“bright and skippy on the outside?”
I knwo some really nasty narcissists, they are definitely not bright and skippy. they can make one feel a murderous rage or give one an instant headache though
They’re probably borderlines (BPD) or anti-socials (APD).
Not to “pathologize” every thing, either, but just for differentiating purposes...to help US better understand, that’s really the main point of these types of analyses, for truly,
it CAN be said that they’re ALL (the disordered) just ‘bad people’, jerks (& worse appellations), toxic...’things’, to be avoided.
You’ve made an interesting point though, it makes me re-direct my thinking a bit, and I appreciate it.
Instead of ‘going on’ about how libs are like Narcissists, they may actually be more like borderlines.
One of the differentials is ‘glib, superficial charm’ (for N’s). It’s one of the differentials counselors use to diagnose. It’s funny too, because experienced counselors will say; NPD ‘feels’ like *this*,
and BPD ‘feels’ like *that*...
(proving what we already know, that it’s not an ‘exact’ science, right?)..
But YOUR point, about the LACK of such ‘charm’ in these headache-inducing pseudo-people, is actually a closer, clearer, and BETTER description of most libs. They’re a humorless bunch, after all!
Thanks for the food for thought!