The excesses of Pride Month betray their narcissistic roots

 Pride Month: A Celebration of Narcissism  

 

By James Terminiello 

This is the accepted definition of a narcissist: 

NOUN 

• 
  

• a person who has an excessive interest in or admiration of themselves: 

 

As we approach the end of that cavalcade of self-celebrations deemed “Pride Month” it is time to reflect on what it all means.  

 

First of all. A month? Really? A bit much don’t you think? Other events which touch a far wider scope of people --July 4th, Thanksgiving, George Washington’s Birthday (Oh we contracted that one! Sorry, George old boy!) -- rate a single day. And therein lies the beginning of the problem.  

 

Pride Month and the various components of the endless celebrations is about the individual self. It is a celebration of the wonder that is me. We are all called upon to supplicate ourselves and honor and revere the sexuality (or sexualities) and proclivities of a certain segment of the population.  

 

Is the sexual orientation of the Pride Month celebrants to somehow be interpreted as an achievement?  Is wearing particular garments and applying body ornamentation something we should look upon with undimmed respect? I don’t see how as most of us achieve a sexuality of some sort along the path of life. Kind of like rolling out of bed. And I’ve seen more interesting and challenging outfits than the semi-comical ones found at Pride events. So, the Pridesters are somewhat different. Okay, but is this something to truly take pride in? 

 

The answer seems to be a resounding yes if you use as a barometer the endless jawing that we are treated to (propagandized really) on television, the web, radio, social media and every other method of communication I know of including the paper airplane.  

 

And all I hear are “I” and “me”. A torrent to self-congratulations and back patting by those who seem to think that what they do in private, and too often in public, needs to be magnified, lauded, and caressed with compliments by the general population. 

 

Consider this: 

 

Do you know of any people who are forever taking about themselves, their daily lives, their shopping lists, their accomplishments no matter how trivial, and the overall wonder of their existence on this planet? I do. They are an annoying breed called narcissists.  

 

I now call upon a definition pulled from those medical hacks at the Mayo Clinic: 

 

Narcissistic personality disorder is a mental health condition in which people have an unreasonably high sense of their own importance. They need and seek too much attention and want people to admire them. People with this disorder may lack the ability to understand or care about the feelings of others. 

 

I believe this definition hits as close to home as is reasonable. The excesses and self-aggrandizement that is Pride Month is clearly narcissistic, and a genuine disservice to those whose sexuality deviates from convention.  

 

The Pridesters have gone overboard. They don’t seek acceptance. They seek admiration without recognizing that thinking people will grant acceptance while bigots will not be convinced by the in-your-face burlesque show that is Pride Month.  

 

Any movement needs its shock troops and the Pride Month celebrants fit that mold. But you can’t shock forever. It gets boring, cloying, and eventually annoying even to those who might be on your side.   

 

Author James Terminiello, whose latest book “Junkyard” will be published in the Fall, writes from Mount Laurel, New Jersey