Why The Right Wants You To Hate and Doubt Yourself - A Progressive/Leftist View of Self-Help

What do health and productivity optimization experts like Dr. Andrew Huberman, "dopamine addiction" experts like Dr. Anna Lembke, strict, clean-eating diets, personal finance experts, and welfare reform all have in common? Unreasonably high standards, rigidity, and traditionalism are common themes, but the narrative around them, and the way they are influencing us to view systemic problems affecting others is perhaps their most problematic aspect.
Terms like “instant gratification” and “dopamine addiction” that came from health and productivity optimization theories, have popped up in spaces ranging from fitness to finance to homelessness in order to blame the victims of late-stage capitalism for their own distress. Among the most spurious claims was made by Jordan Peterson, who says that people suffer with issues like depression because they are not “optimally deprived.” Productivity optimization ideas are creating self-doubt on levels similar to conservative religious ideologies, with people even questioning themselves over decisions as minor and banal as whether or not they are allowed to listen to music or watch TV at all. This is because people are afraid that imperfect practice of protocols, whether it be not completely depriving themselves of all spending in the finance realm, or not doing only productive things in the productivity space, will result in economic demise, just as the religious ideas will make people afraid of spiritual demise. This leads to people not only blaming themselves for their own economic hardship, but in turn blaming the supposed “bad habits” of others for their failures, which impedes solidarity. As I have explained in prior episodes, the newest means of enforcement of late stage capitalism is us enforcing its ideals on others and that is precisely how these overly strict self-help ideas are being used. Overall, these ideas are serving to promote right-wing ideologies, obfuscate systemic problems, and distract the public from seeking social change.
Self-help ideas can be a positive influence and some of these practices and protocols can substantially help people, but they need to be implemented in a way that is non-judgmental, inclusive, and understands systemic problems. Here, I start to discuss a path forward for a progressive and inclusive approach to self-help.
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Episode Notes:
(Always rough, may contain errors.)
They don't want you to be able to trust yourself when you know there is something wrong.
They blame you for everything, you cannot do anything right, so why listen to what you think? Then you only listen to what they think.
Health optimization/dopamine addiction narratives:
People constantly questioning themselves about normal things like listening to music and watching TV, just like I’ve seen in strict religious environments.
Dopamine addiction is now being tied to almost everything
Because of the influence of these ideas in the San Francisco tech community, their terminology is even leaking into the way they discuss homelessness.
Is instant gratification really the reason why people suffer? NO!
It Is Not Dopamine Addiction, It Is Futility Aversion.
Based on their experience of working hard and never seeing the fruit of their labor, people rightly do not believe that working harder and harder will yield any different or better results.
Jess’ video on religious asceticism and dopamine narratives: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT82FkkNt/
Jess’ website is sluggish.substack.com
All far-right ideologies keep you in a loop that keeps you from seeing the true systemic problems.
People who are in bad situations already feel ashamed enough!
People in bad situations are a lot smarter than the ivory tower gives them credit for.
Even now fitness is moving aw