History Main / ItsAllAboutMe

See {{Narcissist}}ic Personality Disorder and [[TheSociopath Anti-Social Personality Disorder]] for when this veers into villainous territory.

See {{Narcissist}}ic Personality Disorder and [[TheSociopath Anti-Social Personality Disorder]] for when it veers into villainous territory.

Exactly why they think they're important and everyone else isn't will vary from case to case. For some, it could be the belief that they're superior to normal people because they are more beautiful, talented, favored by a deity, etc. -- which may or may not be true -- while others are simply so [[LackOfEmpathy lacking in empathy]] that they can't imagine anyone else's pain or feelings being as real as theirs. On the highest end of the ego scale is a terrifying form of ObliviouslyEvil, when the egotist is unable to comprehend that they're doing anything immoral because [[LackOfEmpathy they are unable to comprehend that other people have feelings at all]][[note]]ObliviouslyEvil villains are usually sympathetic [[AntiVillain Anti-Villains]], but villains whose obliviousness are derived from their inability to comprehend that other people even have feelings e.g. [[WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDameDisney Judge Claude Frollo]] and [[Manga/FullmetalAlchemist Shou Tucker]], are usually even viler [[/note]].

Exactly why they think they're important and everyone else isn't will vary from case to case. For some, it could be the belief that they're superior to normal people because they are more beautiful, talented, favored by a deity, etc.--which may or may not be true--while others are simply so [[LackOfEmpathy lacking in empathy]] that they can't imagine anyone else's pain or feelings being as real as theirs. On the highest end of the ego scale is a terrifying form of ObliviouslyEvil, when the egotist is unable to comprehend that they're doing anything immoral because [[LackOfEmpathy they are unable to comprehend that other people have feelings at all]][[note]]ObliviouslyEvil villains are usually sympathetic [[AntiVillain Anti-Villains]], but villains whose obliviousness are derived from their inability to comprehend that other people even have feelings e.g. [[WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDameDisney Judge Claude Frollo]] and [[Manga/FullmetalAlchemist Shou Tucker]], are usually even viler [[/note]].

It's hard or impossible for them to imagine that other people have their own lives outside of interacting with them. Not only must their friends, family, and adoring public be thinking about them all the time, but their rivals or enemies are surely out there obsessing about how to bring them down, no doubt because they’re jealous of the egoist's style and success. An egoist who’s an AttentionWhore or a CardCarryingVillain might go so far as to think there’s NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity, since the only thing worse than being talked about negatively is not being talked about ''at all''. An egotist with delusions of grandeur may have a one-sided rivalry or hatred for a different character who hardly even notices them. If normal criticisms fail to work on an egoist because they lack any sense of morality or shame, the most effective tactics for deliberately [[IShallTauntYou getting a rise out of them]] are mocking how pathetic and ridiculous they are, calling them "[[BoringInsult boring]]", or giving them a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech about how they're delusional to think they’re so important.

A [[AwesomeEgo healthy ego]] exults the strengths of an individual in an overt way, which--on balance--can benefit everyone. An ''unchecked'' ego, however, is mainly preoccupied with blocking out [[IRejectYourReality "unacceptable"]] thoughts that are hurtful or belittling to itself, even tuning out the entire world if necessary. Toddlers have this attitude by default, as their brains are not developed enough to understand that other people have different viewpoints. We're less forgiving of (non-disabled) adults who behave this way, also termed [[{{Jerkass}} assholes]].

** ''ItsAllAboutMe/NotAlwaysRight''