Narcissism seems to be the illness du jour of American culture.
IMO if there is one; the illness du jour of American culture is cyberchondria, and a desire to take complex things and make them as simplistic as possible so they can be marginalized and therefore have the appearance of being controlled.
If you read the symptoms of things like narcissism, or depression, or a heart attack, it's extremely easy to make things fit it.
I mean this:
lack of empathy for others, an extreme belief in one’s grandiose self-importance, a sense of entitlement that others must do their bidding, fantasies of unlimited success, power, beauty, ease in exploiting others, arrogance, enviousness, need to be admired
Describes every young child.
Can describe pretty much any avid sports fan.
Anyone on a date.
And I would say that every human being on the face of this planet has been in a situation where the symptoms as posted here represent them.
Husband doesn't want to go to my sisters house after she just got divorced?
Thinks he knows what he's doing without reading directions and also doesn't need to stop and ask directions?
Oh wait, he also demanded a raise from his boss last week since he's been there for 10 years.
Oh no, he told our kid to do what he said because he's the dad!
And he keeps buying powerball tickets thinking he'll win!
Plus I found some rogaine in his medicine chest!
Gasp! He called my brother a pushover when I was worried about borrowing money, and he envies the neighbors their pool!
And finally, last night after sex, he asked how good it/he was!
Those fit all the symptoms of narcissism I read on the internet!
I'm married to a narcissist. He's going to go on a shooting rampage!
They seethe with anger, the “narcissistic rage” characterized by...“the need for revenge…for undoing a hurt by whatever means…”
Wow. So a kid that gets mad for being grounded and phone privileges removed punches the wall.
Oh no! Narcissist!
giving their pain to others and in doing so build up the remnants of their self-worth through violence
This could describe every person that joins the military, or takes karate, or football, or becomes a surgeon.
could narcissim be more a culprit for war and terrorism than religion?
Sure.
It "could."
So "could" satan or god.
So "could" high levels of lead in the environment.
So "could" population pressure and finite resources.
So "could" testosterone.
So "could" crappy parenting and passing off kids to strangers all their life, or single mothers having too much influence over young boys, or men just not wanting to be dads.
So "could" over use of birth control among certain classes of people.
So "could" it be a combination of thousands of different things.
It "could" be just as likely something like this:
no these are only possible warning signs and as a parent, guardian, teacher, counselor they are things that we can watch out for
People read symptoms online.
Then start "looking" for them.
Think they spot some, then start acting different towards someone.
People naturally respond to the cues they get from others.
So it "could" be the whole Stanford prison and Milgram experiments in real life.
Where people simply start behaving how others come to expect them to behave.
Which is a far cry from narcissism.
It's giving other people what they want.