This just in:David Schirmer's rebuttal to A Current Affair is back up on YouTube, but, curiously enough, comments have been disabled this time around. That's okay; I saved the original comments. I'm not going to print them, of course, because some of them are pretty nasty – about as nasty, in fact, as some of the unprintable comments I've received from Secretrons and Tilak supporters.
Meanwhile, a new thread has arisen from the ashes of the old deleted thread on the the Secret/Powerful Intentions forum. The Schirmer supporters are out in force, with one person comparing David Schirmer and The Secret to the Harry Potter books:
Actually, Harry Potter is still being fought in some school districts that have an overabundance of fundie Christian types in the community. And...uh...not to throw water on the Schirmer supporter's analogy, but the Harry Potter books have always been marketed as fiction – unlike The Secret. Also, unlike David Schirmer, JK Rowling didn't make her fortune promising other people that she would make them rich.I remember when Harry Potter first came out and boy do you remember the backlash it got. My daughter was at an age then to read it. There was a lot of contriversy [sic] and it was going to banned in schools etc.
Look at J.K.Rowling now, who would have thought! People fear change, this is all that it is.
And in the head-in-the-sand category...oops, I mean the ignore-the-negative-and-focus-on-the-positive category, we have this from another forum member:
I would suggest to this forum member that she stay away from this blog as well, because who knows, I just may have a story here some day – or at least a link to a story – about someone who lost lots of money investing in a Bob Proctor program. And goodness gracious, she wouldn't want to know about any negative stuff like that.I have recently trained with Bob Proctor to become a lifesuccess consultant and one valuable thing I learnt was not to read newspapers or watch television and I don't. The negativity, lies and stretching of the truth that the media deliver is not good for you to take in. I have met David personally and he is the most beautiful person you could hope to met!!! There is a movement in Australia to discredit the secret and anything relating to it so I suggest we do not give it more energy and be true to ourselves and to each other.
There's a lesson here, and it's one that leaders of religious cults have known all along: If you're a New-Wage hustledork/scammer, one of the first things you should do is teach your followers to isolate themselves from the news media or any other source of potential negativity.
At any rate, Saint David himself had this to say:
With God, the Universe and the Secretrons on his side, will Saint David prevail against his accusers? Stay tuned; rumor has it that A Current Affair is going to run Part 2 this coming Thursday.Here is what I know ... every time we face an adverse situation, regardless of what it is, we have two choices: to repond [sic] or to react. ...
...Every Secret Teacher is who they are because they responded to adversity. Adversity is where we learn and grow and become a higher state of awareness...
...Someone once said "Don't pray for it to be easier, pray for you to be better!" A few years ago I prayed "God, give me the challenges that would allow me to change to the person I need to be." I am grateful that the work continues.
BTW, you can participate in the Secret/PI forum if you're a member, but remember, keep it light and sweet and positive. Save the criticisms for other forums...such as this one.
He's also disabled embedding the video in other sites.
ReplyDeleteThat's one way of 'attracting' only good comments I suppose...
Well, if people want to make critical comments about their experiences with him, or even if they just want to share their general opinons about this matter, they can always come here. (I do moderate, however, and won't print obscenities.) I will also print comments from supporters of Schirmer, or from Schirmer himself if he wishes to comment. I realize there are at least two sides to every story, and Schirmer has his side too, of course. So far he hasn't really addressed the allegations, but that may be on advice of counsel.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I'm open to comments from both sides, as long as they're made in a civilized manner.
The following letter was sent from David to an affiliate of SGR (the affiliate sent his support to David), and posted by said affiliate in the SGR forum. It's interesting that in the following letter David claims it is a vendetta, yet in the ACA interview, claimed to know those people, and agreed to pay them back. Who would agree to pay back people he never dealt with? He then instructs the affiliate to basically harass the station.
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WOW, Thanks so much Jason.
I was set up today, they asked me to come in and answer some questions from people about the Secret ... instead it was a vendetta from a very revengeful woman who used to work for me as General Manager whom we now have litigation against. She rallied a few of her friends up to say pretty damning things. When I tried to tell the truth he just talked over top of me ... they don't want the truth!
I went away feeling pretty shattered as my whole reputation was questioned. I know my journey is to spread The Secret across the world whatever the cost.
All the support is gratefully accepted ... as many calls to channel 9 and interviewer Ben Fordem (David game me his number here) as possible would certainly help them understand the Secret really does work.
Thanks again, David
Very interesting, Wolf -- thanks!
ReplyDeleteOne of the first things I noticed was that David misspelled Ben Fordham's name. But spelling is not his strong suit.
Anyway, that's the least of his problems. It's very interesting to see how Saint David is spinning this incident. He's still trying to make it all about how folks are attacking his beliefs (and The Secret), not his actions. And now this latest twist about the whole thing being the work of a disgruntled former employee... Sheesh.
As for SGR,that seems to be another big scam too. But at least Bob Proctor and Jack Canfield are benefiting from it.
Here's a thought - not new, but worth repeating here I think: if Amazon were to re-classify "The Secret" (and all publications pertaining thereto) as fiction, then I'd have no problem with it. The consumer does have a certain amount of power, and I believe this is achievable.
ReplyDeleteFor Schirmer to attempt to play the "God" card is so nauseating that words (fortunately) fail me. I'm an atheist myself, but it seems to me the underlying strategy of the whole LOA meme is blame God, never me. And this is supposed to be empowering? I'm going to fulminate quietly ...
Thanks, RT. I wouldn't have a problem either if "The Secret" were marketed as spiritual fiction. Of course they'd have to change the format and take the talking heads out, since those guys all market their wares as "real." And the whole problem with marketing "The Secret" as fiction is that its very appeal lies in convincing people that LOA is a real law that really works.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that Schirmer's playing the God card is nauseating. But that's what good martyrs do, so it's to be expected.
What I call the “secret fiasco” just keeps getting better. The absence of critical thinking has shown up more and more amongst those who trying to adopt the Secret as a law without any understanding what they are doing.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first met Rhonda Bryne and we discussed briefly her concept of the law of attraction and the reason for her deleting the Hicks, it became obvious to me that this (Rhonda/Secret) was something worth keeping an eye on. She has not let me down.
Having had some extensive discussions with some powerful-intention people (PI), who for the most part was the reason for my interest in the “secret”, I began to suspected that they would have a cult style reaction to any criticism within their ranks. This is clearly seen by the deletion of opinions against David Schirmer by the PI leaders and by the PI folks who openly admit on their forum that doing something wrong is ok if you are doing something good for someone else. This excuse has been used by others in the past. I am forever grateful that Americans didn’t feel that way about what was going on in Europe in the 1940’s.
It is sad that her mom was left off the “doing good for” list but I guess she (mom) hasn’t been properly trained by the Teachers of the Secret as to how to properly pull the genie’s ear.
As I wrote about May 29th it will be interesting to see whose fingers are going get stung.
Thanks, Wilderbeast. The fiasco has become quite a soap opera, hasn't it? As for the gratuitous piece of gossip I threw in there about Rhonda and her mom, I hope they work things out. Giving Rhonda a small benefit of the doubt on that one, I know how moms can pull the guilt strings with their daughters, so maybe there's some of that going on too. OTOH, if she really has made promises to her mom that she hasn't kept, maybe the exposure in the press will motivate her.
ReplyDeleteSame deal with David Schirmer; maybe the ACA piece will motivate him to do right to anyone he may have wronged.
Revengeful woman?? If I had been robbed of $50,000 I would be extremely active in getting it back also. What a deluded individual Schirmer must be to think that it is OK for him to rip others off, and that he should not be made accountable.
ReplyDeleteThe guys on this site have summed him up pretty well, especially the post at the bottom of the page:
http://www.copywritersboard.com/off-topic-discussion/5540-secret-scam-exposed.html
I agree with you, Anon, and thanks for the link to that board discussion. Wanting $50,000.00 one is owed doesn't seem revengeful to me. Maybe Schirmer can sell his quarter-million-dollar dining room table and pay back some of what he owes.
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