Stupid PR pitch of the day
And you thought the stock market was rising because of world growth and increasing corporate earnings. Not so, says Global Financial Capital of New York. The stock market is rising because: “Large group meditations in Maharishi Vedic City, Iowa, are creating coherent national consciousness—the basis of a healthy, prosperous, invincible nation.” 
If it's a joke, it's a very elaborate one. They've been sending me email press releases for years. And they have a Web site. Last summer 1,800 people in Iowa started projecting positive vibes, the press release says. Lo! Since then the stock market has gone up. Memo to statistics professors: If you need a case study showing the importance of distinguishing correlation from causation, this would be it.
More from the press release:
"Prior to the Invincible America Assembly, since January 1, 2000, the Dow decreased on average approximately 0.02% percent per week. However, immediately following the beginning of the Assembly on July 23, 2006, there was a statistically significant shift to a rapid, positive average rate of growth of 0.50% per week. The probability of observing a change this large in the Dow’s rate of growth purely by chance is less than 0.014.
"As predicted one year ago, a surging U.S. stock market has charged to record-breaking highs, the longstanding nuclear crisis with North Korea is quietly being resolved without incident, and public backing and congressional support are on the rise for peaceful new approaches to resolving the Iraq war and other conflicts around the world.
"These dramatic and unexpected developments are just a few of the concrete signs of the success of the Invincible America Assembly in Iowa—the largest-ever scientific demonstration project to document the effects of large group meditations on the economic and social trends of the nation, according to Dr. John Hagelin, world-renowned quantum physicist, executive director of the International Center for Invincible Defense, and President of the Global Union of Scientists for Peace, who is leading the Assembly."
Comments
Many critics consider Transcendental Meditation a cult led by the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. For an alternative view of the TM Movement, readers may be interested in checking out TM-Free Blog, TranceNet.net, or my personal web site, KnappFamilyCounseling.com where I discuss recovery from cultic relationships with Transcendental Meditation and similar groups.
John M. Knapp, LMSW
http://KnappFamilyCounseling.com/
Posted by: John M. Knapp, LMSW | July 25, 2007 9:51 AM
I have to give credit where it's due: This is a phenominally stupid PR pitch.
Posted by: Hancock, indeed | July 26, 2007 9:38 AM
Response to John M. Knapp comment:
Many critics consider John M. Knapp to be a self-promoting spammer who has nothing worthwhile to offer, but tries to make money by creating fear about useful programs like TM. A previous post of his indicated that he is a disgruntled former TM'er. With any organization that has attracted millions of participants, it is inevitable that a few people will become detractors. While I am impressed that John M. Knapp has shown the resourcefulness to transform his disgruntlement into a career, I do object to him labelling TM as a cult and spamming every article about TM on the Web. Although it is perhaps more worthy of sympathy to see an individual allowing his personal or professional life to revolve around some lingering bitterness, in the interests of fairness I feel I must counter the comments he is leaving.
The Transcendental Meditation technique has helped millions of people and will continue to do so. Its benefits have been validated by hundreds of scientific studies over the past 35 years, many of which were published in peer-reviewed journals. Its efficacy has been recognized by the National Institutes of Health, the premier body overseeing medical research in the US. And it has been introduced into school programs in the US, Canada, Peru, India, South Africa, the UK, and other countries. In the US, TM is taught by a federally-recognized nonprofit organization.
For more information, just Google 'transcendental meditation' and you'll find plenty of good sources.
Posted by: Inspector108 | July 5, 2008 6:25 PM