Arnold Schwarzenegger, The Groping Narcissist?

Doug McGuire is a consultant, entrepreneur, and self-proclaimed "writer wannabe" who has taken the time to put the following essay together about Arnold Schwarzenegger, which he has entitled "The Groping Narcissist."

McGuire's done a fair amount of research on this article, and I felt it was worthy of bringing it to your attention before the vote tomorrow.

The transcripts included were borrowed from www.burrelles.com.

The full text is available below. It's not available online - he just sent me a DOC file in an Email. Doug can be reached at Damac57@cs.com.

But does Arnold have the politically savvy to win in California? Oprah’s interview with Arnold was revealing in another way. Demonstrating an innate knack for politics, Arnold was insistent that it was OK to lie to the public, in order to sway their opinion. Like a drum beat he said this over and over.

Oprah: Something you did in 1977, 26 years ago, comes out about Oui
magazine where you were talking about having smoked pot and inhaling and described wild sexual experiences in detail 26 years ago. Now did you remember that interview?

Arnold: We…said the most outrageous things that you can say in order to make
headlines and to be out there… [makes his point once…smiling]

Oprah: Were you making some of that stuff up?

Arnold: …the idea was to say things…over the top so you get headlines [makes
it again…laughing]

Oprah: Yeah

Arnold: [he’s on a roll now…he’s grinning…really full of himself] …we were
really out there doing, you know, Andy Warhol, and this whole thing—and so we were trying to get attention. So this were intent—attention—grabbers, those—those kind of lines.

Finally, just to make sure Oprah understood his point that it is OK to lie to the public, as if he was emphasizing how important such a skill would be in politics, he said it again, seriously:

Arnold: But I mean, this was all outrageous statements in order for people to
say, ‘Oh my God, I got to try that’

Say things that are “over the top.” “Make headlines.” “Be out there.” Use “attention grabbers.” I get it. This is how you would develop campaign sound bites. One-liners. Slogans. Outrageous comments are fair game. Let’s see what outrageous, over the top, attention-grabbing, lies he is telling today in order to get headlines:

“I want to prove to the women that I will be a champion for the women. A champion for the women.” “I’m very pro-women. I’m very much into equality.”

“Hasta la vista, car tax.” "I can kill the tax with my signature alone, and I will do exactly that."

“Game over” “I’ll be back”

The Groping Narcissist

Remember Narcissus from Greek mythology? He was the handsome fellow who fell in love with himself after discovering his own reflection in a pool of water. Narcissus died when he couldn’t fulfill the love. Michael Maccoby, an anthropologist and psychoanalyst reminded us in his January-February 2000 Harvard Business Review article that it was Freud who dubbed a certain personality type as Narcissistic, borrowing from the ancient myth.

Maccoby segues from the “pathological preoccupation” with his own body that doomed Narcissus, and uses Freud’s personality type to analyze modern leaders. He says that narcissism can be both productive and non-productive. The non-productive is interesting in today’s context. Maccoby goes beyond the simple self-love and admiration of Narcissus, and describes today’s non-productive narcissist in Freudian thought: “relentless and ruthless in their pursuit of victory” “not restrained by conscience” “achievements can feed feelings of grandiosity” “a tendency toward grandiosity” “they nurture grand schemes” “lacking self-knowledge and restraining anchors, narcissists become unrealistic dreamers.”

What career path would a non-productive narcissist follow, you might wonder? How does a genuine narcissist derive the most fulfillment? A body-builder, perhaps. In that pursuit, like Narcissus, one could spend all hours of the day gazing at floor-to-ceiling mirrors, admiring his own reflection. Approving followers could enjoy his handsome physique, too. The non-productive narcissist, “relentless and ruthless in pursuit of victory,” might even win seven Mr. Universe titles.

Conquering that world, or should I say ‘Universe”, and “with a tendency toward grandiosity,” perhaps he would become an actor, a leading man, so he could always be on stage. Here again the narcissist gains the unambiguous indulgence and adoration of admiring fans. People would cheer him in the streets.

But that would run its course too, because acting is really a fantasy and not so much a “grand scheme”. To feed his feelings of grandiosity, the non-productive narcissist would need more than just devoted followers. He needs everyone to depend on him. He will save everyone, thus earning their love and devotion, their adulation. He needs to run California. Yeah, that should do it.

The following dialogue is clipped from Burrelle’s transcripts at www.burrelles.com. It is part of the text of the recent Oprah Winfrey Show when Oprah interviewed Arnold Schwarzenegger. In the interview, Schwarzenegger described his career path to Oprah. They discussed how much Arnold enjoyed the recall campaign and why he decided to go for it. Bear in mind that Arnold couldn’t very well say that his past “achievements” were beginning to “feed feelings of grandiosity” and that he had begun to “nurture grand schemes” and that “lacking self-knowledge and restraining anchors” he had become an “unrealistic dreamer.” So he just said he wanted to try something new.

Oprah: Are you liking it, Arnold, though? You’re liking it?

Arnold: I love it.

Oprah: You love it.

Arnold: I-I absolutely love it.

Oprah: Because you love a challenge. Yeah.

Arnold: You have to understand—no, but, you know, remember when— when—when we met I was just getting out of body-building and…

Oprah: Yeah.

Arnold: …and I was just getting—this was the late 70s…

Oprah: Yeah

Arnold: …and you asking me the same question, you said to me, when we were
driving around in Baltimore, you said, you know, ‘How is it now, getting into the acting?’ And I—I said to you, ‘I’m excited about doing something new. I’ve done the body building now, the competition, the training every day, five hours. I want to learn something new. I want to get into show business and work my way up in show business, and be a leading man and all this.’ And you said, ‘Wow, yeah, if this will happen.’

Oprah: See, I didn’t believe you then, but I believe you now. I believe you
now.

Arnold: But the same is—but the same is now Oprah. It’s the same thing, It’s
a new thing.

So, a possible career path for the non-productive narcissist is from body-builder, where awards are given with grandiose sounding titles like Mr. Universe, to ‘leading man’ where he can appear on a larger stage, where superficial imagery reaches even more people. Finally, by moving into politics, the non-productive narcissist might even become a real-life hero, proving that his past achievements were no fantasies at all. Mr. Universe, Terminator, Governor Schwarzenegger. Ah.

But does Arnold have the politically savvy to win in California? Oprah’s interview with Arnold was revealing in another way. Demonstrating an innate knack for politics, Arnold was insistent that it was OK to lie to the public, in order to sway their opinion. Like a drum beat he said this over and over.

Oprah: Something you did in 1977, 26 years ago, comes out about Oui
magazine where you were talking about having smoked pot and inhaling and described wild sexual experiences in detail 26 years ago. Now did you remember that interview?

Arnold: We…said the most outrageous things that you can say in order to make
headlines and to be out there… [makes his point once…smiling]

Oprah: Were you making some of that stuff up?

Arnold: …the idea was to say things…over the top so you get headlines [makes
it again…laughing]

Oprah: Yeah

Arnold: [he’s on a roll now…he’s grinning…really full of himself] …we were
really out there doing, you know, Andy Warhol, and this whole thing—and so we were trying to get attention. So this were intent—attention—grabbers, those—those kind of lines.

Finally, just to make sure Oprah understood his point that it is OK to lie to the public, as if he was emphasizing how important such a skill would be in politics, he said it again, seriously:

Arnold: But I mean, this was all outrageous statements in order for people to
say, ‘Oh my God, I got to try that’

Say things that are “over the top.” “Make headlines.” “Be out there.” Use “attention grabbers.” I get it. This is how you would develop campaign sound bites. One-liners. Slogans. Outrageous comments are fair game. Let’s see what outrageous, over the top, attention-grabbing, lies he is telling today in order to get headlines:

“I want to prove to the women that I will be a champion for the women. A champion for the women.” “I’m very pro-women. I’m very much into equality.”

“Hasta la vista, car tax.” "I can kill the tax with my signature alone, and I will do exactly that."

“Game over” “I’ll be back”

Never mind that killing the car tax will increase the California budget deficit by more than four billion dollars.

I see it now -- go into politics – get the public’s attention -- lie to them -- sway their opinion -- and so on. Makes sense. But how do you explain it if someone catches you on the lies? Here again we see Arnold’s simple brilliance:

Oprah: When you decided to run for governor, you must have known
everything you’ve ever done is now going to come to the forefront.

Arnold: See, so, but it—and the—and at the time, I did not—I did not think that
I’m going to run for governor either.

Oprah: Yeah.

Arnold: So, of course, you know, I was saying those things and I was over the
top in order to….

Oprah: Because you would have cleaned it up.

Arnold: Hey, believe me.

Oprah: Yeah.

Another part of Arnold’s interview was a shocker. Remember, this is the Oprah Winfrey Show. A hundred times during each show, the camera flashes to the smiling faces of the soccer moms in the audience, the suburban Chicago women, and the progressive gals who visit the Oprah show for its positive message. More importantly, sitting next to Arnold is his wife, Maria. The reaction by Maria and Oprah indicates they were stunned by Arnold’s crude and unnecessary remark. It shouldn’t be a surprise, however, because narcissists also tend to be insensitive oafs:

Oprah: Do you remember the parties, Arnold?

Arnold: I really don’t. No, but, I mean, you know, these were the times where I
was saying things, like, you know, ‘a pump is better than cumming,’ and all those kinds of things. Yeah.

There was both embarrassed laughter and sounds of stunned disbelief. Maria’s and Oprah’s eyes were wide open and their jaws dropped. They were laughing, but it was nervous, embarrassed laughter. Especially for Maria. Arnold continued talking over the din of the audience, and the interruptions by Maria. Maria even covered Arnold’s mouth with her hand. Yes, she reached up on national television and put her hand over his mouth, so stunned was she by his insensitivity. But Arnold just pulled away from her hand and kept on talking:

Arnold: No, no, but, I mean—but, like, you know, today…

Maria: Wait a minute. Why did you do that? I said my mother
is watching this show. My mother is watching this show.

Arnold: I know. I un—I understand. I understand. I understand. OK.

Maria: I mean, my God. Now…

Arnold: Wherever—wherever Eunice is, don’t pay any attention. OK. But
I mean, but the point…

I think Maria next tried to help Arnold, to lead him out of the dog pile, but he really didn’t listen to her. That’s another trait of the narcissist. They don’t listen to others.

Maria: Right. That’s the stuff you used to say.

Arnold: No, no. That’s what I’m saying. But the point of it…the—the—the--is

Maria: OK.

Oprah: Let him say…

Arnold: Thank you.

Maria: But I don’t want to let him say anything. Oh.

Arnold: You see, now…

Oprah: Go ahead, Arnold. Finish.

Arnold: No, no. But now…

Oprah: Now?

Arnold: ….now you know what I go through at home, OK? So gives you a
little taste.

Oprah: Yeah

Now, when Arnold made the wisecrack about his life at home with Maria, it was a joke, right? Or, was Arnold really “kidding on the square”? Either way, it’s obvious now how much Arnold respects women. They aren’t just for groping whenever you have the urge. They’re are worth putting up with, even if it gets a little tough at home.

But wait. Is that really it? When Arnold says he’s a champion of the women, and that he believes in equality for women, is he really just saying outrageous, attention-grabber headlines, to sway public opinion? To get people to say “Oh, my God. I’ve got to vote for this guy?”

In August, a study surfaced by James Houran, a psychology professor at the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, about Celebrity Worship Syndrome, an affliction that affects as much as one third of the population. People with CWS are overly susceptible to real-life influence by their fantasy idol. At one extreme, those with CWS will go so far as to commit a crime if asked by an idol to do so; Hitler’s followers, for example. At the milder end of the scale, a CWS sufferer will do less harmful things, like believe every word their idol says. Or, if their idol is a murderer, even though most CWS sufferers would never kill anyone, they might cheer while a white Bronco carries their idol-murderer down the highway. Or, if their idol is a pro-athlete accused of rape, they might stand and cheer him on when he enters a courtroom. Will CWS sufferers vote for their idol, the happy narcissist? That’s a slam-dunk.

Idolatry. Hero worship. Isn’t this what Arnold is all about? He keeps weaving his old movie lines into his campaign slogans as if he is aware that he needs the CWS vote. During a recent political debate, he even told Arriana he had a role for her in Terminator 4. He doesn’t seem to want to leave his movie star roots behind. He needs votes from his CWS-suffering followers, the one third who will vote for him because he is a movie star -- part of their fantasy – who don’t really care if he is a rake, much less if he has the political skills to run the state with the sixth largest economy in the world. Arnold needs the CWS vote because he doesn’t have a political base. But even more than politics, he really needs the CWS vote to fulfill his more than ample self-love and admiration, to feed his grandiose and narcissistic schemes, and to convert his fantasy-world heroism to real-life heroism.

On the subject of groping and being “not restrained by conscience,” Arnold’s recent admissions that he fondled women on “rowdy movie sets” and other places, accusations that span from the 1970s to the year 2000, and for which he has summarily apologized, perhaps should be overlooked. Maybe we shouldn’t hold him accountable for that “bad behavior,” because, well, as he put it:

“See, so, but it—and the—and at the time, I did not—I did not think that I’m going to run for governor either.”

Yeah.

Posted by Lisa at October 06, 2003 02:30 PM | TrackBack