Okay, to return to the OP, this is a thread about Ann Barnhardt and Narcissism, and I guess to an extent, how bloggers can be narcissists.
I do not think Barnhardt is a narcissist. I’ve seen and chatted with many online personalities who are, though. Heck, the very term “narcissist” wouldn’t be back in our lexicon were it not for her. Barnhardt put priestly narcissism into “the discussion” a few years ago. Honestly, were I an outsider, I’d say I was witnessing some kind of a form of projection, here. Accusing her of the very thing she’s pointed out? I know that song.
Certainly, there are people going into the blogosphere with battleplans and intentions. Voris comes to mind. Marshall as well. Voris appears to have been looking for a grift, though I didn’t think so at first. Marshall was a former Episcopalian priest, so his life and career were already pivoted around religion. I’m not so sure his mission is to grift, so much as it is to continue a career that involves his religious conviction. Remember Skojec? Yeah, I feel he was grifting, for sure.
But some people just find the blogging or podcast medium to be a preferable way to share ideas, and it later turns into an income. I watched a podcast called Midnight’s Edge turn from an obscure commentary about the latest, crappiest Fantastic Four movie (the one directed by Josh Trank), into a full-on channel that discusses cutting edge, hot-button entertainment industry news. It only took them a handful of years. And then came along Nerdrotic, who was originally a comic store owner. Folks just fall in to this thing. And before they know it, they’ve discovered people will pay for their content.
A few years ago, the wife and I talked about doing this. Making this hobby I do into a career and all that. Pursuing ideas and sharing observations online. Going full-on, producing articles daily, doing a podcast, and everything. There’s a demand. And besides, when I was young, I dreamed of making a living income off of fiction writing. Why not something meaningful like this? Why not apply oneself to the Mission?
Eventually, though, we decided not to. We’ve got kids, and there’s an obligation to make sure we have a dependable, steady income. I’ve got to do overtime a lot, too. Chasing cultural and religio-political ideas online is an unsteady way of life. Particularly when one considers the speech crackdowns and everything else. In fact, I’m so busy with work and family anymore, I’m only putting something out on a quarterly basis at this time. I was ready to shut it down last year, but readers wanted to donate and keep the operation going.
The point is: I do not think producing online content is narcissistic. It can be, but a lot of people who do it genuinely believe in what they are doing. People want social commerce, but not every platform fits. Some like forums. Others are loners more adapted to their own sites. There’s predators out there, to be sure. But not everyone is like that. I do not think Barnhardt set out to do this. I believe she just figured she could roll the dice and do it. I admire folks who take the plunge like that. Being your own boss must be very great, though I suspect speech crackdowns and persecutions will end all of it in the end.