❀ the cult of: ➥motivational speakers ➥life coaches ➥personal growth gurus ➥new-age charlatans ➥AWESOMENESS FEST

The most recent This American Life has an interesting segment on "Wake Up Now," which is one of those network marketing cults - http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/543/wake-up-now

i heard that -- it was really depressing
they are exploiting educational inequality and manipulating people and it makes me really mad

Me, too.

The bright side, I guess, is that the guy they talked to at the end had stopped paying money into it and had gone back to work a real job. Although I liked his partner's attitude about the whole thing, that she was just glad to have a stay at home dad to handle the housework while she worked full time.

One thing that stood out to me as particularly insightful was the guy at the end's justification for continuing to take part in Wake Up Now despite the statistics that pretty much nobody actually made a profit from it. He said that he was glad that not everybody made a profit because it showed that only people who worked hard and had the right attitude or drive or whatever would succeed. Because he knew he was willing to work hard, he knew that he would be in the minuscule minority of profit makers. It was just a great example of a certain mindset that humans bring to so many unlikely things (winning the lottery, dieting, any money making endeavor) - like knowing full well that nobody really succeeds at the thing and using that as proof that you will succeed because you are special. It's kind of depressing but kind of impressive, too, this human capacity for optimistic self-delusion.

Yeah but I see the delusion more clearly than I see the optimism. And where did that delusion come from? People who intentionally exploit other people based on their lack of critical thinking skills are a special kind of horrible people imo.

I'd like to hang out with these people

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cd791x1gIxw

shroiyogishoes

http://socialtriggers.com/

is the sales pitch here "You, too, want ugly suits and giant watches"?

it is like he literally used the template from this

http://tiffzhang.com/startup/index.html?s=818164298310

putting this here because i'm convinced it's related

http://gizmodo.com/some-slimy-clickbait-dickhead-stole-my-identity-to-blog-1717040176

this has to be the base-level engine keeping the rest of this crap afloat, right?

Much-needed warning for pregnant women

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BpPOIoBCcAEpvi1.jpg

That's weird.

Anyone heard of Isagenix? Seems to be tied in with this whole scene.

i dunno but i'm in their periscope now so i'll report my findings

the crowd is "woo"ing about how excited they are

Yeah some annual gathering is happening in San Diego.

the guy told them a phrase to say at each other and now the whole crowd is peas-n-carrots-ing each other. It sounds like madness.

The crowd is riveted by this donkey parable.

Anyone heard of Isagenix? Seems to be tied in with this whole scene.

http://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/mindvalleys-fundraising-aiming-for-acceleration-and-ipo-in-four-years-13804/

i am so glad to see at least on discussion of this on the web. and a good discussion it is. An acquaintance who is pretty much a total flake told me about this 2 years ago and upon looking at the site and reading everything i came away 1) even less informed about what exactly this was and 2) no clue on cost. Not that i was remotely considering this any way. Seriously any one that thinks they are "Awesome, genius, game changer" or what ever other quasi-business/intelligent euphemistic bullshit they want to attach to themselves is inherently not awesome at all. They are an asshole.
So just seems like another scam aimed squarely at those who think they are profound searchers. Easy marks for sure.

"IIRC one of the two speakers was trying to get us to learn about "optimizing teamwork" based on lessons from ... wait for it... people who "successfully" survived the holocaust."
holy shit! that's fucked but comic gold.

"how did your family survive the holocaust?"
"OPTIMALLY"

http://i.imgur.com/sZoNWBm.png

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=th7BZXXbWV4

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CYg43xjUkAAiaw6.png

sometimes i just wish i had the guile and networking skills to bullshit my way through life like these people.

rmde @ "Edupreneur"

this is an odd list

http://www.watkinsmagazine.com/watkins-spiritual-100-list-2016#.Vr3o4ij1Cd0.twitter

no lag∞n, no credibility

http://sebpearce.com/bullshit/

fuck guys how did i miss they totally rebranded??

http://i.imgur.com/LTipTec.png

A fest for u

"mind valley" kind of makes me picture this brain with a big chunk missing on top, in the shape of a valley.

Uncanny mind valley.

rising_wedge_of_head.gif

my mom (former Andrew Cohen follower) forwarded this to me, "warning" me that it refers to Cohen's group as a cult (as if I care). She's moved on to some other guy, Thomas something.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJyYccwCVBk

I am fine with not being radically anything tbh

http://static1.squarespace.com/static/5621346ce4b0a2db4626f7d9/t/56291530e4b0337fcee1ecbe/1445532976554/Book+Cover+Picture.jpg?format=1500w

i'm pretty sure i've discovered the new snorg girl

technically NSFW photos:

http://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/features/a16297/inside-the-worlds-chicest-cult/

Fun article. Feels like it's the inverse of fedora types, defending "traditional" (recent invention) ideas of gender while being blissfully unaware that times have changed and you can't get away with that stuff anymore. They'll probably do less harm with the feminine caring sharing motherhood emphasis than the patriarchys HULK SMASH but they seem to be coming from the same instinct.

http://www.audible.com/pd/Self-Development/The-Code-of-the-Extraordinary-Mind-Audiobook/B01DFKNHI8

05-24-16
"Just a 10 hour advertisement for the $1000 program"

What disappointed you about The Code of the Extraordinary Mind?
It's not truly a program or any sort of "help" book but is, instead, just an advertisement for the paid resources on the authors website. It's like a rap song. He spends the book saying how great and rich he is to gain some credibility to refer you to the paid programs on his website.

What could Vishen Lakhiani have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?
Offered some of the program, even a shortened version so I could learn something or try his ideas.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?
It goes quickly, his voice is fine.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Code of the Extraordinary Mind?
Most of the anecdotal stories that seem to just be excuses to drop some names to impress the listener. Very little point in the constant stories of all the famous people he's met.

Any additional comments?
This is the most disappointing purchase I've made on Audible. I feel like I just spent the last 3 days in an Amway presentation.

16 of 20 people found this review helpful

Vishen... c'mon man

Not quite the same arena but the mini-cults of personality that have popped up around certain podcast celebrities and writers is fascinating. They're all sort of Trumpy and paleo and whine about SJWs even when it doesn't seem to have anything to do with their schtick. Random Sam Wang tweet tonight had some guy who immediately started in on "well, you just haven't read Nassim Taleb's argument against GMOs" then repeating himself that you'd understand IF ONLY YOU HAD READ LORD TALEB'S PAPERS.

Sam Harris gets the same "well if only you had READ THIS" veneration and outrage if you point out that basically no one respects his attempts at philosophy. Bunch of schmucks who were on the Joe Rogan podcast have turned this into an entire ecosystem. My favorite are professors who whine about not moving up in academia and blame it on conspiracies against them and being 'too popular with students.'

super otm

ppl are really into trying to find an organizing principle or source of truth to contextualize their decisions and instead of traveling evangelist preachers with road shows we end up with Joe Rogan's podcast and Taleb mocking people for not being swole

I accidentally engaged with Thaddeus Russell because he popped up under something trending a month ago with "drug laws effect white men too, why don't they ever mention THAT when they're talking about incarceration rates huh" and tapped out after he wouldn't respond to "whynotboth.gif"

haha wait I want to know more about nassem talib mocking people for not being swole

https://mobile.twitter.com/nntaleb/status/748232335536037888?lang=en

he apparently talks about weightlifting and uses it to mock people all the time