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Opening Arguments

No big secret

A wildly popular self-help book that's mostly delusional nonsense?

The scenes unfold in "The Secret," a 90-minute-long DVD advocating the power of positive thinking that has sold 2 million copies. More than 5.2 million copies of the book of the same name are in print.

While "The Secret" has become a pop culture phenomenon, it also has drawn critics who are not quiet about labeling the movement a fad, embarrassingly materialistic or the latest example of an American propensity of wanting something for nothing.

Some medical professionals suggest it could even lead to a blame-the-victim mentality and actually be dangerous to those suffering from serious illness or mental disorders.

"It's a triumph of marketing and magic," said John Norcross, a psychologist and professor at the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania who conducts research on self-help books. He believes some are very useful when backed by science and focused on specific problems, such as depression.

" 'The Secret' has earned my antipathy for its outrageous, unproven assertions that I believe go beyond the ordinary overpromises of most self-help books into a danger realm," he said.

Shocking. We're just recycling earlier entertainments and making them ever bigger and sillier. "Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour" becomes "American Idol." And "The Secret" is just Norman Vincent Peale's "Power of Positive Thinking" for people who don't really think.

Posted in: Popular culture

Comments

Bob G.
Tue, 06/26/2007 - 8:36am

It's so true that "Everything old is new AGAIN"...isn't it?

That means there's hope for US, Leo...LOL!

B.G.

tim zank
Tue, 06/26/2007 - 9:22am

I had to suffer through that movie, and it was interminable. Just re-hashed power of positive thinking bordering on spiritual fanatacism.

One of Oprah's faves....that sums it up, no?

No big secret at ChrysTay.com | Self Help | Personal Growth
Tue, 06/26/2007 - 1:32pm

[...] Original post by twocats [...]

Karen Goldner
Tue, 06/26/2007 - 2:02pm

This stuff always reminds me of that Saturday Night Live bit from the late 1980's with self-help guru Stuart Smalley (Al Franken) talking into a mirror: "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough and dog-gone it, people like me!" Of course, this was normally said in the context of events where people clearly DIDN'T like him, but one must never underestimate the power of positive thinking!

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