Why is Roger Ebert Attacking the New Age Movement?

First let me say that I adore Roger Ebert, I have always found his movie reviews to be intelligent and insightful and I almost always agree with the man.  I’m sure a great many people feel the same and so respect what he has to say.  So when I found his blog post “New Agers and Creationists should not be President,” — a post which belittles and mocks the New Age – my heart sank.  Here was a voice I trust trashing something of great value to me and my first thought was, E tu Brute?

His post was about the silly things some people believe and why those people should not be allowed to hold political office, and he made very good points in the article.  I do not want a man who thinks the world is only 6,000 years old to be my president, nor would I want a man who consults psychics for guidance to be my president either.   But while Mr. Ebert took the trouble to separate reasonable Christians from fundamentalist Creationists, he did not extend the same courtesy to New Agers.   In his view, all New Agers are crackpots likely to have personal spirit guides or think they “were royalty in a previous lifetime.”

Of course, that is the view of the culture at large, so in one sense it is unfair to criticize Mr. Ebert for doing what so many others do.  But as the point of his article is that we need more critical thinkers who do not blindly swallow silly myths, I find it ironic that he is uncritically perpetuating silly myths about the New Age.  It is simply not true that all New Agers (also often called Cultural Creatives or “spiritual but not religious”) subscribe to strange superstitions.

Ebert makes a broad generalization that “New Age beliefs have largely stolen the stage from traditional religion in progressive circles.”  He then goes on to describe dinners in which he often hears people talk about off-the-wall beliefs, like having a personal spirit guide who talks to them.  As someone who works in Hollywood circles, I hear plenty of the same.  But I also know that those people do not speak for the rest of the table; in fact, there is almost always eye-rolling around the table.  

So, I could just as easily say that most progressives do not give the New Age the slightest bit of respect and believe as Mr. Ebert does, that all New Agers are clueless idiots.  But of course, that would be a generalization, too.  There are many who understand that the New Age is a broad umbrella which encompasses many idealistic belief systems and practices, and that while there indeed a number of New Agers who get lost in occult practices and superstitions, there are also many many more who study Eastern religions and practice yoga adn holistic spirtiuality and who live by a profound holistic philosophy with nary a bit of superstition in it.

Unfortunately, few who understand this reality seem to work in the media.  I have often wondered why it is such a popular sport in the media to bash and belittle the New Age.  They paint their own subjective picture of the New Age and then criticize the picture they themselves have painted, and that is the idea of the New Age that seeps into the culture.  I tend to assume it is one way in which the mainstream ideology tries to marginalize competing ideologies, but of course, I can’t speak for the intent of Mr. Ebert.  All I can say is that I found his post to be irresponsible, and a better title for it would certainly have been “Occultists and Creationists should not be President.”  (But then, that might be an unfair generalization as well, for there have been many intelligent and respected thinkers, William James for one, who have approached the occult and paranormal with an open-minded scientific curiosity.)

I will also say that as most of the New Agers of my acquaintance are incredibly smart and no-nonsense spiritual people who undertake serious inquiries into what is real and important and helpful to all.  And I cannot wait for the day we get a real New Age president.

Explore posts in the same categories: new age movement

Tags: cultural creatives, holistic spirituality, new age movement, New Agers, Roger Ebert, spiritual but not religious

You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.