Please answer these questions in the "comments" field.
1. I think I am a special person.
2. I can live my life any way I want to.
3. The world would be a lot better if I ran it.
4. Do you think that college students are more narcissistic now than in the past? Why? If so, what accounts for this increase in self-interest?
[Don't forget to sign your name!]
17 comments:
1. Not according to my view of myself, no.
2. No
3. No
4. Yes. This is because of a heightened importance of imagery that is partly due to the explosion of technology in the 20th century.
Let me add to my previous answer found above.
4. There is also an emphasis on the individual in the postmodern context. This means that personal feelings and experience are emphasized as part of this postmodernism.
I believe that college students are narcissistic more so now than in the past because of our society today. Society values have dramatically changed and instead of valuing self, family and God, we see celebrities and "important people" living lifestyles with impatience, immorality and no self worth. It's sad to see that children are growing up with false role models and I think it's our duty as college students to be positive models daily because you never know who is watching.
This is the response from Sam James (who does not mind being quoted):
1) While I think that the human race is special because we are made in God's image, I do not think I am a special individual of that race.
2) No, I cannot live my life anyway I want to. There are restrictions. I cannot go out and shoot somebody because I feel like it. If I were to do that, I would find out very quickly, as they carried me to the electric chair, I am not allowed to do what I please.
3) Yeh, sure. If I did not believe my ideas would make the world a better place, I would not hold to them. If I could run the world and enforce my ideas, the world would certainly be a better place. Narcistic? Probably so.
4) A recent survey said that college students are more self-centered and narcistic, and I have no doubt that is true. The United States scores very high on self esteem tests. Our school system believes self esteem is a lot more important than it is. The fact is that each individual person really is not that special. If parents and schools would stop harping about how special little Johnny is, Johnny may be able to get his eyes off of his self and his needs and focus on other people, which is what we should be doing. Abortion rates are so high because we told ladies that it is there body and they have complete control over it. Is this true? No. The body we have is the body God gave us. My time, my money and my energy... they all belong to God. Humans are totally depraved. (Romans 3). You do not hear many parents telling their kids that what they have really doesn't belong to them and that they are totally depraved little creatures. Truth is-- they are. So, it doesn't surpise me that college students want to focus on themselves. The world tells us that is the thing to do -- look out for Number 1.
1. Yes, but everyone has a special aspect.
2. No.
3. Not at all. It would probably suck in a lot of ways, although a few parts of it might be better.
4. No. We hear a lot about the moral decay of our world, but people have always been pretty narcissistic. In fact, if you think about who went to college in the past (the social elite), they were probably a lot more narcissistic than your average student today.
1. Yes. Everyone is special, because everyone is different.
2. Yes. As long as you aren't infriging on another's rights you are fine.
3. No.
4. Yes. One reason is most likely the techonology that someone mentioned earlier, but also we have this arrogant western attitude that is reenforced by society, culture, media, etc.
1. Yes, but only because I know I am created in God's imae (Gen 1:26)
2. No, not entirely. There are objective, and even absolute, moral norms laid down by our Creator that we are to abide by.
3. No.
4. Our culture in America has become more narcissistic, especially with the rise of technology and radical individualism. Though a previous commentor is right in saying that narcissism has been present in most cultures (I'd say due to sin). The "Have it your way" mentality is rampant.
1. I think I am a special person.
My mom always told me so, and i guess i believed it for most of my life, but now i think i'm pretty special without someone telling me.
2. I can live my life any way I want to.
"Any way I want to" is very much so open to interpretation. However since i am a Christian, i feel it necessary to live my life after the example Christ laid out for me.
3. The world would be a lot better if I ran it.
That is not true in the least.
4. Do you think that college students are more narcissistic now than in the past? Why? If so, what accounts for this increase in self-interest?
well i think it's some of both. to be a college student in the past meant that you came from wealth and already suffered the risk of being narcissistic before they got to college. now however i feel that there is a definite increase in narcissism just because we force it into our children with school curriculums that focus on self-esteem building...take that too far and you've got yourselves a narcissistic generation.
1. Yes. God has created every one of us special in some unique way. I am special and important in my own way.
2. No, I cannot live my life in any way I want to. My tendency is to be sinful and shun God's will. This only leads to terrible consequences immediately and in the long run.
3. No, absolutely not. The world is never a better place when just one person runs it, because that one person has his own sin to deal with. Accountability needs to be present; to God and to others.
4. Yes, unfortunately. We are conditioned these days to look out for ourselves, be possessive of what we have, of our rights, and make sure we have everything we need. It is a scary thought to not worry about these things and truly focus on what others around us need, because then we can't guarantee that we will have what we think we need (possessions, security, emotional wellbeing, etc.). It is scary because it is what God calls us to do, and it means trusting Him to provide the things we need.
Now, of course we still have to be responsible and "prepare for the rain" as the farmer sows his crops in faith that the rain will come. We have to work daily at building up our friends and family and aiding them. We have to be responsible with the possessions that God has blessed us with (a college education, our clothes, food, art to look at, money to budget, etc.) and realize that they really aren't ours, but God's. And in our preparation, when God does send the "rain" of blessings at the moment He chooses, we will be ready.
(I felt the need to add a partial answer to this growing problem, realizing fully that major fault lies in myself as well. I am continually guilty of all of these things I am speaking against, and am no better a person than any other. We are all in this together.)
1. I thin
1. I think that aspects about myself are special. I don't think that I, as a human being, am particularly special. Everyone is unique is some way or another, but being "special" is not quite the same as having unique characteristics.
2. I certainly have a great freedom with my life (however, I do have a set of morals which I abide by strictly). I don't think that I can live it any way, though. If people could do that, then there wouldn't be laws or any type of regulation, for that matter.
3. Oh, heck no!
4. I most definitely agree that college students are way more narcissistic than they used to be. This doesn't apply to everyone, of course, but as to the group as a whole. People just seem so much more concerned with how they can make things more convenient for themselves without giving thought to the inconveniences they are causing for others. I think that our generation is like this in part because of the extreme emphasis given to honors, awards, and grades. So often, people only get recognized by a number.... It is human nature to want to be noticed by someone, so we all do what it takes to make the grade (whether academically or not). Most of us were told from the time of birth how special we were. If we do certain things, we get certain rewards or punishments. When this system is stretched to its max, it turns out a lot of narcissistic people.
1. Yes. I am unique, just like everybody else.
2. Yes. I am responsible to consider the effects of my actions, and to accept their consequences, but I am free to live as I wish.
3. No. The world would suck even worse if I ran it.
4. I have no idea how narcissistic college students were in the past.
Jenni Faithful
1. yes, i think everyone is special in some way
2. i think to an extent people CAN live their life any way they choose, and i think that we all DO live our life anyway we choose. We choose to follow rules and guidelines as well as the laws of our country and the life perscribed by the bible. so yes i live my life however i choose, but i choose for that to remain within the limits of polite american societal values (usually).
3. not the whole world... there are a few things that i think i could improve, but as a whole no, iwould probably really screw up the world.
4. yes i think college students are more narcissistic, and i think it is becuase our society as a whole is more narcissistic, and college students are raised their whole life to believe that they will be the positive change in the future, so they have a hieghtened sense of self importance becuase they believe themselves to be the important people of the future.
Rockel Cole (and you can quote me if you want to, i choose that)
1. Sometimes yes, sometimes no
2. Yes, within reason and witin moral boundaries. Let's put it this way, I don't have to listen to any other human for advice, just God.
3. I couldn't run the whole world, but I do think certain things would run better if the leaders would use some of my ideas.
4. Yes. There's a lot of stuff going on about mamas telling kids that they can do anything the want, (which isn't entirely true) and a big "finding yourself" revolution of sorts. College students today want to beleive "I can do anything" which they get from family, but don't want their family to influence anything in their life. (Doesn't make too much sense to me) They want to be a self made person off of beliefs that they get from their family and not credit anyone else for their success. So I guess they're a little selfish along with Narcissistic.
Evan Patterson
You can quote me on that.
1. You bet I'm special.
2. Sure I *can* - I'll be condemned for living immorally, but I can freely choose to live my life in a morally dispicable manner.
3. Who's to say I dont run the world?
4. It depends how far back we're willing to go. Students today (certainly at Erskine) are fairly tame compared to the free love hippies of the '60s. But overall, college students are incredibly narcissistic and are becoming ever more so in our ego-centric culture.
P. V. Inwagen
I am Jay Brantner's (quotable) response to this blog.
1. It depends, of course, on how you define special. Unique, yes. Particularly important, no.
2. Well, within certain obvious boundaries (like, for instance, the Laws of Physics), I can. Assuming the better debater inside my mind is defined as "what I want," then I can live my life the way I want. However, I can't live my life the way I want without consequences. If I shoot someone, I will be arrested (unless I'm a lot sneakier than I thought), if I'm not a Christian, I will go to hell, etc.
3. Of course I think it would. I wouldn't hold my beliefs if I didn't think they were better than other beliefs.
4. I wasn't in college in the past, so I really don't have much to compare it to. From all I hear about the 60s, I wouldn't be at all surprised to find college students 40 years ago more narcissistic than those today. However, I think there is a definite overall trend in culture toward me-centeredness, so I would lean toward "yes."
1. special? no, just a sinner like everyone else.
2. I can live my life however I want, but the style and direction I take will have either positive or negative consequences (maybe both).
3. well define "better." It would be better from my point of view, but I seriously doubt many other people would like my version of the world with me as dictator.
4. I'm not entirely or even remotely sure what college students were like in the past, so I don't really know.
Daniel Stephens
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