What are the key points of the argument in the Twenge essay? The essay “An Army of One: Me” criticizes today’s world’s thought that self-esteem is an important factor in the development of human beings during early ages. The author disapproves/disagrees with the modern thought that self-esteem should be built into the current and future generations to a certain extent where: •They feel good about themselves, regardless of how they perform or act. They become selfish members of society with the objective of satisfying themselves and ONLY themselves. Twenge primarily designates the critical distance between self-esteem and narcissism. In my personal opinion, I agree with Twenge’s opinion about self-esteem being built in beyond its limits. Self-esteem is a value that should be inculcated in every single person. They should be able to realize that they are all capable and have the ability to be big in life, one way or another.
At first, the concept of “self-esteem” meant to be a free person, a person who could decide which path he wants to walk through. As time has passed, this concept has evolved and developed to a level where ME comes before everyone else. It has come to a degree where people think that they should always feel good about themselves regardless of what they do and how they do it. Some people might find this correct, but what they don’t realize is that with such high self-esteem, people can’t make out the difference between good and bad, right and wrong, positive and negative.
For example, if parents/teachers tell children that they are very good at everything, they will never be able to identify when they are doing something the wrong way, thus leading to undevelopement of educational thinking. Self-esteem is at its best inculcated when being realistic a little toward being positive. Everyone needs to know who they really are, what they really like, what are they good at and primarily what they really want. People have to be happy for a reason and they need to open their eyes to reality.
Education has turned to the point where a good “positive” atmosphere and environment is more important than education itself. Narcissism has already been dominant in America for a while. It can be supported with the example about Asian kids working on sections with difficulties while Americans tend to skip them in order to keep a good self-esteem. In conclusion, Narcissism is self-esteem way beyond its limit. Narcissism makes people blind to the difference between right and wrong, ignorant and educated. It surrounds people in a nut shell, not allowing them to see life in any other perspective than their own.
