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Self-Esteem vs. Self-Respect
In Character ^ | Theodore Dalrymple

Posted on 03/29/2010 12:02:49 PM PDT by ventanax5

With the coyness of someone revealing a bizarre sexual taste, my patients would often say to me, "Doctor, I think I'm suffering from low self-esteem." This, they believed, was at the root of their problem, whatever it was, for there is hardly any undesirable behavior or experience that has not been attributed, in the press and on the air, in books and in private conversations, to low self-esteem, from eating too much to mass murder.

Self-esteem is, of course, a term in the modern lexicon of psychobabble, and psychobabble is itself the verbal expression of self-absorption without self-examination. The former is a pleasurable vice, the latter a painful discipline. An accomplished psychobabbler can talk for hours about himself without revealing anything.

(Excerpt) Read more at incharacter.org ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: dalrymple; philosophy; selfesteem

1 posted on 03/29/2010 12:02:49 PM PDT by ventanax5
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To: ventanax5

Like I’ve always said, self-esteem without self respect is just another name for vanity.


2 posted on 03/29/2010 12:11:00 PM PDT by Kenton
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To: ventanax5; All

The way to get self-esteem is to do esteemable acts


3 posted on 03/29/2010 12:15:19 PM PDT by the long march
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To: ventanax5

good article!


4 posted on 03/29/2010 12:39:53 PM PDT by murphE ("It is terrible to contemplate how few politicians are hanged." - GK Chesterton)
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To: Kenton

In other word:
Those who cannot earn yer esteem will demand it!


5 posted on 03/29/2010 12:49:59 PM PDT by Wontsubmit
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To: Kenton

Theodore Dalrymple is one of the best writers out there. He is English and also, I believe, a psychiatrist. He is frequently published in City Journal, a really good online magazine. This is a list of his articles there:

http://www.city-journal.org/html/cj_adv_search.html?cx=010085638868707497598%3Acmoasvt_j1u&cof=FORID%3A10&ie=UTF-8&q=Dalrymple&sa=Search#963

BTW I have no association with City Journal except as an appreciative reader. This is not an attempt to pimp a blog. :)


6 posted on 03/29/2010 12:53:20 PM PDT by LifePath
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To: LifePath

Bttt - Dalrymple (not his real name) is a great writer, and many of the other contributors to “City Journal” are also worth reading.


7 posted on 03/29/2010 1:31:01 PM PDT by Tax-chick (Espiritu Santo, Espiritu Santo, renueva la faz de la tierra!)
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To: the long march
Like these guys serving in Afghanistan? Or their CO?
8 posted on 03/29/2010 1:34:29 PM PDT by 12Gauge687 (Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice)
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To: 12Gauge687

Works for me


9 posted on 03/29/2010 1:57:02 PM PDT by the long march
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To: the long march

Too many people have unjustified levels of self esteem.

Can’t read, can’t write, can’t stay out of jail, but they sure do feel good about themselves.


10 posted on 03/29/2010 1:58:35 PM PDT by MediaMole
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To: ventanax5

Excellent article and I agree with all he said. I just call it ‘big ego’, lol.


11 posted on 03/29/2010 5:13:27 PM PDT by potlatch (~~"Where secrecy or mystery begins, vice or roguery is not far off. "~~)
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