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The so-called "Secret"

After watching the drawing/animation made of David Harvey's lecture on the financial crisis, I ran into this gem by the same production company:




After accidentally tuning into an episode of Oprah the other day (and then quickly turning off the television) I was once again reminded of how much I hate the whole "Secret" you can get whatever you want if your mental will is strong enough crap that Oprah, and others like Oprah spew. This animated talk by Barbara Ehrenreich, I believe, is a good response.

Except the garbage found in books like The Secret, or the health-and-wealth doctrine of the Christian right (God wants you to be rich, if you aren't rich it's simply because you're not praying hard enough or because God doesn't like you), is nothing all that new. Nor is it all that "secret"... It's pretty much another reiteration of the bourgeois ideology common very common in America: if you work hard enough you'll succeed; if you're poor it's because you're simply lazy. This is a key ideological facet of capitalism because it is mobilized to maintain that capitalism can be utopian if every individual just tried hard enough, prayed hard enough, or drew on their karmic mind powers to maximize their inner potential. So, when people fail and end up poor, it's easy to say: well it's just your fault - don't blame the system.

I'm sick and tired of seeing people read The Secret on the bloody subway...

Comments

  1. One time I prayed really hard for a DQ Blizzard but nothing happened.

    Although, the next day I got a punch in the face - that's some sort of sign, right?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes, it's a sign that God and/or the Universe does not like you. You have only yourself to blame for the punch in the face.

    ReplyDelete

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