You can’t make an “O” without a big empty spot in the middle. And as Peter Birkenhead reminds us in his excellent article on Salon.com, the Big O of American culture, Oprah Winfrey, is using her tremendous reach and influence to accelerate the evisceration of meaning in American life – and beyond – through her championing of the genuinely moronic “self-help” system called, moronically, “The Secret.” This cargo cult – which guarantees untold riches and endless happiness simply by wishing really hard and “ordering” whatever you want “from the Universe” – might seem too witless and trivial to think about,

“Who’s gonna throw that minstrel boy a coin?
Who’s gonna let it roll?”
– Bob Dylan

We’ve been busking at this corner of the blogosphere for a few years now without ever passing the hat. But unfortunately, the time has come to put out the fedora and see what drops in. Your humble corresp<img decoding="async" loading="lazy"