This article appears in Dec 6-12, 2007.
The love haters
In last week’s Coast, someone suggested you should have a column dealing with the more positive aspects of life. I only have one response: BAHAWHA!!!! Do I really want to read a column that looks like “Chicken Soup for the ‘Fill in The Blank’”?? No fuck
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Apparently, Oprah is cashing in big time on the self help industry – she’s flogging some book called ‘The Secret’ which says that if you’re positive, you can have anything you want. Well, I’m positive that’s a right crock of shit. Yet, when I went to the Halifax Regional Library site this morning, over 500 people had reserved this pile of steaming self-help claptrap. Besides, didn’t Dale Carnagie have the same idea back in the 1930s when he wrote the Power of Positive Thinking? I guess repackaging is everything.
I’ll admit it – I got sucked into that one show, I like to think that I am always going to want to improve my life.Anyway like the rest of the 90 million I thought…MMMM I should get that book, or maybe even the CD. So one Sunday am I go to Chapters, pick up the book, all it was, was testimonies of what positive thinking has done for people.I’m with you Ellbee, it’s the same old sugary treat just with a different candy coating, and somebody else is making the $$$ from this “new” candy.Needless to say I put the book down and got a coffee…
I swear my poor sister read every self-help book ever written and it didn’t do squat other than separate her from her hard-earned money. The only people self-help books help are the authors.Repackaged shit is still shit.
and another thing, don’t you find the second that you are going to be “positive” the most horrible things start to happen. seriously whats that all about! it’s like someone says “yeah you think you can be positive, Now TRY!”
I’ve had the same luck as you, Jeanne. The moment I decide I’m going to be ‘positive’, shit starts crashing around me at an alarming rate. If that doesn’t kick it out of me, the media does.
Oprah? Is she still on the air? Holy shit it just proves there’s still 1,000 born every second. Here’s some sound advise for all you morons who watch that crap. Put down the chip bag, get off the couch. walk (yes walk) to the tv and shut it off – for good. I swear for 75% of the people out there (I’m being generous) need only to exercise their brain. The rest will come naturally. 😛
Kay- maybe I’m a little cranky today, but BJ, your comment has just rubbed me. I don’t need you calling me a moron because after working my many hour work week, I choose to indulge in a little TV. I try never to look down my nose others for what they do, and appreciate the same consideration. My opinion- I like Oprah, I think she is trying to make a difference, and once every 4 to 5 weeks I actually get an opportunity to sit down and watch her. So I don’t need you trying to pass judgement on me. GAWD!~ really there are alot worse things I could be doing with MY free time.
I with Jeanne on this one … bj .. stop being such a dick. While your ideas have plenty of merit to them, your delivery of those ideas leaves something to be desired. Very disappointing.
zzzing on bj! George Carlin has a good bit on “self-help” books. If you need advice from someone else it’s not “self help” it’s just “help”. If you can do it by yourself then you never needed help … because … you did it by yourself. Pretty funny stuff.Most of us spend a good chunk of our day being nice/courteous to people. It could be customers, co-workers, folks you pass on the sidewalk etc. Sometimes it is nice just to have a venue to blow off a little steam or complain about something that’s bothering you.Does anybody really care about stories involving courteous neighbours or a terrific bus ride?Not me. I have much more interest in you guys ripping bj a new one because of his “all-knowing” approach. That’s where the entertainment is.
I like pickles. They’re tasty and crunchy. They are excellent with a sandwich and we need more stories about pickles … not really.
Some people like to use, what I call, the Miss Merry Sunshine Approach to Life which would be fine if it wasn’t so damn unrealistic and annoying. I just can’t see myself chirping happily when so many things in this damn world are just plain wrong.Plus there’s actually a positive reason for venting – it relieves stress and FEELS DAMN GOOD!
I agree with Raoul on this one … I like pickles too. And yes, they are tasty and crunchy. Why aren’t there more stories about pickles anyway?
ok it has to be said…Raoul, I was eating my lunch as I often do while reading the comments. I swear when I got to your “pickles” comment, apple sauce almost came out my nose.I was having a bit of an off day – and well that really made me laugh. Not to sure if all your cards are in the deck but that was funny.!!!!!
OK ladies. Put down your teacups then and listen up. I would really really like to know what attracts you to the Oprah Show and the Dr. Phil show (lets throw him in there too). Let’s have it then. Is it her makeup, her wardrobe, her delivery, or her set? I really want to know because I hope you realize both her and Phil are performing artists. Nothing is left to chance – not a facial expression, not a sentence or a word, not a gesture – nothing. It’s scripted from start to finish with not a nano-second left to chance. It’s all about advertising $$’s and promotion of mindless consumerism. You know the kind I’m talking about here … turning wants into needs and then into MUST HAVES. TV is poison dear ladies. It’s non-interactive, one-dimensional rubbish. It robs you of your powers to make independent and informed decisions because it dictates your every want and need, even your opinions. Even Raoul admits I’m better entertainment than she or Philly Boy are. Now if you have no further objections, I’ll get back to what I prefer over the idiot box … reading books I choose to read, listening to music I enjoy (not what’s sent to me over the airwaves on radio and TV), bird watching, photography, walking and hiking. Now that’s entertainment! Pass the pickles please 🙂
I rarely watch television myself – the vaste wasteland that it is – however, on the odd occasion, I will tune into Dr. Phil and his school of bandaid psychology. Watching these human train wrecks who want to expose their problems to the world is beyond bizarre as is Dr. Phil’s outrage, peppered with his typical catch phrases. Of course, both he and Oprah are scripted to death – what television show isn’t? I find it a fascinating statement on our ‘all about me’ culture – the Dr. Phils of the world have basically replaced religion when it comes to certain people’s ‘moral’ dilemmas.I absolutely refuse to watch Oprah. I always think of the SNL sketch back in the 90s when Tim Meadows dressed up as Oprah. ‘She’ was carried in on a sedan with the announcement: ‘ALL BOW TO THE OPRAH!’ That pretty much says it all for me. Only in America.