More Secrets

Though it's hardly a "secret" anymore, now that Oprah's pushing it. Shouldn't we just rename it to something like "The Scam"?

Now, you too can buy the DVD and understand how The Secret works. Actually, you don't even need to buy it to understand how it works, since they're charging $54.83 for it, when the standard price for a new release DVD in Australia is around $28.

This is a perfect demonstration of the tanstaafl principle.

Or it could just be a repackaging of a Gene Wolfe short story from 1987:

God forgive me, I thought it was a joke, a game. I asked, "But this book tells you the secrets of life?"

He nodded solemnly. "Teaches you to read -- thought I knew, hah! Didn't. Music in your head, after you read that. How to tie shoes, write a check. How old before you learned?"

"Seventeen, I suppose."

"Liar! Twenty-five a least. How to get the girl, easy as snapping fingers -- all the ways. Make friends, influence people. Sports -- quarterback -- Olympics. Coordination and balance, that's all -- anything your body can do. Hah! Meditation and exercises. Easy, really."

As Krafty Skeptic points out though, the required mantra is it works every time. Believe that and you'll believe anything:

Also, I implore you to do a bit of research on the individuals they claimed knew about the secret. I IMPLORE YOU! If they knew of "the secret" you’d think they would have more before they died, right? Einstein would have had his "Grand unification theory", Newton would have worked out Alchemy, Beethoven would have been able to hear, and Lincoln wouldn’t have been shot.