(eg. psychotherapy, negative third party social group stereotyping, pop culture references, second person framing of self-help advice as casual banter, capitalia, shameless and fundamentally American reformation of compassion in an ego-linked context...)
For starters, I didn't notice any citations in your claims of academic relevance. Have you read papers from reputable institutions that support your positions as their central thrust (rather than a side note or speculation)? If so please cite one and let us know how many of your points are part of its central argument.
Taking it down a notch from academia, even the Wikipedia article on American stereotypes does agree with your list. Too many biased Americans on WP? Even anecdotally in countries I've lived and stayed in, many people were happy to share their American stereotypes and I enjoyed the discussions, but they never mentioned your list.
Some of the things I'm used to hearing: Americans are fat? Not a pleasant thing to hear but objectively true. Americans are gun crazy? Not everyone but still, there is solid foundation here. So this is not a matter of (just) being insulted, I simply call into question your ability to back up your specific claims with sound evidence and data.
Finally your claim that self compassion is "fundamentally juxtaposed" to eastern meditative traditions is incorrect (I assume you meant to write opposed). On the contrary, it is vital component of some practices and one of the first things studied (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mettā#Mett.C4.81_meditation).
With everything happening in the US right now the last thing we need is people making false assumptions that all of us support the same leadership, same homogeneous viewpoints, same personal failings, etc.
Second, I prefaced to ensure this was taken as tongue in cheek as intended. Clearly you missed that part.
Third, having spent many years researching Buddhism we must agree to disagree regarding your suggestion that self-targeted compassion and Pali metta[0] are similar.
Finally, a passing generalization is clearly not the same as viewing everyone as identical.
Incorrect. "ethnocentrism: evaluation of other cultures according to preconceptions originating in the standards and customs of one's own culture"
>I prefaced to ensure this was taken as tongue in cheek as intended. Clearly you missed that part.
I didn't miss it. Writers get to imply as they like. Readers are free to infer as they like. That's how it works.
>Having spent many years researching Buddhism we must agree to disagree regarding your suggestion that self-targeted compassion and Pali metta.
I'm sorry, this is just completely untrue.
1) From your own sources: "Right at the start loving-kindness should be developed towards oneself."
2) From my source: "[In] practices that focus on compassion...the practitioner is targeting oneself"
3) Choose any master you like who has written on metta/lovingkindnessand and compassion. By long tradition the start of the path is self compassion.
>a passing generalization is clearly not the same as viewing everyone as identical.
I hope not. The problem with generalizations and false stereotypes is they tend to encourage that sort of thinking.
No disrespect, but it's so American that someone should use it as an academic linguistic example of culture-specific communication! (Eg, psychotherapy, negative social groups of social groups, pop culture referrals, second-person counseling as casual jokes, capitalia, shameless and fundamentally American reform of compassion in a context Linked to the ego ...)
Penises and vaginas. Since those with ambiguous genitalia are a rounding error, they can flip a coin.
Please don't take this the wrong way.
this is so American
I felt that the commenter was expressing themselves in a way that was particularly unique to Americans.
someone should use it as an academic linguistics example of culture-specific communication!
I believe the example is of such a high quality that it would be useful in an academic context (ie. college/university courses) as an example of communications made within one culture that are unique to that culture versus other cultures speaking the very same language, ie. people born in Scotland or New Zealand would generally never communicate in this way.
The examples list arguably American cultural traits present in the paragraph.
(Edit to explain points: 'psychotherapy' = more prevalent in US culture, 'negative third party social group stereotyping' = ~all those people are <negative-something>, 'pop culture references' = vampires, 'second person framing of self-help advice as casual banter' = grammatical form where "you gotta X", or "you should Y", or "when you X you Y!", 'capitalia' = THIS BIT IS GRATING, 'reformation of compassion in an ego-linked context' = compassion for self, which is fundamentally juxtaposed to traditional not-self usage as linked to eastern meditative traditions (vipassana, etc.) and where increased egocentrism is widely considered a quintessentially American cultural trait).
In particular, there's about 140,000 hits for "emotional vampirism" when you Google it in Russian (pop culture, eh?).
Same thing about writing in ALL CAPS: http://lurkmore.to/CAPSLOCK
May I ask you, which many languages, besides English, do you browse the Internet in? I am curious about your the basis for comparison.
^People are becoming more open about seeing a therapist (психолог), but it's something out of reach of most people.
http://money.cnn.com/2017/01/12/pf/americans-lack-of-savings...
the list goes on
I am now a few years post-divorce and in a relationship with a wonderful future wife v2.0, and I will be the first to tell you that my perspective on others', careers, and behavior patterns has changed significantly because I'm exposed to a very different slice of American culture than I was with wife v1.0. You'll find similarities where you didn't expect to find them. The same is true of differences.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3034883/table/T...
Still lower than a lot of other professions. I do wonder how the difference in work-culture affects the data though. I have talked to programmers in the UK who say that the environment is completely different -- 35-40 hour weeks rather than the churn and burn that you see at a lot of businesses here.
This is a misconception. If you work in a cost-centre (biz speak for not making direct dollars) your task maybe cut. I've seen whole divisions in corporations cut when savings were required. Startups are notoriously flakey for employment for reasons other than direct failure. If you work in an area with measurable sales (product) you may make a lot of money.
Tech at the moment reminds me of Rock music in the 70's. Lots of cash splashing about, deals done, people making money in making music. If there is a re-adjustment due to technology, for example the move to coughDigital/CDscough in the 80's using our music analogy?
Seems to me like there are plenty of jobs for people to get into tech and make a decent living, if they prioritize for their happiness rather than compensation or doing something 'cool'.
I'm still a bit like that, very often I did things for wrong reasons, validation. My brain was very efficient and very pleasuring when seeking mental complexity, appearing smart; but socially inept to interact emotionnaly with people in sane honest ways.
A fun problem.
> The Mountain Goats - Damn These Vampires
> Bright Eyes - Devil Town
But anyways, amazing song, AMAZING artist - one of my favorites.
And yes, love yourself.
> Atreyu - The Crimson
I think this is the opposite of what the article was saying. The article says that instead of looking for "self-esteem" from your successes (and avoiding failures), you should stop chasing self-esteem altogether, and instead choose self-compassion.
> it is critical for your survival and success
I think the article is trying to say "It's okay not to succeed, go easy on yourself."
When you seek self-esteem in an unhealthy way, you do things to get approval/validation from others. You'll suck some blood from girls who like you, suck some blood from jobs you apply for that want you, tell friends about all the high-end interviews you have and the cool things you're doing. But after you've gotten what you need from the girls, the jobs, the friends, you realize you never really wanted any of them. And that you wasted your time in the process when you should seek what YOUR OWN PATH is. Self-compassion/kindness is when you become your own sustainable bloodsource of self-esteem and it is critical for your survival and success.