Cult of the Self
Wonder Cabinet
Wonder Cabinet Productions
4.8 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 14 June 2025
⏱️ 53 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In the world of internet influencers and YouTube stars, it’s not enough to be ordinary anymore. You need to be special. But where did this craze for personal branding come from? Why are we so obsessed with ourselves? To understand this cult of the self, we need to go back to 19th century spiritual movements and the rise of the huckster — and also the myth of rugged individualism. But if we’re always shouting “Me me me,” what are we losing? What has it cost us?
Original Air Date: February 03, 2024
Interviews In This Hour:
If nobody sees you online, do you exist? — How personal branding became an American religion — Why rugged individualism is a dangerous myth — The philosophers who invented the modern self
Guests:
Angelo Bautista, Tara Isabella Burton, Alissa Quart, Andrea Wulf
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | We live in a world of personal branding and selfies, encouraged or exhorted, to be authentic and live our best lives. |
| 0:12.6 | Doesn't it all seem a little bit narcissistic? |
| 0:15.9 | I'm Anne Strange Amps, and in today's episode, when did it become so important to develop a unique and authentic personal identity? And is there a hidden cost? This hour, the cult of the self. On to the best of our knowledge. From WPR. |
| 0:45.0 | It's to the best of our knowledge. |
| 0:46.8 | I'm in Strange Champs. |
| 0:48.2 | I don't have that much of a social media presence, |
| 0:51.6 | mostly because it seems kind of stressful. |
| 0:56.1 | Representing yourself online, |
| 1:02.9 | curating your image, developing your personal brand. But then I have the luxury of not being a digital native. I didn't grow up having to figure out who I am online. But I know someone who did. |
| 1:12.6 | Producer Angelo Bautista. |
| 1:16.1 | Who are you? |
| 1:18.1 | Angelo Battista. |
| 1:20.6 | Date of birth. |
| 1:21.9 | August 22nd. |
| 1:23.6 | 1995. |
| 1:25.8 | Username. |
| 1:27.2 | Password. Log in. Okay. 1995, username, password, login. |
| 1:28.3 | When I was five years old, I dreamed of being in the internet. |
| 1:37.3 | Not on the internet, but inside of it. |
| 1:42.3 | My intro to the World Wide Web actually was not on the computer, |
| 1:46.0 | but through the Japanese animated TV series, Digimon, Digital Monsters. |
| 1:55.0 | Where a special group of kids get sucked into the digital world, |
... |
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