6 billion readers too shocking?
I guess the discussion over at Cobalt Paladin's blog has gotten a little out of hand, so it's time for me to say something.
I thought it was pretty obvious that “6 billion readers” was a deliberate sort of parody but from the looks of some of the comments in the entry, I guess I was wrong.
I have always been interested in social dynamics and it's fascinating how a simple thing such as a purposefully modified feedburner image (credit: DeafMusician) can escalate into blatant personal attacks so quickly and easily. It never fails to amaze me, really.
That said, I would just like to clarify some things.
1) I was merely experimenting with the Law of Attraction. Most of you would have heard of the saying “Aim for the moon. If you miss, you may hit a star“. Aiming for “6 billion readers” (equivalent to almost the entire world's population) is silly, yes? So is mediocrity. That makes choosing that much simpler really.
2) This blog is only 4 months old. It's a tad unfair to be bringing pagerank into the picture. However, since we are on that, I'm happy to announce that as of google's last pagerank update, Personal Development for the Book Smart is up to PR3 now. =)
Lessons Learnt
1) Make things more obvious. Use the “because…” rule in psychology. Learn from Robert Cialdini.
2) Based on what has manifested so far, I must be extra careful with my thoughts.
Ooh one more…
3) Step in before things get out of hand, not after!
There we go…
P.S. Maybe I should rename this post “Law of Attraction gone wrong“. LOL…
Tagged as: 6 Billion Readers · Law of Attraction · Page Rank · Parody · RSS · Social Dynamics
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I guess your law of attraction can go both ways so you have to be prepared for it 😀
That we are.
Thanks for letting me comment and clarify.
Keep up the good work.
Tom, Point taken. Judging from most of the comments after the clarification, I think we should be on the same wavelength now.
Oh, I get the difference. Believe me.
The trouble is there are many, many people who don’t.
Just two quick examples…
One well-known guru claims to have a PhD which he bought from a non-accredited online “university.” He now dispenses advice under the auspices of being a “Dr.” He never says what kind of “doctor” he is, but he puts the initials before his name nevertheless.
Harmless? Not in my book, nor in the eye of some of those who gave his word extra weight because of his “credentials” and suffered as a result.
There was a recent discussion in the WarriorForum about a guy who played with fast and loose with facts surrounding an Internet radio show that went out of business a year of so ago. Many, many people were furious at him, yet he apparently felt justified in inflating numbers and inventing stats in order to make the show a success.
Yes, he recognizes his mistake now, after the fact. But in the heat of the moment, this philosophy can cause one to make some very bad errors in judgment.
BTW, I have no problem with the FeedBurner example. I DID recognize it as a joke, but as we’ve seen from other people’s comments, not everyone does. This is just another example of how slippery this mindset can be.
Not trying to be combative – just trying to point out an important warning that is too often overlooked.
Hi Tom, it’s apparent that there are only just over 1 billion internet users now. It’s pretty obvious 6 billion is “far-fetched” and “unrealistic” and people logically know that it must be some sort of parody or something.
But telling somebody you are a doctor and practicing medicine before you are qualified is an entirely different thing all together. People’s lives are in your hands!
I hope you get the difference.
This is really clever. I’m going to start experimenting with the Law of Attraction too.
I’m going to try to attract an MD degree by telling people I’m a doctor and start practicing medicine.
Or maybe I’ll attract the credentials of a certified financial planner and start offering financial advice this afternoon.
Any takers? My fees are reasonable and I’m not being dishonest; I’m just “experimenting” with the Law of Attraction.
Ridiculous? Yes. But where is the line between fantasy and fraud?
I just saw the 6billion image and thought it was hilarious. I do the same thing with checks made out to me and mockups of magazine covers. Good to get your mind in the right place. I’ll be posting about how to create an emotionally charged mindmap on my blog soon. Cheers!
Ok, I got the point. 😀
Eh. In the great scheme of life what exactly happened?!!!
People are faster to judge than ask questions and find the truth. (ie…War of the Worlds radio broadcast – it really wasn’t that long ago.)
Keep on keepin’ on! 😉
Great minds, Chanel. Great minds… =)
I see absolutely nothing wrong with your feedburner parody – I love it, in fact!
It shows that you’re not mistaken enough to treat everything found on the internet for face value, yet brave enough to set the bar higher. If someone wanted to really fool their readers, they’d make it a far more “believable” number.
It’s an ingenious idea, actually.
6 billion readers. how this happen? is figured correct or something like bug? btw congratulation on you hard work. figure doesn’t tell anything (like age)
The very first thing that I saw when I came across your page was the 6 Bill, and I thought it was genius. Don’t know how it could trigger such strong reactions.
Cheers,
Albert | UrbanMonk.Net
Modern personal development, entwined with ancient spirituality.
Apology accepted. PR3 – I’m in a good mood =)
oops. I didn’t know it was suppose to be a parody. Guess I lost my sense of humor back then.
Sorry for the nasty remarks that I’ve made on Cobalt Paladin’s blog. Cheers. 😀