One of my disappointments with the men's self improvement movement and figures like Tate is their incessant focus on the pursuit of material wealth and superficial pleasures. Like the whole "what color is your bugatti" thing. Honestly, it disgusts me when people seriously value things like sports cars or other ostentatious shows of wealth. Both my parents have sports cars, and they really aren't any different than regular cars. The only reason people care about this shit is because of societal pressures and values, rather than their own desires and interests. In this sense, one of the main failures of the self improvement movement, with it's focus on shallow values such as external validation and material possessions, is it's inability to escape this mass culture that promotes conformity and mediocrity.
Examining the circumstances that gave rise to the self improvement movement makes it easy to see how it would come to this. All of these guys like Tate and Peterson recognize that this is a rapidly changing world, and the decline in traditional values has left a lot of young men behind and without purpose or meaning in their lives. I see this brand of consumerism that is being promoted as a sort of new religion to fill the void Christianity has left, that can provide people with solace, meaning, and a sense of identity in their lives. These young men don't have the self confidence to trust their own instincts and pursue their own goals, so they look to external authorities like popular opinion and societal norms to define their values and guide their lives. This kind of herd mentality doesn't improve people, it ensconces them in a stifling mediocrity by prioritizing conformity and the approval of others.
A truly great individual would transcend the limitations of the herd mentality and embrace their individuality. They would reject the values given to them by society and instead cultivate their own values, using them as a light to guide them on the path to self actualization. I think normies are the real ones with a crabs in a bucket mentality, because they seethe to no end when someone breaks free from the herd mentality, since it challenges the status quo and exposes their mediocrity.
Examining the circumstances that gave rise to the self improvement movement makes it easy to see how it would come to this. All of these guys like Tate and Peterson recognize that this is a rapidly changing world, and the decline in traditional values has left a lot of young men behind and without purpose or meaning in their lives. I see this brand of consumerism that is being promoted as a sort of new religion to fill the void Christianity has left, that can provide people with solace, meaning, and a sense of identity in their lives. These young men don't have the self confidence to trust their own instincts and pursue their own goals, so they look to external authorities like popular opinion and societal norms to define their values and guide their lives. This kind of herd mentality doesn't improve people, it ensconces them in a stifling mediocrity by prioritizing conformity and the approval of others.
A truly great individual would transcend the limitations of the herd mentality and embrace their individuality. They would reject the values given to them by society and instead cultivate their own values, using them as a light to guide them on the path to self actualization. I think normies are the real ones with a crabs in a bucket mentality, because they seethe to no end when someone breaks free from the herd mentality, since it challenges the status quo and exposes their mediocrity.
