What is “Inverted Pride”? Who invented this terminology and why did they do so?
March 6th, 2009
Posted by: admin
I saw this terminology for the first time on another Answers answer. It was attributed to famous african writer Chinua Achebe. Who is that and what is he known for?
By: desertflower
By: desertflower
Tags: African Writer, Chinua Achebe, Pride
March 8th, 2009 at 02:33
Pride is a feeling of being special because you are smarter, richer, more good looking and ‘higher class’ than others. Inverted pride is a feeling of being special because you are a victim, because you are poor, because you are insecure and perceive yourself to be inadequate.
People who feel pride spend a lot of time talking about how wonderful, and how much more deserving they are and how everyone should let them go first and recognize their specialness. People who feel inverted pride monopolize the conversation with self-condemnation and talking about how they are the biggest sinner ever, talking about “poor me”, and insisting that everyone else go first.
Both attitudes are all about me, me, me with little consideration for how that focus on ones self ignores the rest of humanity, and don’t recognize that other people have their own qualities and deeds to be proud of or to regret.
Just as an example, Luther’s insistence that his sins were so great that God couldn’t possible forgive them without ‘grace’ were a pretty arrogant statement, declaring his inverted pride in being such a terrible person that God didn’t have adequate powers to forgive him.