Positive thinking...

[Slightly updated in the text April 7] See ”Has Oprah become a televangelist” where it for instance stands:

“For some time Oprah Winfrey has been drifting further and further out to the fringes of ‘New Age’ philosophy, which is strewn with ‘self-help’ claims[översållad med 'självhjälpsanspråk']. And her fans have faithfully [troget eller tillitsfullt] followed the star without much meaningful critical thinking, somewhat like cult members enamored with [förälskade i] a self-styled messianic leader.

Oprah’s ongoing spiritual odyssey last year included a revelation [gudomlig uppenbarelse] called ‘'The Secret’ [see the video above. At the linked site it stood about gratitude? Tacksamhet in Swedish] /.../, a DVD concocted [hopkokad] by Rhonda Byrne, a former Australian television and film producer.

Ms. Byrne’s supposed spiritual breakthrough [förmodade andliga genombrott] consisted of little more than a synthesis of existing ‘positive thinking’ theories based largely upon what is called the ‘law of attraction [when I read about the law of attraction at wikipedia in the link I came to think of a phenomenon here in Sweden which I have blogged about recently om my other blog, people are made personally responsible for their situation. And of course people are, to a certain degree, but this claim is severely misused I think, and I am reacting against this. And see my earlier postings on positive thinking, especially the oldest?]’ essentially you get what you want if you wish hard enough for it.

Skeptic Magazine reporter Michael Shermer labeled Byrne’s bromides ‘incredibly materialistic and narcissistic…magical thinking…’ [otroligt materialistiska och narcissistiska ... magiska tänkande],

But there is a rather dark flip side to the ‘law of attraction’ through its apparent indictment [uppenbar anklagelse] of those that somehow are blamed for attracting negative things [anklagade för att dra till sig negativa saker].

John Norcross, a psychologist and professor at the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania who researches self-help books stated within a news report,

'So that would mean that if you’re poor, you have somehow earned it by your thinking, If you’ve been sexually abused, you’d be surprised to hear that someway, you’re responsible for that…Cancer victims. Sexual assault victims. Holocaust victims. They’re responsible? The book is riddled with these destructive falsehoods,’ [Så detta skulle betyda att om du var fattig, så har du på något sätt förtjänat detta genom ditt tänkande, om du har blivit utsatt för sexuella övergrepp skulle du bli förvånad att höra att du på något sätt är ansvarig för detta... Offer för cancer. Offer för sexuella övergrepp. Offer för Förintelsen. De är ansvariga? Boken är genomdränkt med dessa destruktiva lögner (min snabba amatöröversättning)].

Norcross concluded."

Also see how people get cured against phobias below.