The argument of people not wanting what is good for them has been used recently (2003) in a more popular context by television psychologist Dr. Phil (dr. Phillip McGraw). Addressing the audience of the Oprah Winfrey show, in a special on overweight (in a free citation): Let me tell you one thing: you are fat, because you want to be fat. Wouldn't you want it, you would not take the food that makes you fat. Because you take the food in, there must be same gain in it for you, or else you wouldn't take it. This is what I mean by saying that you want to be fat. Whether this gain that you see is something healthy, is an entirely different matter, to which we will come later. But first you have to accept that you want it yourself., because you first got to acknowledge the problem, before you can solve it.

The statement as formulated has been dreamed up by the editors, and dates from the 1990's. The editors were surprized and slighly disturbed to notice that it has been formulated much earlier, by Alfred Korzybski in Science and Sanity, as can be seen from these two quotes: "... there is already afloat in the 'universe of discourse'  a great deal of genuine knowledge and wisdom, and that, on the other hand, this wisdom is not generally applied" (4e ed., p. lxxix); and: "If the ignorance ... of our rulers could be eliminated, ... effective solutions of our problems would then appear spontaneously and in simple ... and we could 'walk through life' in comfort, instead of enduring the present sufferings" (4e ed., p. lxxxi). The feeling of disturbence of the editors is caused by noting that the quotation from Korzybski is dating from 1933, i.e. some seventy years ago. In view of the very limited progress on this respect, it is to be expected that it will take a very long before our paradise will arrive, because this paradise is not one of material goods, but one of a pleasant and happy life.