By Craig P. Dixon, southcoast247.com correspondent Social Commentary 111
May 15th, 2007
TIME Magazine's 100 Most Influential People edition came out last week. Much
of the same shit. Some predictable choices made the cut. Steve Jobs (Apple).
Al Gore (Global Warming). Brian Williams (NBC Nightly News). Sacha Baron
Cohen (Borat).
Then, there were the unpredictable choices. Tyra Banks, "for
"empower(ing) young women in dealing with issues of physicality and
self-respect". Though I wonder how many people get the message. Her show is
terrible.
Nancy Pelosi, for taking over as Speaker of the House. Whoo
fucking hoo. Since Pelosi took the reigns, Congressional Democrats have
steadfastly eroded every advantage they gained in the election with useless,
symbolic posturing. As a card-carrying Democrat, I'm horrified by the
actions of the current Congress. Instead of looking for real solutions in
Iraq, Congress keeps passing budget bills that continuously earn the
Presidential Veto. Supposedly, it's what America wants. But opinion polls
beg to differ.
Once was cute. But repeating the performance is a waste. I'm
embarrassed. At this rate, we may see that knucklehead Romney in the White
House in '08. And we all remember the wealth of good he did for
Massachusetts.
I'd like to pry open her third eye
Then, there's Frenchman Thierry Henry, for his campaign to
fight racism. I wasn't even sure an American magazine like TIME knew that
soccer players like Henry existed.
But nothing appalled me more than the
choice of Rhonda Byrne, author of "The Secret".
Never heard of "The
Secret"? What is The Secret, exactly? Drum roll please... Opening the
envelope... And here it is. "Positive thinking brings about positive
outcomes."
Wow. Some fucking secret. All for only 13 bucks for a hardcover,
or 30 bucks for the DVD. Now, add in a little help from Oprah. Multiply by
the 4 million books that sold in six months and 2 million DVDs that sold in
a year, and you've got more than 6 million retards buying into this
shit.
The idea that just THINKING positively will bring about a positive
outcome is nothing new, and positively bullshit. One can just as well go
about thinking negatively and achieve positive goals, as long as one ACTS.
Action brings reactions, not thought.
The Secret is also known as "the law
of attraction". Scientifically, there are many laws of attraction. One says
that like forces repel, rather than attract. Another is that of gravity, and
how a tremendously huge object shall draw smaller objects to it. Let's put
it into use.
Take one big fucking blowhard (Oprah) and have some little
freaky wingnut with an "amazing" idea come into the picture (Byrne). Like a
gargantuan mass of shit, Oprah draws the little fly that is Byrne to her,
creating a monstrous mass of self-righteous bullshit that serves to bring
more stupid flies to the festering pile.
It's funny that the pushers of a
bullshit idea like "The Secret" are always ALREADY rich. Most of them, like
Oprah, claim they were utilizing "the law of attraction" without even
knowing it. "It's easy." They say. "Just think positively, and wealth,
success, romance, will come to you. WITHOUT EVEN TRYING!"
Wrong. There are
many disturbing facts about "The Secret", as purported by people like Byrne.
Let's dwell on two of these, courtesy of Newsweek.
1. Visualization of
success is your first step to it. Want to lose weight? Stop looking at fat
people. Byrne says, "If you see people who are overweight, do not observe
them, but immediately switch your mind to the picture of you in your perfect
body and feel it."
Out of sight, out of mind, so to speak. According to
Byrne, being overweight is a mental, not physical, state. In kind, if you
want to get rich, simply ignore the poor and homeless. See only successful,
moneyed individuals. And you'll be one. Simple as that.
Gone is the idea of
hard work. Just visualizing your goal will bring it to you. Huzzah!
2. Thinking positively can manipulate physical reality. Like Yoda using the
Force, if you believe that that number is going to pop up on the roulette
wheel, it will happen. If you focus enough on that car you want, you'll get
it.
Of course, the opposite is true. If you think negatively, negative
things will happen in the physical. If you're worried about getting held up,
you'll get held up. And the worst thing is: Years of an area's cumulative
negative energy can result in horrible tragedies.
The couple of hundred
years of debauchery in New Orleans brought Katrina, and the negativity of
the storm-ravaged residents sewed the aftermath. The cumulative fear of the
Sudanese has brought the genocide upon them. The Jews had the Holocaust
coming to them because of... well, who knows.
Of course, there aren't any
examples of great positive happenings on a large scale. No populations
warding off natural disasters with positive thinking. No countries avoiding
military invasion with nationwide prayer.
The very idea that a population
could avoid tragedy just by practicing The Secret is irresponsible,
delusional and preposterous. To think that the Jews, in some way, reaped the
Holocaust due to their thoughts is a disgusting idea. Or that natural
disasters, rather than being naturally occurring events that hit certain
places due to naturally occurring weather and geological patterns, choose
where they strike because the populous has a negative outlook, is a crackpot
idea.
"The Secret" is very dangerous fuzzy math, indeed. Like a snake-oil
merchant, Byrne is laughing all the way to the bank while marketing this
dangerous shit to people looking for a quick fix to their fucked up lives.
By the time they figure out that The Secret has gotten them nowhere, it'll
be too late. Byrne and her ever-present third-eye will be on to the next
great tonic.
TIME Magazine's 100 Most Influential People edition came out last week. Much
of the same shit. Some predictable choices made the cut. Steve Jobs (Apple).
Al Gore (Global Warming). Brian Williams (NBC Nightly News). Sacha Baron
Cohen (Borat).
