The Macho Response: Richard Pryor Let Mojo Handle It

My Life Coach Took Advantage Of Me (Plus I'm Stupid)

Splitting The Adam

 

It doesn't matter that few in politics share my concerns, because I'm still in good company:

"David Colquhoun, professor of pharmacology at University College London for 30 years, has lately led a double life. In his day job, he has pioneered painstaking research into the binding properties of molecules and contributed extensively to understanding the particular influences on ion channel function in the development of drugs. In his after-hours alter ego, however, he is the take-no-prisoners scourge of quackery and mumbo-jumbo in his unmissable blog, DC's Improbable Science. 

For a decade or more, no homeopath or acupuncturist has been safe from Professor Colquhoun's scathing, and often comic, online analysis. No newspaper report of the latest carcinogen – sausages or coffee or cheese – can survive his statistical scrutiny. He wages rigorous war against the march of managerialism and corporate speak through academia and the NHS. And, at 76, you would have to say he rather enjoys it."

 I'll take these professors - over any of the others I know - any day,...

 

Cultism: You Know You Want It (Why's It Everywhere?)

Of course I'm going to see The Master tomorrow, and Wired Magazine knows why:

Beautiful to look at, strangely hypnotic and utterly original, The Master examines cult dynamics through the ’50s-era misadventures of a violent ex-sailor with horrible posture and zero impulse control. 

Filmmaking artistry aside, writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson‘s picture hits home as a period-perfect examination of a perpetually recurring truth: When people hanker for a know-it-all authority figure who will tell them what to think, self-appointed “masters” will be more than happy to oblige. 

Anderson brings cult behavior into fascinating focus by examining the bond between two characters portrayed by extraordinary actors: the accidental, alcoholic seeker Freddie Quill, played by Joaquin Phoenix, and the suave, all-American swami Lancaster Dodd, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman. 

The Master casts its own weird, R-rated spell not because it yields shocking revelations or clever plot twists… 

Instead, The Master resonates because its peculiar particulars illustrate why people like Dodd continue to proliferate with near-tragic frequency. Consider such characters as the late Rev. Sun Myung Moon, who picked spouses for his followers; California Coptic priest Zakaria Botros Henein, whose devotees made the Innocence of Muslims video; and positive-thinking guru James Arthur Ray, whose eager-to-please acolytes sat in a sweat lodge until they died. 

Factor in Vanity Fair magazine’s recent report about Church of Scientology matchmaking practices for Tom Cruise (denied by the organization), and it seems clear that the top-down command structure depicted in The Master remains in full force six decades on. 

Anderson, who’s earned five Oscar nominations for previous obsession-themed films including There Will Be Blood, Boogie Nights and Magnolia, situates The Master at a comfortable remove from contemporary cult dysfunction,… 

For all its genteel period touches, The Master strikes a chord with contemporary audiences by probing the feral impulses that fuel groupthink then and now. Anderson strips the cult dynamic down to its rude essence,...The men turn on each other. 

“Nobody likes you Freddie,” Dodd says calmly. “I’m the only one who likes you.” 

Freddie, who’s just finished pounding his head against a bunkbed in a fit of inarticulate rage, finally screams the forbidden notion that everyone in the audience has surely already considered: “You’re making this shit up!” 

In The Master’s portrait of cult dysfunction, the misfit and the mumbo-jumbo man share a toxic alchemy more dangerous than any mad cocktail that Freddie could dream up.

Or me - don't leave me out: 

I seriously had no idea how fucked up y'all are out there,...

 

Our NewAge President: All "Touchy-Feely" And "Happy-Clappy" (With Oprah's Mumbo-Jumbo)

Hillary brought up the rear with the oogedy-boogedy,...

Hat Tip: iOwnTheWorld

One Time Where There's No Cover-Up Involved

We don't know what it is about San Francisco that attracts them, but once they get there, all bets (and clothing) are off:

Debating nudity with the naked guys in the Castro is like playing tennis against a brick wall. No matter what you send over the net, the return is always the same:

It is your fault.

You are the one who is offended, who is fretting about what 5-year-olds will think. They are free and natural. You are prudish and intolerant.

The nudie boys, who live in the Castro, can carry on this discussion for hours to push their organized cause - the Free Body Culture movement - a mumbo-jumbo philosophy about making San Francisco safe for our repressed nude selves.

Whatever.

Yea, it's more of that "larger 'California philosophy' that is relatively new in its history".

"Whatever", indeed.

Lying, Lying, Everybody's Lying, Just So They Can Do What They're Already Doing At Home

It's always nice to see, in this nation of liars, we're not all the suckers they take us as:

Marijuana is legal in Arizona, smoke up.

Nit pickers might argue that it’s only legal for people with certain medical conditions who have a note from their doctor, but that was sham legal mumbo jumbo used to dupe Arizonans into voting for legalizing marijuana.

The proof that this has nothing to do with medicine is written into the law – you don’t need a prescription from a doctor to get it, you just need a “recommendation” and you don’t even need a doctor, you can go to a naturopath or a homeopath to get one.

Homeopathy and naturopathy are simply government-regulated quackery. Not even uber liberal California allows these so-called physicians to prescribe marijuana.

Hey - homeopaths have to do something in this country - and cultural/political subversion is about all NewAgers are good for! Leave 'em alone! That's our job!

Just Like You And Me (Except We're Not Crazy)

Why do women worship Oprah so? Other than they have to? Other than the fact they watch TV and are simply compelled to? Other than the fact - don't deny it, we have eyes - their lives are so damned empty (and they are so damned gullible) that they'll believe in almost anything?

Why - other than all that - it's got to be because Oprah's just brought so much good in the world, and they're determined to be a part of it:

In terms of promoting woo and quackery, there is one person who stands head and shoulders above all the rest. True, she doesn't just promote woo and quackery, but she does have a long list of dubious achievements in that realm, including but not limited to unleashing Jenny McCarthy and her anti-vaccine crusade plus Suzanne Somers and her "bioidentical hormone" and cancer quackeries on an unsuspecting American public. She's also subjected us to both Dr. Phil and Dr. Oz to the point of actually launching them on their own shows, promoting the mystcial mumbo-jumbo wish fulfillment that is The Secret, and basically providing the most influential daytime TV platform for all manner of pseudoscience on a regular basis. Indeed, she's been running a veritable war on medical science. There's no New Age woo too woo-ey or quackery too quacky for Oprah.

And that's truly a beautiful thing.

Just like her girlfriend, Gayle.

Party People, Party People, Can Y'all Get Funky?

"The ability to use reason, weigh evidence and make rational decisions is an essential skill, writes Skeptic Simon Perry.

Strongly held beliefs unsupported by evidence can cause significant damage to the deluded individual and those who surround them.

An individual approaching a homeopath for a cold remedy will probably do no more self harm than to waste their money and feed their own delusion, but the homeopath who convinces their client that they're safe to go to West Africa with nothing more than a sugar pill for malaria protection may well kill them.

But mumbo-jumbo becomes most dangerous when it is believed by those with power."

-- This Is Leicestershire.co.uk

That second sentence is a point this blog has, repeatedly, tried to make for some time [underlined emphasis, above, TMR's]. If you don't believe it's a true statement, don't forget I base my claim on personal experience.

All These Obama Bitches Must Be Stoned

Oh man, this is rich:

Six months after the first two year campaign in American history, and this dork, Dan Froomkin, dares to open a piece with the words:

"We're finally going to get to know the real President Obama."

Shit, y'all, I don't want to laugh too hard because I'm trying not to throw up in my mouth, y'know? Is this guy kidding? I knew this bone-head, Obama, from Day One, but this jackass, Froomkin, is still waiting for his guru to reveal himself? How dumb can you be? How does he get paid to write columns? Oh yea - he's at The Huffington Post. Figures - they don't pay. That stupid bitch, Arianna, will hire anybody.

Here - let Dorothy Rabinowitz of The Wall Street Journal take a crack at it - surely she knows I'm out here:

"Who would have believed that this politician celebrated, above all, for his eloquence and capacity to connect with voters would end up as president proving so profoundly tone deaf? A great many people is the answer—the same who listened to those speeches of his during the campaign, searching for their meaning."

Well, nice try. I never "listened to those speeches of his during the campaign, searching for their meaning" because I knew they had no meaning. Plus, I know, if I ever have to search for the meaning in what anyone says, then they ain't playing straight with me. It was all just mumbo-jumbo, AKA The Official Language of the Newage™ set. Purely for the suckers. "You are the ones you've been waiting for"? Puh-leaze. If anything about that phrase is connected to reality, it's only what it reveals about the supporters of this loser:

They're a little more than fashionably late.

The King Of All Hippies & The Modern NewAge

"Born in 1934 to a 16-year-old prostitute, Manson appeared as 'No Name Maddox' on his birth certificate. A miserable childhood was punctuated by humiliations such as when an uncle dragged him to church in a dress 'to learn to fight and be a man'.

At 13 he was the youngest ever inmate of Indiana County Jail. He became a career jailbird, with each release followed by arrest for offences ranging from car theft to rape. Bright as a button, he read voraciously in prison, hoovering up titbits of philosophy, religion and mumbo-jumbo that he would later regurgitate in the guise of a guru."

-- Damian Corless, telling us gorgeous bits about Good Time Charlie's early years (which fit perfectly into the NewAge hippie template) you know, the part no one talks about - as they continue to sell NewAge beliefs everywhere - except, occasionally, in The Independent.

They Couldn't Call It "Spinach" Or Something

"Nine days prior to [Harvey] Milk’s death, more than 900 followers of Jim Jones—many of them campaign workers for Milk—perished in the most ghastly set of murder-suicides in modern history. Before the congregants of the Peoples Temple drank Jim Jones’s deadly Kool-Aid, Harvey Milk and much of San Francisco’s ruling class had already figuratively imbibed. Milk occasionally spoke at Jones’s San Francisco–based headquarters, promoted Jones through his newspaper columns, and defended the Peoples Temple from its growing legion of critics. Jones provided conscripted 'volunteers' for Milk’s campaigns to distribute leaflets by the tens of thousands. Milk returned the favor by abusing his position of public trust on behalf of Jones’s criminal endeavors.

'Rev. Jones is widely known in the minority communities here and elsewhere as a man of the highest character, who has undertaken constructive remedies for social problems which have been amazing in their scope and effectiveness,' Supervisor Milk wrote President Jimmy Carter seven months before the Jonestown carnage. The purpose of Milk’s letter was to aid and abet his powerful supporter’s abduction of a six-year-old boy. Milk’s missive to the president prophetically continued: 'Not only is the life of a child at stake, who currently has loving and protective parents in the Rev. and Mrs. Jones, but our official relations with Guyana could stand to be jeopardized, to the potentially great embarrassment of our State Department.' John Stoen, the boy whose actual parents Milk libeled to the president as purveyors of 'bold-faced lies' and blackmail attempts, perished at Jonestown. This, the only remarkable episode in Milk’s brief tenure on the San Francisco board of supervisors, is swept under the rug by his hagiographers."

-- Daniel J. Flynn, doing one of those "Is it live or is it Memorex?" comparisons on the movie Milk - and taking all this "cult" stuff pretty seriously - which would surprise us if it wasn't coming from the ever-ready City Journal.

Yessiree, it looks like another uncovered tale from the land of Jumbo de la Mumbo - AKA funny/sunny cult-loving San Francisco, California. Brought to you (in Hollywood's irresponsibly spiffed-up and re-packaged form) via every damn medium you can get your grubby little hands on: Uh huh, Ladies and Gentlemen, Milk's a falsehood for you and your loved ones to pass around while the rest of NewAge society's "spiritual" types enjoy sucking all the marrow out of reality.

Oh what fun you'll have, repeating what Harvey Milk never said or meant (all originally delivered by Sean Penn) and watching it dribble down front as it exits your mouth or nose - or you pee your pants - staining the body politic with that which never was and never should be. Go on, try it, you lustful liars:

Milk - it does a body (of lies) good.

American Men - Reduced - To (And By) Pussies

"'Home Game'" Mr. Lewis's account of becoming a father to his three children, begins promisingly. 'At some point in the last few decades, the American male sat down at the negotiating table with the American female and -- let us be frank -- got fleeced,' he writes.

The poor sucker agreed to take on responsibility for all sorts of menial tasks -- tasks that his own father was barely aware of -- and received nothing in return. If he was hoping for some gratitude, he was mistaken. According to Mr. Lewis: 'Women may smile at a man pushing a baby stroller, but it is with the gentle condescension of a high officer of an army toward a village that surrendered without a fight.'

American men now find themselves in the same position as Gorbachev after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Having done the decent thing, and ceded power without bloodshed, they are now looked on with good-humored disdain. (Full disclosure: I am a father of four living in London and can confirm that the situation for British men is no better.)

This is good stuff -- the American male is a pitiful creature -- and it is followed by plenty of examples from Mr. Lewis's own life. No sooner has his first daughter arrived than he is transformed into a surrendered husband, forced to take her to a succession of 'Mommy and me' classes. At one point, while living in Paris, he ends up in a swimming pool with 'a dozen scantily clad Frenchmen,' all accompanied by their newborn babies. It isn't long before he has been thoroughly brainwashed by the politically correct mumbo-jumbo that passes for wisdom in 'parenting courses.' 'I understood that my job was no longer to force the party line upon Quinn,' he writes. 'My job was to validate her feelings.' His wife, who used to look up to him as a glamorous writer, begins to view him as an 'unreliable employee.'"

-- Michael Lewis, reviewing a book that details a bit about why this blog is what it is (we've never given in to this "politically correct mumbo-jumbo" - and never will) which is why feminists - and their wimpy "partners" - hate us, though we must be loved by The Wall Street Journal.

Let's See - Spiritual "Enlightenment", Faith Healing, The Dalai Lama, Dumb Women, Sex - Nope: We're Putting It In But That's Not News!!!

"A cult guru who claimed he had mystical healing powers raped and sexually assaulted young female followers he found attractive, a court heard.

Michael Lyons, 51, wore flowing robes, called himself Mohan Singh, and surrounded himself with a group of girl devotees.
He convinced them he was linked to Buddhist spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and was 'enlightened,' it was alleged. But Lyons raped and sexually assaulted seven of them over a ten-year period, jurors heard.

One woman claimed he had shown her a film before climbing on top of her naked and spouting 'spiritual mumbo-jumbo'.
Another said he wafted a scented frying pan around her and mumbled incoherent words before grabbing her neck and raping her in his flat.

Prosecutor Philip Katz QC told London’s Wood Green Crown Court: 'We say he is a sexual predator masquerading as a guru.'"

-- Mike Sullivan - making us yawn - in The Sun.

When Will Europe Admit It's Obvious Occultism?

"We are looking for people over 20 for part-time jobs in sales and management  with the following star signs: Capricorn, Taurus, Aquarius, Aries and Leo."

-- The Daily Mail, reporting on the cultism and NewAge mumbo jumbo thriving at the Salzburg Insurance Company, which is "seeking employees for sales and management that were born under certain constellations" - another clear example of the hold occult beliefs still have on a steadily declining Europe - which repeatedly claims to have, long ago, escaped the shackles of religious and spiritual belief.

When A Silly Cult Show Gets Into A Cult Seminar

This is another great episode of Adult Swim's "Superjail" - they're even (smarter than most by) correctly labeling NewAge cultism as "mumbo jumbo" - watch the whole thing. And click on this post's title to see how it works in the real world.

It Feels Like You've Been Floating On Air(Head)

"You can stay supremely fit and eat healthily no matter how crazy your schedule, without a lot of pampering and Sanskrit mumbo jumbo,..."

-- Maureen Dowd, spending a little time with the "Mind, Body and Organic Martinis" of the Mystic Bourgeoisie (no surprise there) and, once again, using the hot new phrase for NewAge practices and beliefs, while writing for The New York Times.

Language In Washington Is Getting Awful Weird

"I would think that in this era of freshness and transparency the new administration would want to come forth with detail instead of this mumbo jumbo that is going on."

-- Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) admitting this NewAge isn't an "era of freshness and transparency," and also being the first person in Washington to accurately describe what the Obama Administration is offering - replacing that ol' oogedy-boogedy - on The Hill.

The Era Of Mumbo-Jumbo Is Ending

"Almost supernaturally crises will be solved with the departure of the hated Bush."

-- Victor Davis Hanson, using a very interesting choice of words, on Pajamas Media.

Shut Up, Kathleen

"The evangelical, right-wing, oogedy-boogedy branch of the GOP is what ails the erstwhile conservative party and will continue to afflict and marginalize its constituents if reckoning doesn't soon cometh."

-- Kathleen Parker, after voting for Barack Obama - and revealing herself as a NewAge conservative turncoat - on Nov. 19th 2008, in The Washington Post.

"When it comes to irresistible words, 'oogedy-boogedy' has few peers."

-- Kathleen Parker, revisiting her moment of shame - but still feeling pretty good with herself after a visit to The Daily Show - on Dec. 5th 2008, in The Washington Post.

"Deepak Chopra earns $20m a year selling spiritual guidance to the likes of Demi Moore, Hillary Clinton and Mikhail Gorbachev - and he’s not the only self-help guru making a fortune. In the first of two extracts from his new book, Francis Wheen traces the rise and rise of mystic mumbo-jumbo:

'In September 1784 a Berlin magazine invited Immanuel Kant to answer the question: What is Enlightenment? "Enlightenment is man’s emergence from his self-incurred immaturity," he replied. "Immaturity is the inability to use one’s own understanding without direction from another. This immaturity is self-incurred if its cause is not lack of understanding, but lack of resolve and courage to use it without another’s guidance. Dare to know! That is the motto of Enlightenment."

The Enlightenment had many critics, but its illuminating influence and achievements were apparent in the history of the next two centuries - the waning of absolutism and superstition, the rise of secular democracy, the understanding of the natural world, the transformation of historical and scientific study, the new political resonance of notions such as 'progress', 'rights' and 'freedom'. Does that light still shine today? According to the philosopher Roger Scruton, 'Reason is now on the retreat, both as an ideal and as a reality.' The leaders of the counter-revolution may seem an incongruous coalition - post-modernists and primitivists, New Age and Old Testament - but they have been remarkably effective over the past quarter-century. Those who lack the courage to use their understanding 'without direction from another' are easy prey for self-styled gurus, and the sleep of reason has duly brought forth many such monsters, exploiting and expanding the demand for mumbo-jumbo."

-- Francis Ween, calling the Right and (more importantly) the Left's problem by it's proper name - all the way back in Jan. 27th 2004 - but never being invited anywhere except the blog (that apparently nobody else reads) called Religion News.

There's a portion of Francis Ween's "How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World: A Short History of Modern Delusions" on Google Book Search:

He's waaay more fun to read, and more accurately nails the problem, than silly-ass Kathleen Parker's oogedy-boogedy.