Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Arianna Huffinton & AOL: Ride A Painted Pony

If anyone ever wanted proof NewAgers have no values, they need look no further than Arianna Huffington:
Although Arianna Huffington has achieved worldwide fame as an internet pioneer, her comfort with self-publicity turning her into the face of what may be the future of news websites, she also nurses a lifelong love for therapies that she calls "natural" and others call something else. Fire walking, homeopathy, infrared saunas – Huffington has tried them all over the years, never struggling to balance what some might see as two contrary schools of thought in her head: the hard cutting edge of new media and the fluffy airy-fairiness of New Age.

In her private office – which is almost as glossy as she is, filled with plush armchairs and an intricately carved desk – books by Andrew Weil (an advocate for vitamin supplements who has written numerous books on self healing through breathing, "energy food" and "vibrational sound") sit happily alongside David Remnick's tub thumper tome, The Bridge: The Life and Rise of Barack Obama. On her desk, bottles of tinctures are placed in front of a photo of her with Queen Rania of Jordan and a handwritten note inviting her to brunch, signed Russell Simmons (whose book Super Rich: A Guide to Having it All is also on Huffington's bookcase, as though she needs any advice on that score.) Even though Christmas was two months ago, particular holiday cards linger on her window sill, including one from Joe Biden and another from a couple whose photo on the front is jarringly familiar: "Seasons greetings," it reads inside. "Tony, Cherie and family."

In short, it is all a testament to how much Huffington's eponymous website – on which features espousing holistic therapies run alongside political pieces about, say, John McCain or Egypt and columns by her celebrity friends, such as Nora Ephron – reflects the personality of its founder. But it's a personality that has puzzled some by its fluidity, "a mind as flexible as her body is unwieldy", as a 2008 profile of Huffington in the New Yorker magazine put it. Huffington has been, at various times, a self-help writer, a political pundit, an antagonist of feminists, a champion of women's causes, a follower of the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness, the champion of new media, a supporter of Newt Gingrich, a fan of President Obama, a Republican and a Democrat.
So let's get a look at this list of denialists:

Andrew Weil - the original acid head betrayer and NewAge quack doctor.

Barack Obama - brought to the public by Oprah Winfrey, the NewAge TV host.

Russell Simmons - Hip-Hop mogul turned self-help writing Buddhist.

Joe Biden - Joe Biden.

Cherie Blair - wife of Tony and NewAge loon.

Holistic therapies - AKA quackery.

Nora Ephron - a disgusting human being.
'Denialists' are those who reject the substantive technological benefits of modern science—medicines and vaccines to treat and prevent illnesses, or techniques to enhance the quality and quantity of agricultural yields. At the same time, they cling to an unsubstantiated faith in the advantages of 'natural' alternatives such as vitamins, supplements, and organic foods. The term encompasses a diverse array of quacks and crackpots, ranging from New Age celebrities like Andrew Weil to reactionary patricians like Charles, Prince of Wales. What unites them is a hostility to reason that, when amplified in society, threatens the ability of scientists to pursue real solutions to such problems as disease, hunger, and malnutrition."
And before anyone says, "Well, look, Arianna's so successful!" we'll remind you she's only successful because A) she divorced her husband and took his money, and B) the rest of you have so bought into the bogus concept of being "non-judgmental" that no one has seriously questioned what lies she's told and what harm she's committed.

To show you how pathetic it all is, the self-titled "Greek Goddess" is openly flaunting a belief system that was a laughing stock by the 80s and killed many people since - NewAge - but not one journalist has directly asked her "NewAge? Really? Astrology and homeopathy? Come on. Why should we take anything you say seriously?" Let a politician make a gaffe and he might lose his job, let Arianna Huffington make a series of them (while peddling NewAge quackery that's killed kids) and she gets a raise.

That's why she's successful. Mark our words:

Arianna Huffington's role in American life will eventually go down as a shame of the nation.

2 comments:

  1. ... a follower of the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness ...

    ...a follower of the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness ...

    ...a follower of the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness ...

    Just getting a little balance in there. It's the MSIA stuff that Arianna should be finding the hardest to live down, not the "tinctures" and whatnot.

    A little starter for anybody looking in who doesn't know anything about MSIA:

    Life 102 (an expose of the MSIA cult Arianna was in

    ReplyDelete
  2. Quite worthwhile information, thanks so much for the post.

    ReplyDelete

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