In which I am frustrated by wishful thinking

[jan_andrea]

There's a discussion going on at The BabyWearer about "The Secret" -- that money-making enterprise that basically says "wishing makes it so".

Argh.

If I hear "If you believe it, it's true for you!" one more time, I will scream. There are things that are objectively true, and objectively false. The world does not rest on the back of a tortise. The sun does not revolve around the earth, and there are no epicycles. The Virgin Mary does not miraculously appear in your grilled cheese to bring you a Sign. Believing these things doesn't make them happen!

I don't know why I bother :P Except that pseudoscience (someone brought up "What the Bleep do We Know" which is full of stupid) and magical thinking make me crazy. The universe is what it is, people! Just thinking about it -- no matter how strong you think your brain is -- doesn't change one damned thing about it! You have to *act*. And if you don't act, then you can't expect anything to change.

But I know, people will believe stupid things no matter how great the evidence to the contrary. Someone, please tell me to unsubscribe from the thread.

Comments

[jan-andrea.livejournal.com]

I know -- that's where my brain turned off and I unsubbed. I mean, it's one thing to believe stupid things, but you can't take a word that means something and make it into what you want it to say -- I was hoping the Alice quote would bring that across. Words have meaning because people agree on their definition -- jargon words in particular -- and if you change the meaning, you've made them useless for that context. But try explaining that.

Evangelizing, and wow, are they raking in the bucks! I wonder if they really believe their shit, or if, like early Scientology, it's an act? The cynic in me pictures them rolling around in piles of money, cackling at the gullibility of the public.