Self-Help Authors—For 'Em or Agin 'Em?
Yesterday a young Harvard graduate who had written a self-help book approached me, introduced herself, and said, in a decidely confrontational voice, "You're against me."
"I'm not sure what you mean," I said.
"I read your web site," she said. "And you're against me and what I do."
I paused to consider her. She looked genuinely angry.
"No, I'm not against you," I said. "I'm against a culture that tells us that we can do it all alone. And I'm against a society that provides not even the most minimal safety net for its citizens."
She looked puzzled.
Sometime later she said, "I want to offer you some advice about your web site. I'm a smart person—at least I think I'm a smart person—and I couldn't tell what your book is about from your web site."
Apparently. As to whether she's a smart person, I can't say.
So let's set the record straight, at least on the topic of self-help authors and self-help books: Am I for 'em or agin 'em?
Neither, actually. I've met a number of self-help authors and it seems to me that they are mostly well-intentioned. A couple seemed downright brilliant. And most seem to want to help people while making a living doing something they themselves like doing—writing, giving talks and lectures, running workshops. So I'm not against them. Never have been. Doubt I ever will be. Heck, on a good day, that's almost the same thing I do.
What I'm against is a social order that offers only individual solutions to problems that are global, economic, and systemic. And I'm not wildly enthusiastic about an industry that makes people feel as though all their problems are consequences of poor "choices," bad judgment, or lack of willpower.
"I'm not sure what you mean," I said.
"I read your web site," she said. "And you're against me and what I do."
I paused to consider her. She looked genuinely angry.
"No, I'm not against you," I said. "I'm against a culture that tells us that we can do it all alone. And I'm against a society that provides not even the most minimal safety net for its citizens."
She looked puzzled.
Sometime later she said, "I want to offer you some advice about your web site. I'm a smart person—at least I think I'm a smart person—and I couldn't tell what your book is about from your web site."
Apparently. As to whether she's a smart person, I can't say.
So let's set the record straight, at least on the topic of self-help authors and self-help books: Am I for 'em or agin 'em?
Neither, actually. I've met a number of self-help authors and it seems to me that they are mostly well-intentioned. A couple seemed downright brilliant. And most seem to want to help people while making a living doing something they themselves like doing—writing, giving talks and lectures, running workshops. So I'm not against them. Never have been. Doubt I ever will be. Heck, on a good day, that's almost the same thing I do.
What I'm against is a social order that offers only individual solutions to problems that are global, economic, and systemic. And I'm not wildly enthusiastic about an industry that makes people feel as though all their problems are consequences of poor "choices," bad judgment, or lack of willpower.
posted by Micki McGee at 6:21 PM
2 Comments:
I don't believe self-help authors encourage readers to find all solutions to global or systemic problems within themselves. Many self-help authors I have met and/or read seek to empower readers to have more faith and self-confidence about the direction of their own lives. I'm curious to know why you're convinced self-help authors represent a presumptuous cultural group that only offers individual solutions to collective issues. I'm not at all convinced this self-help industry is trying to reprimand readers for poor choices or bad judgment. If you permit other people to intimidate you or otherwise control your feelings, then you may not yet realize that nobody but you decides how you feel. Each person's thoughts and actions shape perception of his or her own fears, views of external pressure, collective mindsets and situations. In a similar way, self-help books reveal how individual attitudes and self-knowledge can impact positive change in personal, professional and more widespread, interconnected lives.
What I argue in Self-Help, Inc is that the problem with the preponderance of self-help books is that they draw a false picture of a world where individuals can completely in charge of their lives, irrespective of the economic, social, and historical forces that so clearly affect all of us. They propose individual solutions to problems that are very often global and systemic.
Take the case of laid-off workers whose jobs have been offshored. Career advice books encourage them to become the CEOs of Me, Inc, to buck-up and start their own businesses (even though 2/3rd of all new businesses fail), to work with passion and verve, to think of themselves as a commodity in the labor market. While they may note that the source of the laid-off workers problems might be found in globalization, they seldom, if ever, suggest anyway in which global trade and development might be regulated to better serve both developing and developed nations, and their citizens.
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home