I guess my theme lately has been "Before You Put It In Your Body, Know Where It Comes From." And while this theme is, for me, much more interesting when it relates to food, SHAM wasn't without its merits.
The argument is this: Self-help media is designed to fail. If the books, workbooks, talk shows, etc. actually worked, thre would be no repeat business and the Dr. Phils of the world wouldn't be able to sustain their multi-billionaire lifestyles. Really, how much can we trust the altruistic motives of anyone making $50,000 per "inpirational" speaking engagement?
Steve Salerno uses a very broad definition for what he considers to be SHAM (the fortuitous acronym for the Self Help and Actualization Movement), including but not limited to Suze Orman, Alcoholics Anonymous, googling for dating advice. And while his arguments are compelling -- particulary the backstories of America's SHAM guru elite like Drs. Phil and Laura-- he often throws around sentences like "Although there haven't been any studies linking the increase in juvenile delinquency with the rise of the self-esteem movement, the coincidence is hard to ignore." Which, again, isn't to say that the theories he's positing aren't interesting or worth thinking about, but I can't quite jump on board with Salerno's belief that the self-help industry is single-handedly to blame for the collapse of American society. He has do more than ask me not to ignore some coincidences to convicnce me of that.
Interesting? Certainly. Quick read? You betcha. Some nuggets of information worth considering? Oh, absolutely. But it should have been a magazine article.
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