'The Selfishness of the Self-Help Industry' - Blaming the victim is good business.

[chaska]

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/04/12/469/


I am thinking of writing a book called The Power of Negative Thinking. Subtitle: Let's Hear It For Hate. Yes, let's hear it for pure, undiluted loathing, for negativity, for black-eyed bile.

I say this because I have just pored through the "book" that has thwacked Harry Potter into second place and sent The Da Vinci Code spinning back into its Vatican vault. The Secret - written by Australian reality TV producer Rhonda Byrne - has sold six million DVDs and books since it first sprouted a few months ago.

If you plough enough positive thinking into something, it will "always" happen. As one "case study" in the book puts it, "I would visualise a parking space exactly where I wanted it, and 95 per cent of the time it would be there for me and I would just pull right in." Another "case study" is of a woman diagnosed with breast cancer who shunned medical treatment, pictured herself without breast cancer really, really hard - and the cancer vanished.
By taking the cult of positive thinking to this extreme, The Secret reveals what was wrong with the idea all along: it instinctively blames all the people who falter or fail in life for their own misfortune.

The Secret takes this further, saying: "Our physiology creates disease to give us feedback, to let us know we have an unbalanced perspective, or we're not being loving and grateful." Ah, Aids - a sign of ingratitude. Cancer - a sign you don't love.

The Secret takes this to its sick logical conclusion. Did the 9/11 victims "attract" Mohammed Atta? Did the Jews "attract" Auschwitz? Yes: "If people believe they can be in the wrong place at the wrong time, those thoughts can attract them to being in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Bob Proctor, one of the "gurus" who features heavily in the book, was asked on the TV show Nightline whether the children of Darfur - currently being hunted down and murdered for being black - had been thinking negative thoughts that "manifested" in the Janjaweed. He replied, "I think the country probably has."

You won't find an answer out there, through getting involved with the society you live in, it says. "I made a decision I would not watch the news or read newspapers any more, because it did not make me feel good," the author declares. She urges her readers to shun their friends if they become sick, because "you are inviting illness if you are listening to people talking about their illness".

You shouldn't even look at fat people because that lets "fat thoughts" into your mind.

"Why do you think that 1 per cent of the population earns around 96 per cent of the money that's being earned?" it asks. Massive tax cuts, markets rigged in the favour of the rich, the rise of a right-wing ideology? No, "the rich think thoughts of abundance and wealth, and they do not allow any contradictory thoughts to take root in their minds." And as for the poor, "the only reason any person does not have enough money is because they are blocking money from coming to them in their thoughts."

Since the 1950s, whenever there has been a sense of economic anxiety - and for most poor and middle-class Americans, the Bush years have been a time of declining relative incomes even as the super-rich soar off into the stratosphere - this industry has been there with a simple message: the problem is you.

One of the reasons Bush has got away with so much is that so many Americans have internalised the cruel myths of the self-help industry.
Don't create political pressure for cheap houses for Katrina refugees; just tell them to visualise it very, very hard.
This is the real secret - that the book is a pure expression of Bushism: a slop of rancid aspiration-speak masking selfishness, social collapse and religiose myth-making.

In place of this siren vision of self-help, let's help each other. In place of obsessively changing yourself, let's change the world. And in place of blithe, blind optimism, yes - let's hate.

[bluerum]

1. There are a lot of good self help books out there - this one sounds like a loser. eom

[MADem]

2. Well, the ugly little 'Secret' apparently is that a bunch of people have hawked that piece of shit.

http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2007/03/05/the_secret/

One of them, quite well-known. I sense a shark-jumping in progress, myself:

But what really makes "The Secret" more than a variation on an old theme is the involvement of Oprah Winfrey, who lends the whole enterprise more prestige, and, because of that prestige, more venality, than any previous self-help scam. Oprah hasn't just endorsed "The Secret"; she's championed it, put herself at the apex of its pyramid, and helped create a symbiotic economy of New Age quacks that almost puts OPEC to shame.

Why "venality"? Because, with survivors of Auschwitz still alive, Oprah writes this about "The Secret" on her Web site, "the energy you put into the world -- both good and bad -- is exactly what comes back to you. This means you create the circumstances of your life with the choices you make every day." "Venality," because Oprah, in the age of AIDS, is advertising a book that says, "You cannot 'catch' anything unless you think you can, and thinking you can is inviting it to you with your thought." "Venality," because Oprah, from a studio within walking distance of Chicago's notorious Cabrini Green Projects, pitches a book that says, "The only reason any person does not have enough money is because they are blocking money from coming to them with their thoughts."

[chaska]

5. Bookmarked for later. Looks like a good one. Here's another...

http://carolynbaker.org/archives/the-secret-creating-a-culture-of-cheerfulness-as-rome-burns-by-carolyn-baker

[FloridaJudy]

21. Great link

Thanks for posting this.

[Beausoir]

7. Ouch. Takes Oprah to task pretty good.

All these billionaires claiming that The Secret is real. Makes me sick.

[chaska]

3. I agree to an extent...

I've read a lot of self-help and there are some good ones, BUT....

Lately, I'm thinking the way to sound mental/emotional health is 1) change this shitty world. And 2) relax and be yourself, warts and all.

My attitude lately is, "What's wrong with me?! Fuck you, what's wrong with you?"

[Jcrowley]

4. Don't even

get me started on this.

The cult of the individual. Casting blame on the individual so as to avoid any criticism or examination on the system that creates the victims and in some way victimizes us all.

K&R

Okay now let's all visualize IMPEACHMENT!!

Well now I guess we better get a social movement going since that didn't work.

[chaska]

6. Impeachment? Hell, I can't even visualize (into existence) lunch.

[KT2000]

8. What if people

were not obsessed with their looks, weight and the quest for making themselves the center of the universe?
Maybe just maybe people would feel connected to their environment and surroundings and do something to make it better.

This is a good essay - thanks.

[chaska]

9. Shit, they've turned us all into hermits. We're not good enough to go out in public....

We're too poor, we're too fat, we're not happy enough...

[MADem]

11. Well, that suits them, a segregated society. I say "Who cares what they think?"

Get in their faces, make their smug lives miserable!

They're not good enough if they're discriminatory in that fashion. IMO.

[hfojvt]

10. I hate selfishness, but I am not ready to promote hate as an answer

You have to have a little bit of optimism even to help others. Should I help that guy sitting on the side of the road? What if he decides to car-jack me? Without optimism that that won't happen or confidence in your own thug-dar, you might not stop to help.

[chaska]

12. I hear ya, but...

I posted another article the other day that also referenced hate. First, I think people are taking the word too seriously. I mean we say "I'm gonna kill you" in jest all the time, usually to the people we love the most, strangely. And second, I think hatred or something similar is a part of process of change. Anger is necessary for change to happen sometimes.

I realize that others will disagree, and I respect that.

[hfojvt]

14. taking it too seriously

I hate when that happens.

Seriously though, I think there is far too much hate in the world. The world is already "cold, cruel, dirty, and full of people who hate you and are mean to you just because you're different."

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

13. So, What is this "Secret" shit, in truth?

It is Cognitive Therapy writ stupid and magical.

Where did Cognitive Therapy come from, originally?

Ayn Rand and The Objectivists.

So, what is this really?

I don't know. Maybe Objectivism v2.0? New and improved! . With the addition of mystical, magical mumbo-jumbo! Perfect for providing cover for a lot of plutocrats!

[The Count]

16. I'd tell ya, but then I'd have to kill ya...Involves shutting your eyes tight and

shouting: "I believe in faeries! I believe in faeries!" I can't say more ...you have to buy the book :evilgrin:

[philly_bob]

24. More info on connection between cognitive therapy & objectivism & "Secret"

Tandalayo,

I have friends studying Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) who would blush at any connection with Ayn Rand or Objectivism.

I googled "Cognitive Therapy Objectivism" and saw Albert Ellis, one of the early pioneers, specifically condemned Objectivism in a book:

"While Ellis' many other books explain his Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy to professionals interested in cognitive approaches, this one introduces REBT to anyone seeking to change their thinking, emotions, and behavior. He traces its development and liberal philosophical roots. While he condemns extreme forms of religion, his most barbed arguments are against Ayn Rand's objectivism (which influenced some of his colleagues) as intolerant."

link: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?userid=38MUSELAQE&isbn=1-59102-237-1&itm=1

BUT ... the Ellis quote acknowledges an Objectivist influence on some of his colleagues, so there's something behind what you say.

Got any names, links or info on the connection of cognitive therapy to Ayn Rand & Objectivism?

[bbgrunt]

25. that is an interesting suggestion. I have trouble, however,

in linking the idea of this book--basically positive thinking--to objectivism. I definitely see the way this philosophy obscures the value of political activism. The philosophy itself seems more attuned to religious zealots or evangelicals who are willing to believe that all things come from a creator in the sky--and if they just connect to him and pray enough they will live the good life (or afterlife). the difference with the Secret book is that YOU are the supreme being who determines all.

Maybe I don't understand objectivism, but isn't it the underlying basis for the scientific method? So how is cognitive therapy related to objectivism?

[The Count]

15. Sounds a lot like "Jr's creating their own reality" - look how well THAT worked out!

Del politics, propaganda
The New York Times &62; Magazine &62; In the Magazine: Faith, Certainty and

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/17/magazine/17BUSH.html?ex=1176609600&en=9feb13aa5de7960c&ei=5070

Faith, Certainty and the Presidency of George W. Bush


By RON SUSKIND


Published: October 17, 2004


From the page: "The aide said that guys like me were ''in what we call the reality-based community,'' which he defined as people who ''believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.'' I nodded and murmured something about enlightenment principles and empiricism. He cut me off. ''That's not the way the world really works anymore,'' he continued. ''We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality -- judiciously, as you will -- we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.'"

What bugs me is, that with any successful lie - there is a grain of truth in "the Secret" (first time I heard of "it")
I used to quote Campbell's "follow your bliss" idea - I found it inspiring.
My point is, it's not totally false that concentrating your attention on something you want to accomplish will increase the chance of success.
It's making it into " fast magic for dummies" that becomes harmful.

[chaska]

18. Oh, here it is: the crux of the buscuit...

I ran across this blog the other day while looking at info on peak oil.

This article addresses the new age 'The Secret' stuff.

'Something similar happened to the New Age movement as it became less visionary and more marketable, and the subtle discipline of “live as though you’re creating the reality you experience” got dumbed down into “you create the reality you experience.”'


http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com/

The Shadow of our Downfall

One of the commonplaces of these communications was the claim that the Space Brothers were about to land en masse and usher in a new age of peace, brotherhood, and spiritual awakening. ... After repeated disappointments, though, several members of the contactee community came up with a novel response – the proposal that believers should live their lives in the ordinary world as if the new age had already arrived. By making the prophesied great change a reality in their own lives here and now, they hoped to catalyze it in the world as a whole.

It’s a brilliant strategy, for more reasons than one. To begin with, of course, making changes in your own life is the necessary first step toward making them at any other level of human society; Gandhi’s comment “You must be the change you hope to see in the world” is as much a guide to effective tactics as anything else. Yet there’s more going on here than clever politics; another factor at work is a very old but very potent technique for shaping consciousness. Put the ideal and the real cheek by jowl and learn to live with the cognitive dissonance between them, and the paradox itself can become a source of creativity and insight. It’s a core technique in the toolkit of initiatory schools since ancient times. Whether the original New Age communities got the idea from that source, or stumbled across it on their own, it quickly caught fire and spread across alternative scenes throughout the industrial world.

The strategy of paradox has a vulnerability, though. It’s all too easy to lose track of the “as if,” the gap between the ideal world and the real one where creative paradox lives, and start believing that the ideal world is the one that actually exists. ... Something similar happened to the New Age movement as it became less visionary and more marketable, and the subtle discipline of “live as though you’re creating the reality you experience” got dumbed down into “you create the reality you experience.”

Now of course each of us does play a part in creating the reality we experience, and subtle factors such as expectations and assumptions have a much more powerful role in that than most people realize. ... As the New Age movement gained members and lost focus, though, gimmicks of this sort became the basis for a philosophy of cosmic consumerism that claims the universe is supposedly set up to give people whatever they happen to want, so long as they ask for it in the right way.

It’s a very popular viewpoint, especially among the privileged middle classes of the industrial world, who are used to getting pretty much whatever they want anyway. It also sells exceedingly well, as its latest rehash – the current book and video phenomenon titled The Secret – shows clearly enough. The problem is that beyond a certain point, it doesn’t work in practice. You can try as hard as you like to convince yourself that the universe wants to give you whatever you want to get, but that doesn’t mean you will get it. At that point, the monkey trap closes tight around your hand, because the ideology you’ve embraced tells you that you have to believe completely in it to make it work, and so any awareness that it’s not working gets shoved aside as an obstacle to success.

[EFerrari]

17. You're singing my song.

This is one of the truest statements about this culture I've ever read.

K&R

[FloridaJudy]

19. The secret

Chaska wrote:

-snip- The Secret - written by Australian reality TV producer Rhonda Byrne...-snip-

Reality TV producer? I think that should be the red flag: pandering to the basest interests of humanity. If forced to take that job, I think I'd lie and tell folks I sold crack or managed a brothel. Byrne's pretty much in the same line of work IMHO.

[chaska]

20. Yeah, pretty much says it all, don't it?

[Odin2005]

22. I'm sick of all the "self-help" snake oil.

I've become convinced that that "self-help" crap is the ultimate expression of the narcissistic tendencies unleashed by the Baby Boomers'
obsession with "finding oneself," (a phrase that has always seemed meaningless craptrap to me).

[The Count]

23. Thanks! That's what I was thinking - better articulated...

So, from Ghandi to Bush: instead of inspiration to change your life, back to the ol' bootstraps, really. That clarified it for me just fine.

Interestingly enough, I remember the idiocy applied to health, psychotheraphy as well some years ago - "you didn't try hard enough" was a battle cry (against others) that infuriated me greatly.