Social Gripe #4: Internet Narcissism

Recently, I have had some interesting encounters with a few of my neighbors through the message board on my community's website.  In trying to explain the actions of the neighbors on the message board, only one doctrine seems to adequately describe their online personalities - narcissism.  Definition of Narcissism from Wikipedia:

The term Narcissism refers to the personality trait of egotism, which includes the set of character traits concerned with self-image ego. The terms narcissism, narcissistic, and narcissist are often used as pejoratives, denoting vanity, conceit, egotism or simple selfishness. Applied to a social group, it is sometimes used to denote elitism or an indifference to the plight of others.

Since narcissism is such a broad term and I only know of these people's digital self, I felt the need to create my own narcissism subcategory.  Hence the birth of Internet Narcissism from yours truly:

The term Internet Narcissism refers to the personality trait of egotism that exists in certain individuals when using the internet.  Individuals with Internet Narcissism disregard the emotional well-being and/or feelings of others while on the internet.  Their selfish nature leads them to post harsh responses in an attempt to belittle the recipient.  An Internet Narcissistic will not recognize, discuss, or concede the opposing viewpoint of another individual when communication occurs through online message boards, forums, chats, and/or email.

For all I know, my fellow message boarders could be decent human-beings outside the confines of the internet; even though that seems unlikely considering the foul language being used on the message board.  The issue at hand that has stimulated these fevered discussions on my community's message board is SPEEDING.  

Issue:  A handful of residents from my community feel that too many people are "speeding" in, out, and around the neighborhood at all times of the day.  

Fiction #1:  Children may die because of these speeders.

Fact #1:  No such event has even come close to fruition.

Fiction #2:  One individual, whom I shall call Internet Narcissist #1 (IN#1), cited the result of "32 tickets in 2 hours in October of 2009 after a speed trap was in place along Sansbury" as evidence of a speeding problem.  

Fact #2: What IN#1 fails to realize is that the majority of those 32 tickets were given to people going less than 30mph.  These people were not speeding excessively and would not have been given tickets in all likelihood if the speed limit (20mph) was set at the standard residential speed limit of 25mph for Maryland.

Examples of Internet Narcissism  
(from the speeding thread of my community's online message board)

  

Example #1

The speeding discussion on the message board had been going for some time and it didn't seem to be going anywhere.  They were just complaining back and forth, so I interjected:  "You people are going to give yourselves a hernia over this stuff. If speeding is the worst of our neighborhood problems, then things aren't that bad. I would be more concerned if things like vandalism, sex predators, and drug trafficking were happening everyday."

Probably not the most appropriate way to dive into the conversation, but I think I have a right to my opinions.  IN#2 responses with "I cannot believe you would say that. Speeding is breaking the law…..period, dot."  I see this as the first stance of Internet Narcissism since he is telling me I'm not allowed to state my opinion and even though I never said it was okay to speed, I must have according to him.

Example #2

IN#2 continues his thoughts:  "Our continued complaints have resulted in the installation of 'traffic calming devices' sometime in the future, additionally, raise the speed limit to 25mph. Raise the speed limit? You have got to be kidding. The philosophy is that having the current speed limit at 20mph forces people to speed. So raising it to 25mph won't? So, with the differences of opinion employed by the deputies, could be 30mph, could be 32mph. Now that is some logic we can all live with. That might save you five seconds from the condos to MD260. Is your time that precious? If the residents don't take control of this situation, it will only continue to deteriorate. And yes, get over it, I will take my hernia and wear it proudly".   

IN#2 is not seeing the bigger picture.  In the current situation, driving any speed over 20mph is considered speeding.  Penalizing people by the way of tickets for driving between 21 and 25mph is wrong since the residential standard for speed in Maryland is 25mph.  IN#2 is also trying to quantify the value of my time.  Five seconds may not be very precious to him, but it is to me - classic narcissistic egotism. 

Example #3

IN#3 decides to chime in:  "Apparently you do not have children. You are most likely one of the people flying past houses at 45 miles per hour. If you do not like doing the speed limit like a responsible adult, then I suggest you move to a different neighborhood."

So because I want a reasonable speed limit of 25mph, I must be an irresponsible, childless adult that speeds around the community at 45mph.  I did not realize that having children makes one care more about the safety of others.  According to his logic, all people without children are heartless and should live in gutters.  As I defined earlier, Internet Narcissists will "post harsh responses in an attempt to belittle the recipient" while using "pejoration" (slander) remarks.

Recap

These three examples only represent a small portion of the anybody's opinion but their own - truly narcissistic people.

-WARNING-

Internet Narcissism is a horrible condition that is even harder to diagnose.  Since the condition results in big egos and mental blindness, most carriers of Internet Narcissism* will never realize they have a problem because of their self-absorbed nature.  Please take great care of oneself when confronting Internet Narcissists on internet message boards, chats, forums, and/or email.

*Websites dominated by registered users are filled with carriers of Internet Narcissism.  Avoiding these websites (slickdeals.net for example) will keep you safe from the spread of Internet Narcissism.  The "veteran" users of these websites will use Internet Narcissism to criticize you to no end for the smallest mistake.