The Self- Help Industry

 It is a very attractive idea isn’t it. That you can fix any particular problem by merely following a set instruction book. But who are the people giving the instructions? Do they have any qualifications at all? For the most part they do not. The people who write how to make a million bucks books are not millionaires ( unless they make from the poor smucks buying their books!), the people who write weight loss books are not doctors or nutritionists etc. But there are a few other things that bother me about this industry, one thing is making people feel guilty for not being able to solve their own problems. Its like  ” hey you have cancer, well its your own fault for not being more positive” , ” why don’t you just be more upbeat about it. Which brings me to the other thing that bothers me about this industry; our societies lack of empathy. If you are giving people a set of instructions on how to fix their problems you are not really listening to their pain. Which is why they are telling you in the first place. Telling how to fix their problems is covering them up in a certain sense. Which is why I think this is simply a disgusting social phenomenon.