The Esteemers

I don't have low self-esteem, I have low esteem for everyone else.

--Daria

I've had it with the politically-correct cult of self-esteem (i.e. the emotion previously known as self-respect). Feeling good about oneself is not the be-all and end all of human existance, particularly when it entails finding a labels for whatever whatever shortcomings one may have and subsequently using these syndromes-du-jour to excuse oneself from all manner of ridiculous behavior or when the arbitrary application of a label is self-prescribed to solicit pity or praise. In order to be esteemed and respected one must act in a way that is worthy of the respect of others. When one is worthy of respect one may have self-respect. Simply saying, for example, "I am prone to addiction" does not excuse being a junkie - particularly if being a junkie entails begging and stealing in order to scrounge up the money for a fix. That's not respectable, that's reprehensible, and one should hold oneself in contempt, not high esteem. That such a person should be looked upon with contempt should be no surprise.

No matter how much self-esteem one may have been artifically inflated with, one is not special until one does something special. If one does reprehensible things, one is reprehensible and should not be surprised when one is derided for those things. One should not excpect to be rewarded and praised for the utterly ordinary and mundane. There are no medals for simply managing to get a keep onself fed. No one will be elected to the Order of Canada for paying their rent on time.

It's what you do in life that matters, not what you think or what you believe. If you run around screaming "yahoo" at three in the morning, you are a yahoo. That's how it works. If you claim to be intelligent yet continually act like an idiot you are an idiot - "Stupid is as stupid does," after all. If you claim to be saving the world from certain doom yet all you do is collect welfare cheques and make rambling websites you are a quack, not a saviour. If you bought your Tyler Durden outfit at Mexx on Robson St. you are not a rebel. Cultivating an image and paying lip-service to ideas means nothing if you don't practice what you preach. If you claim to be goth but are in fact a bleach blonde bimbo that listens to (c)rap, you are not goth. If you claim to be an artist yet never paint, draw, write, or make anything beautiful or thought-provoking but rather spend all your time getting drunk, you are not an artist, you're an alcoholic (and probably are a goth).