Except that if you look closely at what I argue vs. what I do not argue, you will see that I am not arguing in any way for the idea that the law of attraction is true. Or not true. The things I argue about have nothing to do with that, an in order for me to be accurately seen as arguing for the truth of it they would. I have not agreed with or rebutted a single argument or assertion made regarding the validity or truth of the belief system at all.
That’s because those people are going with “sounds like” instead of the actual words, as well as having expectations they have no right to have about what I will share of my own thoughts on the subject and making their own assumptions about what my choice to share or not share must mean, none of which has anything to do with me.
It is not my responsibility to prevent people from making assumptions by telling them my mind. My opinion or belief have no bearing whatsoever on the facts of the belief system itself so there’s no reason for me to include it.
Well, to be perfectly accurate, in order to be arguing with me, I would have to be arguing back, and I’m not. I argue about what the belief system is, how it’s supposed to operate, which is not the same as arguing whether it is true or right, any more than explaining that Santa comes on Christmas with gifts vs. summer for the hula is “arguing” that Santa is real against people who are arguing he isn’t.
Well, to be perfectly perfectly accurate, what you said is that you weren’t arguing. Period. You didn’t make distinctions based on what topic was being brought up, you said you weren’t arguing at all. Which you admit is plainly untrue.
If we were discussing Santa Claus and other people kept saying “how could he exist? How could he get to everyone’s house in one night? What’s up with that?” and you kept saying “he comes at Christmas and gives gifts” and then other people said “but how can he know what everyone wants? And how does he make all those toy?” and you kept saying “HE COMES AT CHRISTMAS AND GIVES GIFTS”, then eventually people are going to come to the conclusion that you personally believe in Santa.
Especially if your first post in the thread was “if you think about it, you’ll see that good children really do get presents from Santa at Christmas”.
Like I’ve said a few times already: other people’s’ assumptions have nothing to do with me, that’s about them. And so long as they are talking about Santa coming at Christmas and bringing gifts, vs. showing up in the middle of summertime to do the hula, I don’t care. (and why you think A inevitably leads to B I fail to follow,but no matter…)
Except that I qualified it right up front as something that had nothing to do with anything supernatural at all:
“Taking it outside the realm of the fantastical for a moment, if you think about it you’ll see that people really do get what they genuinely expect.”
And later elaborated on my meaning and the fact that it’s actually true in ways that have zero to do with believing in anything supernatural or otherworldy at all. So there’s that.
People assume and believe what people assume and believe. Fortunately for us all, other people’s assumptions do not have any effect on reality. In this instance the reality is that no one has the remotest idea what I believe and that’s going to remain the case.
It sure does seem like you put in a lot of effort explaining something that you won’t admit you believe in. Wouldn’t it have just been easier to say “I believe in the messages in this book” or not reply at all, and leave it at that? There seems to be some real cognitive dissonance going on here and the more the angry mob challenges you, the more emotionally-driven and convoluted your argument seems to become. Surely in LA there’s people who support your viewpoint, no? I’m not being snarky here, but really–if you have product conviction, admit you love the product already!
If I believed in the ideas in the book, and my purpose was to let everyone know that I believed in the ideas in the book, then yes, it would’ve been dead simple to come in here and state “hi I read the book and I believe everything in it bye”
It would also have been dead simple to come in here and tell people my recipe for chocolate cake, but it’s not but I came in here to say so it would be kind of weird for me to have said it.
It’s actually very funny to see how fascinated so many people are simply because I will not say, when, if I did intend to come in here to proselytize any particular belief system, the response would have been “and why do you think we care what you believe in?”
She already has admitted what she believes, she just won"t acknowledge that she has admitted it. And while it is a bit annoying, I really no longer expect Stoid to admit to anything or take ownership of the things she says. So since I got what I expected, score one for The Secret. Oh god, it does work!
Honestly, I don’t think anyone actually cares what you believe in. I sure don’t, since your belief or non-belief add no weight to the credibility of The Secret. Also, I can’t speak for anyone else, but I’m not fascinated by your behavior because I desperately want to know what you’re thinking. I’m more interested in the fact that you’re trying to cast yourself as this mysterious yet knowledgable figure when in reality you are quite transparent with your personal beliefs almost all the time. Especially since at the beginning of this thread you started off pretty up front, then decided to take on this enigmatic yogi persona partway through. It’s just a weird thing to do, although not completely out of character for you. I’m sure it’s quite pleasing for you to think that you’ve got us all stymied though, so I’m going to leave it at that.
Right, this approach must get you way more attention, which is what you were trying to attract… so the “Secret” must work for you.
And, keep telling yourself how fascinated we are by this approach, if that floats your boat.
I, on the other hand would prefer to get a chocolate cake recipe, from someone who can get behind the recipe, and admit that they eat the cake, enjoy it, and share the recipe for that simple and honest reason.
No one is fascinated, Stoid. People were trying to give you the benefit of the doubt to explain yourself out of looking so dumb, but you’ve managed beautifully to dig yourself into an even bigger hole of stupid. Congrats!
Here’s the reality of Stoid for most Dopers, given her history: she’s needlessly argumentative, defensive, and not smart. At all. She thinks she’s brilliant and, as such, works herself into knots attempting to twist her already warped logic into making a point. When someone doesn’t get her nonsense, she accuses them of just not getting her— and this isn’t something unique to the Dope, she believes she lost several court cases because she knew the law better than the sitting judges or lawyers involved. Despite all the Dope lawyers telling her she was wrong and going to lose.
This is Stoid.Stoid is either really, really dumb and pretty crazy or a troll. If her court cases are indeed the real thing (and I believe folks verified they are), then she must fall squarely into the first category.
I actually think Stoid isn’t exceptionally dumb, I think her problem is just that she is of probably average intelligence but thinks she’s a genius. She genuinely seems to think that she’s unusually brilliant - I remember that during the law suit debacle she said something like “most people couldn’t defend themselves, so it’s a good thing I’m so smart and I can do it”. There was much eye rolling.
The thing about Stoid is that she’s incredibly delusional. As well as thinking she’s smart, she also really believes that she is exceptionally empathetic, understanding, and philosophical. And once she’s got a certain idea into her head she is never, ever going to let go of it. She’s created this persona for herself and any data point that doesn’t fit into her predefined idea of herself as the best person ever just gets ignored, despite the fact that she has to significantly bend reality to be able to ignore those things. It’s an interesting form of self-protection. I don’t think I’ve ever known anyone quite like her in real life.
