I have rather self-conscientiously avoided reviewing any cause marketing for Dove’s Self Esteem Fund . I had several ostensible reasons for avoiding it. The campaign has won all kinds of awards and the respect of its peers, so it didn’t need even the tiniest amount of attention I could bring it. And I found the marketing of it to be a little disjointed. But the main reason was that I didn’t understand the intellectual basis for self-esteem, which struck me as dogmatic. I’ve known plenty of people… women and men both, but probably more men than women… who seemed to esteem themselves very highly, but were absolute terrors to deal with. Often as not what they needed most, it seemed to me, was strong dose of humility. A couple of things have changed. First off, my daughters are getting older and as they mature it seems like society and culture grinds at girls in a way it didn’t me as a boy of their age. Second, I have come to admire the work of Eric Hoffer , an autodidact who persuasively...
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