Probably the biggest capitalist propaganda victory over the decades has been to convince most Americans that its every man for himself. If you succeed in business, it has nothing to do with the government providing infrastructure, a market, or police, courts, etc., nothing to do with the workers you hire who actually do the work, and on and on. Its all about you. Youre the one, the only one. Damn straight you built that! And if you fail, of course, its all your fault. Bankers ruining the economy, fabulously wealthy campaign donors conscripting politicians from both parties who rig the economy against you, chronic systemic opportunity-destroying poverty into which you might have been born, none of that matters. All your fault. You just didnt work hard enough, didnt go to school, acted like an idiot, yadda yadda. You lazy bums get what you deserve. You paragons of virtue, however, are rewarded by God with great riches. Yes, rewarded by GOD: this false point of view is virtually religious in the amount of faith required to believe it. And if this bootstraps philosophy is a virtual religion, then the high priests are the wretched motivational speakers. These hucksters, who are worse than drug dealers in that drug dealers actually sell a real-life product, provide circular reasoning, wrapped in a veneer of folksy wisdom, supported with excitement and good vibes, but not evidence, aimed at convincing hotel conference rooms full of people that they can all be Bill Gates. And then, when the seminar has ended, the audience/cattle pay up for huckster books, huckster CDs, and huckster DVDs. Total suckers, handing over both their money and their minds to con men scum bags. If Hell exists, Im certain there is a particularly awful place there for the entire self-help industry. alternet.org/economy/how-self-help-industry-hustles-america
Posted on: Sun, 30 Mar 2014 00:27:24 +0000
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