Letters to the Editor
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how dare she?!?
Support a message that advocates positive thinking and encourages people to make their lives better? What a MONSTER!
I've seen The Secret. It has its flaws, oh yes it does. It oversimplifies things, several of the experts say some unfortunate things (such as "nobody knows how electricity works," which in this pseudo-philosophy should more correctly be stated, "nobody knows exactly what energy (electricity) is."), and it overly caters to the "I wanna be a millionaire" mentality.
On the other hand, it does a serviceable job presenting to a mass audience two basic notions that I think everyone should be familiar with:
-- Thoughts are things.
-- Negative thinking begets negative results.
The larger philosophical questions that frustrated the author -- particularly "Did the victims of [insert tragedy here] bring their suffering unto themselves?" -- are ones that philosophers continue to wrestle with. I hardly think we should all grab our torches and pitchforks and go after Oprah and the producers of this video because they managed to gloss over such existential conundrums that vex even the greatest thinkers of our time.
I, for one, commend Oprah for trying to help people. We all can argue til we're blue in the face as to whether her support for this particular message is misguided or not, but at least she's doing something.
Finally, a plug: for anyone interested in this kind of stuff presented in a less sensationalistic and more intellectually curious way, I'd recommend looking in to Concept Therapy (http://www.concept-therapy.org). They're a state-chartered educational institute headquartered in San Antonio, TX, and are not out to sell anyone anything (other than continuing coursework and related materials) or convert anyone to any religion. For a person entirely not inclined toward "self-help B.S.," I found a lot of their approach rather helpful.