Hunter Biden and Narcissism

 

It is wrong to think of a cause for narcissism. Narcissism is a personal choice. There are, however, circumstances that can tempt one to it.

One is having a highly successful parent. There are two relevant Chinese proverbs here: “Greatness costs a family three generations”; and “a happy family is one in which the son is smarter than the father.” 

The Chinese pay a lot of attention to family. They know.

Imagine the situation of a son of a particularly successful father. Imagine, say, Hunter Biden. What their father has accomplished looks beyond their abilities, so they give up trying early. And they may be right. Genius is rare; if their father is a genius, they may simply not have the mental powers to do as well as their father did. 

In Hunter Biden’s case, nobody can accuse his father of genius. But Joe Biden rose well above his level of competence through luck. Hunter Biden cannot expect to have such luck. 

In such a case, the son’s ego must suffer. Whatever they can accomplish, with their inferior mental equipment, it will look like failure, to them and to their parents. The bar is set too high.

The temptation then is not just to go limp and not try anything, but to retreat into a personal fantasy in which they really are brilliant and capable. This is narcissism: in addition to elevating the self, it assumes to the self godlike powers, to create “reality.” 

Such a person will also have an eternal chip on their shoulder, against all those who do not recognize their greatness, or seem to challenge it by their mere existence. They are likely to have a grudge against the impressive parent, in the first place; but a secret or concealed grudge, for the sake of their self-interest. They are likely to have a grudge against their children, who, carrying the same genetics as the genius parent, are liable to excel them. The mythological model here is Cronus, who castrates his father, then devours his sons. Three generations. The Bible too says, “the sins of the fathers are visited upon the sons unto the third or fourth generation.”

They will have a grudge against anyone who does anything impressive. 

I have seen this dynamic many times. It is not the inevitable origin of a narcissist; being spoiled seems more common. But it produces an especially malicious form of narcissism: an angry narcissism with a sense of grievance.