what we wear and where we go to avoid being raped. It's high time we hold perpetrators of all forms of abuse accountable. Saying that "boys will be boys" or "narcissists will be narcissistic" lets perpetrators off the hook. We need to confront toxic, narcissistic bullies with the same persistence that feminists confront rape culture. We need a cure for narcissism.

While there may be some genetic factors involved, narcissism is largely caused by poor upbringing, either being treated as an entitled golden child or the opposite - being abused at a young age. There are clear environmental factors that can be controlled to reduce the prevalence of narcissism. But this doesn't interest US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jnr, whose focus is on eliminating Autism. RFK wrongly upholds that Autism is caused by environmental factors, which he and his quack scientist, anti-vaxxer David Geier, intend to discover by September. This is in stark contradiction to the views of genuine scientists, who overwhelmingly believe that Autism is genetic. 

Many Autism experts, such as Cambridge Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, believe that Autistic genes are responsible for much of human advancement. The Autism rights movement holds that Autism should be accepted, even celebrated. The overwhelming majority of Autistic people prefer being the way we are and do not seek a cure, although many of us have co-occurring conditions which cause various challenges. 

Narcissists generally don't seek a cure either, but we as a society have the right to say we can't afford to live with their behaviour. While RFK raves about a non-existent Autism epidemic, psychologists increasingly point to a real and growing narcissism epidemic. Harwant Khush, Ph.D., Research Consultant, Tero International, largely blames the socio-cultural environment in his article "Why is there a rise in Narcissism?" 

https://www.tero.com/articles/rise-of-narcissism.php

"...narcissism scores are higher in individualistic cultures compared with collectivistic cultures...Research validates these findings that Americans with their priority on individualistic values ...show the highest level of narcissism ...." which leads us back to America's elected leader, and the epitome of its narcissism epidemic, Donald Trump. As representatives of the American billionaire oligarchy, there is no way Trump or RFK would admit that there is a narcissism epidemic, or that American individualism is partly to blame. Instead, they are distracting us from their narcissistic hatred epidemic through scare tactics about a phoney "Autism epidemic" and seeking to blame minorities, such as Autistics, for social ills and government expenses, all the while handing narcissistic billionaires massive tax cuts.

Autistics around the world will have to stay strong as we face this US government inspired vilification, and we should do all we can to support our American neurokin at this difficult time.