Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

So in my sociology class today we dicussed new age stuff and and people fall for some of the more extreme stuff. Like Controlling the energy in your body to make forcefields, or fortune tellers and chi and chakra and using it to knock people out with your mind. one theory was that people and to feel in control of the world beyond their body, so they believe it. One person looked it up and found out that self-help gurus can make up to 60,000-100,000 a year making people think they believe.
What immidiatly popped into my mind was "Why am I sitting in class when I can go make up a new age philosophy, Validate it wil pseudo-science and take money for retirees and bored white and make a metric ton of money?"
So who wants to help me?

The Cult of Dakka is born

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
So in my sociology class today we dicussed new age stuff and and people fall for some of the more extreme stuff. Like Controlling the energy in your body to make forcefields, or fortune tellers and chi and chakra and using it to knock people out with your mind. one theory was that people and to feel in control of the world beyond their body, so they believe it. One person looked it up and found out that self-help gurus can make up to 60,000-100,000 a year making people think they believe.
What immidiatly popped into my mind was "Why am I sitting in class when I can go make up a new age philosophy, Validate it wil pseudo-science and take money for retirees and bored white and make a metric ton of money?"
So who wants to help me?

What the feth is your sociology class teaching you? Shouldn't you be learning about issues involving race, economy, politics, class, gender, religion, ethnicity, media, etc?

We where wondering why new age stuff is more popular in suburbs and not inner city. One answer was "bored WASP"

This is even easier than it sounds. For Psychology of Religion I wrote a paper on how to start a cult. I was surprised to learn the things otherwise sane, rational beings would believe under the right circumstances.

I have yet to start a cult of my own, sadly. I don't have enough time.

The new age philosophy of getting a job.

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
We where wondering why new age stuff is more popular in suburbs and not inner city. One answer was "bored WASP"

Oh, OK still there's tons of things about race, gender, class, etc that have major impacts on people's lives is this is what you end up talking about why "new age" stuff is more popular in suburbs.

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
So in my sociology class today we dicussed new age stuff and and people fall for some of the more extreme stuff. Like Controlling the energy in your body to make forcefields, or fortune tellers and chi and chakra and using it to knock people out with your mind. one theory was that people and to feel in control of the world beyond their body, so they believe it. One person looked it up and found out that self-help gurus can make up to 60,000-100,000 a year making people think they believe.
What immidiatly popped into my mind was "Why am I sitting in class when I can go make up a new age philosophy, Validate it wil pseudo-science and take money for retirees and bored white and make a metric ton of money?"
So who wants to help me?

Because you have a moral code that prohibits you taking advantage of simpletons and vulnerable people, I imagine.
Just for gaks and giggles once and to prove a point to myself, I took a deck of Magic cards, created a bs ritual around them and used them as Tarot cards, telling people what they wanted to hear about themselves. I could have made bank if I was charging.

Obligatory XKCD.

You're not doing it because of the fact that you'd likely feel bad scamming people out of their money.

People believe in this crap because of the fact that they're bored, and need to invent things to fill their time and empty their bank accounts. A lot of times, it's just perversions of (usually) Eastern religion and philosophy coupled with the Western desire to need to feel superior to others around them. At least, that's my take. It's hardly new either.

If this is what passes for Sociology, then I can't help but feel some of my prior smarmy comments about Sociology bear a tiny bit of merit.

Final conclusion: Hold in skepticism anyone who wants to teach you, for money, something that's not a trade.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Compel wrote:
Obligatory XKCD.

Careful, that gets you accused of anti-intellectualism around here.

Sigh, It was one of those class conversations that somehow just came up when we where talking.

 daedalus wrote:
You're not doing it because of the fact that you'd likely feel bad scamming people out of their money.

He's right. Tithe it to my church instead. Using the power of positive thinking, along with energy-infused crystals and homeopathic tea, we have been able to cure cancer, guaranteed*.

*or your cancer back

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
Sigh, It was one of those class conversations that somehow just came up when we where talking.

Oh, I thought it was planned content from the prof, thanks for the clarification.

Yeah, I misunderstood that too.

The rest of my comment still stands though.

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
Sigh, It was one of those class conversations that somehow just came up when we where talking.

You've used 'where' in two separate posts now instead of 'were'. This is obviously not a mistake.

Is this soc class in post-secondary or high school? Just curious.

 PrehistoricUFO wrote:

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
Sigh, It was one of those class conversations that somehow just came up when we where talking.

You've used 'where' in two separate posts now instead of 'were'. This is obviously not a mistake.

Is this soc class in post-secondary or high school? Just curious.

He has dyslexia.

 xole wrote:
This is even easier than it sounds. For Psychology of Religion I wrote a paper on how to start a cult. I was surprised to learn the things otherwise sane, rational beings would believe under the right circumstances.

Yep, George Carlin explains it very well.
NSFW due to language.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r-e2NDSTuE

 Cheesecat wrote:

 PrehistoricUFO wrote:

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
Sigh, It was one of those class conversations that somehow just came up when we where talking.

You've used 'where' in two separate posts now instead of 'were'. This is obviously not a mistake.

Is this soc class in post-secondary or high school? Just curious.

He has dyslexia.

I see.

On topic, I find it funny that I'm watching an episode of The Simpsons where at the beginning, Milhouse and Bart question the validity of a point the Reverend makes, Milhouse says "What would they gain by lying to us Bart?", then it cuts to the Reverend in his office, who shouts "I don't hear you cleaning, boys!", as he sorts out the money he was given that day from the collection plates.

Prey on the gullible and weak, as has been the law of the jungle since the beginning of time.

Ah, "Bart Sells His Soul," a classic!!

I saw this when it first aired. I was 13, and it has had a profound effect on my development:

Nova: Secrets of the Psychics.

Seriously, everyone should watch this, especially in school!

 hotsauceman1 wrote:

What immidiatly popped into my mind was "Why am I sitting in class when I can go make up a new age philosophy, Validate it wil pseudo-science and take money for retirees and bored white and make a metric ton of money?"
So who wants to help me?

Just because some charlatans are making a decent living doesn't mean all of them are. I doubt you have the skills required to really make a go of this kind of con (not attacking you personally, just this skill set is relatively rare.)

I mean, there are plenty of fethheads out there getting rich selling drugs, but I don't think I have the skills to pay the bills that way.

We shouldn't do it because Scientology would get angry with us moving in on their turf, and they know how to hold a grudge.

If you are wanting to dig deeper into the origins of much of this new age crap... check out an author by the name of Charles Fort.

Dude was a failed novelist, but wrote these satirical (sort of) science books, got them put into the science sections of most book stores and libraries, quietly becomes a sensation, and much of the strange things that many Americans fall for are born.

You could start a knew religion like scientology and scam people out of their money.

I would like to join the Church of Dakka, but i am allready a follower of the one true god
The flying spaghetti monster and i am a dudeist!

One thing about the Church of Dakka, no white knights need to apply ok?

 Jehan-reznor wrote:
One thing about the Church of Dakka, no white knights need to apply ok?

Only Purifiers please.

feeder wrote:

 hotsauceman1 wrote:

What immidiatly popped into my mind was "Why am I sitting in class when I can go make up a new age philosophy, Validate it wil pseudo-science and take money for retirees and bored white and make a metric ton of money?"
So who wants to help me?

Just because some charlatans are making a decent living doesn't mean all of them are. I doubt you have the skills required to really make a go of this kind of con (not attacking you personally, just this skill set is relatively rare.)

I mean, there are plenty of fethheads out there getting rich selling drugs, but I don't think I have the skills to pay the bills that way.

Because, The new american dream is to make as much money without doing any real work

You can only pull this off well if you are a Sociopath.

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:
If you are wanting to dig deeper into the origins of much of this new age crap... check out an author by the name of Charles Fort.

Dude was a failed novelist, but wrote these satirical (sort of) science books, got them put into the science sections of most book stores and libraries, quietly becomes a sensation, and much of the strange things that many Americans fall for are born.

Not really.

There were big spiritualism fads in the U.S. going back as far as the first half of the 19th century, IIRC. I believe mesmerism (hypnosis, around which there were a lot of spiritualistic ideas early on) goes back to the 18th century. And how is this stuff different than the oracles and mystery religions of ancient civilizations? This stuff isn't new, it just keeps coming back around in a slightly different wrapper.

Edit: Which points to the fact that New Age stuff and its predecessors are compelling on some level to many human beings and are more than some simple con that dumb people fall for. Cults often have a high percentage of members with above-average intelligence.

Also, a fair amount of Fort's stuff also deals with weird phenomena like rains of frogs, ball lightning, etc. that doesn't really have a religious/spiritual angle.

The reasons these charlatans make as much money as they do is simple: People need certainty and comfort in what they perceive is a chaotic world. Most of the time they turn to the church. I guess these people provide that in a convenient and fast package.

 TheCustomLime wrote:
The reasons these charlatans make as much money as they do is simple: People need certainty and comfort in what they perceive is a chaotic world. Most of the time they turn to the church. I guess these people provide that in a convenient and fast package.

I agree. One major connecting thread is the idea of gaining some control over the present and future in a chaotic world that's out of our control.