Everyone says that you ought to be your authentic self. But what if your authentic self is an asshole...

>Everyone says that you ought to be your authentic self
This is modernist degeneracy. You should strive to fulfil whatever societal and filial roles and duties you are allotted by Providence and to be a good Christian, not seek some special snowflake "self".

Certainly, because as we all know, using the phrase "special snowflake" to describe an idea immediately and totally invalidates it.

If you are advanced enough, you realise that your authentic self can never was and can never be an 'asshole'. So that's not a problem :)

Not an argument.

Just be entirely yourself

Neither is spouting groundless oughts.

Not an argument.

Sartre and Nietzsche definitely were quite asshole-ish irl, you know.

Now the real problem is that none of us has any access to "our real selves". We can interpret ourselves and play out what we "find", but there is no direct access. A permanent self doesn't even exist.

So what if your spontaneous acts are asshole-ish? Are they "the real you"? No.
Your spontaneous acts are the stuff that is really made up of your environment and your imaginary relationship to it. There's nothing authentic about sticking to spontaneity. You're at your most authentic when you consciously choose something and then do it. This does not require ditching morality - just be responsible for the very morality that you choose to base your acts on.

Being nice to your employer - just do it if you choose to do so, either for ethical or for pragmatic reasons or whatever. That is the part where authenticity comes into play.

His becoming a nazi was... kind of the opposite what you're describing. He saw and opportunity and seized it, but it ended up failing miserably. He is actually kind of a rare case of a heavyweight philosopher doing even as much as failing at actualizing his theories on a societal level. Most stick to theory, or at least don't take up the dirty work like Heidegger did.

So I guess we'll keep shouting "not an argument" at each other until one of us dies or gets bored?

That sounds interesting. Could you elaborate?