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Victoria's Secret is a renowned American lingerie brand that has gained international recognition and popularity. Known for its glamorous fashion shows and iconic angel wings, Victoria's Secret has become synonymous with sensuality and luxury in the lingerie industry. The brand was founded in 1977 by Roy Raymond, who wanted to create a lingerie store that would make men feel comfortable shopping for women's underwear. Raymond named the store after the Victorian era, associating it with the refinement and elegance he wanted to convey through the lingerie. Victoria's Secret quickly gained traction and became a household name. The brand's marketing strategy played a significant role in its success.

Then it occurred to me that the computer and YouTube make it possible to excerpt those one or two moments (each usually lasting no more than ten minutes), and to connect the clips directly with the points I wanted them to illustrate. Additionally, if students missed the point, and wanted to see the clip again, I could simply show it again, with nothing lost. In most cases, all that was necessary to get a good discussion going was to ask, “What did you see?”

Movies such as Romero, Wall Street, Traffic , and even comedies like Bulworth , and The Distinguished Gentleman found their ways, at various times, into my syllabi. They typically can grow their own food, repair their machines, take care of animals, and just make do and survive in ways that would soon become apparent to all of us if the electricity stopped working for a few days.

The brand's marketing strategy played a significant role in its success. With its provocative ad campaigns and high-profile collaborations with supermodels, Victoria's Secret managed to create a distinct image that resonated with millions of customers worldwide. One of the key elements contributing to Victoria's Secret's allure is its annual fashion show.

“Magic Glasses:” The Marginalized Know Better (Pt. 3 in a series on critical thinking)

So far, my argument has invited readers to recognize a hierarchy of truths, viz. that ethnocentrism is superior to egocentrism, world-centrism is superior to ethnocentrism, and cosmic-centrism ranks above world-centrism. Most academics are reluctant to recognize that hierarchy. As thorough post-moderns, they advocate what Ken Wilber calls “aperspectival madness.” It holds that every perspective is as good as any other.

By rejecting such insanity, the task of critical education becomes helping people move from one stage of awareness to a higher one – specifically from ethnocentrism and its invalid dominator hierarchies to world-centrism with its more valid growth hierarchy, and to (at least) acquaintance with the notion of cosmic-centrism.

And it’s here that I find the concept of “magic glasses” (which will figure in the title of my book) relevant to the task at hand. Baba Dick Gregory uses the phrase to refer to the perspective conferred by movement from ethnocentrism to world-centrism. According to Gregory, such advance is like donning special eyewear that enables one to perceive what is invisible or absurd to those without them.

Magic glasses, the Baba warns, are both a blessing and a curse. The blessing is that eyesight through magic glasses is fuller, and more evolved – more worthy of human beings. The curse is that those without the glasses will consider their wearers insane or worse. The hell of it is that glassless folk cannot be persuaded unless their independent growth cycle enables them to do so.

So, Gregory points out, the magic glasses come with three inviolable rules: (1) once you put them on, you may never take them off, (2) afterwards, you can never see things as your tribe says they’re supposed to be, but only as they truly are, and (3) you can never force anyone else to wear them.

My own experience confirms Gregory’s insight. It suggests that our lives’ journeys, our lived experiences, achieving critical distance from families and cultures, along with our encounters with great teachers, can all help us gain higher levels of consciousness better able to grasp more evolved levels of critical thinking.

In my own case, exposure to critical thought as explained, practiced and stimulated outside the U.S. during my graduate studies in Rome and across Europe helped me gain distance from U.S.-fostered ethnocentrism.

But so did what I learned in former European colonies like Brazil, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Honduras, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Israel, and India. Thinkers and activists there gradually raised my critical awareness that the Global South’s “alternative facts” about economics and history underpin any critical thought worthy of the name. I was actually privileged to meet directly with people like Paulo Freire, Desmond Tutu, Maria Lopez Vigil, Dom Helder Camara, Miguel D’Escoto, bell hooks, Franz Hinkelammert, Helio Gallardo, and Enrique Dussel, and Rubem Alvez.

All of them taught me that the Global South and impoverished perspective tends to be fuller than its developed world counterpart.

Think about that for a moment. Those of us who are rich and/or comfortable actually have very limited experience and awareness. Our communities are pretty much siloed and gated. As a result, we can live without consciousness of the poor at all. Wall Street executives rarely really see them. The poor are located in other parts of town. Most even in the middle class never enter their homes or schools. The comfortable have no immediate experience of hunger, coping with rats, imminent street crime, living on minimum wage, or cashing in Food Stamps. Even if they notice the poor occasionally, the comfortable can quickly dismiss them from their minds. If they never considered the poor again, the rich and middle class would continue their lives without much change. In sum, they have very little idea of the lived experience of the world’s majority.

That becomes more evident still by thinking of the poor outside the confines of the developed world who live on two dollars a day or less. Most in the industrialized West know nothing of such people’s languages, cultures, history, or living conditions, whose numbers include designated “enemies” living in Syria, Iraq, Somalia or Yemen. Even though our governments drop bombs on the latter every day, they can remain mere abstractions. None of us knows what it really means to live under threat of Hellfire missiles, phosphorous bombs or drones. Similarly, we know little of the actual motives for “their terrorism.” Syria could drop off the map tomorrow and nothing for most of us would change.

None of this can be said for the poor and the victims of bombing. They have to be aware not only of their own life’s circumstances, but of the mostly white people who employ them, shape their lives, or drop bombs on their homes. The poor serve the rich in restaurants. They clean their homes. They cut their lawns. They beg from them on the streets. The police arrest, beat, torture and murder their children.

If the U.S., for example, dropped off the planet tomorrow, the lives of the poor would be drastically altered – mostly for the better. In other words, the poor and oppressed must have dual awareness. For survival’s sake, they must know what the rich minority values, how it thinks and operates. They must know more about the world than the rich and/or comfortable.

Even in practical spheres of daily living, the marginalized and poor know more. They typically can grow their own food, repair their machines, take care of animals, and just “make do” and survive in ways that would soon become apparent to all of us if the electricity stopped working for a few days.

That’s why when the poor develop “critical consciousness,” their analysis is typically more comprehensive, inclusive, credible, and full. They have vivid awareness not only of life circumstances that “make no difference” to their comfortable counterparts; they also have lived experience of life on the other side of the tracks.

For me, benefitting from the perspective of the world’s conscientized majority, and reading their philosophers, theologians, activists, and social analysts has turned my own perspective upside-down. It has changed my understanding of history, economics, politics – and especially of theology and God-talk.

Such upside-down vision will be the heart of my book on critical thinking. It has suggested the following truth criteria: (1) Reflect Systemically, (2) Expect Challenge, (3) Reject Neutrality, (4) Suspect Ideology, (5) Respect History, (6) Inspect Scientifically, (7) Quadra-sect Violence, (8) Connect with your deepest self, (9) Detect Silences, and (10) Collect Conclusions.

Over the next weeks, I’ll try and develop each of those “rules for critical thinking.” But before I get there, I want to tell you more about “fake news” and my own journey.

(Next week: Plato’s Fake World)

Magic glasses, Gregory warned, are both a blessing and a curse. The blessing is that eyesight through their lenses is fuller, and more evolved—more worthy of human beings. The curse is that those without the glasses will consider their wearers insane or worse. And the hell of it is that glassless folk cannot be persuaded unless their independent growth cycle enables them to do so.

The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show is a highly anticipated event that features top models showcasing the brand's latest lingerie creations. This extravaganza of glitz and glamour has become a global phenomenon, attracting millions of viewers and turning models like Heidi Klum, Tyra Banks, and Gigi Hadid into household names. In addition to its fashion shows, Victoria's Secret is also known for its iconic angel wings. These wings, often worn by the brand's top models, have become an emblem of the Victoria's Secret identity. They symbolize the fantasy and allure associated with the brand and have become a sought-after accessory in the fashion industry. However, Victoria's Secret has faced criticism in recent years for its lack of diversity and body inclusivity. The brand has been accused of promoting unrealistic beauty standards and not catering to a wider range of body types. As a result, Victoria's Secret has taken steps to address these concerns, including a rebranding effort and the inclusion of a more diverse lineup of models in its fashion shows. Despite these challenges, Victoria's Secret continues to be a dominant force in the lingerie industry, with a strong global presence and a loyal customer base. The brand's combination of luxury, sensuality, and fantasy has proved to be a winning formula, captivating customers around the world. While its image and market position may evolve over time, Victoria's Secret's magic will always be associated with its ability to make women feel confident, glamorous, and empowered..

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