That’s interesting, Vendetta. What I’m getting from reading both your comments is that these rotten bastids just ain’t gonna go away. They get off on the attention, even the bad attention, and hold themselves responsible for none of it.

Now I’m depressed…

Bob,

One night I cut a break to a guy because he said he was in Iraq as a cook. Nobody would lie and claim they were a cook. 🙂

Hell, even some military guys get duped by these clowns.

Joe,

You’re absolutely right. Some of the saddest poser cases are guys who actually did honorably serve, then decided they needed to hero up their background. That’s one of the reasons I’m always clear about my non-cool guy military resume. I’m just a regular Joe, nothing special, and I’m damn proud of it.

Good reading on there. Case in point. The narcissist is simply incapable of getting that “holy shit, I’m being an asshole” feeling that makes ordinary people apologize and change their behavior. All he gets is “holy shit, this guy is being an asshole” when someone calls him out.

Doubling down is a response to that rage he feels towards you (and not himself). And it’s a common response because its a lot easier than coming up with a whole new persona from scratch.

Another thing: narcissists’ identities aren’t always chosen to make people admire them. Some of these guys who double down on their fakery after being exposed are actually choosing to fabricate the identity of the military poseur (as opposed to fabricating the identity of the military veteran). Meaning, they’re actually trying to be seen as a faker rather than the real thing.

Why? Because the obvious faker everyone sees through still gets his own brand of attention. It gets people to shout and spit at him…but the narcissist is just as fine with being the guy everyone hates as opposed to the one everybody admires…because either way, they’re still validating his chosen identity.