How to Recognise Collective Narcissism & Its Application Towards the Sussexes by the UK
Episode 15
What Is Collective Narcissism?
One of the reference sources I used is Goldsmiths University, in the City of London. One quote from its website on the subject is this:-
“Collective narcissism is defined as an emotional investment in a belief in the unparalleled greatness of an in-group contingent on external validation.
It is a group level, equivalent of individual narcissism. Its focus is on grandiosity and entitlement of an in-group rather than the self. People can be collective narcissistic about any group they belong to. We researched collective in context of national ethnic, religious, football fans and gender groups. As well as mundane social groups such as university peers.”
We tend to hear a lot about individual narcissistic behaviour, and for our purposes, think here of the British Royal Family members – particularly those high in the Line of Succession. Think also of UK media and the behaviour and quite frankly an obvious campaign ordered by the BRF (something admitted on Australian tv recently by one of the Markle clan) along with other individuals from the same family popping up from their holes on their trailer parklike abodes with the total aim of making money from the hardship and mayhem they were trying to achieve to disrupt Harry and Meghan’s marriage. Individually they each had money as their binding collective aim, and whilst they may have had different ideals in terms of the potential income to be earned from causing pain to a couple, the unified aim was to ensure that the Family should benefit from the ties of one of their relatives with Royal connections, and it mattered not that they had no face to face contact with that relative for over a decade, and prior to that interaction was far from good. Throughout that period of face to face contact, and in the years since they reared their head again in 2016, they moved as one unit in considering themselves more important than the black woman and her mom that they disrespected and treated badly, because they were Caucasian. In their minds, the end goal justified the means. Their relative was dehumanised and became something like an old toy that was thrown away and forgotten about, until they realised it was valuable. Suddenly photos from Meghan’s childhood appeared in the media, but strangely enough, nothing of Meghan as a working adult making her own money to enable a good standard of living.
I will come back to this group and others I will mention shortly, and link them to factors and indicators, where I hope you will see the motives for each group and the individuals within each group, and their subsequent behaviour towards Harry and Meghan, particularly Meghan.
Another interesting quote from Goldsmiths research is this:- “Collective narcissism correlates personality predictors of prejudice: right-wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation”.
Let’s add to the mix now, the British Royal Family and its unwritten contract with the UK Tabloids, via the people (I refuse to describe them as journalists) who are members of the Royal Rota, which in effect is the Royal link with the newspaper owners of UK newspapers, but who live outside of the UK, but manage to have a direct link to and involvement in UK politics and the content of propaganda to persuade the UK population and the way it views certain key issues. E.g The presence of a Monarchy and a Conservative government, and leaving the European Union.
This quote from Goldsmiths encompasses all the groups I have mentioned already.
Collective Narcissism is not directly related to personal self-esteem. It is related to low personal control. It’s correlation with grandiose narcissism ranges from -0.008 to 0.29. It is systematically correlated with vulnerable narcissism.
So examples of behaviour being linked to low personal control, think of how The Royal Family feared the loss of control to prolonging their way of life, if the person they referred to from prior to his birth as the Spare, decided to leave and set up a life outside of the confines of the Royal Family. Think of the loss of control by a father who had developed a dependency on the child who earned the most at the time, but disguised it as something she owed him because he paid part of her educational fees during her school years. This became more prominent once he was aware of a Royal connection. The realisation that Harry was on the scene, and could possibly disrupt this dependency link he had with Meghan, caused the narcissistic behaviour to become more prominent. Clearly previous partners in Meghan’s life did not cause him any anxiety, but once the Royal connection emerged, the game was on.
As a matter of principal I have never watched any interview or documentary that any family member has ever appeared in, but I do recall someone commenting about one documentary (I don’t know which one, or which network showed it) but there was a comment about the very unhealthy impression given by this individual when talking about someone who was his daughter, not a paramour. There was a scene where he apparently looked up to the stars when he was talking about his feelings, and he also said he considered that he looked like Harry. From a psychologist point of view, I would find that very disturbing. I am not a psychologist, but when I heard this statement, I found it very odd for a father to compare himself in looks to his future son in law. You can all make of that what you will, and you may have actually seen this particular documentary made a while ago now.
The other group in the mix for the purpose of this podcast, is the Uk media, but in particular the Royal Rota group. Each of them have suffered financial loss since the Sussexes moved away.
Never forget that the media hounded and abused this couple, and were very much integral in Meghan nearly taking her life, and that the subsequent loss of an unborn child. So many barriers were placed in the way of Meghan and Harry, Meghan in particular, with the clear aim of breaking her spirit, and if that did not work, a tragic end. By that I mean, once they knew of Meghan’s suicidal ideation (revealed by an unprofessional HR team employed by the BRF) the Royal Reporters increased their abusive behaviour towards her and Harry, but again focussing on Meghan. It takes a special kind of breed of person to hound a person knowing that they are suicidal, and also pregnant. They did it again when she was pregnant a 2nd time, and on this occasion the couple miscarried. The content of newspaper articles during that time, was very dark and evil. As a result, every possible discomfort to their way of life moving forward for all those who took part and continue to do so since they left the UK, I will enjoy hearing about. I hope it is truly career changing, and has adverse impact on the way they can move forward in life for years to come. Nothing will be as bad as what they put Meghan through, and Harry during this period. Collectively, the media Barons and their Royal Rota team stood to lose a lot of control, if the Monarchy was weakened or worse, was removed from UK structures of power. The desired outcome was to preserve the status quo before Meghan & Harry. Zero concern on the impact on the Sussexes mental and physical well being. It was and remains a group effort to destroy this union, and use the rationale it is for the good of the country etc., but for each of the abusers involved, they each have a personal interest in maintaining the collective hold over the BRF and ALL its family members.
In the case of the Markle’s, it was to reinforce any emergent financial links to those leading the charge in making life difficult for Meghan, and if Meghan left the Royal family, the father at least would retain his financial link to his daughter, who had been providing assistance to him in his retirement.
Goldsmiths study states that Collective Narcissism is systematically correlated with vulnerable narcissism. In other words, or at least I take that to mean that each of these groups felt vulnerable, and they were used to being in control of the day to day. “ Collective narcissism is related to hypersensitivity to inter-group threat”. Each group felt threatened so each group, including the government, worked together to form one mass to ensure that things did not change to adversely affect any element of each group. That is some power base that Harry and Meghan were dealing with, and were never expected to escape their clutches. In fact all the barriers that were placed in the way of the Sussexes were never expected to see Harry removing his family from that toxic environment. The removal of his security and finance without warning, and the locations of their address in Canada and then in California was meant to be the last frightener placed on the couple. This action was combined with various paparazzi turning up at both locations by some miracle. Cant think who would have given them the exact addresses. Prince Charles will never be forgiven for his treatment of Lady Diana, and the removal of her security once the marriage was over. Security was only supplied when Harry and William visited their mother. We all know what subsequently happened in 1997, so like I say, Prince Charles as part of the collective narcissistic approach of the BRF, decided that was more important than his ex wife (mother of a future King) or that of his youngest son’s safety. Just think about what that says about that particular collective. Individual’s health and well being, or their lives, cannot and will never come before the life of the Monarchy itself. Collective Narcissism working right in front of us all. The BRF felt “vulnerable” and that was deemed unacceptable.
Collective Narcissism correlates with aspects of inter-group threat, and can involve hostility, based on some social groups being perceived as threatening. Remember when Royal Rota described Sussex Squad as Bots. No sign of them feeling threatened by us but as time went on, and it became clear, we were and remain a growing global force across 70 plus countries, it is clear we are now perceived as a threat to all the groups mentioned above, including other groups on social media, who have decided to set up hate accounts and make monetary profit from them platform by promoting all manner of hateful things against and about the Sussexes. One of the notorious ones is the one who claims to follow certain social media accounts. The reality is that they make money from spreading hate and a variety of conspiracy theories, and most of them are NOT Royal supporters, but are there to express their dislike of the Sussexes because they have broken away, from the Royal family, and are living an independent and non tax payer funded life. Truth be known, harmony or a peace flag being waved at the Sussexes is not an ambition of the social media platforms, because inciting hatred and spending every living moment concerning themselves with what Harry and Meghan do day to day, and then discussing it on their platforms, is income generating. I doubt they spend 5% of their time, actually supporting their so called faves. They just post on Royal platforms about their thoughts on the Sussexes, or on occasion, make an item of clothing the lead element in an article. This group of haters draw strength from praise of others in a variety of similar groups. The low self esteem feeds into group dynamics, as it seeks admiration from the others in the group. We have discussed the dynamics present in hate groups, and the global well documented research carried out on various hate groups over decades, and the societal structure of them and how they can be measured in terms of risks to those outside of that network etc.
Narcissists Hate Seeing You Happy
All the groups mentioned hate to see people happy. The same groups and the individuals within them seek to increase their status on things such as expensive items, power, money, and even family. They rarely feel truly happy, and have yet to learn that happiness and contentment comes from within. When others do well, they are reminded that they are not happy and are [i]fundamentally inadequate. People with narcissistic tendencies feel entitled, so when they see someone else doing well, they feel envy and resentment. A quote from PsychCentral.com :- Narcissists (individual and groups) believe that they deserve whatever you have achieved, because they are better than you. Indeed, the more you have something that they don’t, the more they feel that they are better than you and deserve whatever you have. Ie they feel that you don’t deserve it since you are not them.
Remember when the Royal Family through its mouthpieces the Royal Rota tried to describe life outside of the Royal bubble as if was like swimming in shark infested waters. Life would be one without state banquets and wearing tiaras and gowns and people would curtsey to you or vice versa dependant upon the class system that exists in Royal life but nowhere else. A life of pretend playing Stateman/woman, and have people bow and scrape to you to boost your ego. No child is prepared for a life outside, earning their own coins. The Royal Plantation has just grown and grown on the backs of the UK people. A number of groups have grown out of that system, and now the system needs to be protected to preserve the way of life of a few. Hence the collective approach to stamping out any individual or group set up to bring about change and accountability, and for the public to have a say on whether or not a Monarchy is viable in a modern society. The growth of social media and the speed in which information travels now, both good and bad, lies and truth, has also has led to a number of groups communicating via this method. Activities of structures like the BRF are discussed and explored on social media, and things that would have been covered up or protected, is harder to do now. Yes the BRF still control what newspaper cover or not, and articles and news items can be taken down in minutes of an instruction from the Palace, and records deleted or moved on the internet, to make it difficult to find in the future. That being said, nothing is ever erased completely from the internet, and the various reports that are now considered incriminating for one or more of the groups mentioned, have quickly been hidden, along with tv footage, removed from a variety of countries. All manner of forces are at work, when it comes to protecting those groups.
Collective Narcissism Presents a Challenge to Society
In a blog post from Psychology Today (the link is listed in the Reference Source section at the end of this article) it states that “collective narcissism’ of ‘group narcissism’ is not a new phenomenon – as a concept, it can be traced through Sigmund Freud’s analyss of group psychology in 1922, gaining special prominence in Eric Fromm’s The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness. It is lso central to the analyses of many unpleasant political regimes but equally applicable to any totalitarian centrally controlled state of the left or the right. It is not tied uniquely to the digital age but the digital world has provided a rich ground from which it can grow, with its self reinforcing groups and echo chambers. “
“Collective narcissism can be defined as an exaggerated view of the importance or greatness of the group to which the individual belongs.” The group can be any social grouping. A key characteristic of any group vulnerable to developing collective narcissism is that the group defines itself through its relationship to others – needing external validation and/or an external enemy.”
“instead of reinforcing group bonds through shared satisfaction about a group, collective narcissists tend to promote hostility towards out-groups to bind the in-group, and often blame others for in-group misfortunes.
In the same link, there are two interesting studies examining the spread of conspiracy theories on the internet. Well worth a read and exploring further. I am just going to take an outline of one of the studies, and show you how this matches a lot of the online posts made by various groups, who love to quote various conspiracy theories, and how this study shows how it can spread. We all know how certain members of the Carnival of Clowns group like to spread these types of off the wall theories, and I am certain that many of those people, if not all, along with most if not all of the RR have a variety of accounts on various social media platforms, and post such theories with like minded people, and then return to their various ‘official’ groups and try to include these things in their various published items.
There was a study looking at the spread of conspiracy theories about Covid-19 on the internet. “Around 900 -people in the USA and UK were assessed for ‘collective narcissism’ (what the authors termed as national narcissism) as well as their belief in and dissemination of conspiracy theories online. The results showed that collective narcissism was positively correlated with a tendency to believe and spread Covid 19 conspiracy theories. Moreover, both having high levels of collective narcissism traits and believing such conspiracy theories, predicted poor adherence to health behaviours aimed at reducing the spread of Covid 19.
The thoughts on this study was that there is growing evidence that collective narcissism gnaws away at a society’s internal cohesion and to the extent that social media may facilitate such collective narcissism. It poses a danger to societal responses to threat, which can be exploited.”
There is a really interesting section of the study on how to spot the development of collective narcissism within our social media groups. A narcissism scale has been developed which identities the types of statements that those with collective narcissism traits, or those looking to promote such a view, will make. E.g. “if this group had more of a say, the world would be better.” “Few people understand the importance of this group” and “I will not be satisfied until this group gets the recognition it deserves”. If you see these types of statements, then think about whether they could reflect a growing collective narcissism within your group.
There is much much more, but you get the idea. All information and links are contained in the Reference sources list. What I will say, when you look at the groups I have mentioned in this article, start to look at them as weak individuals within a group setting, which makes them feel stronger. They act as one unit in their hunt or pursuit of their prey. E.g. Is there a need for a Royal Rota? Why is there a specific group of people employed to only write positive stories about the Monarchy? Why is there not a set time limit for such reporters (apparently that is what they are meant to be) have to move on for assignments elsewhere in their newspaper network. In most professions where people could be accused of acting on a bias towards certain individuals they come across in the BRF, or becoming too attached to certain members of the family, they would be moved on before that could ever become a possibility. Too many of the RRs are known in their own right. They should not be identifiable. Too many of them make themselves part of the story rather than reporting on a story. Too many are given documentaries to present about the Royal Family, when in fact there are stalwarts of the journalism profession who can report on anything, and do most of the time, yet we have this carnival of clowns acting as though they are important, and are front and centre in the biased reporting, which is all part of the unwritten contract with the Monarchy. This encourages the kind of practices we have witnessed for decades and certainly in the case of Harry and Meghan since 2016. Each one of these factions, is helping to keep the others afloat in order to preserve the very cosy arrangement. A blind eye is turned to very serious activity, which would be actionable outside of that special bubble. Criminal activity in too many cases, and even more involving children.
There must be no repeat of Lady Diana and the event of 1997. The Sussexes came close, and have escaped by a whisker, and will forever have a sword hanging over their heads, by people who have gone from trying to destroy them, and then destroy their business efforts by fake rules and protocol, moved on to trying to discredit them with potential business partners, and now have resorted to taking them as far as possible before stepping back from a receiving a letter of intent from the Sussexes legal team. All done to wear the couple down. What the Uk and pals did not anticipate, was that the Sussexes would be so successful, despite all the poison arrows they sent their way, and the hundreds of articles written every week in Uk tabloids, all of them toxic, are losing traction outside of the UK because the international press have now realised the game being played, and they have gone from believing that the UK press report honestly and fairly, and have started to regard them and the UK as one big joke. So the reports and articles published in the Uk full of hate inciting bile, along with their even worse comment sections, generally only appeals to their support base in the UK. It is a shame that the UK is now seen as a racist and isolationist nation, and the EU and now the wider world, is in no need to do business with the UK, and when the day comes that odd deals come their way, they will not be as good as what the UK had in the first place.
The treatment of Harry and Meghan, has provided evidence and learning points for the future. The Sussexes have made a new home for themselves in the USA, and they are pursuing their humanitarian projects on a global stage. No longer do they have to dim their lights in an effort to make the others look good. Whilst the BRF and pals, in their various groups are spending more time trying to save the Monarchy from collapse, than do anything tangible to help the UK and its growing poverty within its population, the Sussexes are mixing with global leaders formulating real projects on the ground to help people. Harry and Meghan represent modern Monarchy, even though they have been stripped of all the things that appear to people living within that Royal bubble, the Sussexes have proved titles and tiaras do not make the world sit up and take notice. You only get noticed in those circles by groups who in that priveliged circle. Now the UK is starting to see self inflicted damage they did to themselves, whilst Harry and Meghan are flying high. Over the last 24 hours the Royal Rota group have gone out of their way to be even more churlish and puerile in the reporting, and yet at the same time, complain that they do not know anything of their schedule – s if they need to know. That life is ended in March 2020. The same group described the Sussexes as irrelevant, and that they would not report on them. Well that day hs yet to arrive, but I did notice that there were a few Royalists trying to hang on to the coattails of the Sussexes to try and somehow tell the world, having seen how slick and highly successful this professional business trip to NYC has been. Now the brf and RR and govt and UK media want to appear to hitch their wagons to the success, albeit through gritted teeth. They are fooling no one by calling it a Royal Tour, and therefore should be informed of various things. It is not a Royal Tour, and the UK is responsible for stripping the Sussexes of everything Royal. All they have left is their HRH title but it cannot be used on business projects, so by BRF own definition, this is not a Royal Tour, so RR and BRF and all the royalists groups, (where most are Sussex haters than supporters of the British Royal Family) can just mind their business. They should write about the British Royal Family they wanted to have, and stop telling Harry one minute he is not welcome, and the country has washed their hand of him, and then in the next breath demand that he must visit at Christmas, along with they are entitled to a photo of their new baby etc etc etc. The same group who called the Sussexes first child all manor of disgusting names, and where articles were published comparing him to an animal. The removal of Meghan’s name from the UK issued birth certificate, but thankfully that child is a dual citizen so the USA birth certificate is correct, and the latest baby was born in the USA anyway, so no such problems will occur this time. I personally have not forgotten the gutter level behaviour and cruelty of RR writing about Meghan and Harrys miscarriage last year. It was a new low even for them. There is a podcast on that behaviour.
My general feeling on all these groups mentioned, and many more I have not included for this purpose, is that the sense of entitlement is off the scale, and there is no doubt all groups thought they could control the Sussexes but they cannot. Due to jealousy they would not allow the Sussexes to work part time for free for the BRF, so now, they are free to do what they want, and they are not working Royals, so there is zero need for any of the cluster of groups to concern themselves with the activities of Harry and Meghan, other than to contemplate what might have been, if not for their disgusting behaviour. What is worse, the world now knows what went on, and the Uk is looking far from bright, and shortages of basic supplies in the stores now, is adding to their woe, and countries are in no hurry to build alliances and trade deals when the UK has been so disparaging about anyone who is not Caucasian and of English heritage, and a Royal family doing deals with questionable leaders, and some creative accounting being published, and a family who only employ people of colour in a servile role, and who have wealth beyond measure, and their idea of work is cutting a ribbon or two, and photo opportunities with black people.
Collective narcissism is in full blown evidence within all the groups who associate themselves with the Monarchy, and their biggest concern now is that they have no control over what the Sussexes do, and who are thriving on the world stage with real tangible measurable business projects. The UK is looking more and more like a ghost island, and only the inward looking people believe all is going really well. I am pleased that Harry and Meghan are beginning to really enjoy freedom now, and I wish the moon and stars for them and their family, for the trauma that the Monarchy and its associates put them through, to the point where we nearly had more tragedy. There has been a history over many centuries of the BRF getting rid of family members who posed a threat. Time for the whole system to be put in the trash can now. Modern society has no need for such a system. People of the UK need more than a family wearing tiaras and play gold pianos whilst the rest of the nation is running out of basic items in the stores.
Harry and Meghan please continue to show the UK what universal service looks like.
Ivy Barrow
260921
Reference Sources:-
https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/envy-forgotten-narcissistic-issue
https://psychcentral.com/blog/psychology-self/2017/11/narcissists-hate-happy
https://www.healthline.com/health/narcissistic-personality-disorder
https://www.healthline.com/health/how-to-deal-with-a-narcissist
https://sites.gold.ac.uk/prejudicelab/collective-narcissism/
https://cdn.istrona.pl/collectivenarcissism.com/media/resources/English.pdf
JOURNAL ARTICLES
2017
Golec de Zavala, A., Guerra, R., & Simão, C. (2017). The relationship between the Brexit vote and individual predictors of prejudice: collective narcissism, right wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation. Frontiers in Psychology. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02023
Cichocka, A., Golec de Zavala, A., Marchlewska, M., Bilewicz, M., Jaworska, M., & Olechowski, M. (2017). Personal control decreases narcissistic but increases non-narcissistic in-group positivity. Advance online publication. Journal of Personality. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12328
Federico, C. & Golec de Zavala, A. (In press). Collective narcissism in the 2016 Presidential election. Public Opinion Quarterly.
Golec de Zavala, A., Lantos, D., & Bowden, D. (2017). Yoga Poses Increase Subjective Energy and State Self-Esteem in Comparison to ‘Power Poses’. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 1-12. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00752
[i] PsychCentral.com
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