> The phenomenon of mental illness & trauma-based clout is intriguing and I don’t really understand it.
Society right now likes to reward people who seek some form of victimhood, so it's no surprise people would fraudulently claim they are victims for internet brownie points, or donations... it's just an aspect of our ultra narcissistic society, tik tok driven.
I don't think it's necessarily what I'd call narcissism. We look back on history and see people championing causes and things for real victims, e.g. the civil rights movement. I think a lot of people feel a weird guilt at not having a chance to be one of these great, celebrated people or someone fighting that struggle.
Or maybe it is narcissism and it's a selfish desire to say "look at how much better we left the world!" I don't know. The first time I saw it was with a friend's mother who literally said to her "why couldn't you have been a lesbian?" because she wanted to have a personal cause. One day it dawned on me that she had just missed being old enough for the '60s.
> I don't think it's necessarily what I'd call narcissism. We look back on history and see people championing causes and things for real victims, e.g. the civil rights movement. I think a lot of people feel a weird guilt at not having a chance to be one of these great, celebrated people or someone fighting that struggle.
We're here talking about people on social media who are faking mental illness for attention or personal gain, that's the very definition of narcissism.
Society right now likes to reward people who seek some form of victimhood, so it's no surprise people would fraudulently claim they are victims for internet brownie points, or donations... it's just an aspect of our ultra narcissistic society, tik tok driven.