BY ROGER L. SIMON
Books
Heir
The Mama Tass Manifesto
The Big Fix
Wild Turkey
Peking Duck
California Roll
The Straight Man
Raising the Dead
The Lost Coast
Director’s Cut
Turning Right at Hollywood and Vine
I Know Best
Screenplays
The Big Fix
Bustin’ Loose (story by Richard Pryor)
My Man Adam
Enemies, A Love Story (with Paul Mazursky)
Scenes from a Mall (with Paul Mazursky)
Prague Duet (with Sheryl Longin)
A Better Life (story)
© 2016 by Roger L. Simon
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Encounter Books, 900 Broadway, Suite 601, New York, New York, 10003.
First American edition published in 2016 by Encounter Books, an activity of Encounter for Culture and Education, Inc., a nonprofit, tax exempt corporation.
Encounter Books website address: www.encounterbooks.com
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48–1992 (R 1997) (Permanence of Paper).
FIRST AMERICAN EDITION
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Names: Simon, Roger L. (Roger Lichtenberg), 1943– author.
Title: I know best: how moral narcissism is destroying our republic, if it hasn’t already / Roger L. Simon.
Description: New York: Encounter Books, [2016]
Identifiers: LCCN 2015028553 | ISBN 9781594038068 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Political culture—United States. | Political psychology—United States. | United States—Moral conditions. | United States—Politics and government—2009–
Classification: LCC JK1726 .S56 2016 | DDC 306.20973—dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015028553
Interior page design and composition by: BooksByBruce.com
There’s nothing so bad for a woman as a man who thinks he’s good.
—Oscar Hammerstein
AN ANNOTATED TABLE OF CONTENTS
I
Why This?
In which the author explains why he’s bothering—once again—to examine why half of America doesn’t talk to the other half and why neither side changes its opinion about anything almost ever.
II
What the Least Great Generation Hath Wrought
Why the author’s generation, those born during and just before World War II, like John Lennon, Gloria Steinem, and imitators like Bill Clinton (not the boomers), are responsible for just about everything that has gone wrong with our culture and are the original, postwar “moral narcissists.”
III
Qu’est-ce Que C’est “Moral Narcissism”?
What exactly is this form of narcissism that is destroying—if it hasn’t already destroyed—our families, friendships, workplace atmosphere, and democratic republic?
IV
Who Was the King of All Moral Narcissists?
Jeopardy question: “bearded writers.” He wrote his most famous works in the library of the British Museum.
V
Good versus Bad Narcissism: Henrik Ibsen versus Jonathan Gruber
Which works better and will last longer—A Doll’s House or Obamacare?
VI
The Weather
Grandmother always said, “In polite society, when you don’t know people, just talk about something neutral, like the weather.” That was then, this is now.
VII
For the Birds
Rachel Carson and how “environmentalism” came to replace Christianity, Judaism, and even Hare Krishna (well, not so much) as our new religion.
VIII
Wonderful Copenhagen
What I discovered to be the true motivations behind the snowbound UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.
IX
Nostalgia for Racism
How and why moral narcissism helped bring back racism and the disastrous racial violence across America at the very time it was starting to diminish.
X
Booker T. Washington Really Did Know Best
The great African American educator knew long ago that the Sharptons of the world were the real racists.
XI
Selfies from Raqqa
How moral narcissists fight the War on Terror to lose.
XII
Islam Denialism
If you think all religions are equal, you can skip this chapter.
XIII
The Moral Narcissist Sleep Room
Oh, les beaux jours when we were all at the barricades, pulling up the pavement in Paris!
XIV
Nostalgia for Marxism
“I want a revolution where everyone can drink cappuccino at the Café Royal.”—Daniel Cohn-Bendit of the Nanterre Six, during the Paris “events” of May 1968.
XV
Luxurious Leftism
The irresistible rise of the “red bourgeoisie.”
XVI
Anatomy of the American Nomemklatura
And why it’s stronger and more pervasive than even the Soviet original.
XVII
The Media Is the (Moral Narcissist’s)