John Ratcliff's Weblog

I have a confession to make. For three evenings I have made posts about this 'The Secret' crap. Tonights post makes the fourth in a row and, I promise (I hope) will be the last. My confession is that for the first two posts I had never actually even seen 'The Secret' movie. I had only read online commentary about it and, most disconcerting, the Oprah fan-girls who were jumping up and down about how 'true it was' and 'how it would change their life'. I figured that was enough for me to pass comment. Last night I watched the first twenty minutes online on Google video and my assessment was largely confirmed. However, today, I received my copy of the full video in the mail. Yes, I actually paid about $26 to buy this DVD. I bought it because I wanted to know just what was going out into popular culture. I watched it this evening and I am simply appalled. I would be thrilled if 'The Secret' was only half as bad as my first post had indicated. In my fi...

I realize I have reached the point where I should just 'drop this', and I'm pretty much ready to. However, after a spate of comments on this blog today I thought, hey, maybe I was a bit to harsh? Maybe I'm sending out too many negative vibes into the Universe by being critical of Ms. Oprah and Mr. Crowley? So, I clicked on the following google video link and watched the first twenty minutes of 'The Secret' for myself. Suddenly I realize I was far too kind. Every comment I made about materialism was valid. Every comment I made about bullshit marketing and packaging was dead on accurate. Whenever one of the commentators attempts to wrap any of this into a 'scientific' context bullshit spews forth like a bird regurgitating to fill its nest. Watch it and draw your own opinions. I now stand firmly behind everything I said before. Finally, I must close with the following disclaimer. Thinking in a positive way *is* a good principle upon which to conduct your li...

Last night, I had a few beers and went off on a rant about Oprah and 'The Secret'. You would think I would be done with the topic, that I would have gotten it out of my system but, sadly, I have not. It seems I still have a few beers left in the ice box. Last night my pet peeve was the notion that any of this stuff was 'secret' and I expressed my dislike with the way this material has been marketed. I also said that it was largely 'harmless' since I never waste a lot of time and energy arguing against any philosophy that promotes the benefit of 'positive thinking'. I can't argue too hard, since I believe sincerely that it is better to be a positive person than a negative person. Also, deep down inside, I actually subscribe to a lot of the concepts that are regurgitated in 'The Secret' so my critique has to be a bit more complex than simply saying 'hey, that's a load of New Age bullshit.' My follow up post today focuses on just how...