Several week ago I was asked, What are your favorite books? In a future blog I will list my favorite books, but first I will reread them all (as that is what one does with favorite books). Until then, however, the following title will have to suffice as it is, I think, one on my favorite books ... or, at least, a favorite of the year 2012.
Aaron James, Assholes: A Theory (New York: Doubleday, 2012) ("Our theory is simply this: a person counts as an asshole when, and only when, he systematically allows himself to enjoy special advantages in interpersonal relations out of an entrenched sense of entitlement that immunizes him against the complaints of others people." Id. at 4-5. I began taking yoga classes earlier this year. One of my pet peeves concerns people who throw their mats down, stomp around the room, come in late, engage in affected breathing. I found myself quietly, to myself, calling those such persons 'asshole,' and have several times come close to saying it out loud. I don't because, well, I would be the asshole. What is surprising to me is that, until I started going to yoga class, I never thought of women as being assholes. Difficult at times, yes. Annoying at times, yes. Self-centered at times, yes. Yet, not assholes. No, never! Yoga classes, which are heavily populated by women, have made me realized that women, or, American woman, have become more and more like men, including an increase in their asshole factor. "Not only do some societies, such as the United States or Italy or Brazil, seem to produce many more assholes than other societies, but each seems to have more assholes than it used to.... If we look at global trends ... , asshole production seems to be on the rise." Id. at 97. "Perhaps 'collectivist' cultures are less likely to engender or tolerate the required sense of entitlement than are 'individualist' ones.... So, for example, given that the United States seems to have more than it share of assholes, it would be interesting to know how many impressionable young Americans read Ayn Rand's Objectivism-soaked novels and how those numbers compare in Japan, where assholes seem comparatively rare. We might also compare the effects of self-esteem-boosting parenting and Internet social networking, which are increasingly making narcissism a sociocultural disease, and may explain the precipitous drop in empathy among college students (especially after the year 2000, after social networking caught on). Without strong collectivist counterpressures, it would be surprising not to see a spike in the asshole population." Id. at 99-100. Ah! The next chapter in American Exceptionalism. Food for thought.).
And, yes, at the end of the day I have to ask myself, Am I an asshole? Probably so, but only a little one. Or, so I hope. And, as they say, owning up to a problem is the first step to resolving it. I am not beyond repair.
