Am I Crazy?
Am I Crazy?
There must be something wrong with me because I'm having a really major problem deciding how I should approach my next book. Should it be the new "fiction as non-fiction" approach to my subject or should it be just called nonfiction when, in fact, it's largely fictionalized? Tough question for a psychologist these days. We've seen some of these "psychologists" unmasked as people having no advanced degrees and yet selling zillions of books. These guys have become millionaires and convinced a lot of people that they were actually "experts" when they weren't anything but con artists.
This latest imbroglio reminds me of all those newspaper reporters who made up their sensational stories about junkie kids and teen prostitutes and who received honors and accolades. They got caught in the end because someone was a bit concerned that they were getting so much good stuff so easily. As a psychologist, I know about this shooting yourself in the foot business because I watch it from afar and see it by the carload on TV each evening.
The rush to get out blockbuster books and sell them on major TV shows seems to have caused something akin to an "oh well, everyone doing it" approach to writing. I, for one, find this dishonest. I don't care who's doing it, it's just plain dishonest and when we see that both major personalities and publishers are engaging in this, it causes me some concern.
I was concerned as everyone when the Korean research baloney hit the fan and now I'm wondering if there's more out there about which we don't know. Who's telling the truth these days and who's really offering self-improvement advice based on real experience with real people? I wonder. This is what makes life exciting, in a way. You watch when the rascals get caught and you just recall that Just World Hypothesis you learned about in grad school. It's an optimistic approach to life that says the bad guys get caught in the end. Nice thought.
I find myself, once again, aligning myself with the curmudgeons of this culture and wondering what happened here. I guess big business has a different view of things than I do and maybe I'm a throwback to an age we will never see again, but I live in hope.
Related Topics: The Internet and Pop Psychology, Pop Culture and Your Kids
Technorati Tags: psychology, writing, nonfiction, culture
There must be something wrong with me because I'm having a really major problem deciding how I should approach my next book. Should it be the new "fiction as non-fiction" approach to my subject or should it be just called nonfiction when, in fact, it's largely fictionalized? Tough question for a psychologist these days. We've seen some of these "psychologists" unmasked as people having no advanced degrees and yet selling zillions of books. These guys have become millionaires and convinced a lot of people that they were actually "experts" when they weren't anything but con artists.
This latest imbroglio reminds me of all those newspaper reporters who made up their sensational stories about junkie kids and teen prostitutes and who received honors and accolades. They got caught in the end because someone was a bit concerned that they were getting so much good stuff so easily. As a psychologist, I know about this shooting yourself in the foot business because I watch it from afar and see it by the carload on TV each evening.
The rush to get out blockbuster books and sell them on major TV shows seems to have caused something akin to an "oh well, everyone doing it" approach to writing. I, for one, find this dishonest. I don't care who's doing it, it's just plain dishonest and when we see that both major personalities and publishers are engaging in this, it causes me some concern.
I was concerned as everyone when the Korean research baloney hit the fan and now I'm wondering if there's more out there about which we don't know. Who's telling the truth these days and who's really offering self-improvement advice based on real experience with real people? I wonder. This is what makes life exciting, in a way. You watch when the rascals get caught and you just recall that Just World Hypothesis you learned about in grad school. It's an optimistic approach to life that says the bad guys get caught in the end. Nice thought.
I find myself, once again, aligning myself with the curmudgeons of this culture and wondering what happened here. I guess big business has a different view of things than I do and maybe I'm a throwback to an age we will never see again, but I live in hope.
Related Topics: The Internet and Pop Psychology, Pop Culture and Your Kids
Technorati Tags: psychology, writing, nonfiction, culture
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