Number 2: Status symbols and pseudo-influence
Number two: status symbols, pseudo-influence, and dirty money. Status is everything, a narcissist is concerned with not respect, not legacy, but the fantasy of power and control. That’s what keeps them addicted to it. They don’t mind where it originates, provided that it sets them at a table that appears significant. They do not care if the influence is fake, as long as people are watching. They do not care if the luxury is rented, stolen, or paid for with someone else’s pain. As long as they look untouchable, they will risk it all for appearances. And I mean all.
They will accept shady deals, inflate their CV, buy followers, pay for likes, and hire PR articles to portray them as some sort of icon. They will manipulate individuals with actual influence to appear, even if it is in the background. Association is all they care about. They want to be associated with people who are already respected so that they can reflect borrowed light. They don’t want to establish credibility. They want to leap to the front. And if it takes bashing the law, stabbing friends in the back, and selling out their principles, they won’t bat an eye.
You’ll see them all dressed up in designer suits with past-due accounts. You’ll see them giving to causes they don’t believe in, just to get the photo op. You will find them advocating for healing, spirituality, empowerment, but secretly abusing the people they are closest to. That’s who they are. The exterior has to be shiny, even if the interior is rotten. And here’s what most people get wrong: narcissists don’t care about money for security.
They value money for power, for display, for negotiating leverage so that they can walk into a room and make others feel smaller, so that they can shut up their critics, so that they can sneer at the people they once threw away with, “Look what I’ve got now.” Even if it’s all an act, they will risk the security of their family, the sanity of their children, the faith of their partner, their whole business, just to continue appearing rich, famous, and superior. And when the mask begins to fray, they turn desperate.
They will plagiarize, undermine, and steal from a person who legitimately earned their place. And if that doesn’t work, they will begin to sabotage individuals behind people’s backs, something of a coward, because if they can’t be first, they will ensure that nobody else does either. It is not about being at the top. It’s about ensuring that nobody recalls what they truly are behind all the glitter. Status isn’t something a narcissist is merely obsessed with; it’s their armor, and they will do anything to keep it safe.
You may also want to read this:
Words That Destroy a Narcissist
9 Secrets ALL Narcissists Keep
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