Self-Control is Lacking

Have you ever become so angry at something that you lash out without thinking things through? We think, to some degree, all of us are guilty. People say things that they don't really mean and do things all of the time that, had we a clear mind, wouldn't say or do normally. That's life. We learn from our mistakes and we move on. Usually the lesson to be learned is self-control and awareness.

Carroll Bryant has no sense of self-control.

His new post is a perfect example of lacking self-control. He stumbled across a post written by Dustin Kurtz of Melville House that talks about the recent actions Goodreads has taken to limit what its younger viewers are witnessing or witnessed. In particular, the article talks about the recent actions to swipe sexual role-play from its forums. Carroll Bryant wasn't the first author who talked about these groups on Goodreads that participated in those kinds of activities and we can't say for sure that Goodreads updated their policy because of him. The timing is suspicious, we will give him that much.

Regardless, Carroll seems to think that he should gain some kind of recognition for bringing these issues into the light, so to speak. Honestly, we didn't see much (if any) concrete evidence that actual children were participating in these sexual role-play groups, but anyone can lie about their age anywhere on-line.Without some kind of safety net, we believe that Goodreads took the appropriate action by limiting what these groups can do on their site.

We have known many different kinds of heroes. The real heroes don't ask for recognition. A firefighter will run into a burning building and save your family without asking for a cookie. A police officer will come to your home without requiring you to praise him. A decent human being won't rant online about not getting the credit he feels he deserves for a cause he states is so important to him.

Carroll Bryant is not a hero and nobody owes him anything.

Dustin Kurtz certainly doesn't owe him a damn thing. Goodreads doesn't owe him a damn thing, especially after being dissed by Carroll after Patrick tried to extend an olive branch.

As time goes on and all of this drama continues in the book world, we've come to notice something about Carroll, certain traits he showcases more often than not. Do any of these seem familiar to you?

-An obvious self-focus in interpersonal exchanges
-Problems in sustaining satisfying relationships
-A lack of psychological awareness
-Difficulty with empathy
-Problems distinguishing the self from others
-Hypersensitivity to any insults or imagined insults
-Vulnerability to shame rather than guilt 
-Flattery towards people who admire and affirm them 
-Detesting those who do not admire them
-Using other people without considering the cost of doing so
-Pretending to be more important than they really are bragging (subtly but persistently) and exaggerating their achievements
-Claiming to be an "expert" at many things Inability to view the world from the perspective of other people Denial of remorse and gratitude

(Source: Wikipedia)

These are all normal traits of narcissism. Ding! Ding! Ding! Carroll Bryant is a narcissist. Coupled with his self-proclaimed Bi-Polar Disorder (which he seems to take no medication for), these two parts of who he is can explain a lot of his behavior. We aren't going to make excuses for how he behaves. How he treats people and how he handles himself online is wrong and we don't believe he has ever apologized once for anything. He has no accountability and no self-restraint.

We stand by the article Dustin wrote this week and the article that The Rex Files wrote about Carroll late last year. Both are linked here in case you want to view them.