067 - The Self-Help and Guru Industrial Complex feat. Ian from Camp ReEducation

We talk about the history of self-help movements and gilded gurus that proselytize their cure-all tonics, wish-fulfillment effects, et cetera, and find something interesting in their modern roots (socialism). We also lay out a taxonomy of the various subspecies of contemporary self-help/life coach/guru figures, from OG kings of the grift like Tony Robbins to the humanoid slugs in the Pickup Artist underbelly to the deranged infomercial doom-pastor Jim Bakker and his reasonably priced buckets of Food™ slurry. We close the episode with a look at how neoliberalism, social atomization, and "personal responsibility" (i.e. self-help) converge and self-perpetuate on grand socio-economic scales.

Check out Ian's podcast Camp ReEducation: 

• campreeducation.com
• Twitter: @CampReEducation
• Instagram: @campreeducation

General Recommendations

• JD's Recommendations: 1) Shadow and Bone 2) Bullshit Jobs
• JNM's Recommendations: 1) Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America 2) Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America both written by Barbara Ehrenreich
• Ian's Recommendation: Postmodernism, or, the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism by Fredric Jameson

Further Reading, Viewing, Listening

• The Radical Origins of Self-Help Literature
• THE SELF-HELP MYTH
• Here’s Why Tony Robbins Should Definitely Not Be Your Guru
• 'Bright-Sided': When Happiness Doesn't Help

Locationless Locations

• heatdeathpod.com
• Every show-related link is corralled and available here.
• Heat Death of the Universe - @heatdeathpod
• JD Newland - @jdnewland
• Joshua Nomen-Mutatio - @ImbalancingAct
• Please send all Letters of Derision, Indifference, Inquiry, Mild Elation, et cetera to: heatdeathoftheuniversepodcast@gmail.com