The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, October 18, 1978, Page Page 10, Image 10
Self-He
By Lehman Stiles
A recent Doonesburv eDisode
depicted Mark Slackmeyer interviewing
Mellow expert Dan
Asher on his radio show. Asher had
^ written a book, Winning Through
Mellow, that ''shows how to use
mellow to get ahead."
Mark wonders if this isn't a
contradiction in terms, and Dan
gives the example of desiring
someone else's Job. "You see, that
job could be just as much a part of
your karma as his, so if getting it
means having to lie, manipulate,
or slander him, then that's okay."
"How about beating him senseless
with a tire iron?" Mark
asks.
Dan replies, "Absolutely. Create
your own space. For sure."
PERHAPS THAT is an
exaggeration of the methods used,
but it is undeniable that self-help
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and pervasive influence on our
culture. A glance at the shelves of
the campus bookstore reveals
many examples: Pulling Your
Own Strings, Winning Through
Intimidation, Looking Out for
Number 1, Stop Running Scared,
Release Your Brakes, Success,
Power, How to be Awake and
Alive, How to be Your Own Best
Friend: a potpourri of ways to
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People through the ages have
been interested in improving
themselves; the form is not a new
one. Samuel Smiles published
a book called, directly enough,
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self-Help in 1859 which gives such
advice as, "It is the diligent hand
and head alone that maketh rich ?
in self-culture, growth in wisdom,
and in business."
That publication was an outof
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Protestant work ethic. In fact, one
of the earliest forms of English
prose is the courtesy books, which
are how-to guides for the gentlemen
and ladies of the court. The
best example of this is
Castiglione's Courtier, which
appeared in 1528.
But never have so many j
variations of the self-help theme I
been so popular as they are today.
The roots of the theorems are in
psychological methods such as
transactional analysis and
assertiveness training, but the
movement has grown beyond these
basics into virtually every element
of existence.
THERE MAY be thousands of
explanations as to why self-help
literature has become so noDular.
On the surface, the success of the
books seems healthy and
progressive: people are becoming
more concerned with their lives.
But underneath the flashy sales
figures and the authors' appearances
on "The Tonight Show"
runs a disturbing undercurrent of
uncertainty.
What has happened in the '70s
that has sent so many people
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sudden retreat from that quaint
American selflessness that
characterized this country for so
long?
Perhaps the words of the books
themselves present a clue. One
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offers, "People will tell you that
success can't buy you happiness.
This is true enough, but success is
the next best thing to happiness,
ana it you can t dc nappy as a
success, it's very unlikely that yoji
would find a deeper, truer happiness
in failure."
The author sums up, in italics, by
saying, "What you want is OK."
One detects a loss of meaning in
the words "happiness" and
"success."
The basic assumption of many of
the books is that one would be a fool
if he did not want to improve
himself, and since that is the goal
that everyone is striving for, then
any method of achieving it is good.
This is the gospel of a pop religion,
an excruciating removal of value
from substance.
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mood of the '70s perfectly by
calling it the "Me Decade." Self is
far more important than others;
the world is merely what you want
it to be. This is the philosophy that
has sprung from the moral crises
of the '60s, when every American
value was challenged and
dissected.
The children of the '60s inherited
a chaos of religious and
philosophical platitudes, none of
which stood up to the rigorous
demands of life in this decade. So
the nation has retreated back into
themselves, back . into the only
person they can trust.
"If I can become effective
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think, "then I won't have to worry
about anyone else." This is the
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self to the hundreds of
kfket - and the end is r
legacy which makes self-help
literature Modern Man's Bible.
THE BOOK quoted previously
suggests that an effective success
symbol is "an elderly Zippo
(cigarette lighter) that looks and
works as if it's come through the
wars." It then says that if you must
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uuy a new one, age 11 Deiore using
it by scraping it back and forth in
gravel and sand."
A mental picture develops of
thousands of middle-class
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"how-to" books
lot in sight
businessmen in hundreds of
American suburbs, crouching in
their driveways, energetically
scrubbing their cigarette lighters
in the dirt. This exhaustive attention
to detail, this drastic
. allegory of myth and reality, this
! avoidance of a basic faith in
! humanity as a whole characterizes
I the self-help world.
I The religion of isolationism may
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inuvvu ut oa 1131 jf 1115, Mill 11
I everyone becomes his own best
1 friend, who gets to be number one?
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