Posted on 04/27/2007 11:56:49 AM PDT by RileyD, nwJ
All About Alec - all the time
Amazingly little of what has been written about Alec Baldwin’s angry phone message to his daughter has mentioned the inherent narcissism. One only has to go to YouTube and listen to his 2 minute and 15 second rant to have the message that it’s ALL ABOUT ALEC - all the time, come through loud and clear.
In the first minute alone he makes 15 references to himself. That’s an average of one self-reference every 4 seconds. The second minute was worse with 20 references to himself, an average of one every 3 seconds. The last 15 seconds contained ‘only’ 2 references to himself, but it also contained the ugly personal attack on his daughter.
This is narcissism writ large. The numbers above, while instructive, don’t really tell the story. So the following is provided for the rest of the story.
01 .....I want to tell …
02 .....I want to leave a message …
03/04 ..I’ve made an ass of myself …
05 .....the time comes for me
06/07 ..I stop whatever I’m doing
08/09 ..I go and I make …
10 .....I want you to know …
11 .....I’m tired of playing …
12 .....I’m leaving this message …
13 .....have insulted me …
14 .....have insulted me … (repeat)
15 .....I don’t give a damn
1 minute/60 seconds
16 .....as far as I am concerned
17 .....have humiliated me …
18 .....When I come out there
19 .....I’m going to fly …
20 .....I’m going to let …
21 .....disappointed in you I am
22 .....how angry I am
23 .....done this to me again
24 .....made me feel like …
25 .....made me feel like a fool
26 .....crap you pull one me …
27 .....do it to me constantly
28 .....I’m going to get on …
29 .....I’m going to come out …
30 .....I’m going to straighten …
31 .....when I see you
32 .....Do you understand me?
33 .....I’m going to really …
34 .....then I’m going to get
35 .....I’m going to come …
2 minutes/120 seconds
36 .....ready to meet with me
37 .....how I feel …
2 minutes 15 seconds/135 seconds
Between 9 and 10 he blames his daughter. Between 14 and 15 he blames her again and personally attacks her. Between 26 and 27 he blames her again. After 37 he has the extended personal attack on her that everyone is now familiar with. But the real message is that Alec Baldwin has the ego of an infant who can only think in terms of me! Me! ME! ME!!
I do not know Mr. Baldwin or Ms. Basinger or their daughter, but I know a number of couples who have been through a divorce as probably the entire adult population of the United States do. It was never the fault of the children.
That being said, I don’t know anyone who exhibits Alex Baldwin’s incredible level of self absorption, deep narcissism, and focus on personal feelings to the complete exclusion of others.
The most amazing thing about all of this is how all the commentary has been focused on Mr. Baldwin’s ugly words to his daughter near the end of his self absorbed rant and virtually ignored the deep seated narcissism exhibited throughout.
Thirty-seven references to himself in 135 seconds – an average of one reference to himself every 3.7 seconds.
9 of the 37 references refer directly to his feelings or how he believes he has been personally attacked.
- insulted me
- insulted me
- humiliated me
- how angry I am
- made me feel
- made me feel
- pull on me
- do it to meet
- how I feel
It was all about Alec all the time.
How and why did all the public commentators miss this? Is this level of vanity and/or self-absorption so rampant in our culture it is no longer noticed? Maybe the personal attack at the end was so vile the obvious was overlooked and missed.
My common sense and observation tells me this focus on self borders on the dangerous. This person and those like him are to be avoided.
Now (addendum) Alec Baldwin assumes he will become a speaker about the problem of "parental alienation" - a problem that clearly exists. Just as all adults know someone who has been divorced, most also know someone who has suffered parental alienation due to the actions of a former spouse.
Those that I have met and talked with (and prayed with) suffered greatly due to this alienation. However, to a person, they were all more concerned about their child or children instead of themselves. This is not the case here.
Alex Baldwin is not the right person to become the spokesman about the problem of parential alienation because for him it is always about alec all the time.
I’ll be cautious replying to this one because I didn’t listen to the whole thing and don’t know exactly what happened that caused him to pop off. I am familiar with his over-the-top temper. The “stone Henry Hyde to death” rant comes to mind.
On the other hand I went through a bitter custody battle over my son and had a lot of visitation issues. I had joint custody and my son alternated weeks between us. I’m not Solomon and nobody has invented a system that works. I finally allowed my ex- to become the primary custodial parent and my son to live with her full time because of the stress on my son.
I only saw him twice in the next 10 months. I couldn’t get in front of a judge. They kept forcing me to go to arbitration, at great expense, where they would threaten her and ultimately nothing would happen. The whole time she told my son, “Look what your father is doing to us!”
He wouldn’t show up for scheduled visits. She/he would schedule other things on my scheduled weekends and either not show up or want to leave early, or for me to cancel my plans, to handle whatever else.....
I really understand what he is feeling here. I don’t know if he’s all the bad guy in this. After the 33rd trip to my lawyer I asked him how these things turned out. And he said, “They always do. Somebody gets tired.” He was making a reference to my ex- but it was me who got tired. After I gave up it was another year before I saw him again.
Ultimately, my ex- won what she couldn’t control, a 6’3” 350 lb surly teenage boy. So, I got him back when he turned 16 and he lives with me now and is in college. I have very few good memories of that time ....I’m willing to give Alex the benefit of a doubt on this one. Whoever released the tape really put a harpoon in him.
“So, enough of me talking about myself - why don’t you tell me what you think about me...”
The blowup is somewhat understandable - but would have been more so if it had been directed at his spouse. Maybe his daughter just got in the line of fire so to speak.
Still, it is the constant me, me, me throughout his blowup that is so bothersome.
I am very aware of the very real bias of the system against fathers (and as a result against the children) and in favor of mothers.
I don't know how things worked out in the end for your son, but I have seen a number of children 'saved' when custody was turned over to the father. I hope it was so for your son.
I don’t watch ‘The View’. I noticed right off that the taped message was I I I I, me me me me. When you confront someone, there are certain protocols to observe. Of course that is dealing with an adult. No matter how he said it, it was wrong. If only he had just said that he was a little upset that Ireland didn’t pick up the phone for their arranged phone call, and to please call him when she received the message, all this unpleasantness could have been avoided.
Of course Alec Baldwin is who he is. He has said some of the damndest things about Henry Hyde, Republicans in general, and they do not make him look sane.
excellant post!
Yes, but did you ever call your son a pig? Doubt it!
LoL..
I’m assuming your post is dripping with sarcasm!!!
Hard to slip one past you.
Well, there are trolls here who pretend to be conservative. I’m glad to know you don’t fall into that category.
Since I don’t frequent those threads I may not be the best at spotting them.
LOL
Nope, I didn’t. What happens is that when the parents can’t talk to each other without fireworks then the kid becomes the intermediary. Then the kid begins to understand that he or she has some power in the situation and engages in their own manipulation.
Even when they aren’t throwing their own monkey wrench into the situation they aren’t real good at adult stuff like remembering to have their cell phone turned on because dad is going to call precisely at 5pm on Tuesday evening.
I understand Alec was only entitled to two 30 minute visits a week. That’s enough to drive you around the bend right there. My oldest brother ended up with close to the same deal. A thirty minute supervised visit in a public place.
McDonalds, one with a play area, is probably the number #1 destination for dads on visitation day. Thats where I took my son. I was amazed at the number of men there on Saturday morning with their kids. Although I never asked, I assumed that’s what was going on.
In my situation I came to understand that I wasn’t going to win and that I was going to miss a great deal of my son’s life and that is what came to pass. I regret every minute of that loss.
Alec has to understand that he isn’t through losing yet but that if he doesn’t completely screw up he will have an opportunity to have a relationship with his daughter later when there is a co-equal partner to have one with. For now, its not going to happen.
But for you it was not all about you. For Alec, it all about Alec.
Clearly what your ex caused is your son's (and your) loss. It is not right.
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