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The ultimate power in life is to be completely self-reliant, completely yourself. Why do these authors seemingly ignore the very obvious contradiction there? T

The ultimate power in life is to be completely self-reliant, completely yourself. Why do these authors seemingly ignore the very obvious contradiction there? The idealism that this piece espouses is directly dependent on the support of other people. If 50-cent, and Vitamin Water did appeal to the averages then they would not have the revenue that they claim to have attained "by themselves". There are countless people out there who could do exactly what they want, for themselves and never see these kind of returns simply because their product does not appeal to the averages. Getting by through life "completely self-reliant" is at best a joke and at worst myopic denial of reality.

joe_the_user 17y ago
The rhetoric is contradictory... Yet I think that the direction he's pointing towards is the direction of being "at cause" in the situation. While he depends on his audience as a whole, each audience member depends on him much more than he depends on them. It's a lesson some people need. It is interesting, though, that native people who depended much less on a vastly developed society actually placed considerable emphasis on being interdependent, on moving well within a whole. Course, they had perhaps more functional (or less competitive) whole than we do.
freshfey 17y ago
I believe what he meant by "completely self-reliant" was more like "a work for your own dreams and ideas". Don't just work because you have to (of course everybody has to work, but 80-90% could also be entrepreneurs and wouldn't have to work for others and their dreams) for other people. And don't expect other people to always help you pursuing YOUR dreams. Curtis Jackson was always self-reliant because he comes from a broken family (mother shot dead when he was 8, grandmother and grandfather had to take care of their own kids -> less attention on him -> more self-reliance and self-belief to actually make something of himself). If he expected to get help from other people or trust other people with his ideas and his dreams even with his work, his life would have been crushed badly. A natural self-belief is very important and should be carried by anyone trying to achieve big things.

joe_the_user 17y ago

The rhetoric is contradictory... Yet I think that the direction he's pointing towards is the direction of being "at cause" in the situation. While he depends on his audience as a whole, each audience member depends on him much more than he depends on them. It's a lesson some people need. It is interesting, though, that native people who depended much less on a vastly developed society actually placed considerable emphasis on being interdependent, on moving well within a whole. Course, they had perhaps more functional (or less competitive) whole than we do.

freshfey 17y ago

I believe what he meant by "completely self-reliant" was more like "a work for your own dreams and ideas". Don't just work because you have to (of course everybody has to work, but 80-90% could also be entrepreneurs and wouldn't have to work for others and their dreams) for other people. And don't expect other people to always help you pursuing YOUR dreams. Curtis Jackson was always self-reliant because he comes from a broken family (mother shot dead when he was 8, grandmother and grandfather had to take care of their own kids -> less attention on him -> more self-reliance and self-belief to actually make something of himself). If he expected to get help from other people or trust other people with his ideas and his dreams even with his work, his life would have been crushed badly. A natural self-belief is very important and should be carried by anyone trying to achieve big things.