One of the things you find quite often as you read other peoples blogs, is a demented view of one’s self. I’m talking mostly of people (women really) who claim to be something they clearly are not. I know that half the allure of having a blog is that the medium is as anonymous as you want it to be, but sometimes I wonder whether or not a good portion of the blogging community is suffering from some form of psychosis.
A few years ago, it was women who pretended (or wished) they were the character made famous by Audrey Tautou in the French film Le Fabuleux destin d’Amelie Poulain. These days, you’re more likely to find women pretending to be Princesses. Do a google search and you’ll be hammered with about 459,000 different references to or for princess blogs. That is a shitload of women (okay, some can arguably be men) who are under the illusion that they are princesses.
Every once in a while, I’ll get an email or a comment from one of these women after I post something that paints a rather unflattering picture of how disconnected from reality they must be. Yeah, sort of like this post. They usually write to let me know that they call themselves “princesses” (or is it princessi?) because it lets people know that they are special.
To which I usually respond by writing this: You are not special. In fact, by claiming you are a princess or special, you highlight how indelibly average you are. The definition of the word special is “Surpassing what is common or usual; exceptional: a special occasion; a special treat.” I would consider you special if you didn’t claim to be something you clearly are not. It would be refreshing in fact to communicate with a woman who had enough self awareness and confidence, that she was happy with who she was and didn’t need a fantasy to be self actualized. Since you align yourself with the millions of other women who also mistakenly believe they are special, you are actually proving that the opposite is true.
Yeah, I’m an asshole… but at least I’m an honest asshole.
Nice post. The princess issue aside, it would be nice if most people realized they were not special. I would go so far as to say they are two rungs below special, which would make them less than average.
what about if you think you’re a cookie? does that make you unspecial too?