Narking the narcissists

Consistent with all the gaslighting and other abuse, diehard supporters of lockdowns and the rest of the “new normal” had one thing in common: They were narcissists.

I grew up in Highland Heights, Kentucky, and met my share of abusive narcissists—especially authority figures. One of the biggest clusters of abusers was in the Campbell County Schools, which was known as one of the most authoritarian school districts. My experiences with this school system started on the wrong foot, and its putrescent jackboot has rarely eased its grip ever since. Campbell County Schools’ frequent use of corporal punishment was legendary. To this day, this school system is generally agreed to be among the nation’s worst. This view was again confirmed earlier this year when the district smugly banned several books from school libraries. Through the pandemic, this district was predictably bad. Any headline in the local press about a COVID-related controversy had a strong chance of being centered on the unmerciful ghouls who ran the Campbell County Schools.

As bad as this public school system was, I usually had even worse luck with local Catholic schools.

Yet lockdowns dredged up terrifying memories of an experience I had in my late teens at the hands of another powerful northern Kentucky organization that was separate from these schools. I was put in this situation because I was retaliated against by our schools for events that are beyond the scope of this report. This organization moved the goalposts again and again—for months on end. Nothing was ever good enough for these evil goblins.

This organization made up a story claiming that I said, “I like fights.” A high-ranking official there repeated this made-up quote to my parents in my presence. This official could not contain her smugness throughout the encounter, as she read the false quote from a sheet of paper.

Every time we saw her, she was very argumentative, as narcissists often are. If I pointed out anything that was in my favor, she would argue back and expect her argument to be considered incontrovertible. This level of argumentativeness later became familiar to everyone when the “new normal” took hold, as they saw the exact same behavior displayed by COVID disastrists.

Narcissists who are the most argumentative are fondest of the word argumentative. They always accuse others of being argumentative. It’s a form of projection and gaslighting.

One of the favorite battle cries of condescending, authoritarian narcissists is that the person being addressed “needs” to do something. This is often accompanied by the narcissist stabbing the air with their hand—with one stab per word. We don’t “need” to do a damn thing.

These arrogant bullies also like to gaslight people by saying, “It’s your choice,” after they’ve taken away that choice. This is especially true “if you continue.”

In written documents, the equivalent to these phrases is “therefore”, which often precedes outlining whatever punishment befalls the beleaguered public.

Not long after the “I like fights” battle, I was a high school junior, and I was at a meeting at school with my parents and school officials, including one of the top officials from the Campbell County Schools. At this meeting, this official was immediately hostile and began loudly arguing with me. This is a perfect example of the narcissism we had to deal with. Scolding school officials of the 1990s were the militant lockdownists of the 2020s.

When I was 24, I moved to Bellevue, Kentucky, which is ruled by the Bellevue Independent Schools. By then, every school district seemed to have its own flock of deceitful totalitarians. The COVID era showed Bellevue was no exception. As bad as Bellevue schools were, there were other districts out there that managed to outdo it.

In the 1990s, these thoughtless stumblebums couldn’t abuse entire societies so efficiently, but technology, media consolidation, and public crises have made them a much more toxic 2020s phenomenon. They can be in any occupation or field, which is particularly dangerous because some professions serve people who are vulnerable. Despite all the people in these fields who do their jobs honorably, there are always some who prey on those who are easy to manipulate. I had become all too familiar with bullies who lie constantly about anything and everything, but the pandemic finally gave them a level of significance they never had before. Yet they still respond with astonished fury whenever anybody challenges them.