Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Yet more dirty little secrets

“Remember,” [Rhonda] Byrne wrote, “if you are criticising, you are not being grateful. If you are blaming, you are not being grateful. If you are complaining, you are not being grateful.”

Those are worthy sentiments, but it was an odd time for Byrne to be expressing them because her lawyers had just sued two of the very people who were instrumental in launching her book and film The Secret to phenomenal success...
...For a woman whose central message is the power of positivity, Byrne has a surprisingly long history of such bust-ups, stretching back to her days as a television producer in Melbourne. But those past disputes pale next to the legal storms swirling around The Secret, a New-Age marketing phenomenon the like of which has not been seen for decades. It’s a bunfight of cosmic proportions that has drawn into its orbit some of the best-known figures and most fundamental tenets of the global self-help industry.

~ From an article by Richard Guilliatt in
The Weekend Australian Magazine,
Aug. 23-24, 2008
Now it can be told.

All that stuff I hinted about in a long post last December
is now out in the open. And in case anyone has any doubt whatsoever now about the real motives behind the creation of The Secret, maybe a newly published article by Aussie journo Richard Guilliatt in the August 23-24 issue of The Weekend Australian Magazine will help change that thinking.

Maybe.

Not that it will probably make much difference in the larger scheme of things. There is, after all, that self-gratification element, as Richard Guilliatt duly noted:
IN THE SECRET, a succession of American personal-development gurus explain that by really focusing on what you want, your positive energy flows out into the universe and is rewarded. Intercut with this mantra are dramatised scenes of this “law of attraction” in action: a little boy visualises a brand new bicycle and gets one from his dad; a woman focuses on ridding herself of breast cancer and is cured. At one point the “miracles coach” Joe Vitale likens the universe to a giant shopping catalogue.

It’s a message of self-gratification that’s been promoted by thousands of motivational spruikers for many decades, but when Byrne repackaged it as an ancient secret with a red wax seal, she hit the holy jackpot.
I just love that Brit/Aussie word, "spruikers." It's so much more descriptive than "teachers" or "stars," don't you think?

My earlier speculations about Rhonda Byrne attempting to distance herself from the legal wranglings over
The Secret have proven to be correct.
In early May...Byrne emerged from seclusion when she turned up at a lawyer’s office in Los Angeles to give a videotaped deposition in her company’s lawsuit against Dan Hollings [her original Internet marketing strategist]. What Byrne revealed in that deposition was remarkable if only for its all-enveloping fogginess, because over the course of two hours she professed to be almost wholly disconnected from the legal and financial details of the massive multi-million-dollar business she has spawned. “I don’t control anything I create,” she told the lawyers, professing to have little grasp of the legal disputes in which she is embroiled. “I’m not aware of any of these things. I’m not involved.”
Hmm... weren't The Secret and the Law Of Attraction supposed to be all about claiming responsibility for the things that happen to you?

Rhonda claims not to even have known about the Hungarian company set up on behalf of TS Productions. (Why Hungary? you might ask. Simple: beneficial tax and privacy laws.)
In May this year, Hollings accompanied his lawyers to Los Angeles to obtain a deposition from Byrne in the lawsuit. During that meeting, Byrne said she could barely remember her email exchanges with Hollings and knew almost nothing about the business behind The Secret. Asked whether she had any family in Illinois, where the lawsuit was initiated, she replied: “I don’t have blood relatives living in Illinois. I just – I just consider us all one family of humanity…”

Byrne said she knew nothing about the Hungarian company and regarded the business as merely “a channel for it (The Secret) to go out into the world”. When it was suggested that the business was also a channel for money to flow to her, she replied: “I receive revenues from some entity somehow. But you see, that isn’t important to me. Ask me how many people’s lives have changed and I’ll talk to you about it.”
Uh-huh. That "one family of humanity" excuse could also apply to the Hungarian company, come to think of it. I just wish the "entity" that pours all that revenue into Rhonda's purse would seek me out. It does seem odd that Rhonda would be so ignorant of the business side of things, when various colleagues from her TV producing days described her as being focused to the point of ruthlessness, and always on top of everything.

"Oh, but Cosmic Connie," you might be saying, "that was before Rhonda's famous Emotional Breakdown and Dark Night Of The Soul. These days, she's focused on what's really important."

Whatever.

It seems, however, that she wasn't totally unfocused on business matters in the beginning. In retrospect, her refusal to sign a contract with her original director, Drew Heriot – using the excuse that contracts "limit people's freedom" – seems more calculating than idealistic. And if I'd only had the privilege of being there when Rhonda made that outrageous statement to Drew, I would have said, "Run like the wind, Drew, or insist on a contract." To me this story seems oddly familiar: S.O.P. for so many New-Wage players. (And they have such lofty, airy-fairy ways of rationalizing their sleazy practices.) In any case, according to the Aussie article, Drew said that Rhonda's aversion to contracts was kind of a red flag for him, but he ignored it, to his detriment.

Other folks who apparently got screwed by Rhonda, but who don't want to expend negative energy suing her, are Esther and Jerry Hicks. Their imaginary pals Abraham told them just to let it go. They did get a lot of money from The Secret, but not nearly as much as they would have if Rhonda hadn't squirreled out of her contract with them.

As might be expected, none of the Secret "teachers" contacted by Guilliatt wanted to discuss the litigation, with the notable exception of Jack "Chicken Soup" Canfield. He said that the current bad publicity over the lawsuits is just a "blip" in the relentless global spread of The Secret. He added that he, like the other "teachers," has benefited immeasurably from being in The Secret, and besides, Rhonda donated $400,000 to the Transformational Leadership org he runs with several spruikers...er..."teachers" from The Secret. And that was pretty darned generous of her, he noted.

I fear Chicken Soup Canfield may be right regarding the blip thing. (According to the Aussie piece, bootleg copies of The Secret have been found as far away as Iran. Great...that's all we need: terrorists armed with The Secret. I wonder if Rhonda's lawyers are going after those bootleggers?) I speculate that a few more folks will be disillusioned by the evidence of blatant greed that is now coming out, but the show will still go on. The hustledorks will continue to churn out their "missing secrets" and "Secret sequels" until that cow is completely milked dry. But they'll still have all of their own proprietary gimmicks, and people will continue to line up to buy them.

And true believers will continue to rationalize that the critics (and plaintiffs) are either negative naysayers or are jealous, greedy, mediocre sorts who are attempting to extort money from brilliant and misunderstood geniuses like Rhonda Byrne.

And as for the guys who are suing Rhonda...well, it's anyone's guess how those suits will turn out. But an anonymous insider I heard from isn't all that optimistic.

Most of the public couldn't care less; they lost $29.95 at most.

No "teacher" [in The Secret] has had the balls to step up to the plate here and state the horrible reality that this matter really is.... none...

In the end, Rhonda and Bob [Rainone, Rhonda's American business partner] made out like the bandits they are, the "teachers" made out like sidecar thieves, and two guys [Drew and Dan]... are being crushed by a posse of high paid lawyers attempting the only strategy they have... legal bills... It's all a matter of who can stay in the game longer.

Where is Oprah in all this? Larry King? Ellen Degeneris? There are NO NEGATIVE POSTS on Oprah's site about The Secret, only positive stuff. She has them in a bubble...

As time goes by, however, more folks might actually get tired of being duped, until the disillusioned factions have reached critical mass. It hasn't happened yet, but it might happen someday – maybe about the time that our porcine friends finally get their wings, or the Devil orders a new winter coat.

Meanwhile, here's the link to Richard Guilliatt's article. Enjoy!

PS ~ Sorry about recycling the picture that heads this post. I didn't have time to do another elaborate Photoshopping job, and this one just seemed soooo appropriate.
PPS added in autumn of 2009: For more information and links regarding The Secret litigation saga, check out my May 2009 post about the matter (including the PS's, which contain all of the information I know about the outcome of the litigation).

33 comments:

Anonymous said...

“Remember,” [Rhonda] Byrne wrote, “if you are criticising, you are not being grateful. If you are blaming, you are not being grateful. If you are complaining, you are not being grateful.”

So appropriate and haven't we heard that repeated so much that it has reached mega proportions of stupidity. History will have an interesting page written about these people and yes they still claim to be "teachers" ..... unbelievable.

Claiming to be a "TEACHER" is a wanton attempt to manipulate the masses to a situation of "NEED". You see if I am a TEACHER I command respect and I also command a NEED in my subjects for what I am about to give them. I have my loyal subjects right where I NEED them and if I say that in order to get rich they will NEED all of my programs, guess what, they'll go and buy them. If I call myself a guru instead of a teacher then it has a completely different connotation and does not put any urgency on needing anything at all. Well he's a guru, so what. He's the teacher, wow, wonder what he's got to tell us?

Oh and the secret crap, I'm sure there is so much more to it than has ever reached the publics ears and eyes. Believe me I have vibrations from the universe that tells me so ..... and it will all come out eventually as there is always much more than what ever reaches the public. These fools can criticize, blame, acuse and bag all they like but it only makes them look the fools because they are the ones who are supposed to be doing the right thing.

While there may be still some people milking the secret for what they think its worth it IS becomming so yesterday. People need much more substance than just superficial hope which is basically all that you get with the secret.

The secret to doing well is ....... drum roll ...... having a goal that you are so looking forward to getting that you work your butt off to get it and voila, it appears. It appears because you saw it, wanted it and went for it and now you can enjoy it. Pretty simple concept packaged into a billion dollar business that these people have just jumped on in a hope of getting rich quick. Instead it has just shown their true colours and its very easy to see who you would never associate with in your wildest dreams.

Rhonda Byrnes and the rest of them can wiggle and squirm and lie and cheat people but they sure as hell are subject to the same results as the rest of us and it will happen. Its just a matter of when not if. What a way to live and what a future to look forward to.

Anonymous said...

This might be totally unrelated but could be interesting: http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=621472

Anonymous said...

i think Rhonda Byrnes should have a horn coming out of her head in that picture and where is the other secret teacher who has screwed people over the same way? You didn't 'graciously' feature in in this snippet.

Anonymous said...

LOL that fake porn addict is hilarious. What a wanker to think he'd get away with that. What is that saying about the people in the land down under???

Fake it till you make it and then fake it some more for good measure.

Anonymous said...

The latest catch word on the selfish help front seems to be "ABUNDANCE". I notice Dan Hollings mentions it and the Australian person on the secret signs off "yours in abundance" too. Now why the hell would I want him or anything of his in abundance after all hes been up to? These people think that the whole world wants what they have and they are idiots if they don't. They talk down to people as if they are Gods and everyone else are unworthy morons. I have a major problem with the elitist attitude that most of the secret teachers have and to say that the secret was not about money, then why the hell did they sell the DVD for almost twice the price of every other DVD out there? If they really wanted the masses to see it then they should have been selling it for no more than $5.00 something more like the price of a takeaway meal not a gold leaf bookmark.

I just don't buy it that it was not about money or that it wasn't a massive marketing exercise designed to make a few people very rich. These people didn't appear to have a care in hell about the people who are really suffering instead some of them seemed to make people suffer through their greed.

I think the whole secret saga will be known as the biggest con man has seen. The fact that Rhonda Byrnes cannot even honor an agreement with the people who helped her get what she has proves her motives without going to any court of law.

She and they are all now fronting the court of ethics and the public are the jury. It will be interesting to see the final verdict. They have already lost and the costs for such greed have been awarded against them. They do not appear to have ever counted the cost to themselves, let alone to anyone else.

Citizen Deux said...

There is a good article online by Dr. Pati Beaudoin - a real psychologist - about the issue of the Secret and its effect on lives.

Great post!

Anonymous said...

Shouldn't Rhonda Byrnes have a horn not pixie ears?

Anonymous said...

Is it as bad on peoples lives as the military?
Dead children, homelessness, tyranny, PTSD etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.

Cosmic Connie said...

Anon 6:33 PM: On the one hand, I agree with you about the "teachers" showing their true colors.

On the other hand, I honestly think it won't matter to the majority of those who "want to believe." They will either willfully tune out anything negative (see no "evil" etc.), or they will find some way to rationalize -- generally by attempting to discredit the critics in some way.

And the New Wage gurus will, as the saying goes, continue laughing all the way to the bank.

Cosmic Connie said...

Hi, CD. I Googled "Dr. Pati Beaudoin The Secret" and the first result was a two-part piece re-published on Dr. Neill Neill's "Practical Psychology" site. It actually seems pretty pro-Secret. And Dr. Neill seems to be an advocate of The Secret, and even provides links to purchase the book and DVD. (Maybe you had another article in mind?)

But I've never been one to shy away from posting pro-Secret points of view. So here are the links to Parts 1 and 2:

Part 1:
http://tinyurl.com/5lb83u

Part 2:
http://tinyurl.com/5pwhyu

At least Dr. B. acknowledges a complexity not touched on in "The Secret" or its promotional material:

"So you see, The Secret isn’t wrong – it’s just the tip of a much more multi-leveled, complex secret… that will never be a secret again… and that is the best news of all."

The thing is, the whole marketing plan of "The Secret" franchise revolves around the presence of...well...SECRETS -- so my guess is that the hustledorks who exploit that angle will keep on raking in the bucks and becoming more famous, and Dr. B. will continue slumming around in obscurity.

Balance just doesn't sell in the New-Wage market.

Cosmic Connie said...

Anon 3:38 AM:

"Shouldn't Rhonda Byrnes have a horn not pixie ears?"

Ah, Anon, those are not the ears of a pixie. Those are the ears of Gollum, née Smeagol (from Tolkien's Lord Of The Rings), who tried to claim The Ring as his, all his. "My preciousssss!" And he would willingly kill (and did) in order to acquire that Ring.

I am not implying that Rhonda would ever go that far, but word has it that she and her partner Bob (or, rather, all of those nasty lawyers Rhonda claims to know nothing about) are doing their best to destroy the reputations, not to mention the bank accounts, of some of the people who helped propel "The Secret" to success.

And apparently they will stop at nothing. As an anonymous insider mentioned to me, it's all a matter of who can stay in the game the longest. And in games like these, those with the most money can stay in the game the longest. Guess who that would be?

Yet Gollum...er...Rhonda...pretends to be all sweetness and light, claiming ignorance of those dirty dealings...

Cosmic Connie said...

Anon 8:29 AM wrote:

"Is it as bad on peoples lives as the military?
Dead children, homelessness, tyranny, PTSD etc. etc. etc. etc. etc."

I'm not sure exactly what you are trying to say, but it sounds as if you are asking if "The Secret" has had as destructive effect on humanity as the military -- or perhaps more accurately, war -- has had. If this is indeed what you're saying, that's kind of an apples-to-oranges thing, in my opinion. A couple of years ago someone chastised me for harping on "The Secret" when there were so many other atrocities, past as well as present (e.g., the Holocaust).

But "Whirled Musings" was created mainly to snark about New-Wage/selfish-help stuff. There are plenty of political and "issue" blogs that cover the "big stuff."

Cosmic Connie said...

Addendum to my previous comment to Anon 8:29 AM: Many people would argue that "The Secret" is in fact harmful because of its promotion of magical thinking at the expense of practical action, and its encouragement of "new age guilt" (e.g., blaming victims of atrocities or natural disasters for their plight). To me the jury's still out on the "harm" factor, and I certainly don't consider "The Secret" to be evil, but many would be prepared to argue that it and similar products are insidious at best.

Cosmic Connie said...

Oops, I almost overlooked two comments above...

Anon 8:19 AM wrote:

"This might be totally unrelated but could be interesting: http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=621472"

For everyone who didn't follow that link, it's an article about a TV preacher who faked cancer to hide a porn addiction, and his good wife has vowed to stick by his side.

Actually, Anon, it's not all that unrelated. "Faking it" (and hypocrisy) seem to be a big thing among some religious leaders as well as New-Wage gurus. Thanks for the link!

Cosmic Connie said...

Anon 1:26 AM (another earlier commenter I almost overlooked):

"i think Rhonda Byrnes should have a horn coming out of her head in that picture and where is the other secret teacher who has screwed people over the same way? You didn't 'graciously' feature in in this snippet."

Anon, I merely Photoshopped Rhonda's face on the creature Gollum from Lord Of The Rings. Gollum was wicked and greedy, but didn't sport a horn.

As for that other Secret "teacher," if you're talking about David Schirmer, I've given him plenty of space on this blog, and will be posting about him again soon. I don't recall that he was mentioned in the Aussie magazine piece I was writing about in this post, though. (Although that was probably an oversight on the part of the author of that article!)

Cosmic Connie said...

Pearl wrote:

"LOL that fake porn addict is hilarious. What a wanker to think he'd get away with that. What is that saying about the people in the land down under???

"Fake it till you make it and then fake it some more for good measure."

To those who didn't follow the link: By "fake porn addict," Pearl is referring to that NineMSM link provided by Anon 8:16 AM above.

From what I've seen, when it comes to swallowing selfish-help crap, the folks in the Land Down Under have a lot more sense than Americans. Believe me, there are plenty of people in Australia who are fed up with selfish-help/New-Wage stuff.

As for the Aussies who do get into the New-Wage stuff and really want to make a good living at it, where do you think they usually end up moving? That's right, the good old US of A, Ground Zero of selfish-help nonsense. That's why Rhonda ended up in LA instead of Melbourne. Word has it that she only tried to get the Drew Heriot case heard in Australia because Drew himself now lives in LA, and it would have imposed an economic hardship on him to have to travel to Australia (though not on her, of course, as she has millions and millions).

Fortunately cooler heads prevailed, and the case will be heard in the US.

Cosmic Connie said...

Kaylie wrote:

"The latest catch word on the selfish help front seems to be 'ABUNDANCE'. I notice Dan Hollings mentions it and the Australian person on the secret signs off 'yours in abundance' too. Now why the hell would I want him or anything of his in abundance after all hes been up to? These people think that the whole world wants what they have and they are idiots if they don't. They talk down to people as if they are Gods and everyone else are unworthy morons. I have a major problem with the elitist attitude that most of the secret teachers have and to say that the secret was not about money, then why the hell did they sell the DVD for almost twice the price of every other DVD out there? If they really wanted the masses to see it then they should have been selling it for no more than $5.00 something more like the price of a takeaway meal not a gold leaf bookmark..."

Amen, Kaylie. (And again, I'm sorry for overlooking some of the earlier comments to this post; Kaylie's is one of them.)

Yes, "abundance" is a big thing among the Law Of Attraction folks. Once upon a time it was a catchword among some Christians too, but the word has become so overused as to be meaningless. For the LOA crowd, it seems to be mostly about having money and cars and big houses, though.

And you're right about the elitism of the New-Wage gurus.

Anonymous said...

Why wouldn't Rhonda Byrnes give all her millions (maybe spare one for herself) away to the needy if the secret was meant to help the world?

The only thing I can see that is has helped is fatten her purse and that my friends is what this whole secret is all about.

Anonymous said...

Yawn. Of course we knew this would happen. :-)

What shocked me is YOUR NEW PHOTO!

Cosmic Connie said...

Anon 6:41 PM wrote:
"Why wouldn't Rhonda Byrnes give all her millions (maybe spare one for herself) away to the needy if the secret was meant to help the world?"

Apparently, Anon, THAT scenario wasn't in sync with Rhonda's vision of spreading joy to the world. Her vision centered around making "The Secret" available to as many people as possible all over the world. The implied promise was that watching "The Secret" would just naturally bring these people joy, and somehow magically they would be able to manifest their own millions, if that's what they desired.

So giving money away was never in the bargain. Those millions generated directly from The Secret belong to HER (and, increasingly, to her lawyers).

Cosmic Connie said...

Hi, Lana, good to see you here again. Yeah, I think many of us did see this latest "Secret" episode coming.

I hope the new pic wasn't too much of a jolt :-). I was getting bored with the other one.

Anonymous said...

Let me know in advance when you redo your blog theme!

Anonymous said...

Is there any way of finding out the results of the court cases in the US online?

Cosmic Connie said...

Lana wrote:
"Let me know in advance when you redo your blog theme!"

Good idea. In fact, I think I'll start posting teasers weeks in advance and get the word spread virally, so the entire world will be waiting breathlessly for the unveiling of the new design.

Cosmic Connie said...

Anon 9:17 wrote:
"Is there any way of finding out the results of the court cases in the US online?"

Good question, Anon. I'm not sure if there's any particular site you can go to to check the status of these cases, but I'll try to find out.

Anonymous said...

Now you're talkin'!

An aside: I hope you're far enough from the coast to be safe from Gustav.

Anonymous said...

I am astounded at the people in the secret who have been EXPOSED for their intentions in marketing the secret. I am also astounded that instead of going forwards like they thought they would they are actually going backwards. They are losing credibility, they are losing great friendships, they are losing money, they are losing business and most of all they are losing RESPECT. Now how does that make their claim to fame on the secret. Lets guess A BIG FAT LIE! As deluded as they continue to be thinking that if they continue down the path of lying and pretending that they believe in this crap that they will somehow become billionaires. Sad suckers they are.

Cosmic Connie said...

Lana wrote:
"An aside: I hope you're far enough from the coast to be safe from Gustav."

Thanks for your concern, Lana. We're fairly far away from the coast and about 500 feet above sea level so we think we are pretty much out of harm's way. But we are expecting some nasty weather in the next day or so, so we've stocked up on water, D batteries for our flashlights, etc. And we're going to be putting the patio furniture and bird feeders in the garage tonight for safety. I am VERY nervous on behalf of New Orleans, and some of our Texas neighbors to the east, such as in Beaumont (which has also been evacuated).

Naturally, the hurricane meditators are working full time to influence the storm's course... I'll be sniping at that later on today, but am on the run again right now.

Cosmic Connie said...

Anon, The Secret principals ARE being exposed, as are some of the "teachers," but from what I can see, so far all of that has done little to stem the tide of The Secret. People so desperately want to believe...

Anonymous said...

Yes people do desparately want to believe because the put so much hope in these people and what they were saying and untruthfully standing for. Only to find out that they are just a bunch of marketing crooks who are feigning an interest in the law of attraction and christianity to get this making money business out of the way of life as quickly as possible. Look at them all, they can't handle criticism (they must be ungrateful), they blame everyone and every thing when things go wrong (they must be very ungrateful), they complain about everything that is not quite as they wanted it (they must be damn ungrateful) and they criticise everything that everyone else does because they deludedly believe in their tiny minds that they are the only right ones on this earth (they are incredibly ungrateful). In fact to me they look as if they expect society to hand it to them just because they have tickets on themselves and give themselves some deluded title like guru.

If these people were really making the money that they wanted to they would not be doing or saying the things that they are. I don't believe they are happy in themselves at all in fact I think that is why they do what they do and unfortunately the masses suffering the same need get hooked up in it also. That worst thing is that these people intentionally create things to make people buy something called "Hope".

Thanks for making a place where people who are willing to get off there backsides and not screw people over for some greedy idea, can say what we really want to say about these people.

Anonymous said...

It seems those two Aussies in the secret had the same attitude. Screw you, I want it all for myself.

Cosmic Connie said...

Anon 6:31 PM: It does seem to be true that for the most part the "stars" in "The Secret" don't handle criticism very well. They either:
(1) ignore it altogether [focus on the positive and the negative will go away!]
(2) blame the critics for being overly negative, small-minded, ignorant, etc.
(3) (related to number 2) react in a smug and condescending way, saying that the critics are misinterpreting the meaning of their words because they (the critics) are seeing it all through the filter of their own negativity
(4) blame Satan or some other evil force [a relatively rare tactic in New-Wage culture, but people such as David Schirmer have been known to use this one]

As for your remark that if these people were really making the money they say they're making, they wouldn't behave the way they're behaving... well, in the case of people such as Schirmer, that is probably true. Others, however, ARE (finally) making the big bucks, but in many cases, greed gets the better of them and they just want more, more, more.

And in at least some cases, they've never really recovered from their old self-images as losers, so they just have to keep proving to themselves, and everyone else, that they're WINNERS.

And I am pleased to be able to host a forum where people can say what they want about these New-Wage "stars." Those luminaries, of course, are also welcome to weigh in, but in all honesty I have to say that most of them are too busy raking in the bucks to bother with minor little sinkholes of negativity such as this blog. I'm just an annoying little insect buzzing around their swollen egos.

Cosmic Connie said...

Caleb said...
"It seems those two Aussies in the secret had the same attitude. Screw you, I want it all for myself."

Nothing against Aussies, though. I happen to know there are plenty of Aussies who are fed up with The Secret, Schirmer and Rhonda Byrne. And believe me, many if not most of the non-Aussies in the world's most successful New-Wage infomercial have their own smarmy little "secrets."