In the ancient myth, Echo was a woodland nymph who invariably claimed the last word in any interaction. One day when Hera found her husband was away talking with Echo, she cursed the nymph. Echo could never again "speak first," but only repeat the last word spoken to her. This became a predicament when Echo saw the young and beautiful Narcissus and fell in love with him, but could not speak to him. She followed him, and repeated the words he finally spoke to her, but alas, he was disgusted with her copy-cat approach. Echo, lonely and dejected, surrendered to her helplessness and went away to rot in a cave until only her voice remained, whispering back her visitors' own speech.
Narcissus shunned Echo, and all other nymphs. Once, a mortal attempted to win his affection and upon her failing wished for Narcissus to know the feeling of unrequited love. Narcissus later came upon a clear fountain and fell passionately in love with his own reflection, which he took to be an apparition of a water nymph. When he found he would not be embraced by his own image, he too wandered off and withered away. Upon his death all of the nymphs mourned him, and revered the purple and white flower which had replaced his body.
Bulfinch, Thomas. Bulfinch's Mythology. Grosset & Dunlap, 1855. Print.
One narcissist I abhor is Scarlett Johansson. In nearly all of her roles in film she purposefully exploits her own sexuality and in this way insults the very idea that women possess value beyond aesthetics and superficiality. Meanwhile, she appears entirely careless to this fact and remains wrapped up in her own youth and beauty as if this alone were an excuse be immodest and ignorant. In her role as the Black Widow in "The Avengers" she not only embodies the blatantly sexist depictions of women in comic books, but strikingly resembles the main character from the video game Tomb Raider, whose idealized figure and impossible breasts were accidentally (and comically) constructed, no doubt, by a room full of desperate and infantile men—who else? In her role in "Her" she shamelessly suggests that she could manipulate any person—in the film, man, woman, and machine—into falling in "love" with her using only her voice and her charm, reinforcing the superficiality of her own existence and suggesting the absolute emptiness of substance in romantic engagements. In this role she is "smart" because she is a computer, not because she is individually intelligent or interesting.
Typing Johansson's name into Google brings up a myriad of images which one would be astonished to find did not originate on the cover of Playboy or Sports Illustrated. She does absolutely nothing but boast her beauty, in love with her own resemblance to the pathetic images of 1950s "Pin-Up" housewives and mistresses. She has the "talent" of a stripper, and calls herself an actress.
One altruist I admire is Carl Sagan. He was not at all beautiful by superficial standards, but beautiful in spirit. He is most known for his work in science, his books, and his stellar television program "Cosmos," but the true greatness of his legacy rests in his wisdom. He saw the world as something magnificent to be explored, protected, and improved, and he encouraged others to see it in the same way. He not only spoke his beliefs, but he lived them. He sought to find and share what meaning and wisdom which science and the universe had to offer to the human race. Committed to clarity and conclusion by logic, he was unafraid to correct the illogical conclusions of others, deeming him both a skeptic and an indispensable contributor to science and to the world.
Successful, yet not prideful, he was an advocate of the idea of "Testosterone Poisoning," the negative affects of male compliance to the stereotypes of masculinity. He encouraged all humans not to succumb to the view that their species must be the only (or the smartest, most powerful, etc.) race in the universe, and continually attempted to dwarf the human ego by alluding to the grandness of the cosmos and the probability of life beyond Earth. He was certainly a man worthy of admiration.
Narcissus shunned Echo, and all other nymphs. Once, a mortal attempted to win his affection and upon her failing wished for Narcissus to know the feeling of unrequited love. Narcissus later came upon a clear fountain and fell passionately in love with his own reflection, which he took to be an apparition of a water nymph. When he found he would not be embraced by his own image, he too wandered off and withered away. Upon his death all of the nymphs mourned him, and revered the purple and white flower which had replaced his body.
Bulfinch, Thomas. Bulfinch's Mythology. Grosset & Dunlap, 1855. Print.
One narcissist I abhor is Scarlett Johansson. In nearly all of her roles in film she purposefully exploits her own sexuality and in this way insults the very idea that women possess value beyond aesthetics and superficiality. Meanwhile, she appears entirely careless to this fact and remains wrapped up in her own youth and beauty as if this alone were an excuse be immodest and ignorant. In her role as the Black Widow in "The Avengers" she not only embodies the blatantly sexist depictions of women in comic books, but strikingly resembles the main character from the video game Tomb Raider, whose idealized figure and impossible breasts were accidentally (and comically) constructed, no doubt, by a room full of desperate and infantile men—who else? In her role in "Her" she shamelessly suggests that she could manipulate any person—in the film, man, woman, and machine—into falling in "love" with her using only her voice and her charm, reinforcing the superficiality of her own existence and suggesting the absolute emptiness of substance in romantic engagements. In this role she is "smart" because she is a computer, not because she is individually intelligent or interesting.
Typing Johansson's name into Google brings up a myriad of images which one would be astonished to find did not originate on the cover of Playboy or Sports Illustrated. She does absolutely nothing but boast her beauty, in love with her own resemblance to the pathetic images of 1950s "Pin-Up" housewives and mistresses. She has the "talent" of a stripper, and calls herself an actress.
One altruist I admire is Carl Sagan. He was not at all beautiful by superficial standards, but beautiful in spirit. He is most known for his work in science, his books, and his stellar television program "Cosmos," but the true greatness of his legacy rests in his wisdom. He saw the world as something magnificent to be explored, protected, and improved, and he encouraged others to see it in the same way. He not only spoke his beliefs, but he lived them. He sought to find and share what meaning and wisdom which science and the universe had to offer to the human race. Committed to clarity and conclusion by logic, he was unafraid to correct the illogical conclusions of others, deeming him both a skeptic and an indispensable contributor to science and to the world.
Successful, yet not prideful, he was an advocate of the idea of "Testosterone Poisoning," the negative affects of male compliance to the stereotypes of masculinity. He encouraged all humans not to succumb to the view that their species must be the only (or the smartest, most powerful, etc.) race in the universe, and continually attempted to dwarf the human ego by alluding to the grandness of the cosmos and the probability of life beyond Earth. He was certainly a man worthy of admiration.
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