Mirror Mirror on the Wall

The childhood fairy tale of Snow white may be a forgotten saga these days, but it may make some sense in helping to understand the selfie-obsessed present day world where people are slowly but surely turning into megalomaniacs. Call it the impact of the media or the marketers or even a new genre of motivational gurus, but the fact is that narcissism is on the rise. And what in classical abnormal psychology was symptom of a diseased mind has become an accepted norm. Obsession of every kind is a sign of neuroticism. More so, obsession with the self. The tragedy is that such minor aberrations may turn into paranoid behaviour making delusions of grandeur a real experience. Look at those posts on the Face book. The more the likes, the more the delusion. Virtual world has replaced the real world for a considerable number. Coming back to the story of Snow White. There was a queen who had a magic mirror. Every day the queen would ask the mirror –“Mirror Mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all”. As long as the mirror would respond saying that the queen was the fairest, everything was fine. However, one day the mirror said to the queen that it was the maid Snow White who was the fairest. And lo, all the hell broke loose.

Snow White became the enemy number one of the queen and was subject to all kinds of ridicule, pain and torture. Yes, in the end it is the queen who comes to grief, but that is besides the point. Too much of self-love, then, arouses a feeling of envy and hatred for others as the person obsessed with self cannot think of others as superior. Haughtiness and vanity take the driver’s seat and humility is replaced by false notions of grandeur. What happen is that the world for such a person centres around self and only self. Some do claim that this kind of obsession boosts confidence. But this is misplaced from reality. In fact, it gives over confidence, leading to complacence. It is the inflated sense of self that rules such person round the clock. This selfie obsession thus controls such a person’s behaviour. The result is contempt for others whose views a different. As a result instant evaluative judgements, almost always negative, of such views are passed. In psychologist Daniel Kanheman’s words it is the system one thinking that rules the minds of such persons for whom I, Me and Myself only have the right to rightness and righteousness. Many experts believe that such obsession with self is not just an obsession. It is economics too, that is driven by marketers and adds to the coffers of those who are capitalising on a craze that is already getting out of control. TV advertisements to films to mobile companies are all promoting this selfie craze. Observations prove that it has become a new life style pattern that is catching up. Yes, it is, but the big question is whether it is only a life style of a life style problem of mental health. As a student of psychology, I would like to keep my fingers crossed. But one final word. In the end it is the Mirror that is the soul arbiter of who is fairest of them all. Whether the queen likes it or not.