The Secret Crapola
I finally got around to watching The Secret this week, with Erica and Kate. I first learned about it through a coworker, and then some months later read up on it as Oprah started endorsing the damn thing. Now, there are many, many, critiques out there already, and I don’t really plan on attacking the whole thing. It is rich with material for fisking. Leave us say that I think The Secret is at best irresponsible, and, much more likely, a cynical attempt to make money off of people when they are at their most desperate. Oprah’s endorsement lends it an undeserved air of credibility, and has helped push it up the bestseller lists.
What stood out as I watched, and I think deserves some comment, is one particular testimony from one of the “medical” talking heads on the program. He had just finished suggesting that people use the Secret to improve their health, delicately attempting to prevent future lawsuits by encouraging people to, of course, rely on traditional medical help for serious illness, but to turn their minds to exploring other paths at the same time. He then went on to describe how sometimes, doctors have given patients a sugar pill, telling them it was medication. Lo and behold, these patients healed just as quickly as those on actual medication, if not quicker! And this, he tells us, is the Secret.
Now, disregarding his likely skewing of any actual data on such studies, this man has just come out and all but stated that the Secret is nothing more than a placebo effect. A placebo effect! The Secret is just a sugar pill you can take, and tell yourself that you feel better. I’m surprised they included that, for I would have thought it a bit of a giveaway that this snake oil they’re hawking might not actually do much.
No Comments
Be the first to comment!
