I happened to be clicking through some films that I've seen recently, and came back to 'American Beauty' (which, I don't care what you say, it was a great film) and I was reading through a review by one of the IMDb users. This paragraph about the movie struck me as extraordinary.
"What if I asked you this question: What do you want in life? Most people would say, "happiness." But is happiness worth deluding yourself for? Carolyn Burnham shields herself from sadness by adopting a positive-thinking philosophy, a philosophy of self-affirming mantras and harsh self-discipline. Positive thinking may help you attain your goals, but positive thinking also blinds you from reality. Is it wise or moral to change the channel when you hear about mass starvation in Africa so you can enjoy moments of fleeting happiness from a cheap romance movie? Self-help is just a euphemism for self-deception. All humans need some complex fraud to distract them from the harsh and nihilistic realities of life, whether it's religion, money, or even love."
Brilliant. Just Brilliant.
2 comments:
Whatever. Self-help is a *lot* bigger than the Dr. Phil drones filling his wallet with book sales.
What does this writer propose rape victims, Vietnam vets with PTSD, etc. do? Revel in the reality that life sucks and jump off a building?
Counseling (and self-help) are beneficial and necessary for some people.
I'm sorry, I should have made it explicit, I meant it in the specific context of the movie's theme.
Of course, I agree, for those instances that you mentioned, they are of immense help.
My point was to convey the message that those who dwell in self-help books because everyone else is doing so is pointless, which is what majority of the people are doing, which leads to your example of Dr. Phil's wallet getting thicker.
If individuals know what they're getting out of it, then by all means, go ahead. However, I detest those who believe that they will become better just by reading self helps books one after another. Because that is self-deception. Being over-confident that they are a better person when nothing much has changed is a horrible way of cheating people of their money.
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