Skip to main content

Self Help Books Are The Bane Of Humanity

Breaking News! Theshigen Navalingam hates Self Help books! I absolutely loathe self help books with a burning passion. Why the hate? The self help genre is like a parasite that feeds on the insecurities of the people and the feeble minded. It is an abomination of written words... words that don't actually tell you anything new, but people just seem addicted to it.

I attribute it to the need, the desire, the hunger for positive self reinforcement. We all love being told how special we are(I have an issue with this, but I won't go on a rant about that in this blog post), how much god loves us, or how lovely we are, intelligent, smart, beautiful, talented, gifted and the verbiage assault goes on and on. You don't need a book to tell you this, just talk to a friend. Yeah, talk, communicate with others, don't expect magic solutions from these books.

Because the only thing these books lack is a solution to anything. Suggestions are clichéd and you've probably heard them like a million times but yet... they always get to you don't they? We are suckers for the positivity drug. Hopelessly addicted, unless of course, you decide to open your eyes and see the futility and lameness in the words of these so called elucidating book genre.

Sure, they might be creative in the way they present these oft repeated points, but heck... Tolkien's The Lord Of The Rings is creative as well! Why don't people read something with more depth to it? Stop supporting a rubbish dump, shelf space wasting category of books? And all you self help book writers... you are vampires, blood suckers feeding on the vulnerable to make a quick buck. Have a heart and write something worthwhile.

Rant out...


PS: I hate the self help genre more than romance novels... I DO NOT read romance novels(which I think are tripe as well, but at least they aren't claiming to be miracle drugs)



Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The 'Lah' Syndrome - Why lah? Please lah! Don't Lah!

" Why lah ?" a friend inquired with complete terseness. The curt, simple and direct ' Why lah ' cut like a knife and  denotes a measure of bewilderment in the tone of it. I suppose a simpler 'Why?' would have sufficed, but the ' lah ' suffix adds more melodrama where there isn't any. Besides, the ' lah ' has been a staple of Malaysian language inflection for aeons, it is as immovable as a traffic congestion on the Federal Highway. It's not just a Manglish (or an English language) thing too... " Kenapa lah ?" shock, surprise, even a tinge of disappointment. The Malay language is not spared from the ' lah ' contagion. Often used as a suffix that accentuates the dramatic effect of a phrase, ' lah ' could be used in multiple ways: The classic ' Why lah ?' The added for conviction ' Come on lah !' The added for surprise and shock ' WTF lah! ' For added appeal or even being indignant  ...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Few Words About The Art Of Communicating

I've recently moved onto a new phase in life. Apart from being in a relationship that's given me so much joy, I've also been given the opportunity to be a copywriter at an ad agency. It's been quite an experience so far. Writing for ads is a lot different than regular writing. While the purpose of writing remains the same; an art of communication, the approach and thought process is a lot different. More thought and time is given to the psychological effect of headlines and copy. The key points to watch out for: 1) What will the reader think? 2) Does it attract the reader? 3) How will they look at an ad? Ads have to be eye catching either by brilliant copy or amazing visuals or both(both preferably). Copywriters have to understand what catches the attention of a reader. What demands attention. What stands out from the crowd of mediocre ads that spout the same message. To always try to present your message in a new and exciting manner. To sell the product in its ...
Post a Comment
Read more

An Update On The Blog

Some big plans ahead for beginning new blogs. Which means this will remain as my personal blog. But what is going to happen is that write ups on books will go on a new book blog. There'll also be a blog on food stuff which is really interesting... I promise you, you have not read anything quite like it. Not your average food blog. The movie reviews will remain on my personal blog here. I don't have any intention to write about movies in detail just yet. What to expect from this blog? Just my personal rants, thoughts, emotional outbursts(okay maybe not this, I save it for others). Write ups on the state of politics, which I admit, haven't done much of lately. It's not in any real state that is worthy of a comment to be frank. Oh and write ups about things in life that annoy me... like my write up on marriage . Keep an eye out on my new blogs which I'll be creating soon. Until next time, don't let the lemurs fight.
Post a Comment
Read more