Mass Media as Narcissistic Construct

e-book

Mass Media as Narcissistic Construct

by Tim Ozman

“Societies have always been shaped more by the nature of the media by which men communicate than by the content of the communication.” — Marshall McLuhan.

Table of Contents

The Attention Monopolist

Black Mirror

Big Brother’s Narcissism

Narcissistic Behaviors Exhibited by Mass Media

Toxic Relationship with Mass Media

The News Cycle of Abuse

Echo Chamber

Celebrity: The Pedestal

Emotional Dysregulation Theatre

Divider and Triangulator

Gaslighting as Reality Filtering

Communication Filter

Mass Media as Pathological Liar 4

When Unplugging is Not an Option 46 Living In Truth

Glossary

About the Author

The Attention Monopolist

Mass media is a narcissistic construct and influence. The relationship between mass media (for the purposes here conceived as a monolithic and inescapable environmental factor)  and the individual mirrors the relationships between highly narcissistic individuals and those under their influence and control. 

There are behavioral patterns and dynamics observed consistently in toxic interpersonal relationships where one partner has a narcissistic personality disorder and the other is their enabler which are present in the mass media relationship to the massified mind.

One aspect of toxic relationships is their inherent inescapability. You can shut off your communication devices but you can’t shut off people who carry within their minds the internalized version of the mass-mediated world. This creates a double-bind dilemma. The double-bind dilemma in communication is when individuals or groups receive two or more conflicting messages and have to live with the contradictions and the resultant cognitive dissonance this creates.