For Secretards

8/13/2008 | 4:00 PM | Evolved Rationalist

I know many of you are going to say "Old news is old!". However, I was just in an IM conversation with an atheist who buys into the claims made in ~~the retarded pile of poop~~ The Secret. (Yes, being an atheist does not automatically make one a skeptic). Therefore, I am posting this short review of this pile of trash to show that the main idea behind this woo is utter garbage.

Frankly, I've had it with Rhonda Byrne's clever money-making marketing tactics. The fact that millions of people have bought into her scam of the century tells us that skepticism has a long, long way to go before people actually start using their brains to distinguish woo from reality.

Before any fans of The Scam start screaming and yelling about how ignorant I am about the whole matter, let it be known that I have ~~suffered through~~ read the book.

The central tenet of The Scam: The Law of Attraction

A skeptic would immediately point out the fallacy of using the word 'Law' for this woo. A law (ie. my usual example, The Law of Gravitation) is something that has been shown to work every time. If I were to drop something, it would never hang stationary in mid-air.

Having positive thoughts won't cause some dent in the structure of reality and make good things happen to you. The same goes for negative thoughts. For example, someone may wish and wish for a million dollars to materialize out of nowhere, but it is simply not going to happen. The so-called Law of Attraction simply does not work the way it is claimed to work. If it is doubtful that it works at all, how could it be termed a Law - something that holds true every time?

I am not denying that a positive outlook is a good one to have in life, but it does not in any way mean that 'thoughts become things'. What the fuck is that? Again, you may wish for something to happen, but no amount of positive thinking will ensure that your wish will come true every single time. Calling it a law in the first place is simply a lie.

I'll sum it up (tl;dr version): Don't waste your money and your thoughts on this woo. Your self-worth is more than The Scam.

Posted in Book Review, Skepticism |

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