What are you guys' take on society's obsession with self-improvement?

self improvement is a bourgeois ideal

and if your ideals aren't dedicated to pushing the collective masses forward then they are the actions of an opiate eater

Early revolutionaries, including the Bolsheviks, were obsessed with self-improvement. Stalin didn't read 500 pages a day because he felt like it.

Nigga, have a bath. Why is keeping clean, staying helathy, improving skills etc a bourgeois ideal?

Your second point is literally "self improvement is a good thing".

It makes my weewee really hard.

because these things are selfish and counter revolutionary at their core

So you make a distinction between self-improvement and improving oneself?

You can't improve as a class without improving as individuals.

Self-improvement as it is sold does not exist.
It's become what others deem to be an improvement, not what I deem to be an improvement.
The self has been taken out of the equation.

Society obsesses over that which it is deprived of. People have so little time to enjoy their life and improve themselves that they become neurotic about it.

lol

If it has anything to do with commercial interests and superficial vanity, it's bad.

Check out Culture in Decline Ep. 3, it covers this subject pretty well.
youtube.com/watch?v=iKkEjl-RSfc

Self improvement even as a term includes the assumption that it's known what actions or outcomes are improvement.
Generally at its most basic level that would reduce to the pursuit of the feeling of happiness i think.

The problem is porky uses the term to imply consuming certain goods and services as improvement.
It's not eating healthy, you should visit the media we produce about it.

It's not being fit, its following our "10 best exercises for a flat stomach/6pack" and or consuming our supplements/following our diet.

It's not learning communication it's letting you in on "the 10 bestest tactics to seal the deal" and "what your partner wants but won't tell you"

As a general principle If anyone but yourself benefits from the applying of the information(directly or indirectly), then it's not self-improvement.
It MIGHT contain self improvement but merely as it's host, like a parasite that stalks inside good-feelings to sell you goods and services.

…

I wouldn't say that society is obsessed with it, nor that it is a bad thing.

My counsellor told me excersise is the best way to beat mental illness and for me she was correct.

...

youtube.com/watch?v=vlNVQ-_y4-0

Self improvement is a fantasy

It's white and therefore bad

I have nothing against self-improvement but I really hate this obsession with "productivity." The worst is "stress management" though.

I really, really, really like this picture.

Self improvement is a good thing as is encouraging others into it as well, but mass pressure to conform to one or two specific body types is just awful. I have seen friends who aren't in the best shape but still are sufficiently healthy be given shit by the shove load by both society and the medical system. Even I who admittedly am overweight get roasted by doctors every single goddamn time.

Ear infection? Weight.
Broken tooth? Weight
Allergic reaction to unknown substance? Weight.
It's fucking maddening.

How's those screenshots coming along, bro?
Pretty hard to not notice the fact that you're making the same post in every thread.

I'm sure your buds at Holla Forums will love you for it as you circleljerk each other in your torture chamber.

Obsession?

There are too many overweight people in the UK and it's ever increasing, if our society is obsessed about self-improvement, it's clearly not in fitness.

Having said that I'm not fond of the narcissists who post pictures of their fake tanned bodies on instagram incessantly.

I myself lift for strength 3 times a week, no cardio and I appreciate the aesthetic improvement as a byproduct but not as my end goal.

For those who might appreciate it, I can deadlift 3xbodyweight, OHP 1xbodyweight and front squat 2xbodyweight.

"Self-improvement" is apparently really popular with unemployed and underemployed men; as a reaction to their external economic powerlessness they turn inwards to try and master their own bodies.
That's probably why half of the Twitch streamer e-celebs I sometimes watch on Youtube are into it.

Homoerotic vanity training. Go do some running or cycling.

Have you considered going on a diet?

I said I appreciate the aesthetic improvement as an extra, I don't care for it, I spend a quarter of the year looking like a bloated flabby looking no lifter when I'm bulking and it doesn't bother me.

Having said that, "cardio" is a waste of time, I have enough cardiovascular exercise from doing my weight training alone, a common misconception from arm-chair fitness fitness experts is that "cardio" is essential in addition to weightlifting ie running, cycling etc because it's believed that weightlifting yields no cardiovascular benefits.

"Cardio" should only be done if you enjoy it, compete in a sport that requires multifaceted fitness criteria ie rugby, compete in running (or cycling) or have no access to weightlifting or callisthenic exercises.

I work 40+ hours a week, and I then commit another 3-4 hours a week to the gym, I don't see the benefit in doing a few additional hours for little to no gain.

I have a coin jar for every time I've heard some retarded platitude like that. If things keep up I'll be able to fund my own gulag for morons who think they're helping.

I guess that's a no then.

Funny that you mention gulags, maybe we should gulag all the fatties and release them once they're healthy.

...

Can we take over /improve/ please? It's full of fascists. Or maybe we could have /discipline/ for training revolutionaries.

Have you considered training to beat up Nazis?

Probably the only good thing about capitalism.

Cigarettes were a good appetite suppressant. Currently exercising like mad.

That's just going to end up full of BDSM porn.

...

You're posting on a revolutionary socialist board m8. I don't doubt resistance training your muscles is putting some load on your cardiovascular system but there's no way you're increasing your VO2max doing that.

Go do some cycling.

I wouldn't be weightlifting if I the chance of revolution were likely soon, the second coming of Christ would be more likely.

But yeah if you're posting from a volatile place likely to turn violent, you may as well learn to shoot, be strong enough to climb over obstacles and run long distance. Big lean muscles would be a logistical hindrance for an armed force, more calories expended and high protein diets are significantly more expensive than carb and fat heavy ones to maintain a level of strength that won't be fully utilised.

Your definition of self seems to depend on validation from others fam, you are spooked.

I just read Plato's Apology (pretty much the only work of philosophy I've ever read) and it seems like Western tradition has always be about self improvement, whether its through better use of rational thought, promotion of universal "goods", or just being a wise and just person (like what Socrates advocated for).

Physical and mental self improvement is a logical extension of this, but its pretty clear its all been fucked up by our social relations with products and consumerism

what if i told you it's inevitable that we will benefit the capitalists at some point? it's impossible to be full communist, there will always be someone benefiting from what you do.

just improve yourself and build some charisma and confidence, when a revolution comes, no one wants to follow a fat overweight neckbeard.

i know you comrades can do it.

...

...

If I'm being honest with myself, one of the reasons I got into it is because I did so bad at school and landed such a low-paying job that I feel I need to tell people I'm worth more.

Now learning new skills and developing new habits is just routine, but when I started doing it it was completely out of anxiety that people were judging me dumb and/or lazy.

Worker: I've had enough of this! This wage situation is literally destroying my chance at happiness in this one life I have!

Porky: Maybe you should work harder, you lazy slob! I got rich from working harder than you, you know! Everyone else makes it through, why can't you?

Sounds illogical enough, right? Good. Now think of it this way:

Worker: I've had enough of this! This girlfriend situation is literally destroying my chance at happiness in this one life I have!

Holla Forums: Maybe you should work harder, you lazy slob! I got a girlfriend from working harder than you, you know! Everyone else makes it through, why can't you?

Giving girls the power to completely choose men laissez-faire and expecting them to act in the benefit of humankind is like enacting anarcho-capitalism globally.

They seriously must be stopped. A true, pure leftist movement will never succeed until it incorporates the patriarchy into its agenda.

Actually, the problem is that porky is wrong in the idea that he became wealthy through hard work, because he got it by exploiting the surplus labor of others.

Socialism does not = forced equality my friend

It's become a pathology of S P E C T A C L E.

I mean, nothing wrong with self improvement as long as they are of your values. Today's so-called "self improvement" which is just self flagellation for society, is pathetic.

hahahah wow

Wouldn't giving men (and only men) the power to choose women "laissez-faire" come up against the same problem?

It seems like the only two solutions to this supposed problem are 1) everyone , male or female, enters into arranged/planned partnerships, or 2) everyone , male or female, enters into partnerships chosen "laissez-faire"

I know which one sounds better to me.

maybe "this girlfriend situation" is caused by the alienation of capitalist society (the superficial chase for image in your case, money in the girl's case), and not some meme about le grills choose the black dick XD

clearly some forms of self improvement aren't like this - being more healthy means they can't sell you expensive meds, and being more intelligent makes it harder for them to advertise to you, etc.

It makes me sad that you idolize a relationship to the point where you think it will cure all your ills.

What I feel like this comes down to besides the black dick maymay >>687303 is that people say that the dating world is a world of equal opportunity where anything can happen and its not.

this m9 gets it right imo plans are superior you mick

this. More fear of God needed.

Have you accepted Jesus as your lord and saviour?

Christians don't believe a relationship with Jesus will cure all their ills on Earth but nice try.

Nothing wrong with self-improvement, but the important question is "improving what and why?"

For example, as a leftist, it's important to improve myself by educating myself on leftist theory.

It's also important to improve my physical state if violent revolution is necessary to achieve a leftist society.

It's important to know that notions of 'self-improvement' may well be affected by liberal capitalism. For example, many would consider improving one's own financial standing to include buying mansions or commodities, with the unconscious hope that consuming commodities would help them feel less alienated perhaps. This is misguided and a dead end. There's also the whole American conservative ideology of 'bootstrapping' which mystifies real social/economic issues.

It's important to note to everyone in this thread who are calling notions of self-improvement bourgeois, that while it may be so, something being bourgeois is not an automatic indictment of it. As Adorno and Zizek would point out, there are things of bourgeois ideology and culture worth rehabilitating.

I would argue quite the opposite as many here have already done. Self improvement is sadly beyond the reach of many modern individuals, in terms of physical self-improvement it is sometimes because people are legitimately lacking in motivation. However, self improvement of the intellect and of a person's character is beyond the financial scope of many as they lack the resources required to perfect themselves as individuals. Oscar Wilde talks about this in his essay "The Soul of Man Under Socialism" where he talks about the fact that self improvement has been substituted by consumerism, leading to the creation of a false sense of individualism which is determined by not what a man is, but by what he possesses.

...