Jun 19 2007
More on “The Secret” and New Age bullshit
A few months ago, I wrote about “The Secret”, a best-selling New Age book that is based on the bogus premise of the “Law of Attraction”, a new age idea that similar things attract each other, so positive thoughts bring positive things and negative ones bring negative things. Sure. It’s complete bullshit, with no real “science” to speak of, even though its proponents like to tie it into quantum theory.. Anyways, I stumbled across a nifty site, The Secret Lie, that takes on the premises of the bestselling book, as well as nails the mechanics of New Age trends and scams quite well:
Definition: Snake oil peddler; “a traveling”doctor” with dubious credentials, selling some medicine (such as snake oil) with boisterous marketing hype, often supported by pseudo-scientific evidence, typically bogus. To enhance sales, an accomplice in the crowd (a “shill”) would often “attest” the value of the product in an effort to provoke buying enthusiasm.
Does this sound familiar?
It should, because it’s the very same set of tactics used to promote and sell The Secret as well as dozens of other so called law of attraction products.
Basically, the strategy goes something like this:
1) Create a product that promises to show you how to get whatever you want by merely thinking and dreaming about it.
2) Label your product something along the lines of “The Secret”, “The Irrefutable Law of Attraction”, “The Science of Intentional Creationism”, “Wealth Beyond Comprehension”, “Attract a BMW by Tonight”, “Ask and It’s Yours Guaranteed”, “Feel Your Way to Riches” etc. and so forth.
3) Be sure to add in a healthy dose of the latest quantum physics research as well as some obscure “science” or long-lost ancient wisdom “proving” how easy it is to manipulate matter and the physical world. Mix in a few conspiracy theories or unverifiable salacious stories and you’re well on the way to a blockbuster hit.
There’s a few more steps to it. Have a look, it’s really too bad that people seem to fall for these things all of the time. Comfort is easier than truth, I guess. There’s also a blog and some links. And a good spoof of the Secret that aired on Saturday Night live a while ago, here. Funny stuff, check it out.
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In my blog, I reproduce a table with seven alternatives to evidence based medicine.
That was funny… you can look at the whole joke here. Thanks.