I'M OK. YOU'RE NOT.

Omnipresent example of narcissism and antisocial behavior. 

The ultimate standard for hypocrisy and/or narcissism is indignantly claiming flawless judgment or behavior in the face of intelligent criticism. This is becoming epidemic in our American social media and in our public places. Try correcting a child's antisocial behavior in a supermarket and wait for the indulgent parent's reaction. Beep at a texting driver who is ignoring a green light. Obstruct a cyclist who is illegally using a sidewalk. Confront a person going through your trash on your property. 

These behaviors are examples of a social breakdown. The acceptance of the dying middle class of its fate, on the grounds that it is unfairly privileged, has accelerated the decline of law enforcement, which was already challenged by the demands of enabling police unions. Most cities in the U.S. are creaking under the deficits caused by police and fire-fighter salaries, benefits and pensions. 

Police are not only well compensated, but many departments have used Black Lives Matter protests as an excuse to allow officers to hide in SUV's with blacked-out windows. It is rare to see one of these officers emerge from his/her cave-on-wheels to do any minor policing, like ticketing a car blocking a sidewalk, stopping a cyclist on a sidewalk or intervening when a raving drunk is screaming in the middle of a commercial area. I speak from personal experience in my own neighborhood. 

The use of apps by cities for citizen reporting is a ploy to minimize actual policing by police. Using the app can be akin to being cross-examined on a witness stand. Even when a photo of some violation is attached to the report, the response is often delayed by days. By the time a city representative investigates, the problem has conveniently evaporated for the time being. In one case, when I reported the sound coming from a loose manhole cover in front of my property, a city employee responded by saying the sound was coming from a drain cover on my condo's property. This was a blatant lie, and it informed me that the employee in question had not really investigated. 

It is not rocket-science to hypothesize that the general sense of public immunity from any policing for antisocial behavior is magnified when police are invisibly cruising around streets behind darkly tinted windows with relative infrequency. 

And the preponderance of antisocial behavior in adults of the past two generations is no mystery. These generations have been plagued by two phenomena in particular. First, the growing incidence of single-mother parenting. Second, the infiltration of junk social science into child-rearing education. The first has been statistically proven to lead to poor social performance in adults. The latter has convinced even more invested parents to treat ignorant children like geniuses or fully formed adults. 

Treating a three-year-old as either intellectual equal or master is toxic, yet is occurs openly just about everywhere in public. "Johnny, where should we go now?" the leaning parent asks in infantile speech. If Johnny is accustomed to this inanity, he will most likely point at the nearest, most appealing object. If Johnny is overwhelmed, intelligently so, he might simply shake his head or shrug his shoulders. But this latter response often leads to a longer barrage of leading questions from the parent. If the parent persists long enough, poor Johnny might have to burst into a tantrum to get the creepy adult off his back. 

Is there any wonder at the magnitude of the problem of arrested development we now face? Is there any wonder that young adults act like feral youth gangs of Golding's Lord of the Flies? Superficially complacent in face-to-face groups and viciously bullying in anonymous on line situations. Forming one-think tribes, centered on gaudy wealth, drunkenness and pleasure. 

Why is Donald Trump the target of these narcissists in mobs? Isn't it obvious? It is not based in any critique of the effectiveness of his leadership.  They are triggered by his narcissistic and graceless mannerisms,  reflecting theirs right back at them. He is an older adult who cannot be bullied by their mob tantrums. He is the master of the kryptonite which can render them powerless. He is an unappealing vision into their own futures.