The Wrath of the Secretrons - Connie L. Schmidt (re: "The Secret")

[greyl]

For the past few months I’ve been getting some pretty interesting hate mail in response to my blog, Whirled Musings. I created WM as a humor blog, dedicated largely to making fun of the New-Wage subculture. That’s my term for the prosperity-obsessed, MLM-loving segment of the New-Age and motivational crowd (or, to use a term coined by my partner Ron Kaye, the “hustledorks”). I also like to hit on more traditional New-Age targets, as well as pop spirituality, self-help, and the silly side of the corporate world.

But some people aren’t laughing. In fact, some are pretty upset with me. They’ve accused me of being overly negative, ignorant, and a hate-monger. One person even advised me that I’m committing some of the same acts that led to the extermination of eleven million human beings during the Third Reich.

“LADY, THIS IS HOW THE HOLOCAUST STARTED, WITH CUTE LITTLE ATTACKS LIKE YOURS,” one writer said in response to one of my recent blog posts.

“Keep it up, make it funny, make it (slowly but surely) PALITABLE (sic) TO THE MASSES to attack those with ideas that you don’t like.”

So just what have I been doing? Making unconscionable racial and ethnic slurs on my blog? Encouraging my readers to go out and implement the Final Solution?

No, I have been making fun of that mystical, motivational, and astonishingly successful franchise called The Secret, as well as some of its “stars.” I once received only supportive comments on my blog; that changed when I turned my satirical eye to The Secret. The Holocaust alarmist’s missive was just one in a string of disapproving messages I’ve been receiving in response to my numerous potshots at the marketing coup of the Aquarian Age.
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[Mojorabbit]

1. What is strange to me

and I guess it should not be is why anyone should make fun of those who are into the secret and other new age stuff. If you are not into it then leave it alone and let those who are alone. Not a hard thing to do after all. It works for being tolerant of other's religions.

[cyborg_jim]

3. LADY, THAT IS HOW THE HOLOCAUST STARTED

Ideas should be challenged. Always.

[Mojorabbit]

6. I am sure you are joking

The law of attraction is an ancient concept. The secret is repackaging it with a new age flavor. If one wants to follow it's concepts, surely it is none of your business as it is none of mine.

[greyl]

7. Please, state the Law Of Attraction in scientific terms.

As The Secret claims to make reasonable extrapolations of scientifically verified "truths", this should be easy.

[Mojorabbit]

8. It is a metaphysical concept

The people hawking the latest version are pushing a simplified view of the concept. Thirty years ago when I was into Wicca it was part of my religious training. One of the books I studied at the time was a fifteenth centruy tome by Agrippa which had this concept in it.
My cardilogist from india gave me a book which had a similar concept in it years ago also. It had to do with choosing your emotional response to what happens around you.
None of this is new.
What this movie does in my opinion is concentrates on wealth, on physical things. When you change your way of thinking you change how you look at the world and how you react to events. The change is within, not without. The change within is the real secret.

That being said, I still think if someone wants to believe this in a metaphysical way it is none of my business, just as if someone wants to believe in the Easter story, or Passover story, it is also none of my business. I don't want everyone to think or believe as I do, but as they want as long as they don't harm anyone else by their beliefs.

[greyl]

9. In "The Secret", it is claimed to be a scientific law.

Is it ok to point out the ridiculousness of that statement, or not?

[Mojorabbit]

10. I'd like ypur opinion

on this article. I am serious. I have read many like it but physics is not my strong point. I post this only to show that it seems that the "like attracts like" seems to apply in some areas of science.
http://www.aip.org/pnu/2003/split/650-2.html

[cyborg_jim]

12. This is a common abused of science

Just because something is valid in one domain it is NOT valid in another.

Besides, there's about a bazillion examples of physical laws that demonstrate the opposite.

[Mojorabbit]

13. I certainly did not say it was valid in all

and I made sure to point out that the whole topic is a metaphysical one in my view. That it is valid at times in some science is something to consider, not the whole enchilada.

[cyborg_jim]

14. No it is not something to consider - it doesn't mean a damn

Because there's nothing that says X has to work like Y just because Y works like Y. You have to actually examine X.

[greyl]

15. That's a fine scientific article. Can you look at the wiki entry for Cognitive behavioral therapy?

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
...
The basics

CBT is based on the idea that how we think (cognition), how we feel (emotion) and how we act (behavior) all interact together. Specifically, our thoughts determine our feelings and our behavior. Therefore, negative - and unrealistic - thoughts can cause us distress and result in problems.

One example could be someone who, after making a mistake, thinks "I'm useless and can't do anything right." This impacts negatively on mood, making the person feel depressed; the problem may be worsened if the individual reacts by avoiding activities. As a result, a successful experience becomes more unlikely, which reinforces the original thought of being "useless." In therapy, the latter example could be identified as a self-fulfilling prophecy or "problem cycle," and the efforts of the therapist and client would be directed at working together to change this. This is done by addressing the way the client thinks in response to similar situations and by developing more flexible thought patterns, along with reducing the avoidance of activities. If, as a result, the client escapes the negative thought pattern, the feelings of depression may be relieved. The client may then become more active, succeed more often, and further reduce feelings of depression.

Thoughts as the cause of emotions

With thoughts stipulated as being the cause of emotions rather than the outcome or by-product, cognitive therapists reverse the causal order more generally used by psychotherapists. Therefore, the therapy is to identify those irrational or maladaptive thoughts that lead to negative emotion and identify what it is about them that is irrational or just not helpful; this is done in an effort to reject the distorted thoughts and replace them with more realistic alternative thoughts, in a process sometimes referred to as cognitive-shifting.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is not an overnight process. Even after patients have learned to recognize when and where their thought processes go awry, it can take months of concerted effort to replace an irrational thought process or habit with a more reasonable, salutary one.
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Now, what's the bloody secret?

The secret? Conspiracy theories sell
Runaway success of self-help DVD, book a lesson in savvy marketing
Dave Mcginn, National Post
Published: Monday, March 05, 2007

snip>
If the secret of the movie is a well-known piece of pop psychology, why is The Secret so popular? Its phenomenal success says as much about the power of conspiracy in marketing as it does about people's endless desire to achieve health, wealth and happiness.

The DVD begins with a shot of a man in a tunic stealing away with a papyrus as a voice-over promises that an ancient secret, hidden from most of mankind, is about to be revealed. It is a secret that "they" have suppressed throughout the centuries because of its power, a secret known to Beethoven, Lincoln, Einstein and 19th-century robber barons.

This is the secret behind The Secret's runaway success: It is the Da Vinci Code of self-help, a run-of-the-mill premise cloaked in a conspiracy theory.
<snip
more, 2 pages

[greyl]

16. knock knock. nt

[cyborg_jim]

11. Bollocks

Who gives a crap how old or new the idea is - it's still fair game to be analysed and criticised. There's no magic formula I can see that says some ideas are set aside in an ivory tower where they can't be touched and others are free to be poked and prodded.

[greyl]

4. How can it be made more clear that the prime target of derision is "The Secret" franchise?

I have zero reason to remain quiet about people who are effectively stealing money from a target audience.

[tomreedtoon]

2. If you're not with Oprah, you're with the terrorists!

I knew there was something wrong when Oprah began pushing this. I was bothered when she brought "Dr. Phil" on her show and then sent him spinning off on his own show, and now it seems Oprah has taken a giant leap into hucksterism.

Decades of success have finally corrupted Oprah. Perhaps the worst part was her "Oprah's Favorite Things," her paen to the commercialization of Christmas. She looks as bad as that claymation version of herself on Robot Chicken, who offered to use "the power of Oprah" to raise your dead relatives so you could visit Grandma again.

I liked the entire article, and I will look up the book "SHAM" mentioned on your site. Sounds like a tasty read.

[greyl]

5. I agree. She's a false prophet of sorts, a figurehead of our commercial culture.

People are literally buying it. I'm glad you brought up her Favorite Things Christmas list. Her endorsement of the magic watch is pathetic.
"Oprah Winfrey endorsing "magic" watch" DU thread.

She is a nearly constant tosser of consumer driven Faith Salad.