Yesterday, Kirk Cameron wrote public schools are a place where sexual chaos, racial confusion, and “grooming” occur because LGBTQIA+ students and teachers exist. He just opened the door to a conversation that we need to have right now. This is bigotry and needs to be called out. Grooming is also a term being used loosely and it’s dangerous. It has surged since the “Don’t Say Gay Bill. “ It is now going to be a go-to accusation in public schools and Kirk Cameron just made the case for them. We need to understand what grooming actually is. And stop associating it with the LGBTQIA+ community and men who are tender and kind.
Another term conservatives are misusing and not seeing in themselves is narcissism. Here are two Facebook posts I made addressing this today.
Post #4
Kirk Cameron has me on a roll. It is important to highlight what he has done to influence the dangerous end times prophecies that are wreaking havoc in our lives. He is one of the biggest influencers of that movement.
Kirk said what he said yesterday to Fox News. A news source that can rightfully be called pure propaganda now.
Fox and Friends host Brian Kilmeade said Mr. Rogers was the cause of our narcissistic culture because he taught children they were special and valuable just because of who they are. He said that he raised a generation that does not believe they have to do anything. The hosts agreed that Mr. Rogers ruined a generation. They (Fox and Friends hosts) were advocating the idea that kids only have worth if they prove themselves by what they do.
Friends, I am here to tell you that my generation was saved b/c of Mr. Rogers. We had access to the tenderness and love we needed and we got it through public television. Holy Spirit uses whatever she wants to reach people who are being harmed by toxic theology and are experiencing a cruel world. Love is present–even in this, always. This I know. The Bible and Mr. Rogers both taught me that truth. My generation, GenX, is a generation that has been skipped and is talked about very little. We are the prophets who have something to say right now.
My next post is going to be about narcissism. I am trying to keep these posts shorter, but it is hard when there is so much happening.
Let’s talk about narcissism now. These far-right wingers are throwing terms around they either do not understand or do not see in themselves.
A therapist, not mine, once said that accusations made by a narcissist are actually confessions. Found the name: Manjit Ruprai
Let that sink in. Maybe we should be slower to accuse in light of this truth. (I am not talking about victims here–people like Fox and Friends).
I am not going to give the clinical definition of narcissism. I welcome any of my therapist friends to chime in here if I am not stating this as clearly, concisely, and as accurately as needed.
Here is what I know about narcissism: It is NOT loving yourself too much. It is quite the opposite. It is not knowing your worth at all–that your inner knowing can be trusted.
Narcissism is finding one’s worth through external sources–the self is not distinguished from external objects. This is why it is so prevalent in people with power. The world has always worked for them on some level and it has not required them to become self-aware or challenge what they might know internally is not right. The results are telling them a different story. So they learn to trust results over their own intuition. And that is really sad. They never are at peace because they do not know themselves. This is why they are so fragile when challenged on anything.
We need our ego on some level to survive. But as we grow and become more confident in our own self-worth we are able to let the ego/mask we wear for self-protection go and become who we truly are. We learn who we are through love. We have to experience love on some level to be able to grow. To know we are accepted no matter what. This does not happen for narcissists. The false self takes over. From what I am learning it can be reversed, but it will take rewiring the brain. I heard a therapist say that narcissists are actually worse when they get therapy if do not want the therapy for themselves. They will use therapy to learn how to manipulate people better.
Evangelicalism in our culture is prime for creating narcissists. It teaches people not to trust themselves. That is one of the core tenants of their teaching. A person’s instincts are wrong because people are depraved and unwhole until they find God. Only God can be trusted, but it is their version of God who has to be trusted. One cannot search for who God is on their own or they might come to the wrong conclusions. Trust the narcissistic preacher to tell you who God is. Evangelicalism works hard to get people not to think for themselves. Why do you think they go after education when they feel threatened? Education disrupts unholy power.
Trump is a classic narcissist. He talks about himself in the third person all the time. I believe he really does see himself externally, not internally. He is not connected at all to himself. Narcissists are people who never had a chance to grow.
Mr. Rogers said this: A child cannot grow if they are not accepted as they are.
Here are some words from Madeleine L’Engle.
There is Life Out There 