The Apostles Greed

The simple truth is this: if you're seriously going to embark upon selling your snake oil to millions, you're going to need some serious help. For a fuller picture of Gray's empire, please allow me to introduce two of Gray's more visible associates.

Michael Najarian, M.A.
President, Personal Growth Productions

I first became familiar with Najarian through his management of Gray's long-defunct on-line message board back in October of 1995. Defensive and loyal as a Pit Bull, he's built a career on the coat tails of our favorite pseudo-intellectual, John Gray. Najarian's bio cites his having a B.A in philosophy and a Master's desgree in Psychology and Counseling from the University of Phoenix based in Scottsdale, AZ. Althrough from an accredited institution, Najarian's Master's thesis was apprently on the impact of the worldwide Mars/Venus phenomenon. Time did it in three pages with pictures, so I'd like to see the "thesis" on which this degree rests.

Najarian is also the host of the syndicated "Mars & Venus" radio talk show. And he's noted as being "featured with Barbara Walters on a two-hour primetime ABC News Special, 'Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus But We Have to Live on Earth." I have a tape of that two hour lesson on dysfunction and you know, it's funny, but I don't recall seeing Najarian "featured with Barbara Walters." In fact, all I can remember seeing is a maxmum two-minute clip of Najarian in some hotel ballroom talking to an audience. Well, what the heck, I guess if you built your career on someone else's bridal train, two-minutes on a network not even in the same room or studio with Barbara Walters must seem like the world!

Najarian is also credited with being quite a showman and, indeed, that's what you have to be to peddle Gray's gender nonsense to the public and have them pay money to hear it for four hours. Indeed, "Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus - Life on Earth" is decribed as a "one man show" featuring Najarian. He is said to "enchant" audiences with a "special brand of humor and insight" about men and women. Want to book him for a speaking engagement? Link here.

Larry James
President of CelebrateLove.com

Najarian's puppy-dog loyalty allowed him to be quite vocal on Gray's site, so he was the only individual in my cross-hairs when Gray wasn't ducking from bush to bush. So imagine my surprise when I found out about this guy.

From his website, James is decribed as having been a full-tme professional speaker and author since 1987.

Never heard of 'im.

Relationship Enrichment LoveShop?
How to Really Love the One You're With: Affirmative Guidleines for a Healthy Love Relationship?
LoveNotes for Lovers: Words That Make Music for Two Hearts Dancing!?
Red Hot LoveNotes for Lovers?

Never heard of 'em.

How does an anonymous author make a living? Well, here's another one that's been associated with Gray's gravy train. He's been with Gray ever since February 1996, apparently hosted the Mars & Venus Chat Room" on AOL for "nearly three years." And he's a "personally trained facilitator" of Gray's Mars/Venus seminars. But most impotant, I think, is James' claim that "at age 10, he made his first sales call." Good thing, because if it's expertise you're looking for, then keep looking.

In an interview on absolutewrite.com, James was asked how he became an "expert in the love and romance field." James replied that during therapy following a breakup, his therapist kept telling him that his "insight into what a 'healthy' relationship should be was far above average." In his on-line press kit, James is described as a "gifted teacher [and] a specialist in matters of the heart." He's got book endorsements from a boatload of Ph.D.s (remmber, that doesn't mean a damned thing) and "other relationship experts" and twelve years of experience as a radio broadcaster. I suppose you have to give the guy some credit for not hiding behind fake degrees and questionable thesis topics.

So there you have them: two very visible apostles making a pretty decent living riding on the caboose of a mail-order Ph.D.