Because I'm good enough, I'm smart enough and doggone it, people like me.
Excerpt from, The Overpraised American by Christine Rosen (it applies to Canadians too...just in case you're wondering)
Moreover, the self-esteem movement nascent when Lasch was writing has reached maturity, and its progeny - the children of Lasch's 19705 narcissists - are now forming their own families. None of them, evidently, is merely average. Many of them embrace an increasingly egalitarian family structure, uncritically and enthusiastically use personal technologies that alter the rhythms of private life and isolate family members from each other, and approach institutions such as schools and the workplace with a healthy sense of entitlement. They spend less time with their children than parents in Lasch's day, rely more on experts for advice about how to deal with them when they do, and begin building a resume of activities and test scores for them from an increasingly early age. When they seek religion, it is a heavily therapeutic kind of faith, and they avail themselves of rafts of advice and consumer products - from Suze Orman's relentlessly upbeat financial self- esteem directives to the ministrations of professional closet organizers - to help them cope with the "stresses" of their daily lives. It seems like a long time ago that Americans made much of their own clothing, grew their own food, had much larger families, and produced books, like one published in the U.S. in 1911, with titles such as Etiquette: Good Manners for All People, Especially for Those Within the Broad Zone of the Average.
If anecdotal evidence is any guide, the cult of therapy observed by Lasch also continues to exert its influence over religion. The "soft-core spirituality" Lasch saw as a sign of cultural narcissism thrives in offerings such as Mitch Albom's best-selling bit of pop spirituality, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, and similar books. "The heaven that is apparently popular with readers these days is nothing more than an excellent therapy session," New York Times columnist David Brooks noted in 1004. "When you go to [Albom's] heaven, friends and helpers come and tell you how innately wonderful you are. They help you reach closure. In this heaven, God and his glory are not the center of attention. It's all about you."
Moreover, the self-esteem movement nascent when Lasch was writing has reached maturity, and its progeny - the children of Lasch's 19705 narcissists - are now forming their own families. None of them, evidently, is merely average. Many of them embrace an increasingly egalitarian family structure, uncritically and enthusiastically use personal technologies that alter the rhythms of private life and isolate family members from each other, and approach institutions such as schools and the workplace with a healthy sense of entitlement. They spend less time with their children than parents in Lasch's day, rely more on experts for advice about how to deal with them when they do, and begin building a resume of activities and test scores for them from an increasingly early age. When they seek religion, it is a heavily therapeutic kind of faith, and they avail themselves of rafts of advice and consumer products - from Suze Orman's relentlessly upbeat financial self- esteem directives to the ministrations of professional closet organizers - to help them cope with the "stresses" of their daily lives. It seems like a long time ago that Americans made much of their own clothing, grew their own food, had much larger families, and produced books, like one published in the U.S. in 1911, with titles such as Etiquette: Good Manners for All People, Especially for Those Within the Broad Zone of the Average.
If anecdotal evidence is any guide, the cult of therapy observed by Lasch also continues to exert its influence over religion. The "soft-core spirituality" Lasch saw as a sign of cultural narcissism thrives in offerings such as Mitch Albom's best-selling bit of pop spirituality, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, and similar books. "The heaven that is apparently popular with readers these days is nothing more than an excellent therapy session," New York Times columnist David Brooks noted in 1004. "When you go to [Albom's] heaven, friends and helpers come and tell you how innately wonderful you are. They help you reach closure. In this heaven, God and his glory are not the center of attention. It's all about you."
posted by Greg Devitt at 11:59 AM
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