Our Own Preening Regard

"What all these angry moments seem to share in common is that 21st-century sense of our aggrieved American entitlement, the bone-deep conviction that every event and circumstance must conform to our individual needs and wants and appetites. That the cockeyed birthright of every generation is now a star-spangled universe bending only in the direction of our personal gratification. That there is no higher calling than our own self-esteem, no greater cause than our own preening regard. That there is nothing we can't say or do in service of our own selfishness and vanity and enrichment, and that the very turning of the Earth is the promise and guarantee of our success."

Jeff MacGregor