Today The Guardian published an article outlining a litany of stretched truths and outright BS deployed by woo-woo merchant Jay Shetty.

Every self-help guru needs a “thing” and Jay Shetty’s is all about being a monk in India (though he grew up in London).

The following line stood out to me:

Shetty’s success is largely predicated on this riches-to-rags-to-riches backstory.

If I wanted to be a self-help guru, I’d need a good (bullshit) backstory. Everyone does. When your product is your advice, you need a reason it works.

Most people reach for rags-to-riches.

But I’d never thought about the riches-to-rags-to-riches pipeline before (I’ve added it to my Bullshit backstory note).

BTW, the article contains a lot of well-checked mythbusting - it’s worth a read.

Source:
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/ng-interactive/2024/feb/29/jay-shetty-self-help-empire