In one of Europe’s most “touristic” towns – Taormina, Sicily – two adjacent signs have accidentally combined forces to “call out” one of the characteristic idiocies of the 21st century’s first quarter.
”Narcissism” and “ethics” used to be entirely discrete/separate terms.
In our present, overly-performative, hyper-partisan world the two words are oft sorely-misused.
They are also frequently (albeit unwittingly) wed… forming an unholy alliance, oft-accompanied by “alternative” “facts”, “personal” “truths” and other weasel-wordery.
Many contemporary “narcissists” delight in parading their so-called “ethics”, or “personal values”.
They then excoriate those who dare not to share every aspect of them, including very particular word choices, narrowly confined within a very particular, likely-temporary lexicon.
I desperately hope that this a temporary form of societal madness.
The accidentally-sage signs were photographed on the first day of October, 2023.