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‭Wilbert Li‬

‭Ms. Cherdu‬

‭English Final Exam‬

‭27 November 2023‬

‭Self Improvement. Has it Gone Too Far?‬

‭You may be surprised to see that the self improvement/help industry has a lot to cover‬

‭under the iceberg. An experienced psychiatrist has seen its harm on some people, and the shady‬

‭things behind the curtain. The idea of self improvement has been around for as long as humans‬

‭have walked the planet, but how, and why did the concept implode just recently? There are two‬

‭main factors to that, which are: the internet, and profitability. Currently, in almost every part of‬

‭the self improvement industry at least one of these two factors are present. Some examples that‬

‭have exploded in recent years are hustle culture, looksmaxxing, and probably the most famous‬

‭one being the “Red Pill” movement. The self improvement industry preys on people's‬

‭insecurities, creates unrealistic expectations, prioritizes monetary gain, and manifests in bad‬

‭ways online.‬

‭The self improvement industry seems like a pure and innocent part of the internet, trying‬

‭to help people’s lives as best they can, especially to the unsuspecting eye. But in no time, you‬

‭will be sucked into its abysmal rabbit hole if you have insecurities they can exploit, but how deep‬

‭does it go? We can first take a look at the “Red Pill” movement, an idea most present online. Its‬

‭name originates from the famous movie‬‭Matrix,‬‭where the main character is presented with two‬

‭pills; a blue pill, and a red pill. Taking the blue pill will leave the main character living its normal‬

‭everyday life, while taking the red pill would enable the main character to understand what was‬
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‭actually occurring outside the illusion created by the Matrix. The general meaning behind the red‬

‭pill is to wake up and stop living in delusion which perfectly encapsulates the main goal of the‬

‭Red Pill movement. But in action, it became a place for people, especially angry men to vent‬

‭their frustrations. A place where people can vent in and of itself isn’t a bad thing, but it becomes‬

‭a big problem when an echo chamber (an environment in which a person encounters only beliefs‬

‭or opinions that coincide with their own, so that their existing views are reinforced and‬

‭alternative ideas are not considered) is created. Examples of the echo chamber and a place where‬

‭people vent:‬

‭Roosh V attempted to organise a meet-up of like-minded men on the grounds of‬

‭the provincial legislature in Toronto] [In the hours upon hours I spent wandering‬

‭this online neighbourhood, I saw mostly feral boys wandering the digital ruins of‬

‭exploded masculinity, howling their misery, concocting vast nonsense about‬

‭women, and craving the tiniest crumb of self-confidence and fellow-feeling. The‬

‭discussion threads are a mixed bag of rage and curiosity: screeds against‬

‭feminists, advice on how to masturbate less, theories on why women fantasize‬

‭about rape, descriptions of arguments with girlfriends, guides to going up to‬

‭strangers on the street, and, most of all, workout schedules and diet‬

‭regimes.(Marche, par.4).‬

‭A person from the red pill community sharing their thoughts: [Morpheus Manfred: Having spent‬

‭my 20s looking for female companionship, I noticed that the dating game wasn’t what I was‬

‭taught – what my parents prepared me for, and what I learned from movies. It was stacked‬

‭against guys, and it was a very unpleasant experience.] (Marche, par.11). A lot of emotions,‬
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‭particularly anger and ego are very prevalent throughout red pill forums, but behind some of the‬

‭rage, there lies some good that deserves light to be shined on.‬

‭Some ideas that the red pill movement presents aren’t half bad, like working out, dressing‬

‭up properly, maintaining healthy habits, striving to be better, and so much more, but the extent‬

‭they commit themselves to it is often very unhealthy, and it doesn’t help that a lot of “self‬

‭improvement influencers” push unrealistic expectations, and often induce a shame aspect that‬

‭makes the viewers dependent on the “self help” videos to make them feel better about‬

‭themselves. But i’m no expert on psychological influence, nor are there any statistics to prove‬

‭how big of an impact the “Red Pill” movement has on people, but an experienced psychiatrist‬

‭said [so I've talked to a ton of women who will say my boyfriend my husband my son especially‬

‭is starting to go down the red pill rabbit hole and then they're sort of starting to become like‬

‭really really like condescending towards women hateful towards women](Kanojia, 02:15). But‬

‭the psychiatrist understands that a lot of stuff from the “Red Pill” movement is actually positive‬

‭saying that working out, going to therapy, dressing up nice, and putting your life together, but the‬

‭most important aspect people don’t realize is it’s primarily a confidence and shame‬

‭problem.(16:33, Kanojia). And he also understands why this type of online forum (red pill)‬

‭exists. [where we have to understand something really really important which is that the red pill‬

‭manosphere sort of section is the one place in society that really validates men and sort of meets‬

‭them where they're at](2:33, Kanojia). And he further explained that in today’s world, men aren’t‬

‭really allowed to complain about their lives, whether it’s hard or not because what they were‬

‭taught to do was “stop complaining and man up” leaving no room for empathy. And the red pill‬

‭manosphere obviously would allow for this which is why it grew at such an exponential rate,‬
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‭propping up a lot of content creators that center around the red pill movement, and this is when‬

‭the exploitations come in. With a lot of content creators competing for your attention, a lot of‬

‭them will shame its audience into thinking that they’re a low value person, which in turn would‬

‭make the audience dependent on their video to find the formula for transforming into a high‬

‭value person. A lot of the time, the content creators will outright sell the audience the formula,‬

‭and it works extremely well for the creators.‬

‭I think a low value man is a combination of a pile of Shame invalidation from the‬

‭environment and a cognitive bias that is reinforced through predatory content‬

‭algorithms and it's not just the content algorithms that are preying on this shame‬

‭this is also what we see with sort of red red pill manosphere kind of stuff is what‬

‭these these algorithms will basically do is they'll bludgeon you into more and‬

‭more and more shame and at some point the shame gets so high that you're‬

‭willing to Fork over money for someone to help you fix this problem (14:02,‬

‭Kanojia).‬

‭the people who are selling stuff they're going to really be leaning into hey you‬

‭suck hey life is hard hey you suck hey this is how to be great and then they show‬

‭all this this fancy stuff with these sexy dudes and sexy women and each time you‬

‭watch that you feel worse and worse and worse about yourself and then someone‬

‭comes along and says give me that money give me your credit card information‬

‭and I will fix it for you so there's even this darwinian effect from a business model‬

‭around these kinds of things I don't know that these people have really calculated‬

‭it this far I don't think that a lot of them have a fundamental understanding of‬
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‭psychology but I think what they've sort of figured out is this is what works the‬

‭worse I can get someone to feel about themselves and then if I sort of like give‬

‭them an antidote they'll take it (14:39, Kanojia).‬

‭People will always try to capitalize things to earn money, and content creators are no exception,‬

‭so be wary of only picking out the good when watching self improvement videos. There are also‬

‭other forums in the self help industry that use the same strategy as the red pill does, and it’s‬

‭called looksmaxxing.‬

‭Looksmaxxing refers to the concept of maxing out your appearance by obsessing over‬

‭Improvement. Looksmaxxing can include working out, skin care, and more prominent on online‬

‭forums: mewing and mogging. Mewing is the holding of the tongue to the roof of the mouth to‬

‭make the jawline appear more defined, and mogging is basically standing next to someone‬

‭smaller to make oneself look bigger, and therefore more attractive. Looking after one's‬

‭appearance is not inherently a bad thing, it's when it gets to an insane degree like in incel forums‬

‭where it becomes an obsession because basing confidence on how one is perceived by others is‬

‭not a good time. Yes, showering, healthy diet, and wearing nice clothes can make you feel‬

‭leagues more confident, but worrying about a positive canthal tilt(the angle between the inner‬

‭corner of the eye and the outer corner of the eye) (a topic often discussed in looksmaxxing‬

‭forums) is too much, and makes the process a slog rather than fun. This is why mogging and‬

‭looksmaxxing as a joke is funny and widespread, but is also taken seriously. After all, the word‬

‭mogging comes from the term AMOG meaning alpha male of the group which was adopted in‬

‭incel communities after pickup artists coined it. The obsession with mewing and mogging just to‬

‭improve physical appearance feels like a step in an extreme direction. The Improvement‬
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‭influencer industry has certainly become a massive part of digital culture, and whilst many‬

‭dominating it are positive role models emphasizing working out for the right reasons, there are of‬

‭course bad actors out there willing to cash in on insecurity by telling their audience they're ugly.‬

‭This is why people who want you to believe that mogging, mewing, or looksmaxxing works will‬

‭often be selling courses or products to supposedly help you, claiming that if you just buy‬

‭everything, all your anxieties will be solved.‬

‭In short, mogging, mewing, and looksmaxxing has become a huge joke. Satirised‬

‭constantly as one of the sillier aspects of Incel and pickup artist culture, and ultimately by people‬

‭trying their hardest to look their best just so that they can be perceived better by others.‬

‭CONCLUSION‬

‭With influencers and online forums pushing toxic self improvement, it’s easy to think that‬

‭you are not worthy enough of a human being. Especially when most influencers are looking to‬

‭benefit themselves. I'd like to share a piece of advice that I personally find makes more sense in‬

‭today’s world. It’s okay to be average. With the world telling you to be more passionate, be‬

‭better looking, and that you should be the top one percent to be content, this is simply not the‬

‭case. Everyone is built with differing characteristics, and it’s unfair to tell everyone to be a‬

‭certain way to be happy. When in truth, anyone can find peace and contentment without falling‬

‭into a certain percentile of humans.‬

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‭Works Cited‬

‭Marche, Stephen. “Swallowing the Red Pill: A Journey to the Heart of Modern Misogyny.” The‬

‭Guardian, 8 Aug. 2017,‬

‭www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/apr/14/the-red-pill-reddit-modern-misogyny-ma‬

‭nosphere-men.‬

‭Kanojia, Alok. “Stop Being A Low Value Man” YouTube, uploaded by HealthyGamerGG, 22‬

‭September 2023,‬‭https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=or6A1Pl04ss‬

‭“What Is Mogging?” YouTube, uploaded by Lessons in Meme Culture, 19 Nov. 2023,‬

‭www.youtube.com/watch?v=umebOTiK9QM‬