Monday, January 31, 2011

Post-Retreat Comic Part II: Narcissus at the Social Network Reflecting Pool

Social Network Comic Page 3
Social Network Comic Page 4

7 comments:

Raven Haalan said...

"What is the internet, if not a narcissist's dream come true?" -Tony Long, WIRED magazine

Botgirl Questi said...

I use the term more in the sense of the myth, than the personality disorder. The idea that we mistake a reflection/projection of ourself to be the whole enchilada.

sororNishi said...

Is there a difference between the RL 'identity' we fall in love with and assume to be out Real Self and the Virtual Identity in this regard?
Is the Real one not slightly MORE delusional than the Virtual in that we do not think of our Real Identity as being virtual... hence the delusion.... it lies in the Naming of Things.

Botgirl Questi said...

soror: For sure! What happens on social networks is just an extension, and perhaps an amplification, of the same processes that occur in RL. I agree with you that the naming of things is part of the problem, but there's a lot of subconscious stuff going on, some of it beyond words. I see the fundamental sin as the militant belief that one's current perceptions are a reflection of objective reality.

Raven Haalan said...

Ahh, your point re: myth vs disorder is well taken.

I do think a lot of the hallmark elements of NPD can be encouraged and/or reinforced by the net as well, and this reinforcement relates to identity...

... it might be time to sharpen up a pen on that and cite you as inspiration. :)

bob hooker said...

Lacan has written a great deal about the Mirror Stage and the formation of identity.

I have a paper on Lacan's theory of how the Mirror Stage structures identity at:

http://rober1236jua.wikispaces.com/Lacan's+theory+of+identity+formation+in+the+mirror+stage

So for anyone interested in the link between Narcissism and Identity there is a massive body of research from the last 100 years starting with Freud.

Botgirl Questi said...

Robert: Thanks for the link to that nice capsule description
of Lacan's theory. I view most psychological theories as I do identities. Both are useful fictions. Fictional not because they are necessarily constructed from inaccurate data, but fictional because ANY universal mental model of human consciousness is inherently incomplete.