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"Yeahhh...."
Posted on 12/01/2008 10:18:36 AM PST by foutsc
As I sat through another interminable middle school award ceremony that lasted longer than the contest itself, I pondered how the self-esteem movement has wrecked this country. I had plenty of time since well-meaning adults were handing out participation medals to every eager participant. This current financial calamity is the logical result of the self-esteem movement. Don't get me wrong, I think self-esteem is wonderful when sprung from a healthy self-image and buoyed by real accomplishments. But like diversity, it is worthless when pursued for its own sake. Presidents Clinton and Bush were full of self-esteem as terrorists plotted the 9/11 attacks under the noses of our clueless but confident alphabet soup bureaucracies. The attacks themselves dented no one's esteem. Richard Clarke was the only government official to feel any blame and apologize as far as I can remember. President Bush awarded CIA Director George Tenant a medal for crying out loud! Politicians of all all stripes are arrogant and proud as interest on the national debt and entitlement spending slowly, blob-like, consume the federal budget. And now the private sector and state governments follow suit with stumblebum mismanagement that has wrecked the nation's economy. Finally, individual citizens soil themselves after gorging on credit, new cars and McMansions. And mommy government will pick them up and clean them off. Don't want them to feel bad... Like spoiled children in a no-fault world, this endless chain of fools lines up to receive participation prizes. Congress responds by creating the Federal Failure Reward Package on the advice of the same geniuses who caused the debacle. This is how unbridled, unwarranted self-esteem destroys a culture that once believed in personal responsibility, thrift and self-reliance.
Outside of our military, self-esteem is turning this country into a colossal failure. Our car manufacturers are going broke while Japanese companies move in and make a profit, on our soil, with American workers. This shows that the average American still knows how to work and achieve, but our leaders and managers are egotistical losers too stupid to leverage it. What has any government agency or public enterprise done right in the last 8, 16, 20 years?
I could give a damn whether our next president is the messiah or the anti-Christ; all I want is competence from my government and our public institutions. If that's too much to ask, could they at least stop rewarding failure?
It's high time that people who screw up got the good old-fashioned ego-destroying, a$$-kicking they deserve.
Did you lose a billion dollars today? Then your self-esteem should be crappy, and by the way, you're fired!
Bought more house and more car than you can afford? Looks like you may need to find a cardboard box underneath the interstate off-ramp. Your fellow citizens won't be paying for your stupidity.
You're a failure. Want a self-esteem builder? You can start by cleaning up your own mess. Our nation is out of balance: We have a surplus of self-esteem and a deficit of personal responsibility. Third-world countries are made of this.
Legacy
This article made me feel bad. That ain’t right!
I feel really good about myself.
After all, as Mrs. Seinfeld says, who wouldn’t like him(me)?
It helped my Chuckie Cheese stock!!!
Exactly. It's time for once to reward those who contribute to society and not those who tear it down. The path of industry is strewn with the wreckage of businesses that tried to take short cuts along the way, either by guile, deceit, or sheer mismanagement. They should perish and the certainly DO NOT deserved to be kept in positions of power using MY tax dollars.
Listen up, you Bozos in Washington, you work for us, not vice versa and if we don't see an end to this Socialistic crap that's come down the pike in the last few months, there's going to be a grassroots uproar that will start with the next set of primaries. RINO's...this applies to you, too.
One blatant example of this "feel good" mentally was demonstrated during Clinton's first term.
His energy secretary, Hazel O'Leary, was visiting an energy plant and inquired why the workers' badges were of different colors. On being told that the colors represented different levels of security clearance, the good secretary insisted that practice stop and all badges be the same color so that no-one felt "inferior".
A good example of putting self esteem first and learning last: Math Appreciation replaces Math Instruction.
Hey,crazy Joe Davola,how yea doin’?
We used to be a baseball nation but now we’re a T ball nation where there are no losers or winners.
"Yeahhh...."
I really don’t know much about the self-esteem movement per se, but I certainly do think there is an overemphasis on feelings in our society. Feelings are fleeting. Yes, I may feel angry, sad, happy or whatever. The important thing is to recognize the reason why I am feeling such and such (especially the negative feelings) and more imprtantly, what am I doing (or not doing) in response to those feelings. My actions or inactions are much more important than me swimming in the whirlpool of my feelings. The Oprahfication of America has been a disaster.
Have you seen Lloyd Braun lately?
There are tens of millions of people in this nation who still "know the score" and those of us who do are entrusted by history, fate, and God above (IMHO) with educating those who don't to the best of our baility within our own spheres of influence. IMHO, that's how we will ultimately turn it around.
Serenity now,insanity later!
“I think self-esteem is wonderful when sprung from a healthy self-image and buoyed by real accomplishments. But like diversity, it is worthless when pursued for its own sake”
Problem is, there is going to be a day of reckoning. The little dears will complete 16+ years of education (that somebody paid for), present their proof of accomplishment to an perspective employer, and eventually be hired. Then, three months later, both will realize that the diploma is as worthless as a check, from me, for $1,000,000. I have seen it happen, they are crushed, doesn’t do much for their self esteem.
Loss is a far better teacher than winning in my opinion.
My very first good black eye came from a ten year old pitcher with a wild fastball. What I learned was to spin away from the ball. The next time I got hit it was in the back of my shoulder. It still hurt but didn’t take me out of the game.
Interestingly enough, I see Zero as an example of the arrogance of inexperience. He’s never felt the sting of defeat because he’s never had a chance to fail. When he does fail I expect him to behave in a wildly out of control manner.
Yup. Turn the rules up-side-down, thumb your nose at Americans and walk away smirking. Linger in the public arena like guest who won’t leave a party where you have behaved like an a%$… hold forth spouting pointless dictums ad infinitum about all and sundry-whether asked for or not... then call yourself a leader!!!
The MSM crawled on their knees for an opportunity to embarrass themselves and us with their unrestrained, cloying obsequiousness to Billy boy and his tuna instead behaving like journalists in this country, i.e. to watchdog ‘IRREGULARITIES’ IN GOVERNMENT… ALL GOVERNMENT....ANY GOVERNMENT - LIBERAL OR CONSERVATIVE.... The MSM forgot itself and its place.
The MSM has lost its way and left America to the mercy of manipulative, self serving, greedy, inept, corrupt and treasonous demagogues. If Obama is what passes for a President … that alone tells you everything
Bump!
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