Why I hate, hate, hate gurus and motivational speakers – and what this has to do with the way so many idiots vote

Generally speaking, I believe in mercy. I believe in kindness. I believe that if a person is injured, you, and I and all of society should come to that person's rescue. I believe injured people should not be the subject of derision.

But I draw the line at dumbass idiots who blindly put their faith  in some jerk motivational speaker and try to walk across hot coals.

Take the case of the stupid suckers who let a motivational speaker named Tony Robbins persuade them to do just that – the hot coal walk.

Robbins must have known they were going to get burned, if you believe the account of the event in The New York Times. He had a medical staff standing by. But his audience drank his  Kool Aid.

Walking across hot coals on lanes measuring 10 feet long and heated to between 1,200 to 2,000 degrees provides attendees an opportunity to “understand that there is absolutely nothing you can’t overcome,” according to the motivational speaker’s website. 

Yeah, I guess if you happen to be first or second in a line that's filling up the emergency room and putting stress on overtaxed doctors and burn clinics, you can overcome third degree burns on your feet. You might even avoid amputation.

What the hell did those morons think was going to happen when they went for a promenade across a pit of hot coals? One witness told the Associated Press:

“I just heard these screams of agony. People were in pain. It sounded like people were being tortured.”

Hey, you wanna know why people, against their own self-interest, will vote for Willard Romney in the coming presidential election? You wanna know why Michelle Bachmann hasn't been laughed into oblivion by her own constituents? You wanna know why batshit crazies believe global warming doesn't exist and dinosaurs walked the earth with people a mere 4,000 years ago?

Just fill a pit with burning coals and invite some gullible nincompoops out for a stroll.