Britain: narcissist nation

The country's inflated sense of self-worth is beginning to look clinical

by Joris Luyendijk / October 13, 2016 / Leave a comment
Published in November 2016 issue of Prospect Magazine

©HEMIS/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

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Rarely have Europeans, including this London-based Dutchman, been granted such deep insight into the darkest corners of the English psyche (I am going to leave out the Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish). The charitable view is that many English people have a superiority complex that prevents them from being realistic about their country’s place in the world. As the Brexit saga drags on, one wonders if parts of the UK’s political and media establishment, if not the whole country, are not in fact in the grips of collective clinical narcissism.

Diverging slightly from its usage in popular culture, psychotherapists employ the concept of narcissism to describe people with an unstable sense of identity. Feelings of vulnerability, dependency and helplessness can overwhelm them and for this reason narcissists cling to notions of grandiosity. They cannot consider others except as instruments to be manipulated or enemies to be fought. Marked by a mixture of bravado and contempt for those perceived as weaker, narcissists cannot accept criticism and feel no interest in others—let alone empathy.

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DEBUG messsage: regular

Prime Minister David Cameron helps to campaign for a 'Remain' vote in the forthcoming EU referendum at a phone centre in London today along with fellow pro EU campaigners, Lord Ashdown, Lord Kinnock, Tessa Jowell, Baroness Kinnock and Amber Rudd. ©Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire/Press Association Images

Eight reasons why Britain should leave the EU

John Michaelson / April 15, 2016

We have nothing to lose but our chains

Former Mayor of London Boris Johnson makes a speech in York, where he was traveling on the Vote Leave campaign bus ahead of the EU referendum in June ©Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire/Press Association Images

The three issues that should decide your vote on 23rd June

George Magnus / May 30, 2016

Which arguments should we listen to on the economy, immigration and sovereignty?

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Comments

Thomas
October 14, 2016 at 10:53
"“Leave” and “Remain” supporters also keep asking me almost eagerly when my native Netherlands is next, even though the only Dutch political party to want Nexit polls at less than 20 per cent." Unfortunately, as demonstrated by the UK, you don't need much support to drum up the sort of xenophobic knee-jerk reaction to secure a vote to leave the EU. UKIP currently only poll 11% support in the UK and yet they have whipped up a nasty political atmosphere which has poisoned our domestic politics to the point that the Brexit vote was won. With a Dutch pro-separation pary polling 20% support, you should be pretty damned scared if a Nexit vote is offered. These are dark days, not only for the UK, but for most of the Western world.
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Dave
October 15, 2016 at 01:01
Quite frankly, the persistent behaviour is so many of my fellow Englishmen in apportioning such a self-centred view of the country is utterly embarrassing. Even after reading your article, so many would simply say "who cares? We don't need him nor do we need the Dutch normthe rest of the European nations. They would implore other countries to follow us into oblivion. This level of stupidity from so many millions of people inexplicably stoked by the newspaper barons who seem to be toying with the UK to see it implode just for laughs is unintelligible. So, this is why we (those who fervently feel we need to be within the EU must defeat this. One word sums this up for me. Ongezellig.
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Bryan Kemmings
October 15, 2016 at 17:16
If you're 'leaving out the Scots and Welsh' - why is the Title 'Britain' and not correctly 'England: Narcissists' ? Vanity got your editor's pen?
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Ian W
October 16, 2016 at 12:28
Whilst his final paragraph is spot on and Jean-Claude Juncker's observation is – for once - absolutely right, Mr Luyendijk does not prove his case. Boris Johnson, Toby Young and Andrea Leadsom no more represent moderately educated opinion in England than Geert Wilders does in the Netherlands. And uneducated opinion is no less blinkered in other European countries. The point of Gordon Brown's book – and the Economist comment quoted – was that it would have been better to remain and try to influence rather than leaving and thus losing all influence. But I suppose we had better get used to it: Mr Luyendijk's dyspeptic article shows that the English are the new bankers and will get bashed.
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1. jeremiaswollebauch
  October 17, 2016 at 15:53
  No-one can say whether Mr Luyendijk proves his case or not but the amount of rabid delusion we are being exposed to at the moment is truly incredible. From what I hear and see, I would say that the content of the article as a whole accurately reflects the view of the English Brexiteers and the gutter press that we are, or should be, the greatest nation on earth and that we have the right to insult and bully the rest. As to educated and uneducated, I would have thought that Mr Cameron (who did indeed think we should lead Europe) and Mr Johnson have had the best education on offer in this country, but it does not stop them propagating views that would make their European counterparts blush with shame (with the exception of M. Sarkozy).
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Regauntlet
October 22, 2016 at 09:42
In Scotland, we know all about this English narcissism, which the author correctly identifies as the psychotic personality trait behind both Remain and Leave campaigns...let's not forget that Gordon Brown, as PM; did not even bother turning up for the signing of the Lisbon Treaty, and he was a Remainer... Hubris and nemesis, or pride comes before a fall. Just don't forget about us in Scotland and Northern Ireland when we seek to inherit the UK's position in the EU. The Irish journalist Fintan O'Toole recently proposed a Celtic federal superstate made up of Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland. You can only hope and dream...
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1. Gavin B.
  November 10, 2016 at 12:51
  Perhaps you can help me to understand something that has puzzled me for a while. In very simplistic terms, the press lead me to believe that many Scottish people want to leave the Union and also remain in the EU. I mention Nicola Sturgeon as an example of someone who has these desires (I appreciate she does represent everyone in Scotland). Can you explain to me the logic of wanting to leave the Union (so as not to be governed by remote people in Whitehall - I believe that is one of the arguments) yet wanting to stay in the EU where governance will be even further removed than Whitehall.
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wg
October 22, 2016 at 10:01
The problem with the article above is that a whole section in UK society get nothing out of the European Union. If the option is to be impoverished (as this section is) and impoverished, but with a chance of removing the people who are causing that impoverishment, they are going to make a grab for that slim slither of accountability - no matter how illusory it might be. 'The People' are sick and tired of people who have assumed some sort of superiority, and are woking to an agenda not mandated by the general public; and the people are trying to drag politicians back to being our servants, and not our masters. Incidentally, I am one within that tier of disenfranchised - and I have absolutely no illusions about the hardships ahead.
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1. David Paterson
  October 22, 2016 at 10:11
  The apparent underlying beliefs of your post are part of the problem. "a whole section of UK society get nothing out of the EU" Really? Who are they and how do you know that? We have been in the EU for over 40 years, it is part of who we are and how our economy works and we will only find out how much when we actually leave. I suspect the old saying "you never miss the water till the well runs dry" may prevail.
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2. Monica Threlfall
  October 23, 2016 at 21:51
  I would agree with you if it were true that membership of the EU had something to do with our impoverishment. Our government in particular is free to implement the response to the 2008 crisis as it wants, and they chose to cut public spending on the more vulnerable, lower income population. None of this decision was in any way imposed by the EU or even debated as such. All the EU structural agricultural and social funds target ONLy the poorer regions, rigorously worked out via a number of criteria. - Membership of the EU WAS mandated by the general public in 1975. It was created to solidify peace and understanding amount the European nations through trade and free movement and integration of our economies, and this is what it has succeeded in doing. -The UK has the highest inequality in the EU except for Portugal even after taxes and all money transfers (benefits). - Finally 'the people' did NOT for Leave, only 27% did. 70 of the adult population took not steps to vote or to vote leave. The government should address the Leave's grievances fast, before Brexit makes the poorer even poorer after Leaving. Best of all for everybody: stay !
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3. E L
  October 29, 2016 at 09:02
  Sounds to me like an ex post economic rationalisation, of what was primarily an emotional spasm of English nationalism. The EU did not make our economy de-industrialise, any more than it forced Germany to continue to prosper as an industrial manufacturing power house. Sadly, the UK has chosen to embark on the journey to find a viable trading role in the world - beyond our current debt-driven, financial services dependent, economy - alone and in the wilderness.
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4. Andy G.
  November 3, 2016 at 11:12
  I find it curious that you contradict your own argument. You say you "get nothing out of the European Union" and yet "I have absolutely no illusions about the hardships ahead" - these things are in contradiction of one another. If there are "hardships ahead" as a result of leaving the EU, then presumably you DID "get something" out of membership that you now realise you are going to lose. I don't know who you imagine could be removed as they are "causing that impoverishment", but I'm pretty sure that leaving the EU won't help with that one iota.
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Stephen Gwynne
October 22, 2016 at 10:55
Nationhood has always been a contested issue and filled with subtle rivalry games. Here is another. Scottish good, English bad and one largely informed by a simplistic binary leave/remain logic. This series of info maps https://medium.com/@jakeybob/brexit-maps-d70caab7315e#.vldmkupgm shows that all British nations were varying mixtures of leave/remain voters and so to say England is the rebel and Scotland and NI are the liberal saviours is rubbish to say the least. Leavers spanned Britain as a whole as did remainers. The referendum was a British vote and there was a larger proportion of leave votes across Britain. So it is you alone that is conflating the English vote with the overall British vote. So instead of projecting your angst on to nationalistic stereotypes, ask your neighbour why they voted Leave.
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chris robinson
October 22, 2016 at 11:21
Stand at any bus-stop and discover the nation's favourite pastime:Blaming 'them' for the imperfect world we live in. Eric Berne (Games People Play) named the game 'Aint it awful'. The weather, the bus company, the local council, overpaid footballers, our politicians, and of course those bureaucrats in Europe are serially to blame. The red tops feed our paranoia. The hidden attraction of Brexit (which I didn't vote for) is perhaps a clarion call to us English to find our best selves again in that WW2 mode of 'going it alone'. The wingeing and lack of empathy is because of a lack of self-respect, most evident in the army of people who have been left behind in our dog eat dog world. Its all your fault.
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Andre Teissier du Cros
October 22, 2016 at 13:22
Your analysis is excellent. The pity is that England does have something very positive to keep contributing to Europe and to the world, which has nothing to do with GDP, finance, or military power: the English people have an instinct of Rule of Law rooted in their very bones. They are not exactly the only one, but they are among the English-speaking nations enjoying a first class cultural influence. And God knows the world needs that.
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S.P.Q.R.
October 22, 2016 at 20:42
English narcissism or nationalism might be a product of genes. It's only a hypothesis, but from the middle ages to the Industrial revolution, the English population was constant, for at least some of that time, the wealthy were having more children than the poor, so the genes of the wealthiest people were increasing while those of the poor were decreasing in frequency. The evidence is summarised in this TIME article: http://time.com/91081/what-science-says-about-race-and-genetics/ "The values of the upper middle class — nonviolence, literacy, thrift, and patience — were thus infused into lower economic classes and throughout society."
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Eusebio vestias
October 26, 2016 at 12:02
England has not been one of the economy stars of Europe over the last 15 years The Brexit this setting to exacerbate underlying inadequacies of the economy True Democrats will continue to fight again to save the country they love
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Michael
October 29, 2016 at 23:45
This reads all too true for me! The UK is heading right back to the '70s - and in more than one way. We have a real bunch of walking zombies as our elites, and the common of the land are truly uninformed and mostly too lazy to do their own research - Ever heard of the term 'Mushrooms', well 'Keep them in the dark and feed them S**T!'
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Ben Murphy
October 30, 2016 at 15:22
I think this is a little unfair to Remainers. I've worked with people who had dementia, and when they get angry, you don't contradict them directly. You have to concede a lot of ground in order to exercise gentle persuasion. Remainers, including The Guardian, could not afford to be seen as less patriocit than Brexiters. They could not appear to be deaf to criticisms of the European Union. Brexiters peddled a fantasy about Britain's bright future outside Europe, Remainers had to counter with a positive vision of Britain's future in Europe. The rhetoric failed, but when a doctor prescribes a sugar-coated pill, it isn't because he believes that sugary foods are healthy.
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polidorisghost
October 31, 2016 at 02:29
"The country's inflated sense of self-worth is beginning to look clinical" What a bizarre article. I don't have an "inflated sense of self-worth", I just don't feel that I have a duty of obesience to the panjandrums who run the EU. Communities are best served by the parliaments that they elect themselves. I have no wish to be a part of an empire - Yours, mine, or anyone elses.
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Clive P.
November 2, 2016 at 18:29
A childish article. Cherry picking a few isolated quotes to reinforce a prejudice is usually something best left to the celts. Then again I would far rather be a citizen of a nation with string self confidence than of one which is obsessed with what its larger more successful nations are thinking
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Gavin B.
November 10, 2016 at 10:49
I find it baffling when people try to explain the reasons Britain decided to leave the EU. We left because of [xxxxxx] (insert your reason here). Step back and remember that there was a mathematical majority not overwhelming support (52% vs 48%). So when you say Britain decided to leave because of xxxxxx , please remember only 52% may agree with you, the other 48% probably will not. To address the authors main point, I ask "Can you really generalise about 47 million people?"
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