No pots to be stirred, just organizing my thoughts. The article actually started out with listing the "rifts" as a result of the palm reading when I was young, and just sort of developed from there.

(As for the conversation, I hear it was something. Sorry I missed it.)

The tone changes for two reasons: one being that I wrote the two parts at different times, the other that I wanted a clear premise and frame of mind for people to be in when reading the rest of the critiques. Luring people in with a childish anecdote and a Youtube video and a webcomic might be considered cheating, but, you know, whatever gets the point across.

There's also that I state for people to challenge the ideas forthcoming, and to do their own research, which I follow up by immediately linking to the Wikipedia pages on the subjects. I was hoping folks would at least skim the articles to see what peer reviewed (albeit amateur) encyclopedia entries have to say on the subject.

That I haven't read the book or seen the movie based on "The Secret" certainly undermines my argument. That Robbie simply states that "positive thinking" is more constructive than "negative thinking" does not. My opinion of the book's ideas is based on other people's interpretations or misinterpretations of the books. I've heard people interpret that putting your needs and positive thoughts on a whiteboard for all to see affects the universe, and exerts your will upon it. That is pseudoscience. Positive thinking does not quantifiably or significantly change the probabilities dictated by the universe, only your perception of them.

I'm not advocating being a pessimistic, ogre asshole about everything. You can be pleasant, and happy, and optimistic, and at the same time you can have a plan. And you should have a plan first. And as I said in the article, if all "The Secret" and "What the Bleep" do is get you to think about things more, more power to them.

As far as why the rest of the article is negative, well, what would the alternative be? I'm speaking out against pseudoscience. Giving an unbiased opinion by trying to include a positive opinion on these things would mean further distributing and giving credence to already effective marketing scams. Mentioning the placebo effect just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

That counts alright. Accounts for about 1x10^-52% of the universe.

FAT JOKES!