Merry Fucking Christmas, Or, Don't Read Into It Too Much

I guess the difference would be, when I didn't believe in Autumn's Jesus, she respected me for it. She explained it to her follower of the time (another boy at her feet) as something I was almost above, I just didn't need it. Why would I believe that something(one) else is in charge when that'll do nothing but hurt me? I can't put faith in anyone but myself, less it leads to pain, great deals of pain.

When I didn't believe in Jessa and Diane's The Secret (I'm not being cryptic, we had to watch a DVD quite literally called "The Secret") last night, they thought I just wasn't far enough along in my spiritual journey; and when The Secret said that some people will be resistant to the message, The Secret said those people aren't just far enough along in their spiritual journey.

(I also wouldn't believe you if you said 2 + 2 is 3, but I guess with enough rhetoric and fancy fonts, you can convince my friend and girlfriend I'm just not far enough along in my Antimath journey.)

I countered with the fact that Jessa (I wouldn't hold Diane to as high of an argument, because I hate arguing and hardly ever see a point, but I think this was important) wasn't far enough along in her feminist journey. How could she not see that all these white men, coming from their places of privilege, have the ability to say that believing good things will happen (that's The big Secret) is not enough for everyone in the world. I've thought good things my whole life, and they didn't do a ton. I had to work my ass off to get here, and I'm here because I do have privilege that helped me get here. They kept arguing that I was putting people in boxes, but they couldn't see the necessary logic that if the white men got the good stuff by thinking positively, then the oppressed must just not be thinking positively enough. They agreed. I mean, they argued around it so it didn't sound quite so--oh, I don't know--wrong, oppressive, bad, but they agreed that anyone can get out of the circumstances they're put into simply by thinking positively.

Here's an idea. It's the responsibility of the rapist not to rape, not the survivor to not get raped. I've said it before. It still rings true. And it's true for a lot of things i.e. it's the responsibility of the privileged to not oppress, not the responsibility of the oppressed to not get oppressed. Or, not the responsibility of the oppressed to start thinking positively enough to not get oppressed any more.

Maybe those white men did get all that their hearts desired (there was a very long segment on visualizing the car that you want. We were even supposed to close our eyes and put our hands on the (imaginary) steering wheel.), but how did they get it? How?

You wanna know how? They got it by believing that thinking positive is all they have to do and they therefore have no accountability for their actions and BOOM they get all their hearts' desires (material bullshit) by being oppressive. Whose body was compromised so that they could have that car? Whose labor went under- and unpaid so nothing more than positive thoughts could get them their "riches"?

The Secret's answer? The people who aren't thinking positively themselves. Those people getting under- and unpaid are simply getting that because they're not thinking positively enough.

I whole heartedly disagree and am trying not to judge these two too harshly for getting caught up in the rhetoric. How did Jessa not notice that all the "dreams" of the men were things, and all the "dreams" of women were to find men? It was even sexist in it's oppression.

Here's what I saw when I watched that DVD last night: rhetoric for those of us a little bit lost and searching for some answers, convincing "us" that individualistic hyper-capitalism is good, and it all starts with postive thinking. They used quotes from the White Man's MLK , Henry Ford (not actually someone I'm trying to model my life after), Einstein, Shakespeare, Mother Theresa, Churchill, Buddha--y'know, all those people who had great quotes that anyone whose written a high school essay can take out of context and use to further her/his own point. There was no accountability for how all of these materialistic things would come, because--like other cults, religions, faiths, political parties, etc--there was the one Idea--Jesus, Allah, God, goddesses, capitalism, The Secret--that made it all come true. Our actions don't matter, we just have to think and feel (oh yes, feeling was a large part of it) our way to success. Bullshit. We have to work our way to success--and, along the way, not once we've achieved our goals--we have to work towards the world's success. It is our responsibility to stop oppression, not the oppressed's responsibility to keep us from oppressing them. Also, it is the oppressor's responsibility to stop oppressing me, not my responsibility to stop them from oppressing me.
We all fit into both sentences at least a little bit. And My Fellow Americans, those of us with the ability to come to this website and read along, most of our lives fit into that first sentence.

Now there's an idea that's met with resistance. Even from me.