The Truth About Oprah Winfrey - The Secret - and Poverty
by Steve ----Bookmark on del.icio.us----I never liked Oprah.
The first time I heard about Oprah was sometime in 1985 or 1986 when a friend called…
“Dude, ya gotta turn on channel 4”
“Why”
“There’ skinheads on Oprah, man”
“Yeah, so what, who the f.ck is Oprah?”
“Dude, you don’t know who Oprah is? She’s this black chick on TV and she’s got skinheads on. It’s unreal, dude. One of ‘em just called her a monkey. I almost sh!t.”
“Okay, Okay, dude, I’ll turn it on… see ya”
Click
I don’t remember what I was doing, but I didn’t watch Oprah. I wasn’t interested. Remember this was a year or two before the infamous Geraldo skinhead show in 1988. Oprah set the standard – anything for ratings. She was the original attention whore, influencing the Downey, Geraldo, and Springer copycats. I’ve never lent Oprah much credibility because of these early publicity stunts. So I must smack my ego and admit not only do I admire the woman today, I am going to defend her.
Since Oprah endorsed “The Secret” several credible websites (www.salon.com) have attacked her. The most popular attack piece is a superfluous rant by Peter Birkenhead.
This is his first sentence.
By continuing to hawk “The Secret,” a mishmash of offensive self-help clichés, Oprah Winfrey is squandering her goodwill and influence, and preaching to the world that mammon is queen.
Do you know what mammon is? It is a biblical term that implies wealth is evil, which is one of the 10 things I wish I had never believed and one of many beliefs that keep people poor.
Here is sample of Mr. Birkenhead’s page 1 word choice:
mammon, snake oil, clichés, partners-in-con, pyramid scheme, quacks, Amway…
Peter uses another biblical term to describe Oprah – “venality” – which is synonymous with “corrupt” and “dishonest.” So instead of saying, “Oprah is corrupt and dishonest”, he uses his thesaurus to soften his attack.
Why does Peter accuse Oprah of moral corruption (venality)?
Since victims of genocide, AIDS, rape, poverty, and other injustices exist – and “The Secret” teaches, “you become what you think about” – Peter concludes Oprah is blaming these victims.
Nothing could be further from the truth. This is what “The Secret” teaches:
Yes, you may be a victim of something in the past. But it is in the past and it cannot be changed, so do not dwell on the misfortunes of the past. Look to any past misfortune in the most positive possible way so that you may learn from it. Do not let past injustices lead to helplessness, hopelessness, victim hood, despair, negativity, depression, anger, guilt, shame, or revenge. These things perpetuate the cycle of misery and violence. Think positive optimistic thoughts because you cannot change the past; you can only change the future. Positive thoughts lead to positive emotions, which lead to positive actions eventually leading to positive experiences. This formula not only creates positive results for you, but it will infect everyone you meet. You are not to blame for everything bad that happens, but dwelling on negative past experiences leads to depression, anger, and violence. So change the way you think, feel, and act and change your future.
Another critic wrote “The Secret” isn’t about positive thinking, it’s about blowing rainbow colored unicorns out of your ass just by thinking about them. No it isn’t. It is about creating positive thoughts, feelings, and actions.
Mr. Birkenhead writes:
“Venality,” because Oprah, from a studio within walking distance of Chicago’s notorious Cabrini Green Projects, pitches a book that says, “The only reason any person does not have enough money is because they are blocking money from coming to them with their thoughts.”
First, Cabrini Green is being demolished and replaced with a much better system that disperses the poor throughout the city rather than have them concentrated in a giant government ghetto. This change was due in part to the thoughts, feelings, and actions of people like Ms. Winfrey.
Second, I don’t know Mr. Birkenhead’s background, so I don’t know if he’s ever been poor. But I assure you Oprah has been poor – very poor. She was born in the Deep South to unmarried teenage parents; her grandmother raised her in rural poverty until age six. She later moved with her mother to a Milwaukee ghetto, where starting at age 9, her uncle, cousin, and family friends sexually abused her. She was a teenage runaway that lived on the streets and had a baby who died as an infant.
I will not argue that folks living in ghettos like Cabrini Green are to blame for their situation, but I will argue that they will never escape poverty until they change the way they think. Oprah could take her billions and give it to the 15,000 former residents of Cabrini Green and it wouldn’t make a difference. In the long run, it would probably make it worse.
Why do I come to this conclusion? Because I’ve been poor and homeless. I’ve lived it from the inside. Many of my friends grew up in welfare projects raised by single mothers. I know the culture and I lived the belief system. There is a difference between looking at poverty from the outside (like many intellectuals) and actually experiencing it yourself. I know I need to be careful here – but the truth is – when I was poor, my thinking was extremely effed up. Every poor man around me had the same screwy thoughts and ideas. We had screwed up ideas about women, class, money, respect, work, violence, race, education, and sex. Some people believe poverty creates this ugly value system, but I disagree, this value system creates poverty. To reduce poverty, people need to change the way they think, especially young males, and “The Secret” tells people they have the power to change the way they think. Every positive change begins with a positive thought and nothing will change in your life unless you first take control of your thoughts.
People also believe poverty causes violence, but if this were true, eliminating violence would be easy, just give poor people stuff and violence would disappear. But we’ve tried that and it doesn’t work because the problem isn’t lack of money, it’s screwed up values, especially among young men. Poverty doesn’t create violence; violence creates poverty. You don’t believe me? What do you think will happen to your financial situation if you started using violence to solve your problems? What if your neighbors decided to use violence to solve problems? Would poverty increase or decrease in your neighborhood?
Mr. Birkenhead also states:
And worse than the idiocy and the bullshitting is its anti-intellectualism, because that’s at the root of the other two. Here’s “The Secret” on reading…”When I discovered ‘The Secret’ I made a decision that I would not watch the news or read newspapers anymore, because it did not make me feel good,”
Peter’s writing implies “The Secret” advocates “ignorance is bliss,” but again, nothing is further form the truth. Newspapers and TV promote ignorance and fear.
I could cite a hundred examples, but here’s just one:
Most parents don’t let their children ride bikes to the park or to school anymore. Why? They’re afraid of stranger abduction. When you ask them if they rode their bike to the park by themselves when they were children, they say, “yes, but things are different today, it’s more dangerous for children. There are more creeps walking the streets.” They’re right – things are different today – the incidence sex crime has dropped 70% in the last thirty years! Do you know what else changed? Mainstream TV and print media sensationalize every child abduction, which scares the sh!t out of parents even though it is the rarest of crimes.
Almost all news is negative. If you believe newspapers and television, you will believe the whole world is going to hell, but it isn’t, it’s getting better everyday. Could it be better? Yep. Should we think, feel, and act in a way that creates a better tomorrow for all of us? Sure. But allowing the news media to fill your mind with sensationalized fear might paralyze you. So step past the negativity and begin creating the world you know you are capable of creating. If you sit around complaining about the news, waiting for a politician to create a better tomorrow for you, you’ll complain until the day you die and nothing will change. If you really want to make the world a better place, turn off your TV and cancel your subscription to the newspaper and start visualizing the world you want, imagining every detail, making it so real you can feel it, and then go create it through positive action.
I challenge Peter Birkenhead or any other rich critic of Oprah and “The Secret” to give away all of his material wealth and move his family into a trailer park, welfare project, or homeless shelter. Don’t come sweeping in like a white knight giving freebies away, but become part of the culture, living the way they live and believing the things they believe. Get an apartment in a building where women are raped in the laundry room, where you walk past crack dealers to get in your front door. Watch your peers humiliate you for selling out when you take responsibility for your family and decide to get a minimum wage job. Endure the hoots from the young men who sit outside drinking beer and smoking dope when you leave for work every afternoon. Listen to your best friend brag, “Whadda doin’ working that sh!t job? I got it made. My girlfriend just got her section 8 voucher and I don’t gotta work no more.” Notice the women lying in the sun all day while their kids run wild but you never see the dads. The biggest male role model in the neighborhood is the guy that doesn’t even live there, he shows up every few days in a $100,000 sports car, says he’s self-employed, but spends all day giving little kids rides around the parking lot. Do that for three years – and then you’ve experienced it from the inside out – then you’ve lived it – and once you’ve done that Peter – I want you to tell me trying to change the way poor people think, feel, and act is bullsh!t snake-oil.
When you feel trapped in poverty and hopelessness, changing the way you think is critical to escaping. Changing the way you think will be one of the hardest things you ever do – even when you aren’t poor. So for all of you that are trying to create a better tomorrow, don’t listen to critics like Peter Birkenhead, listen to the people that have improved the world, the people like Oprah Winfrey who’s life is a personal testimony to beating the odds. Look to those that became the best they can be. They know “The Secret” and they know the power of thought. People like Peter Birkenhead must believe that changing your thoughts is easy, that’s why he ridicules Oprah and “The Secret.” But changing your thoughts isn’t easy, especially when you are poor, trapped, abused, or imprisoned. It’s difficult. Don’t let people like Peter Birkenhead discourage your growth. If you are working hard improving yourself, you are already making the world a better place.
“It doesn’t matter who you are, where you come from. The ability to triumph begins with you — always.” – Oprah Winfrey
March 9th, 2007 at 11:54 am
I have nothing but the deepest respect for Oprah, even though I don’t watch her show or read her magazine. Did you see what she’s doing in South Africa with that girls school? It’s wonderful that the wealthy are reaching out to help others in such big ways… Bill Gates, too. Although I wouldn’t every buy a computer that runs Windows, he’s really a philanthropist.
March 9th, 2007 at 11:57 am
Speaking of interesting word chices, my name is Peter, not Joel, and “mammon” doesn’t mean “wealth is evil,” it means wealth. Also, the sentence you quote as my “first” is actually a sub-heading on the article, written by the editors.
Other words you might want to familiarize yourself with are “logic” and “douchebag.”
March 9th, 2007 at 12:21 pm
Steve,
There aren’t enough ways on the Internet for me to properly promote this wonderful post. You can be assured it will be Dugg and Stumbled by me, and my audience will be receiving a link to it.
NICE work.
- Aaron
March 9th, 2007 at 12:51 pm
I can understand the point of view of many of those who are bashing ‘The Secret’. For whatever reason, they’re disillusioned.
I feel compassion for them because they don’t know what they’re missing. Not necessarily ‘The Secret’. But they are missing the secret, the reality, of life. It’s not that they wouldn’t know it if they really stopped to think about it. It’s right out in the open for anyone who will see it.
That reality is that your life is what you make it. And to make it into something different than what it is, you have to see it is something different than it is in the moment.
It is that easy, and that hard, all at once. Maybe it’s the ‘hard’ part that turns so many away from the obviousness of the truth. Maybe it’s that it really is as easy and basic as it appears to be.
March 9th, 2007 at 12:56 pm
Peter,
Sorry about the name thing. I didn’t do it intentionaly. I think I got it changed everywhere in the post.
Mammon does in fact imply evil…
From dictionary.com
I’d like to compliment you on your humility.
Thanks for reading…
March 9th, 2007 at 12:56 pm
That’s nice i saw the your site with the the particular topick’s Oprah a nice full information contained in your site and the same thing in my site also. So i can suggest a site with information relevant to your site.
life change
March 9th, 2007 at 1:14 pm
Thin-skinned little tyke, isn’t he?
March 9th, 2007 at 1:36 pm
Excellent defense. I need to get around to watching it.
I do see where the critics are coming from though. The reason ‘The Secret’ is so open to abuse is because people are selling it. Any time someone tries to sell a book claiming you can change your life just by thinking, people are going to be skeptical.
Now, if someone were to start shouting ‘The Secret’ from the hill tops and distributing the information for free, then what could they say?
March 9th, 2007 at 1:50 pm
John,
John,
I understand the skepticism too. I felt moved to rebut Peter’s piece. I felt it was wrong to call Oprah a corrupt, dishonest, worshiper of ill-gotten wealth. And I am happy I called him on it.
But the secret doesn’t simply teach that you can think your way into a better life. It takes much more than that, but thinking is a crucial component. If you think you can’t do a thing, you won’t. Your thoughts and beliefs limit you. The reason the secret is so important is becasue most people overlook this crucial component.
March 9th, 2007 at 1:52 pm
I have had the fortune of not being poor. My wife, on the other hand, grew up very, very poor in a rural part of California. The lived in houses with more than just broken windows, they had no beds, little clothing and not much food. Her father was a ranch hand but instilled in all four of his children the importance of work ethic and family. All four of his children have become greatly successful, both financially and as human beings.
Attitude is definitely a big part of it, but so is family and personal responsibility. By all measures of statics my in-laws should have been in jail, on drugs or worse, yet all of them have flourished and lived every parents dream, they’ve succeeded beyond their parents.
March 9th, 2007 at 3:32 pm
I haven’t made up my mind on “The Secret,” but I consider Oprah Winfrey to be one of the most inspiring people alive today. To anyone who calls her out as a fraud or criticises what she believes in, I invite them to walk a mile in her shoes.
March 9th, 2007 at 8:00 pm
“The Secret” had been out for a long time before it ever got on to Oprah.
If it had been a mediocre production and hard to follow or understand, it would have remained in obscurity forever. It was an underground sensation, and I rightly so. It is a great ride, and it makes you truly feel good. There need to be more of these types of media in our world to spur people on to greater things and keep positive energy levels high.
March 9th, 2007 at 8:53 pm
Hey Steve,
I think Oprah and Larry King bringing such widespread attention to the message in The Secret - the Law of Attraction - will help make the lives of countless people better and happier. Heck, if the message merely hope to just thousands, then wow, what a wonderful change.
And as you and I both well know Steve, the news media thrives on fear, that’s been the reality for decades and it won’t change as long as people tune in en-masse for “the latest disaster flick” on the evening news. It’s reality TV with a referee and a virtually unlimited budget. Pass the popcorn. So many people are just addicted to it (as I was years ago before the 12-step plan)… the adrenaline kicks in, and more papers sell.
That’s why everything is amazingly oversensationalized and blown out of proportion. The better things get, the more you have to blow little things up to keep the engine running.
We gave up the “news” brainwashing a couple years ago and it’s made a tremendous difference in our lives. I just love the little spots during regular TV programming, they go something like “This just in… you won’t believe what’s hapeening to women everywhere, that they didn’t expect, and how horrible it is - Tune in at 11!” :-) It’s quite comical and scary at the same time if you’re not sucked into it.
Hey John - I don’t think it has much to do with charging money or not. People psychologically tend to value that which they pay or work for, perhaps just from conditioning in our culture. So free people wouldn’t pay much attention to it. And the media folks would take a different angle, maybe he’s “insane” or “an extremist”, and then they’ll put on “an expert” - which is also immensely comical really - so it’s quite easy to discredit anything. ** And go watch it, the movie is excellent, much better IMHO than What the Bleep?
As for the wealth-o-phobia and guilt, many people choose that as their path, often as a result of upbringing and childhood influence… and that’s their choice of course and their path.
In the end, I believe this disucssion and controversy is excellent. What the Salon article says merely sparks conversation and gets people thinking. In the end they’ll make up their own minds. But this story will just bring the concept of The Secret to a large audience that may not have heard of it. Press is good press.
*** Steve, you’ve gotta check out the “subscribe to comments plugin” - it’ll triple the number of comments on threads easy. it’s worked wonders for us since we put it in. email me if you’d like the download info. ***
Thanks for the great post Steve.
Blessings all around.
Have an awesome day!
Dan
March 9th, 2007 at 10:24 pm
Consider the experience of motorcyclists. When an obstacle suddenly appears in the road, you are quite likely to hit it if you focus on the obstacle. Safety training instructors (and common sense) teach that the way to avoid the obstacle is to quickly redirect attention on the escape route. The body’s muscle memory is controlled unconsciously, but we can lead that unconscious force by an act of intention. You can think “I don’t want to hit THAT ROCK!”, but your unconscious mind and body has been trained to follow the object of your attention (usually a good thing).
In precisely the same way, our nervous systems are in the habit of “following” the object of our attention in everyday life. So focusing on failure or obstacles naturally leads us in that direction. This is obvious stuff which is hard to deny. And in fact, like the law of gravity, it works whether you “believe” in it or not. Some of the most powerful “manifestors” do so unconsciously and therefore often feel helpless. These people can be greatly enabled by becoming aware of their “manifesting” ability, even if they have used the ability carelessly. By constant conscious vigilance to where our attention is directed, we can redirect the ocean liner of our unconscious to go wherever we can dream.
The difficult concept is how the universe “magically” manifests our thoughts, and how we “magnetically” attract objects of our thought. Personally I believe that the universe manifests everything everywhere all the time, and we merely experience the parts that we can “tune into”. So where one person sees trouble and difficulty, another may see opportunity (etc). And the universe is conscious, so as we tune into certain experiences, the universe is tuning in to that aspect in us. Some kind of synchronicity. Thus the “law of attraction” operates.
These psychological/metaphysical laws may seem obvious, or trivial, but are in fact extremely powerful and in constant action. I’m thankful to the creators of “The Secret” and Oprah, and Mr. Olson for bringing this power to our attention.
March 9th, 2007 at 10:53 pm
[…] 1) Steve Olson - The Truth About Oprah Winfrey - The Secret - and Poverty - If you read nothing else on this page, read this post! Steve lays it down like it really is, and I got up and gave him a mental standing ovation after reading this post, which is clearly came from the heart! […]
March 10th, 2007 at 5:20 am
March 10th, 2007 at 12:01 pm
Gail
I have been using THE SECRET all my life and now it has a name and when I tell others they have this power now I can explain it better. My sister was always telling me to stop telling others they can think their world because I sound crazy. the Secret is in the oldest book we have the Bible.
John 16:23, 24
-In that day you will no longer ask me anything. I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 24Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.
Matt 7:7
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
Eph1:19
and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength,
He also said to get up every morning and no matter how things look , be joyous , no how things look, be happy and trust in him BELIEVE all will be OK. The other one is love ,be filled with love.
I started a new job and I have not gotten a pay check yet and my over draft was $1000 in the hole. I started to get that bad feeling and then stopped and said I will not see things as they are i will not worry I will be joyous and keep wooking hard and let it to my God. Less than two hours later when I got home the was a card on the table from my mother in law and there was a cheque for $1000 for me .
I have no idea why she gave me the gift, she said it came to her I needed it. If I had worrried and fretted and not didnot do as I’m asked to and tryed to lean on My UNDERSTANDING I know It wouldn’t have been there. Our God is a gentleman and He will never interfer in our lives unless we ask and believe. God can only help us if we ask , he WON’T INTERFER or push himself on us. NEVER.
His power is as strong as our believing, that’s why Jesus had very little power in his home town to heal ,because no one believed he could.
And the man that went to Jesus and asked him to heal his servent and Jesus said lets go and he said there was not enough time to travel there , just do it from here and Jesus said you believe I can do it from here and he said yes and Jesus healed him from far away, because the power was as strong as the mans believeing.
The woman who’s believing was so strong that she only had to touch his robe to be healed. Jesus felt the power being used and turned around and asked who is believing in me..
See the power is as great as the believing and the story’s go on and on and on and are all over the bible. God can only give us back what we sent
out. Everything is created by God and so it this power. its real so go use it . it doesn’t work for people who don’t believe in it. Like you know a car works but it still will only go as for as the gas (power) YOU put in it.
So the more you are joyous and firmly believe it will be ok ,it will .
the great thing is God is so loving that he gives it to all, its the power of the UNIVERSE and you can use it even if you don’t believe its from HIM.
Just use it and it will bring it about. It a Law and that it and I feel sorry for the ones in mankind who won’t believe it . only you stop the power.
only you feed the power. Email me if you want and let me know what you think…The world is waking up..
And nothing BAD comes from God . ONLY churchs teach this and who will believe people who rape small chrildren. Stay away from them and lean on Him in your own mind.
When someone dies from sickness and the church says god took them, it’s a lie, man brought sickness, when some one dies in a car crash, that’s not God, when you are poor and sick that because you believe thats what you will get. You just said that. NOthing BAD comes from the power , can you believe in yourself and that God wants you to be well or happy or joyous.
Stay away from the churches and there lies and believe in the power they don’t tell you about. God is waking the world up to the true, and maybe the secret is the way to do this for ones who don’t believe in him. He loves us soooo much and wants all to live and be happy.. It about time. SPREAD THE NEWS , NOT BLOCK IT..
March 10th, 2007 at 9:52 am
Steve: Thanks for taking up the banner and riding in to support Oprah and all who are spreading this powerful information.
It’s interesting for me to recognize a shift in my perceptions about the movie The Secret. When I first saw it, almost a year ago, I jumped for joy and shouted “YES.” It was the perfect expression of the concepts I had been studying for the past 4-years through books like Ask and It Is Given, Excuse Me Your Life Is Waiting and many more.
Recently, though, as I have stepped back and taken an unbiased look at The Secret, what I realize is that many of us who have been studying the Law of Attraction for years and actively using the Law of Attraction in our lives, see the Secret and have that powerful reaction of “Yes.” But to someone who is being exposed to this information for the first time, I can see how the movie, on its own, could be perceived as suggesting the LOA is nothing more than wishful thinking.
And that, as we all know, is the farthest thing from the truth. As you mentioned in your post, the LoA is about aligning thoughts, feelings and ACTIONS, to create the life you desire.
What we need to do, as students of the LoA, is get our attention (focus) off of the criticism and shift our attention to clearly and effectively educating people about the Law of Attraction, and especially on the importance of taking inspired action.
Let’s help people understand that the Law of Attraction is about so much more than what is expressed in the Secret. Yes, the movie is a great starting point, and now it’s time to go deeper.
And these conversations on the movie and the Law of Attraction are one great way for us to expand the positive information available.
Thanks for getting it started!
Create an incredible day!
ed
March 10th, 2007 at 1:34 pm
What a great article! My only suggestion is to ignore the critics like Birkenhead, and focus on the positive. There will always be critics — they get more readers by criticizing something popular.
Was that really Peter Birkenhead’s response? How funny and unintelligent. He shouldn’t use the word “mammon” if he doesn’t know what it means. I loved how on one hand he implied that you should learn a little about logic and on the other hand, instead of logically rebutting your points, he insults you by calling you a douchebag in the same sentence.
March 11th, 2007 at 12:40 am
All this garbage talk against the Secret, just because someone is making money from it. I saw Bill Maher jumped in Friday night, he and Rosanne Barr both bashing away - with Deepak Chopra right there with them. Now, I might value insight from Deepak, but Rosanne and Bill Maher?? They are comedians and I just think that they aren’t two people I want to take lessons in spirituality from anyhow. Bless ‘em anyway.
For some critics whose Ego’s will not allow them to release their incorrect understandings of reality, and open themselves to correction and truth, they will feel the need to Bash away, so that they can continue to feel as though their views and ideas are still the only Truth.
I just try to remember that resistance only draws to us what we try to repel. They can try to push “The Secret” away and back into the dark all they want, all they are doing is help bring it out into the open for all humanity. And I also try not to resist opposing beliefs and opinions, as that seems to just draw that into my reality - Instead I look away from those things which I choose not to believe.
March 11th, 2007 at 12:41 pm
Oprah has done more for other people then we can even name……I believe she has shown many people, myself included, how to be grateful.. I love THE SECRET it changed my already wonderful life….BELIEVE you can and you will….Love ya Oprah……….
March 12th, 2007 at 6:25 am
I’m with Aaron. Linked, stumbled, dugg, reddit, bookmarked! Awesome job steam. Such fervor and truth :-)
March 12th, 2007 at 6:38 am
[…] I was checking mybloglog this morning when I found a post from Steve Olsen that deeply moved me and if you guys only do one thing today, I’d suggest everyone reads it - but wait till you finish reading my post first - geez. I went to see The Astronsunt Farmer and as I sat by myself in the empty theater it occured to me that this movie would fail miserably, that it would go to DVD really soon and very few people would ever see it…For the first time in my life I wish I had Oprah power to get heard and to say GO SEE THIS MOVIE and have people flock to the theater. […]
March 12th, 2007 at 10:48 am
Stay Positive and See what happens!
March 13th, 2007 at 6:55 pm
Excellent article Steve. While thinking of the right things alone is not the key, it is a GREAT start to getting your life back together.
Thanks for the insight and inspiration. Focus on the greatness, and forget the rest, unless it brings more greatness from inside you.
March 13th, 2007 at 7:26 pm
[…] Steve Olson’s Response to Criticism of Oprah and The Secret For those of you interested in the recent critiques on Oprah’s recommendation of The Secret, please read this thoughtful and dead-on response from Steve Olson. […]
March 13th, 2007 at 7:51 pm
Sometimes, it’s just hard for people to understand the simple concept.
Btw, did you watch it urself? I mean the secret of course.
You should.
March 15th, 2007 at 3:45 pm
Link Karma - 13 March 2007…
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Link Karma is a section of The Positivity Blog where I list some good reading I´ve stumbled upon during the last few days (or weeks, depending on how much browsing and reading I do).
If you have…
March 16th, 2007 at 2:57 pm
[…] Steve Olson writes an enthusiastic defense of Oprah, the Law of Attraction, and the Secret. He uses his experiences and real examples to show how the Law of Attraction worked in his life. Powerful stuff! […]
March 17th, 2007 at 1:40 am
This is a relevant topic for me right now. I would never buy “The Secret” or any other book that promises me that all I have to do….simple answer that is the one true answer. That’s almost like one true religion, as the way to what ever they want to offer. The born again christians, claim that loving Jesus will give you physical riches and happiness, all you need to do. So anyway I ramble, sorry, I hear Steve’s point, wow well written great true experience, he knows what he’s talking about. And I understand Peter, I understand what he was trying to say and I understand that it looks unfavorable of him to write a nasty retort, short, nasty etc…Who knows if it was Peter, maybe he has had a really bad day, or I don’t know him, maybe he’s full of anger rage unresolved issues, it doesn’t matter, and it doesn’t make his point invalid, either. I think I know what Peter was trying to point out but his anger got in the way…then who knows he may be a nasty jerk, I want to believe the best, don’t have a clue as to who he is and his full intention…I have been very upset about the war in Iraq and our government, and how the US has turned into a hated and feared country under the Bush admin. We had some local anti war protests, that involved police brutality, arrests and lies used by the police. There were people who came to the protests armed with videocameras to be eye witnesses of the event. The film proved the lies got people out of jail and they had no choice but to drop the charges. I have been involved in blogging with the local right wing conservatives, who are so nasty rude and just unwilling to really have a constructive conversation, it got to me. I gave up on it, then went back and started anon(as all their blogs are anon too!) blogs to insult and infuriate the right wing conservatives. I knew all along that I could manipulate these people with the right words, to have a hissy fit, rage, hate to end all hates, and I didn’t have to write my opinions, just documented facts. I played with their emotions like a fiddle and got temporary relief and satisfaction that I could throw crap back at them and enrage them, maybe one would have a heart attack, I hated people I didn’t know, true anger and toxic hate! Anyway I found myself engulfed in negativity, I became the enemy, and I really felt sick, ill of mind and spirit. I backed off, left it alone, and will not go there, or anywhere in a no win all negative blog situation as that. If I want to protest the war it won’t be in that way, I will find a positive outlet for my deep felt belief in the good and what is right. I won’t use evil against evil,on any level it never works. I couldn’t sleep, and I gave up TV a year ago, I do have one channel on the antenna but rarely watch it. So I got on line and accidently ran into a you tube site trying to figure out who the comedian was that killed himself a few days before (searching for more sadness I guess) I found Old tapes of Richard Pryor in concert on Utube. I watched all of it, laughed so hard I almost wet myself, he has been gone for two years, died in 2004 I think and he is still making people laught so hard they wet themselves. Also I watched a English documentary about this man, he did have issues drug addiction, emotional problems, a harsh harsh life, molested as a child, abandoned by his parents, raised by his grandmother, who ran a brothel. He was in his element on stage live, he was a wonderful bright light, even with all the other elements in his life, he beat more than one wife, married 5 times, he was no angel and he knew it and admitted it. He was honest human and the walking wounded, and he was a force for good and still is. This man also spent the last 20 years of his life with MS eventually couldn’t walk or talk, and helpless. This man personal journey is amazing to me, no one would choose to have his life, but he kept on keeping on….A real inspiration to me, and I am a white woman raised in middle class white america, but not so middle class as an adult. So after Richard Pryor, something inside of me said, search for the positive, put your mind on a higher track, surround yourself as much as possible with happiness, and try to keep a balance, don’t ever go to and stay in negativeville again. The reality is we cannot maintain harmony peace and positivity all of the time and live on earth. And if we do nothing but dwell on the negative, we won’t be alive for long either, and it’s really a nasty place to live. So I agree with this with all my heart, and experience, not just recent but past also I choose to minimize the negative exposure in my life to a livable managable realistic level. I certainly do not need to expose myself to any more negativity from the world, my life is challenging at this point and I need all the good energy I can get to survive. This is what bothers me about the “secret”, The other part is no man/woman is an island, no one becomes rich famous or whatever, even loved without other people to help them along. And with the theory that we make our own reality takes me to a yes it’s right, up to a big valid point.
To ignore all news, especially local news, and national news that is important to your everyday life is not recommended by me. Because you are part of a society on a local and national level it’s important to know what’s going on and to stand for what you think is good and positive for our country, and our world. Martin Luther King was not that popular with the white community in the 60’s, and it took people that were brave enough to stand up for what’s right to make what’s right in the world today. If they were tuning out all negativity, Martin would have just tried to find a way for himself, not for his people, and the greater good. Because he would choose to look at only the good, and racism was a very very ugly subject. But also he choose to protest peacefully use truth and words, he was right. Martin changed America for the good, we are all better and live in a better place because of his willingness to take on a real bad negative situation. Also it’s true there are millions of Americans who are overweight, eat really bad food, smoke, drink too much, addicted to a zillion things, who are killing themselves. They and no one else is doing it to them, the information on healthy living is free and plentiful. But should we refuse to insure, or take care of these people who can’t rise above their bad health habits? Then there are the infants and children who have no say, have no intention don’t know what positive thoughts are. Then there are people who have cultures who have no words for positive intention, the secret, and such, they may laugh at anyone trying to explain it. And with that said, the innocent women men and children caught inbetween warring factions, if lucky able to get away become a refugee, in a camp, who can’t go home. Do these people make their own reality, by being part of a divided nation, by being poor, uneducated. You know the inspiring stories of people who survived horrendous things in third world countries, got to tell their story in American, got paid for the story and have a sort of fame. They got away but not by themselves and are the very few and lucky with help! Why don’t they all do this, get to America or another free country, write their stories, and leave the rest. If we are truely responsible for our life, than any other thing political, national , world, earth catastrophies, wars, floods, earth quakes, meteors, couldn’t be view as something out side of ourselves, because we put ourselves there, wrong place and wrong time. Like a woman who is raped or person who is a victim of crime, things happen to influence our minds and bodies, for the good or worse. So is this “secret” really to be taken literally, it has made the Australian, bucks, esp with Ophra’s backing. Please use your common sence, Steve has great knowledge and insites, he proved points, but is that all there is? I don’t think so, I think this is what Peter was trying to say, was what problems I have with any new pop psychology trend. Also this is not new, Steve said it, I know it, I would never pay to read her book, but I do agree within common sense and reason that there is a useful truth that could open doors for some people who are not aware of their own personal power over their thoughts and action!
March 18th, 2007 at 12:27 pm
There is a lot of discussion on the MLM course offered by the teachers featured on “The Secret” I have been in financial services for over 25 years. Due diligence is a big part of financial services. The Secret is brilliant marketing and I give them a lot of credit for their marketing skills. The problem with the MLM plan is in the marketing plan. See info below. It is easy to find info by googling mlm pyramid. The marketing plan focuses on recruiting and not product sales. That is where the problem lies. Over the years I have seen many good people arrested, fined and even jailed due to ignorance, not malice.
You can find this plan at http://msoi.theofficialsecretseminar.com/
Here is my reasoning
Legitimate multi-level-marketing plans are a way to sell real goods or services through distributors. These plans usually show that if you sign up to be a distributor, you will receive commissions - not only on your sales of the plan’s goods or services, but also on the sales of the people you recruit to join the distributors. One of the keys is that there are actually tangible products and services moving through the network, rather than just the building of the network or “building mailing lists” or “sending recipes” or “sending jokes,” etc., such as chain letters usually have you do.
Pyramid schemes have a similar structure, but a completely different focus. They concentrate on the commissions you could earn just for recruiting new distributors, and generally ignore the marketing and selling of products or services. The Federal Trade Commission requires a minimum of 10 non-distributor customers per month to be serviced by each distributor after a certain period - without these customers, it is an illegal pyramid.
John
March 22nd, 2007 at 2:03 am
Wow. I’ve been consciously using the Law of Attraction for just over a year and I hadn’t thought of many of the points you bring up. I’ll be adopting many of these concepts and ideas when I next speak to someone who just can’t let go of they way their life is going now enough to allow it to get better!
Thanks!!!
-Renee
Law of Attraction T-shirts
http://www.manifes-t.com
April 19th, 2007 at 1:49 am
I came to know about this Law of Attraction through the “Secret” movie.
I am now consciously directing my thoughts towards the positive. I am confident that over time, I would achieve my intended results that I focus on.
Here is one resource which I find interesting.
www.thelawofattractionmoney.com/attractionaccelerator.pdf
It’s a 20-page interview with Bob Proctor on the Missing Link to the Law of Attraction.
April 25th, 2007 at 8:05 am
When the DVD arrived, we had a “Secret” party to watch it. The book version of The Secret and the CD were also on hand. It prompted lots of brainstorming and planning. Everyone took it into their lives wholeheartedly. I blogged about it at Do You Know the Secret? at Surfer Sam. I hope you have a very happy day.Sam
May 12th, 2007 at 6:56 am
[…] 1) Steve Olson - The Truth About Oprah Winfrey - The Secret - and Poverty - If you read nothing else on this page, read this post! Steve lays it down like it really is, and I got up and gave him a mental standing ovation after reading this post, which clearly came from the heart! […]
May 16th, 2007 at 6:32 pm
That’s a vicious circle. It’s hard to escape poverty when you can’t imagine doing it, and its hard to imagine a better live when you are poor. That’s why education is important: A good education should teach the kids that there are choices they have to make, that there position in life is not just the result of their fortune, that they really have influence on how they live their life, what they are and what they do.
Actually I think a book like “The Secret” will hardly succeed in changing somebodys attitude. Most people have some disfunctional believes, ideas that don’t get them anywhere, habits that are bad for them and solutions that only make the problems worse. Some to a greater extend, some not. And to change this is not the easiest thing to do. Most people will need some luck and/or therapy.
That’s what I’d say: Therapy and education for everyone. It’s true, you don’t need a degree, but your chances to live a self-determined life are better if you have one. A lot of uneducated people lack a basic awareness of the opportunities they have, and they lack self-esteem.
Sorry for the language, english is not my mother-tongue and I don’t live and never lived in an english-speaking country.
May 18th, 2007 at 12:28 am
The only healthy way to observe the maximum benefit of a circumstance or situation is to weigh the potential, negative outcome against the potential, positive outcome. In either deliberation, the negative is always dropped in favor or moving forward with the positive… be it one count or ten. A pound of darkness cannot be set next to an ounce of truth - the light wouldn’t allow it to exist. The “Secret” is to realize darkness can only exist, as a temporary “condition”, so long as you choose to stand in the way of the light. Your dwelling is purely subjective and completely your own… “Shades up or shades down”….It’s your personal decision either way. So be careful what you wish for, as the door, with your wish, swings backwards.
May 29th, 2007 at 6:02 pm
“Produced, packaged, marketed, commercially driven, made for television, video and public consumption philosophy. Like heroine to the addict needing that next feel good fix. This is it, the next best thing this week, month or year. Ahh….The Secret. Next week….ahhh The Secret’s Secret. It has taken several decades to foster a mindset in the public that only sees the positives to such things.
Can’t you just see it, where television and media has gone and led you all? I read the book, watched the DVD, went to the website, bought the magazine, and went to the seminar………blink blink…duh? The best propaganda is the propaganda that makes you feel something, no matter what that feeling is. The Secret is Unity Church propaganda. And you can throw it in the same garbage bin as the video What the Bleep Do We Know.
By the way, the word secret comes from the word secretion, so you may just be getting jizm on your face while getting the next sensation mind-fuck through the media. Do yourselves a favor and get your heads out of Oprah’s ass. Her show, and I have watched several, is a travesty. But you must know what to look for and in what context.
My point…….
The most disturbing of her shows is when the studio is filled with middle to upper middle class women and Oprah is giving out free stuff. The average income of her viewer is $62,000 a year. They don’t need a Blackberry and all the other crap she hands them. But that is not the problem really. But look into the eyes of these overly-plucked eyebrowed women with Jennifer Aniston hair and read their body language as they are responding to Oprah and her generosity or when they notice the camera is on them. I don’t even think cocaine gives such a rush. As these women squirm ecstatically in their seats with almost sexual orgasmic fervor over the next free retail item to be revealed to them. Seals at Sea World don’t faun over dead fish with this much excitement. Then look at the celebrity parading and pandering done by Oprah as these Hollywood creatures lives are on display for all of us to know or admire or emulate. Can’t you see the sickness. And Oprah’s over-publicizing of all her good and charitable deeds to influence her image. Does not Christianity promote giving and being silent about it as some form of humility during the act?
I like it when Oprah actually starts to speak with a slight English/British accent. That always makes me laugh at the artificialness of it all. And is a definite sign that all is not well in this world or cardboard caring. As an aside, Madonna is another one who also slips into this annoying habit of talking in an English accent during an interview, even before she lived in London. As if it is an air of properness or sophistication. Excuse me…I just puked in my mouth and had to swallow it.
Angel networks…only work on hypnotized sheeple separated from their authentic selves needing input from impotent externals to fill the inner void of emptiness within, or satiate their inauthentic selves with the next best thing or method or solution. But you won’t here Dr. Phil tell you that and then recommend your internal life and psyche would best be served by not watching television and its artificial messages in the first place.
The Tom Cruise interview would have gotten interesting if she asked him for an hour about Scientology and why a multi-millionaire actor finds such profundity in a belief system created by a man who believed in space aliens and was friends with people in the Satanic Ordo Templi Orientis. Or whether or not he was even aware of that reality, or if he himself is also one of the hypnotized masses I am alluding to. I mean, wouldn’t she be doing him a favor as a friend and devout Christian?
May 30th, 2007 at 12:25 pm
What do you know, I am not the only one who sees it for what it really is.
http://www.blackcommentator.com/127/127_oprah.html
http://www.conspiracyarchive.com/Commentary/Oprah_The_Secret.htm
June 21st, 2007 at 5:05 pm
The Truth About Oprah Winfrey - The Secret - and Poverty | steve-olson.com…
A great post that shows the difference between focusing on the positive vs. negative, and how making the right choice will literally change your life….
June 21st, 2007 at 5:15 pm
How to Get High (Vibrations, that is!)…
Getting high on your own supply takes on a whole new meaning when you realize that you can jack yourself up from the inside out with no drugs needed!
……
June 27th, 2007 at 6:50 pm
Besides a wonderful writer, you’re an intelligent guy, you were able to explain with your own words and examples what the book is about. It’s easy to make critics about what people don’t know. You were perfect! Congratulations, and lots of success!
July 16th, 2007 at 4:41 am
Steve,
Your article appears to assume only people who have lived in the ghetto and suffered extreme poverty and abuse can offer any credible knowledge or opinion on the Secret philosophy. Are the only people criticizing the Secret rich, wealthy journalists who want more readers? I am not well known, I come from a traumatizing background, my finances aren’t set in stone, and I am outraged at the Secret campaign! Think positively, overcome hardship, have gratitude, and cultivate a desire for a better life are wonderful things, but the Secret doesn’t stop there. They claim scientific proof on quantum mechanics
theories that are unproven, and the logical contradictories are throughout, That quote you gave on victims and how the Secret views them is incomplete, because how can the law of attraction be constant, precise, unbiased, impartial, and followers of the Secret not see innocents as attracting the rapist or murderer? If they do see innocents as attracting that, how are they not holding them responsible for attracting it? Having it be random or saying they don’t deserve it totally discredits the “objective” law of attraction. The teachers always want to use their philosophy on the self help side of topics and language, but they can’t ignore that it works on the horrible events side also. If innocents are raped, and you believe in the law of attraction, don’ t sugarcoat it, say you believe they attracted the crime! Which is ludicrous. I see all this language on how you want to fudge the real meaning of the Secret, when really you are just deceiving yourself, the Secret victim bashes in the most ridiculous of ways! I would love to have people suffering feel relief quickly, but not by a lie. The Secret is salt on a wound, keep pouring and eventually you will feel what it really is, especially for the poor and desperate.
July 26th, 2007 at 5:25 pm
Wow, that was a great article! Also a great post by you too Gail. Positive thinking can go a long way in helping a person to achieve success. After all, a common mentality among people is that “well something bad happened…I must not have been meant to get that job.” That is not biblically accurate, and it does not help you to achieve anything.
If you want to achieve anything in life, be prepared for hardships. If everyone gave up the first time it didn’t work out and said “It must not have been meant to happen,” then the world would not be where it is today.
August 26th, 2007 at 10:02 pm
I think we all should look inside our selfs………….dont worry when peopel say neghative things. I believe in THE POWER OF POSITIVE THINKING
August 29th, 2007 at 12:16 am
‘The poor are responsible for their poverty.’ This right-wing nostrum ignores the way in which society is structured and serves as a rationale for the further decimation of social services and government benefits.
Over the past 3 decades the majority of Americans have seen a real decline in their incomes and living standards while a thin layer at the top (which, incidentally includes Oprah) has seen an unprecedented escalation of their wealth to almost obscene proportions. ‘The Secret’ of American life, the glaringly obvious fact that no-one wants to talk about, is the vast and growing gulf of social and economic inequality between the majority and the tiny elite that controls economic and cultural life in America. In effect, a vast upwards transfer of wealth has occurred. This process of accumulation has ruined the lives of millions and has resulted in the destruction of entire communities. And what does Oprah advocate? The notion that you are solely and entirely responsible for your present circumstances. This austere creed of individualism is somewhat strange in a world where everything that you eat, drink, wear, hear and watch is the result of a vast and complicated social process involving thousands of people. The atomisation of society, social isolation and economic hardship - this is the engine that drives the self-help industry.
The philanthropy of Oprah, Warren Buffet, Bill Gates and the like is only possible in a society rooted in inequality where the generosity of a few is meant to address the deprivation of many. No serious person can think that the great social problems facing our society can be resolved in this way. Altogether, there is something rotten about this.
December 30th, 2007 at 3:02 pm
[…] scrupulously avoid competitiveness. another important injunction is to give back to the Universe. Steve Olsen says “The Secret tells people they have the power to change the way they think. Every positive […]
April 5th, 2008 at 11:23 am
All things said and done, Oprah Winfrey must be given some credit for the many social endeavors she and her organization attempts to do. This must not be seen as publicity hogging. Maybe the cars she gives away on her shows might be deemed as such but a little credit for the many many lives Oprah has touched will need to be acknowledged and applauded.
April 19th, 2008 at 7:01 am
I would like to leave you a poem that says exactly what I think of Oprah and her supposedly power
If you’ll allow me to do so.
I do not like the woman and never have but I remained silent until she did a show that interfered with my life. This I think she has no right to do and since I’m not rich and can’t confront her legally I simply wrote a poem about how I feel.