The Saint Rose Chronicle

Issue date: 12/5/07 Section: Opinion

Do you find yourself checking Facebook or Myspace several times a day? Do you always feel the need to look at yourself when you pass a mirror? Well you, my friend, probably have an obsession. Ours is an obsessive culture-I feel that there is no denying that. But why do we develop obsessions? Is it because of some primordial instinct of our species that allowed a greater chance of survival? Picture this scenario: Oog is a caveman who obsesses over the sharpness of his bone knife. One day, Oog decides to go for a stroll when all of a sudden, a saber- tooth tiger decides to put him on the menu. Fortunately, Oog has his trusty and exceptionally sharp knife on him and has it ready for the tiger. Many would say that obsession is never a healthy thing and yet I would argue that obsession is an important, if not necessary part of our daily lives-just look at Oog. Obsession fuels our economy-think about this long and hard as Christmas approaches. Do you really need your third iPod in 5 years just because it's the newest model and your old one is "so last year?" Obsession is the reason that statistics exist for how many strike outs Greg Maddux has gotten on days where there was a full moon (another column for another day). Obsession (or maybe advertising dollars?) is why we have entire television channels devoted to sports and food and music (although I must admit that the latter has become starkly less prevalent for the purposes of more "reality" television, but that's, again, another column for another day). My point is simply this: that obsession seemingly shows no boundaries in American society. It is fluid and amorphous (and largely tied to finances); it is a symbiote, clinging to both necessity and irrelevance with what sometimes seems no particular preference, rhyme, or reason.

A large-scale survey conducted not long ago has shown that this current generation of college students is the most self-centered and narcissistic of any studied. Basically, our primary obsession is ourselves. At first read, this seems to have a very negative connotation. However, I feel that deeper analysis is necessary. The survey included true or false questions such as "If I ruled the world, it would be a better place," "I think I am a special person" and "I can live my life any way I want to" in order to gauge the personalities of those being surveyed. I can't say that I would disagree with any of these statements, but is there really anything wrong with that that? Is it necessarily a bad thing to be self-obsessive? To answer my own question; Yes, it is. Still, narcissism is a sure sign of confidence, and is it not true that confidence, more than anything else (with the obvious exceptions of finances, pedigree, connections, and good-looks), is what is needed to succeed in our society? Therefore, self-obsession is nothing more than self-preservation! So readers, you will lead a more successful life if you all keep thinking that you are better than everyone else (except me, because I'm awesome).

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