03/04/2026
Self-Love in Popular Culture
Among the many new-age, pop-psychological slogans that bug me, the top contenders for my contempt may be the ones that revolve around self-love. These self-love slogans do not irritate me because I’m a brute who believes that people are better off wallowing in self-hatred. To the contrary, I agree that such states often lead to helplessness and malaise (although I do think there can be value in certain levels of guilt, regret, and self-disappointment). Rather, what really gets on my nerves is that the shallow and simplistic advice to “practice self-love” masquerades as wisdom. It’s akin to urging someone to “just be happy!” I see it as a symptom of a self-obsessed, love-obsessed Western culture. It is a Hollywood concoction, where stars and starlets can boast about being “self-partnered”. It is not a therapeutic insight, and surely not a piece of perennial wisdom.
