Why it’s more important than ever to step away from the self
How our focus on individual responsibility distracts from systemic injustice and undermines collective action, which is our only true path towards liberation.
As someone who has largely built their online presence around dismantling and talking about the dangers of the self-help industry, I often struggle with the question of, “In a world filled with oppression, imperialism, and genocide, why should I even be talking about self-help?”
But the answer is, they are all closely intertwined with one another and in order to create a new reality, we need to start looking beyond the self. And it has never been more important to do so.
Right now, the U.S. is facing a situation in which its own government has militarized itself against its people— pulling humans off the street, ripping children from their homes, and executing civilians trying to protect each other in the middle of the streets. Genocides continue uncontested in Palestine, Congo, Sudan, and Myanmar. Protests in Iran are met with mass killings from their own government.
And people around the world are sitting behind their phones (me included) wondering, “What can I do?”
And this is exactly the narrative that people in power want you to be thinking and telling to yourself. This idea of individual responsibility and growth keeps us busy. It keeps us complacent.
This is the root of the dangerous of the self-help industry. It’s why it has always been a pipeline to alt-right ideologies.
The primary message of self-help is that only you can help yourself and that you are the problem. Your “self” is at the center of it all. Your primary goal in life should be to be “better”. And in terms of the self-help industry, being “better” means getting rich, not caring about what other people think (“let them”), and the power of a positive mindset.
This mentality helps keep individuals trapped in a cycle where they blame themselves for things that are systemic. The real reason for not being able to have enough money to feed our families is not us having a bad relationship with money. It’s capitalism doing its job. Not caring about what other people think allows for systems to keep getting away with oppressing marginalized individuals without being questioned. And focusing on a positive mindset encourages people to turn a blind eye to the realities of the world.
And a blind eye oftentimes equals silence. We see it every day with the people who tell us that they don’t watch the news because it’s too depressing or that they don’t “do” politics. This is a direct result of being told for years, centuries even, that we need to improve ourselves.
This mentality of focusing on ourselves distracts us from our true power: focusing on each other as a collective.
The question isn’t “What can I do?” but “What can we do?” Are there individual actions that need to be taken to answer this question? Absolutely. But we can’t stop there. The true power in the question is action and coming together as a collective unit in order to demand change.
So what should we do?
Check out my fascism/resistance syllabuses in order to find books and other resources to start educating yourself. If you actually want to focus on self-improvement (because it’s inescapable that the starting point is educating yourself), start learning.
Protests are a nice place to start when it comes to expressing collective beliefs, but history has shown us that demonstrating peace in a time of violence doesn’t bring change (read these books to learn more).
Participate in mutual aid. Financially supporting and supporting your community through your different skillsets is a great way to make a huge impact. Find mutual aid efforts in your community or ones focused on the things you want to change. If you want to start your own mutual aid project, some resources on how to do that can be found here. You can also find mutual aid opportunities in all of my syllabuses.
As far as supporting the people of Minneapolis, here are some mutual aid projects to donate to/participate in:
The self-help industry, and those in power who embrace it, has successfully stripped power down to individuals. And once you bring a collective down to individuals, you take away their power.
It is only through a collective fight for systemic change that true liberation can be realized.
It’s time to stop being polite, to start wishing for a better world, and to start taking direct action into making that better world our reality.
Cover photo: Jake Dietrich (give him a follow for on-the-ground photojournalism in Minneapolis)