Do you ever get the feeling you live in a totally different world than the people you might get information from? 
(On this blog that shouldn't be too hard,...) 
I recently wrote to Ann Althouse - and, by extension, Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit - asking why french food was important enough for both of them to link to, but this post wasn't, and they didn't answer back. 
I thought it was a fair question, worthy of at least a reply, but no. 
I think they're just shruggies, or living in a more insular space than I do, where the NewAge Movement isn't seen as an important topic to cover - even though two supposedly-smart people, such as they, must know there's a long-established NewAge Movement and, if there's a well-documented "movement", then that movement must be up to something, right? 
I mean, people - including kids - are being killed by these fools. 
To me, it's like there is a (sinister) Civil Rights Movement, or Gay Rights Movement, and the educated class are openly ignoring it - or keeping the attention off their own proclivities, maybe?
Keep in mind, they're not alone: 
Despite respected people, like Newt Gingrich, saying things like, "We are living in a period where we are surrounded by paganism", I've noticed those religion surveys don't even ask about NewAge stuff. 
More people are turning away from mainstream religion, they tell us, but they're not becoming atheists - so what are they turning to? 
You know what I'm thinking, but, of course, nobody's bothering to look into that "flakey" NewAge stuff, no matter how popular it - and, for instance, Oprah - are. 
It's tentacles could be everywhere - and they are - but the more well-to-do chattering classes could care less about discussing it. 
That's NewAge's cover. 
That being silence. 
As far as I'm concerned, these Dave Matthews Band-type Beta Males, and womyn, are much-too-comfortable making sure this Occult shit stays hidden,...Rosemary's Baby, y'all.
Anyways, I was struck with that disconnected feeling again tonight, when I went on Reynolds' Instapundit and he was writing about getting an iPod adapter for his car. He wrote:
"Recently I had Mazda retrofit an iPod adapter, which works fine with the existing stereo. That’s a big plus — the FM adapter I’d been using sucked, because there’s almost no open frequency in Knoxville,...Total cost for the iPod adapter? $280, installed. The dealer had it in stock, and the whole thing, together with the scheduled maintenance, only took a few hours. Controlling the iPod from the stereo works fine, and the cable is generously long."
Whoa! Talk about living in a different world!!! 
I drive a late-model truck, but when I got an adapter for my iPod, I went to Walmart and bought one for $10.00. 
It works great and, really, what kind of idiot is "Professor" Reynolds that he's bragging he spent $270.00 more for one? 
I mean, come on.
So let's recap: 
A destructive world-wide spiritual/cultural influence that's permeated almost every area of modern human existence (politics, science, medicine, etc.) that's not worthy of exploring.
Blowing - and I mean, just blowing - almost THREE HUNDRED DOLLARS, during a recession, on a ubiquitous item that can be had for a song? That deserves to be front-and-center on one of the most-read internet sites - and don't forget to crow about it, while you're at it!!!
This is why newspapers are dying, too, y'all: 
They're completely out of touch with regular people, how we think, and what our concerns are. 
I really don't know what the worth of a college education is anymore. 
And, based on the evidence, I probably don't want to find out.
Love your site, yada yada. One question, though: where the hell do you find enough time to source all these images? It's truly amazing!
ReplyDeleteI also think it is curious that New Age is not seen as a threat. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that New Age doesn't require anything of anyone other than 'being open to everything', sort of how a pedophile might be the nicest guy in your neigborhood, 'open to everything'. Once you get burned though, shame sets in, and self-blame. Victims often go quiet. New age then moves on, it dresses up as something else, something even 'more real'. And New Age never takes a stand. it just sucks you dry and works on keeping folks from picking up on the stench. Althouse and Reynolds can't quite put their finger on this. They smell it, but they won't look for the unrecognizable rotten dead rat behind the dishwasher. They talk about the stench and not the rat. Your article about France was about the stench in a sense, so it is on the periphery where they'd rather dwell.
ReplyDeleteRight on the mark. The NewAgers are a threat in such a subtle way. My neighbor has children in elementary school. One day the kids came home talking about chi and how to use it to manage negative emotions that cause fights. She almost fainted.
ReplyDeleteThe previous comments led me to this conclusion: people don't consider New Age a threat because it is insidiously woven into so many aspects of our lives. We don't really see it.
ReplyDeleteWe need people like you to shock us out of complacency. And shock you do! Some of those images are amazing.
People seem to need to believe in something beyond our immediate senses. Our awareness of self perhaps triggers an awareness that something more than self may exist. Also fear of death, the pain of illness and misfortune, and the sorrow caused by the loss of loved ones, are too hard for most to cope with w/o a spiritual safety-net, so to speak.
As traditional religious traditions, which fulfilled the spiritual need, fall by the way side, New Age hucksters and true-believers move in to fill the void; replacing the old school tel-evangelist style hucksters. But they also remind one of the snake-oil peddlers that have existed forever.
In other words, it's a complex issue you've chosen to tackle!
Fascinating blog, btw. I found it through a comment of yours on Althouse. I guess that's why I read her. You never know what you'll find at her playhouse.
I have spent a significant part of my life in third world countries. Last summer I was in Malawi, Africa. Every night after we went to sleep, the local people would dig through the things we had thrown into the trash pit, like cans, aluminum foil, and bags. It's a paradigm-shifting experience to see schoolchildren walking past with their school papers neatly tucked into small plastic bags that once held a kilo of sugar, but with the addition of a thin braided rope (also made of plastic bags), have now become messenger bags.
ReplyDelete