George Carlin channeling Steve Salerno
Alain de Botton and The School of Life
What is your novel question, insight, or connection for today?
The most likely customer for a book on any given topic was someone who had bought a similar book within the preceding 18 months. (Salerno 2005, “Sham”, p. 6)
The self-help guru has a compelling interest in not helping people. Put bluntly, he has a potent incentive to play his most loyal customers for suckers. (Salerno 2005, “Sham”, p. 7)
Myrna Blyth argues that women’s media succeeds by implanting worry, guilt, insecurity, and narcissism in its readers (Salerno 2005, “Sham”, p. 7)
Self-help is an enterprise wherein people holding the thinnest of credentials diagnose in basically normal people symptoms of inflated or invented maladies, so that they may then implement remedies that never been shown to work. (Salerno 2005, “Sham”, p. 2)
Have you heard of any of these?
Victimization and Empowerment represent the yin and the yang of the self-hope movement. It is likely that this is and will always exist, no matter which group or message becomes the flavor of the day. (Salerno 2005, “Sham”, p. 26)
Whether you are fully or not responsible for your circumstances.
Should the ~$6000 price tag for entry “Date with Destiny” be a concern?
Give a specific example of self-help …
Write a “3-minute paper” (bullets are fine) addressing where you think self-help falls on the spectrum of practical philosophy and a SHAM.
Where did you place self-help on the spectrum of practical philosophy and a SHAM?