At the risk of prematurely establishing a pattern I'd like to devote my next blog post to an issue that has bugged me for a long while.

I disagree that Rarity's flaw is "selfishness".

A desire to make a blog post on this resurfaced after watching Digi's analyses of Rarity's episodes as he seems to have taken this idea much further. In Manehattan he asserts that the desire to be generous is in a certain way also a selfish desire.

I understand it was a theme in Manehattan, emphasized when she expected her friends to help her solve her problem, however that was in no way a lasting part to her character. Yes, when she was having her freakout she did take on the 'egoist generosity' idea but she moved past that. The whole point of the resolution (by running out of the competition, not caring that she lost, getting a private showing and giving the job to Coco) was that she had forsaken this notion and sought to do good out of contrition and for its own sake.

This was presented as a return to form, as the whole Generosity song was about this worldview, that good begets good. Yes it would be easy to say that by believing people would repay her in their own way she was still adhering to the idea that being generous would ultimately benefit her, but her vague idea in social karma is simply not enough to justify that. Particularly when her way of using the proceeds from her generosity was to be more generous; this is evidenced by her constantly tipping the bellhop for helping her even when his help was to repay her earlier generosity.

This is important as it serves as a microcosm of her behavior. Being an episode about her outlook on the world, it should.

Whenever the subject of Rarity's flaws comes up it always tend to devolve into "she's selfish."

Admittedly rarifans have also contributed to this as well in an attempt to have a blanket descriptor of her faults. However I still find this label to be erroneous and misleading.

The accusation that she's simply selfish never made much sense to me as she is very giving, cares about being a good friend and her instances of self-centeredness were always fleeting.

Moreover, she's never motivated by selfishness and she always does what she can to make amends for her misbehavior (which is the antithesis of selfishness). Perfectly encapsulated by Manehattan.

I would argue that a simpler explanation of Rarity's overarching flaw exists.

Really I think her flaw is just that she's a drama queen prone to getting caught up in the moment.

But proper examples first and an operational definition of selfishness.

Selfishness: caring only (or excessively) for ones out own betterment, lacking concern for others.

Sonic Rainboom. Yes, she did care about her aggrandizing. However she was oblivious to the effect this had on Rainbow Dash and was ashamed of herself for her behavior. Not to mention that it was she who wanted to cheer on Dash. The most selfish I would say, despite such not being her motives she still forgot her purpose.

Sisterhooves Social. Again, she was unfair to Sweetie but also changed for Sweetie and her bad behavior was caused by frustration.

Sweet & Elite. This was actually the least selfish of them all. She feared not going to the Garden Party would ruin her dream and lied to her friends to avoid disappointing them. So she handled a situation poorly, but in a very human way.

Manehattan. Her motivation was obvious here, she was angry and lashed out unfairly at her friends. Followed again by contrition.

Simple Ways. Again, simple. Her obsession with Trenderhoof and being passed up by him sent her into a comical frenzy.

These are fairly heterogeneous save for one commonality. They are all examples of overreaction. Something Rarity does plenty of as Inspiration Manifestation showed. None of them are motivated by selfishness in any way. The closest would be Sonic Rainboom as self aggrandizement is rather close to selfishness. But even then, Rarity's generosity was still present even if she was careless.

The counterargument I can currently see as having the most weight is that being caught up in the moment is still selfish as she is being caught up in what is relevant to her to the exclusion of others.

A good point to be sure, however, I would argue such a critique could be leveled at all of the Mane 6. The majority of conflicts involve one or two members of the Mane 6 getting worked up over something important to them and creating unintended consequences.

To put it another way, that criticism would hold a lot of merit in real life but not so much in a show where characters trying to assert their desires and getting carried away is the formula.

Moreover, even despite all that, she still would not be motivated by selfishness so to say it is her personal failing is still erroneous as it still implies she is cognizant of her selfishness in some way. Because it simply does not describe accurately her actions as a character.