Social engineers who have pushed raising self-esteem as the solution to all societal problems were blindsided by research showing that some of the worst of society’s misfits have the highest self-esteem. Now that self-esteem has become a dirty word, it must be replaced.
That’s where self-compassion comes in. Yeah, I know. It sounds as gobbledbygooky as self-esteem, but its discoverers at Duke say it’s different:
Self-compassion protected people from negative events differently — and in some cases better — than self-esteem. In addition, the positive feelings that characterize self-compassionate people do not appear to involve the hubris, narcissism or self-enhancing illusions that characterize many people with high self-esteem.
They say self-compassion is especially good for people with low self-esteem (I didn’t know there were any of those left, what with all the awards ceremonies for adequate and even sub-par performance):
Being self-compassionate is particularly important for people with low self-esteem. People with low self-esteem who treat themselves kindly in spite of unflattering self-evaluations fare as well as, if not better than, those with high self-esteem.
This sounds a lot like Stuart Smalley’s feel-good approach to life. How long is it going to take before we find that the self-compassion movement has destroyed a generation or two?
