Posted on 04/08/2018 5:29:17 PM PDT by ethom
Tony Robbins didnt invent the NLP techniques he popularized, but the number of people referring to his work in videos, books, and articles Ive read over the last few years is staggering. If youre talking about someone who has influenced the influencers over the last few decades, no one else in his field even comes close. Whatever you want to say about him (wait, you mean the infomercial guy from Shallow Hal? The giant guy with the big teeth?), he is as good as it gets when it comes to self-help, psychology and, oh yeah, sales. Theres a reason he started out with nothing and is now worth 480 million dollars.
In any case, despite all of his success, you dont hear a lot about Tony Robbins on the news. In fact, usually if you do, its because a few overzealous reporters freak out about a handful of people getting blisters doing the fire walk he leads over 1000 degree coals. (P.S.: Yeah, I got one of those at the one Tony Robbins event I attended in Chicago.)
In any case, Tony Robbins is in the news because he didnt shower the #MeToo movement with praise when he was asked about it at a conference. To the contrary, although he went out of his way to say he wasnt criticizing the whole movement, he noted some very negative things about it.
To begin with, if you listen to his full comments, Robbins goes out of his way, over and over again, to say that hes not trashing the #MeToo movement. He begins like so:
You could use the #MeToo movement to be such a beautiful thing. Im not mocking the #MeToo movement, Im mocking victimhood. Im not saying you have to agree with me, Im just suggesting that you consider what its impact is. Look at these people and see what is empowerment. Anger is not empowerment. What you are seeing is people making themselves significant by making someone else wrong and getting certainty. Theres nothing wrong with that, it just wont make them happy. It wont make them better and it wont make you better (Asked to the audience) Is there any one of us that hasnt done something that wed prefer we not, that were embarrassed by or was hurtful? Who here has never done anything of that nature? (One person raised their hand) One liar in the room (later) I think anyone who has been hurt should be able to express it, should be able to go get restitution and I support it. What I am not supportive of is victimhood. There was a time in America when people HATED the idea of being a victim. A whole movement formed around being an angry victim is not a psychologically healthy idea. If were not talking about dealing out justice to a Harvey Weinstein type or some other sexually abusive person, how does it make your life better to participate? How is defining yourself as an angry victim going to make you happy? Thats not the political take on it, but Robbins isnt a politician. Hes talking about it from a self-improvement viewpoint and hes right.
Robbins then goes on to note some real life negative consequences that the #MeToo movement has created for women.
When you push someone else, it doesnt make you safe, it just makes you angry. In Hollywood, where this is most intense I have so many clients there I talk to men all the time and it breaks my heart for women, not for men. Because I was just with someone the other day, a very famous man, a very powerful man. He was saying how stressed he is because he interviewed three people that day, one was a woman, two were men, the woman was better qualified, but she was very attractive and he knew, I cant have her around because its too big of a risk and he hired someone else. Ive had a dozen men tell me this. Upon hearing someone like that, a healthy political movement would probably ask, What are we doing wrong? How is it that men who dont intend to harass women are getting so nervous about what were doing that they dont want to hire women? How do we change that? An unhealthy movement responds to stories like those with comments like this:
Lane Moore ✔ @hellolanemoore if you can read that Tony Robbins interview where he says it's totally acceptable to not hire a woman who is more qualified for a job than any male candidate just because she's "very attractive" and you dont walk away thinking Tony Robbins is a piece of shit, your brain is broken
12:49 PM - Apr 7, 2018 1,820 410 people are talking about this Twitter Ads info and privacy If youre part of a movement that says its about stopping abuse, but shrugs its shoulders when unprovable decades-old allegations are treated as credible, men are treated like theyre guilty until proven innocent, and everything from a bad date to rape is treated as roughly equivalent, you are creating significant new problems while you are trying to solve the old ones.
Heres more from Robbins:
Everything is a two-edged sword and Im just trying to get you to see where the sword is hurting... Im talking to you as a human being who has dealt with tens of millions of people from a hundred countries and heres what I can tell you. There are patterns that make you angry, patterns that can make you sad, there are patterns that excite you, there are patterns that make you grateful. You gotta choose your patterns well. Because otherwise, youll let the culture choose them for you... Im not saying the movement is wrong. Im saying everything has a consequence and you want to use things in a way that doesnt addict you to your problems and you dont want to be a victim. If you use it and it doesnt make you a victim, Im thrilled... (To the audience) Im saying man or woman, if you get in a pattern of victimization, whos it going to hurt? (Crowd) You... ask yourself a question: How do I want to live my life? Do I want significance through problems or significance through growth? This is a message that applies not just to the #MeToo movement, but to much of modern politics. This is a bigger problem for the Left than the Right, but it does apply to both sides.
Any political movement that tells you that you are a victim should be suspect. Any movement that constantly tries to make you angry should be suspect. Any movement that takes something almost universally despised like racism, rape, cops shooting unthreatening, unarmed people or violence against kids and says, Were against that and the other side is for it should be suspect. If youre a feminist and you find that youre starting to not like men, theres something wrong with what youre doing. If youre a mens rights advocate and youre starting to feel hostile toward women, theres something wrong with what youre doing.
Speaking of states, what kind of state is our politics putting us in these days? Not Republican politics, not Democrat politics, but politics? Does it bring us together or push us apart? Does it make us feel like we can solve our problems together or like its hopeless to even try? Are there people trying to work things out or is the Internet full of partisans screaming profanities at strangers they've demonized for disagreeing with them? Which options make us happy long term vs. short term? What makes for happier people? For a happier country?
Politics has never been a business for angels, but only in the last couple of decades have most people stopped asking questions like this altogether. Tony Robbins is looking at all of this from a perspective of whats best for human beings, not whats best for a political tribe. More Americans should embrace that approach.
My husband is on a board with a number of highly educated women. He wont even grab a cup of coffee with them. If you dont think this is going to effect hiring practices for women you are crazy.
“While the other 95% said silently to themselves. YEP, he’s right.”
IOW, they said, “Me too.”
He is also friends with TRUMP
‘The evil comes with failing to take our troubles to the Lord.’
people have been taking their troubles to a ‘higher power’ for millenia, and yet there always seems to be no end to the amount of troubles in the world...
I am the only one who has ever victimized me and that is a good thing to know. When I get tired of it I dont have to go far to deal with the troublemaker! lol>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Love you bro! You have become wise and humorous at the same time. Time to start teaching the dharma.
I am a married man, funny as hell...I avoid being alone with women - it is just good sense. A few minutes, we are laughing together and the pheromones fill the air. It’s a cruel trick on the part of God.
Right on.
Eric Hoffer (philosopher) said something like “For some people, an excuse is better than an achievement. Because when you achieve something, people want to know what you’re going to do next. But an excuse is something you can use for the rest of your life.”
I see a lot of people who use victimhood as a lifelong excuse for not taking responsibility for themselves.
Thanks for the reply.
I wish more people would read your post!
Eric Hoffer is amazing. His book, The True Believer is great.
The result will be to create a competitive advantage to unattractive women.
It ties in with Rush's observation that "feminism was established so as to allow unattractive women easier access to the mainstream of society."
I’m glad to be introduced to him. Some other quotes I liked:
“Rudeness is the weak person’s imitation of strength.”
“In times of change learners inherit the earth; while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.”
“The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings.”
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