Regression to the Mien:The Content of a Compelling Lure

Though seemingly opposites, pride and insecurity are flip sides of the same coin of narcissism. Mirror, mirror on the wall is usually there to serve as ego crutch, but what happens when that glass is not there to look into darkly?
  The blenching blatherskite demands the world to be that mirror. Not to necessarily reflect what kind of person they are inside — that would take too much introspection. Their self-image is literally a visual image as a five-year-old might self-describe: their colour, their pee-pee, and other physical characteristics considered immutable. (‘Mutable’ connotes potential self-improvement, which is just too much to ask.)
  So a whim-catering world bends over backwards (some say forwards) to accommodate these Haughty Betters and their hunger for external validation. Everything is figurally painted over to pander to crybabies to the point where the importance of the façade outweighs the actual essence. (And the Powers That Be assume the sheeple will swallow this, or at least tolerate collective delusions.)
  Everything in one’s visual diet becomes suspect, as every cognitive foot in the door turns into a clickbait-and-switch in real life. And as the meatspace equivalent of click-throughs lead to even more content-less effluvia, the public grows wise, weary, and wary.
  At one time, the Allure of Compelling Content drew engagement, insight, and the healthy exchange of information. In today’s Clown World, the alluring veneer itself is the meat & marrow rather than what’s inside. To paraphrase McLuhan, “The mummery is the message.”
  Public skepticism and disengagement are to be expected when the actual Content of a Compelling Lure turns out to be, all too often, shite.