Matti - 14/07/10 23:12 #

Frábær athugasemd hjá PZ Myers.

Positive thinking is one of the great cons.

• There's just a tiny grain of truth in it, namely that negative thinking sometimes promotes failure. That's enough for 'plausibility' in the mind of the critically illiterate.
• It doesn't require adherence to any belief system, except a single piece of magical thinking.
• It makes vast but vague promises - "Whatever you want, you'll get".
• It can be credited as the source of any and all successes, so is wide open for confirmation bias.
• The poor can be conned and subdued by giving hectoring 'advice', the rich by charging for courses to do the same thing.
• It puts the onus of action entirely on the dupe - the promoter doesn't need to do anything except talk.
• It enables you to blame the victim when it fails - if someone fails, it's because they weren't positive enough. More than that, it makes the victim blame themselves. That's genius.

Matti - 15/12/10 12:13 #

Kommon, ég var í prófi :-)