I just wanted to highlight that a commenter highlighted this picture of Paddock’s father, exhibiting the narcissist posture I had discussed seeing in Alec Baldwin here:
That is it. It has to be viewed in two ways. First situationally. A guy in that position could be forgiven for exhibiting that broken posture, given he is now looking at life in prison, and an established reputation as a criminal. The key is a narcissist will exhibit that posture in inappropriate situations. He’ll exhibit it at a friend’s wedding, because he feels like a loser since he is not the center of attention. He’ll exhibit it at his son’s graduation, because he can’t stand seeing his son as the center of attention. He’ll exhibit at a party, where everyone is happy, because narcissists just hate seeing everyone happy.
The second way it needs to be examined is in degree. When someone who never exhibits this posture assumes it temporarily, their muscles and joints have not adapted to exhibit it, so the exhibition of it will be attenuated. When a character spends an inordinate amount of time in it however, their muscles and joints adapt increased flexibility and ability to exhibit the posture, so the body naturally will fall into an exaggerated form of it. The shot of Paddock’s father in profile is this posture to its maximal degree.
What is interesting to me is Paddock’s father was a conman, in addition to a bank robber. I am convinced conmen, by and large, are narcissists who are extremely insecure about their intelligence, and it is that insecurity which not only makes them able to be conmen, but which drives them to it.
If I had to be a conman with you, if my life depended on fooling you, and if I failed I was going to prison, I would feel immense angst. Every casual squint you made would trigger me, and make me wonder if it was suspicion. Every question you raised would freak me out, because I would fear you had realized. In essence, I would be on edge, afraid you would uncover the con, and I would have to endure the shame and the horror of being uncovered as a scumbag, and then endure the loss of freedom of imprisonment. That amygdala, at the thought of exposure would keep me from ever wanting to be a conman.
But if I had narcissist-level insecurity about my intellect, my entire amygdala would shift. Now, I feel the angst by default, if I do nothing. If I do nothing, you are this snotty genius, delighted to humiliate me by simply enjoying your intellect, and I am an idiot, far beneath you in intelligence. It is unbearable, so I have to do something. Now, fooling you offers the prospect of relief. If I tell a lie, and you begin to buy it, I am exhilarated. Maybe I am not an idiot – maybe it is you who is the idiot. Your squint is just motivation to enlarge the lie. Your question just needs a rebuttal. Suddenly the con is not amygdala-triggering, it is amygdala-relieving.
The bigger the lie, the better. I am a Rockefeller, with some royal blood from French Aristocracy. I was in the astronaut training program. It was after my days in the Israeli Special Forces. Six Day War? I was in the Fifteen Day War. It was a huge covert operation. Eyes only stuff, so you never heard about it. Almost got Arafat, the sneaky bastard slipped our net. We thought he was on the shitter, but it turned out there was a secret door under the bathtub leading to a tunnel. That was where I realized I wanted to go into finance, and invest other people’s money.
As you politely listen, I am amazed you never call me out on it, but that amazement quickly turns to exhilaration as the insecurity that defines me evaporates at last. Each lie is another relief, and that conditions and reinforces the behavior. Like a junkie, I push the envelope to get even more relief. When I finally get you to give me money to invest, it is tangible proof you are an idiot, and I am smarter than you. Suddenly I almost feel normal.
When you see Paddock’s father above, that is the narcissist, reduced to confronting the reality, which for them is that they are actually idiots. Ironically, it is often the need to prove they are smarter, which drives them to the idiotic behavior.
Regardless, that is a man who has lived his whole life in that posture. Whenever I see it, I know what it means, and I stay the hell away from it.
Tell everyone about r/K Theory, because narcissists should be culled by Darwinian Selection
Stalin shows a similar hunch (but only when standing), but tilts to the other side. Machiavellianism + Psychopathy vs. Narcissist/Conman/Psychopathy?
I don’t know why, but his facial expression looks really odd. It strikes me with a negative feeling “this guys is no good”, specially the eyes.
What would healthy, good body posture look like in comparison? I remember you showed us one of the other Baldwin brothers, Stephen, when you discussed Alec
It will never be either or, but rather shades of gray, and it won’t de definite, but rather a probability, and it may not show all the time with a person, but rather only emerge in between periods of exhilaration, such as fooling others.
I think it possible a mechanic, who due to his specialty spent all day hunched over in that position, might stretch muscles and tendons to the point he would have such a posture due to biomechanics more than psychology. But it is important to also note that although it is a slump, it is just a little more than a slump. There is a defeated quality to it. Maybe I am seeing the expression and emotion too, and that is what would differentiate it from exhaustion, or biomechanics. Also the curve of the spine is an element – it is not just the shoulders.
It may also be affected by age or injury. I think some guys who soared in their lives, and who are not accustomed to limits, may be just a little disappointed as age and injury catches up, and they are forced to confront the natural limitations of life. But still, they are not the utter despair I see in Paddock’s father’s posture.
Paddock’s father in that image is one extreme. But I would bet if he ran into a real rube, and was deep into pulling the wool all over his eyes, that posture could even give way to a back arched back, and a head cocked back with chin jutting out, to revel in his own brilliance compared to others. It will not be always there.
The opposite posture of the “defeated slump” would basically be “At Attention” in the military. At ease, here would be a younger Dick Marcinko, later founder of SEAL Team Six, sitting with arms in front of him (Which should hunch him and his shoulders forward, but doesn’t).
All of these are playing the odds. But they accumulate. If you see a two-face whose weak side has a snarl, with eyebrows that look like he is crying as he smiles, and he has this slump, it adds up.
Dude — I was in that same unit!
Small world…
My brother who I suspect has NPD has a strange distinctive posture and walk… I can’t decide if it’s strange in the same way that’s strange or not, it’s sort a of hunched/poor posture (almost knuckle-dragging type of look) but combined with a really confident distinctive striding type of walk. So much so that I could describe it and him briefly to people and they’ve known exactly who I meant. He presents a scruffy hippie type appearance (and values supposedly I think), but that doesn’t fit at all with the walk or this constant look of frowning red-faced barely suppressed rage he has. He’s a very strange character.