Thursday 2 May 2024

Is Dale Carnegie the patron saint of the Based?

The "Right" or "Based" blogosphere, or Manosphere in its various manifestations - strikes me as the latest iteration of a theme of self-improvement that probably began with Machiavelli's The Prince; included Samuel Smiles (who coined "self-help"), Dale Carnegie's How to win friends and influence people, and many versions of the power of positive thinking ("every day, in every way, I'm getting better and better").


Nowadays there are many blogs catering to this theme, online podcasts and lectures, as well as books. 

The idea is to improve your own life - by key insights, or new behaviours - with "improve" being in some way that matters to you...

Maybe simply feeling better about yourself, getting more money and/or a better job, improving health and bigger muscles (+/- greater strength), defending against violence, surviving disaster, gaining the admiration of men, or getting more sex with more women.   


Self-help is implicitly rooted in secret knowledge; and this secret is always some key information about becoming clearer and more focused on what genuinely benefits you; and the key insight is about how to pursue your own self-interest more effectively. 

In a nutshell: the appeal is a promise of more-effectual hedonism. 


Well, all very understandable -

But what does this kind of stuff have to do with being a Christian?

...To do with following Jesus Christ to resurrection into eternal Heavenly life?


To ask is to answer. 


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NOTE: The point of this post is expanded by that which follows it, below...