Yet it's hard to criticize these charlatans. I think of Wayne Dwyer as one of the worst (he gets all that PBS time during pledges) and yet by being 'negative' you're just proving them right. They can just say "Look - see that's why I'm such a winner - I don't go around preaching about 'reality.'"

Dwyer's particularly insidious because he knows just enough about world religions and comes off as just 'spiritual' enough to make you think he's not - just COULDN'T - be a snake oil salesman.

I would say that the review SP cited might not be typical of "Village" revulsion at the likes of BE - it as after all the CS Monitor and they take umbrage with BE's theory that lots of this started with CS's founder.

But then again, if you take Christian Science at face value - it's sort of just animism. If you can kill bacteria with prayer, couldn't you make money appear through similar means?

Barbara Ehrenreich has always taken a principled and courageous stand against the prevailing, and distorted, philosophy of individualism and the damage it has brought to us.

Individualism as a concept to preserve rights to privacy, speech, religion and so forth are mostly healthy ideas formulated two centuries ago by the founders to place checks on the coercive power of government. But this is not the kind of individualism that is peddled by the Randians and our monopolistic media.

Instead, it has evolved into a vicious and anti-democratic ideology that serves only to preserve the power of the wealthy over the rest of society.

Feel good tropes like "you are responsible for everything that happens to you" sound empowering but are false, and worse, isolate individuals from making common cause with others and their communities. It leads them to self-blame for circumstances beyond their control, and to dismiss the justifiable complaints of others when injustice and exploitation intrude on their lives.

It is remarkeable how powerful and persistent these false ideas have become and their ability to control and misdirect the perceptions and actions of so many in ways that are desctuctive both to themselves and everyone around them.

It encourages a brutally punitive social order, where it is no longer shocking to torture detainees, disposess millions and incarcerate more millions for the most trivial reasons.

Astoundingly, the overclass has succeeded in convincing their subjects that organizing for their interests is bad (i.e. unions and "special interest" groups) while they avail themselves of every manner of organization from professional associations, chambers of commerce, political party and entrenched lobbyists writing our legislation for us.

I suppose they are insuring democracy is protected from the rabble and protected for the wealthy. What better way to accomplish this than controlling minds?

job for an airline, hauling around luggage all day. The way they do their scheduling and shift-rotation is a travesty and must violate some sort of labor law. Not a good work environment.

He doesn't know about unions, has never heard of the AFL-CIO, etc. He just accepts that this is his job and these are the requirements and that he gets paid a low wage. No thought about how maybe his job could be more humane and that the workers could organize and bring some sanity to their daily lives. Instead, it's all about trying to screw over your fellow employees to get the schedule you want.

I'm sure management loves it.

... because in the US people blame themselves when they face these economical hard times. In Europe it should be called an Aggression. People are getting angry knowing that they are the ones that are under attack.

"Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America"

I think I've noticed that most blogs are about bitching about things. Perhaps blogs are an outlet that prevents people from actually doing anything about it. By bitching, one feels some sense of satisfaction and accomplishment; one feels that one has somehow almost fixed what one is bitching about.

I often think that venting through the internet serves mainly as a release valve for public frustration, and a means to keep tabs on possible rebellion.

We should be aware.

Saw a interesting bit about human adaptability. Humans adjust rapidly to change hence if things suddenly go bad we adjust. A good thing. But when things get better we adjust to and take the good for granted. So today's luxury becomes tomorrows necessity. In that regard happiness tends to be at an inverse to well being. In other words when we are worse off we look at the bright side and when better off complain of what we do not have. It is in our genetic predisposition.