William Arkin: narcissistic tool

The flap over William Arkin’s inanity has spread throughout the conservative blogosphere, and he seems to have responded by digging himself a deeper and deeper hole. The clip at Hot Air, an edited interview with Alan Colmes, lets you listen to Arkin’s point of view, which just gets more and more damning.

Lots of wonderful little tidbits in his babble: officers brainwash the young soldiers, the military is our servant, military personnel should “tread lightly” when speaking about “American politics and American public opinion,” etc. I’m not going to go into his arguments – they’re nonsense, and you can read about them at AoSHQ, LGF, Malkin, Captain’s Quarters, Powerline, etc. I just want you to listen to his voice, unpleasant though that may be.

Listening to him speak is reminiscent of a sci-fi geek lecturing on the warp drive capabilities of first-generation Starfleet vessels while you check your watch every 10 seconds. Just listen to his diction and his overall whine – this is the guy who will never shut up at a party, insisting on informing you of his considered opinion on a variety of subjects that hold no interest.

Arkin is, simply, a narcissist. You can see it in his career, which has consisted of leaking military secrets because he feels he knows better than the military what should be protected. You can see it in his writing, where he lambastes a couple of soldiers for expressing a simple and not uncommon opinion. And you hear it in the clipped speech of his little whiny voice – this is a guy who can’t stop listening to himself, and has never questioned his assumption that the world would be a better place if only they would all pipe down so they could hear him better.

He is an extreme example of the narcissism that many liberals confuse with patriotism. An extremely ugly example.