If read more closely, what the author describes here as ‘narcissism’ is actually paranoia ( “the most dangerous types …” “they exist all around us”).

Then she attempts to control a paranoia by setting up a classification system of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ people.

Inevitably, such moral classifications break down resulting in a kind of delirium, since they bypass the clinical problem of narcissism and instead confuse it with egoism and egotistical behavior (qua good and bad people).

The distinction between egoism and narcissism is important for two reasons:

First, everyone you know has an ego and the slide into egoism and egotism is not for a privileged few, but an inertia that can happen to anyone, including the author. In fact, for everyone who calls (incorrectly) their boyfriend or girlfriend a ‘narcissist’, you will probably find the compliments being returned by that same girlfriend/boyfriend. In short, when it comes to egoism, all the signs of egoism are reciprocal and can lead to paranoia.

Second, narcissism, if it were ever to be explained adequately, is a cure for egoism and its paranoiac tendencies.

Just a few grains of salt,

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