Hi! Thank you for the comment.

I think you can be assertive, yet still have a low sense of self-worth. Your actions are not always equal to your inner state. Let me quote something from @kadyroxz.official 's broadcast channel:

"The ego is rebuked often because when left unchecked it ruins us, but it exists for a reason. Ego is self value. It is not inherently “inflated value” least “inflated ego” be redundant.

Ego teaches you where you have value. Ego protects you from disempowerment and insecurity. This is why many performers Dawn an “alter ego” that allows them to perform with without self-consciousness. At it’s worst, it protects you from insecurities that you need to embrace to heal and grow."

Utilizing narcissism, or self-love or what other term is associated with it, can be really helpful in this sense.

And nowhere do I glorify capitalism in this article, and neither would I want to. I'm simply saying that narcissistic traits are helpful for you to avoid becoming a doormat to other people's desires, instead asserting your own, and helping you realize your own dreams. Which is the opposite of what capitalism wants you to do: capitalists want you to keep being a doormat, to keep servicing the rich.

Yes, a psychopath is born with a low capacity for empathy, hence this can also lead them to be diagnosed with NPD. But not all psychopaths have a grandiose sense of self-- some of them just want to live a life away from the attention of others; and not all psychopaths want to tear others' ego to lift their own ego up. Which is what I think distinguishes people with NPD from people who suffer from psychopathy. A psychopath may also end up with NPD IF they learn to utilize disordered behaviors as a defense mechanism. And a person with NPD may not necessarily be born with low empathy-- they just learned to repress their own empathy and vulnerability because they unfairly experienced how it could be used against them.