As an example of how a photograph or video of a real event can be used to illustrate a different point, or when combined with other exaggerations can even lie...

The Pantagraph newspaper in Bloomington, Ill. has sent a letter to Michael Moore, drafted by its lawyer, citing him for copyright infringement, admonishing him for his "unauthorized...misleading" use of the paper in his film "Fahrenheit 9/11," and asking for an apology.

According to the Editor and Publisher, America's Oldest Journal Covering the Newspaper Industry, Michael Moore used an article from the Pantagraph to emphasize his point, but changed the date on the article and offered it as something it was not.

Early in the movie, according to the paper, a large headline appears in the film, purporting to be from a Dec. 19, 2001 edition of the paper, and reading "Latest Florida recount shows Gore won election." The paper contends that the headline actually appeared on Dec. 5, 2001, in much smaller type, and above a letter to the editor, hardly a factual news story or editorial.

The letter to Moore from the paper calls this a "misrepresentation of facts." The newspaper said it had been unsuccessful in attempts to reach Moore through his film company, Lion's Gate, by phone and email.

If this lie is exemplary of Michael Moore's work, then what else in Fahrenheit 9/11 has been modified or presented out of context to justify his hatred of this Administration? What else has he done to cloud the issues and confound the public?

I cringe at the thought of how many Democrats buy into this, swallow it hook line and sinker. I look at Michael Moore sitting with Jimmy Carter in the Presidential Box at the Democratic Convention and I think of Tammy Bruce's description of the Malignant Narcissist.

This pattern of the Left Elite's projecting their issues onto society isn't as odd as you may think. It makes perfect sense, according to the most respected psychoanalysts of our age. Childhood trauma, stress disorders, and the resulting malignant narcissism all play a part in the Left's victim mentality and in their effort, mostly subconscious, to shape our world to mirror their own damaged psyches .

Pathological narcissism was first described in detail by Freud. The onset of narcissism may occur in infancy, childhood, or early adolescence. It is commonly attributed to childhood abuse and trauma inflicted by parents, authority figures, or even peers. What is narcissism? "A pattern of traits and behaviors which signify infatuation and obsession with one's self to the exclusion of all others and the egotistic and ruthless pursuit of one's gratification, dominance and ambition."

While narcissism takes root early, it is possible to manage one's narcissism, especially with professional help,. and at least keep it from moving into the aggressively destructive stage of malignant narcissism.
The syndrome of malignant narcissism, originally described by psychoanalyst Otto Kernberg, has been widely referred to by political psychologists in characterizing leaders who pose a threat to civil society, political stability, and world order. I know some of this is a little technical, but stay with me. It's worth it, because it helps make sense of so much of what is going on in the world. In an interview with the semi-annual journal What Is Enlightenment?, Kernberg put it this way:

This pathological idealization of the self as an aggressive self clinically is called "malignant narcissism." And this is very much connected with evil and with a number of clinical forms that evil takes, such as the pleasure and enjoyment in controlling others, in making them suffer, in destroying them, or the casual pleasure in using others' trust and confidence and love to exploit them and to destroy them."

The core components of this syndrome are pathological narcissism, antisocial features, paranoid traits, and aggression. Self-preservation, self-promotion, and maintaining power are all traits that prevail in the malignant narcissist. The people and issues they supposedly serve exist only to be exploited for their
own benefit.

I have participated at both the local and national levels of NOW; I have spent time with other feminist and gay special-interest groups and their leaders; I have worked in the entertainment industry and closely with all forms of news media; and I have worked with political campaigns for Democratic candidates (can you imagine NOW endorsing a Republican?!). I have also spent a fair amount of time around universities. I can say with full confidence that what I have seen driving and controlling the actions and agenda of the Left Elite in all those venues-culturally, politically, and socially-is malignant narcissism. Issues are used and people exploited for the sake of power. Malignant narcissism is the god of the Left Elite.

Posted by Michael at August 1, 2004 01:54 PM

Posted by: JP Balzen at August 2, 2004 12:07 AM