When I first watched The Secret I thought it was pretty inspiring, although I had a problem with its focus on using the power of positive thinking to acquire material possessions – which is in complete opposition to my way of life. But I do believe that our thoughts are powerful and I couldn’t help thinking about how useful it would be if people learned to tap into that power for really positive things – like ending wars and averting the looming disaster of the consequences of global warming.
I needed a reminder that my thoughts can impact my life, and personally, when I started thinking about some of things I was looking for in my life as if they were already there, they began to appear. So I told some close friends about The Secret. I became an enthusiastic participant in the viral marketing that has catapulted the movie to success.But something kept bothering me about the movie.
I kept going back to some of the bold statements it made that clearly put the blame for the catastrophic things happening in the world on the people who were suffering from those catastrophes. It implied that if only they had used the Law of Attraction properly, wars, famine and natural disasters would never occur. I’ve been researching and writing for the past four years to uncover who is really responsible for the tragedies happening all around us – from the alarming number of homeless people living on the streets of American towns and cities, to the surge of killer hurricanes and the failure to deal with their devastation, to the environmental carnage that is going to make our planet unlivable for all eternity if we don’t DO SOMETHING NOW!
The Secret isn’t a secret at all. They’ve taken an old idea and given it a pretty marketing makeover. Rename the power of positive thinking, The Law of Attraction and make a sexy infomercial disguised as a movie and you’ve got a money-maker. We’ve been down this "blame the victim" road before. It’s déjà vu. Remember The Celestine Prophecy? Same bullshit, different package. Read what I had to say about that book in 1997.
You wouldn’t believe the absolutely vile emails people sent to me because of my criticism of Celestine. I can only imagine the blubbering responses I’ll get for criticizing The Secret. Maybe I can use an even more critical piece as a deflector shield. Here, if you don’t like what I’m saying, you just have to read this: Oprah’s Ugly Secret. Imagine criticizing "The Secret" and Oprah in the same blog -- That’s asking for punishment!
Here’s why I don’t buy the "Blame the Victim" philosophy. This past Saturday we had a dozen or so teenagers attend our Progressive Democrats of America meeting in Vista. Dr. Milton Saier was our featured speaker. Apparently an enlightened high school teacher thought his topic – the Impact of Over Population on the Planet – was important enough to offer the students credit if they attended. Dr. Saier had some very grim predictions about the future these kids are inheriting. And as the emcee for this event, I had the disquieting task of standing before the audience after his talk and looking at the faces of these kids. They were devastated. Isn’t anyone telling our young people what’s happening to the planet we’re turning over to them?
I couldn’t help worrying, what if hearing this is just so shocking that one of these kids can’t handle it and does something terrible, like ending his life? All I could do was try to offer them hope – hope that I’m really having a hard time believing in, myself. I told them that a lot of adults are working very hard to turn things around. What I didn’t say is that a lot of greedy bastards with unlimited money and power, who don’t give a damn about any of us, are thwarting our efforts every step of the way.
So tell me, do you think that these kids will get the future they create with their positive thinking? They are growing up in a world that has groomed them to be conspicuous consumers. They are part of the problem that is carving their future in stone and The Secret encourages that behavior – instant gratification without personal responsibility for the consequences. Do you think they can end global warming by thinking that that a spanky new Hummer is theirs for the wishing?
Can you see the danger of perpetuating a belief that if we think negatively about something. then it’s our thoughts that are responsible for the bad stuff that happens? What I think about global warming isn’t going to change anything. And refusing to think about the consequences of doing nothing certainly isn’t going to change the consequences of doing nothing. I’m doing everything I can to find real, albeit difficult, solutions to the problems we’re facing and I’m fed up with people who propagate easy fixes to the masses. There is no easy fix for this mess. Sound-byte solutions won’t solve anything. It’s going to take a lot more that wishful thinking to save our planet and people who spread myths that say otherwise are just making my job a lot harder.
Let’s go on the premise that there still is a possibility we can turn things around. And let’s agree that it’s going to take hard work and sacrifice to do it. It’s time to put aside our differences: political... religious... even what we deem moral... Let’s start cooperating and stop competing. Let’s take personal responsibility to do more than our share. Are you with me on this?
Here’s something you can do right now. I’ve joined with Mark Brosius to give grassroots groups the tools they need to be more effective so we stop wasting time re-inventing the wheel. You can go to Netrootz.com and search for events happening in your area – all kinds of events for progressives, from meetings, to peace vigils to environmental fairs. But this resource is only as good as the events that are entered into the system, so any group can use the calendar & email blaster tools on Netrootz.com FOR FREE.
You don’t even have to be a formalized organization to sign up. Give your group a name and a description and you’re in – as long as your mission is congruent with the Progressive agenda – i.e. no hate groups allowed. By adding your events to the Netrootz calendar, you’ll be helping to empower the growing progressive movement of people around the world cooperating to create positive change. If you have a group, go to Netrootz.com and click on "Sign Up My Group". And we’ll get you going – for free! It’s simple and it’s a whole lot more powerful than wishful thinking. We also offer an easy-to-use website builder for a monthly fee of $25, but you don’t need to have that to use the free calendar and email tools.
Also, if you’d like to know more about me – check out my new website: www.criscenzo.com.