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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsBright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America
Book by Barbara Ehrenreich Some quotes below.
http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/6642954-bright-sided-how-the-relentless-promotion-of-positive-thinking-has-unde
Breast cancer, I can now report, did not make me prettier or stronger, more feminine or spiritual. What it gave me, if you want to call this a gift, was a very personal, agonizing encounter with an ideological force in American culture that I had not been aware of beforeone that encourages us to deny reality, submit cheerfully to misfortune, and blame only ourselves for our fate.
There is a vast difference between positive thinking and existential courage.
I couldn't help noticing that the existential space in which a friend had earnestly advised me to 'confront [my] mortality' bore a striking resemblance to the mall.
But the economic meltdown should have undone, once and for all, the idea of poverty as a personal shortcoming or dysfunctional state of mind. The lines at unemployment offices and churches offering free food includes strivers as well as slackers, habitual optimists as well as the chronically depressed. When and if the economy recovers we can never allow ourselves to forget how widespread our vulnerability is, how easy it is to spiral down toward destitution.
I do not write this in a spirit of sourness or personal disappointment of any kind, nor do I have any romantic attachment to suffering as a source of insight or virtue. On the contrary, I would like to see more smiles, more laughter, more hugs, more happiness and, better yet, joy. In my own vision of utopia, there is not only more comfort, and security for everyone better jobs, health care, and so forth there are also more parties, festivities, and opportunities for dancing in the streets. Once our basic material needs are met in my utopia, anyway life becomes a perpetual celebration in which everyone has a talent to contribute. But we cannot levitate ourselves into that blessed condition by wishing it. We need to brace ourselves for a struggle against terrifying obstacles, both of our own making and imposed by the natural world. And the first step is to recover from the mass delusion that is positive thinking.
ananda
(28,982 posts)That's for sure.
It's related to an abused syndrome, and many Dems, including Obama,
have it bad.
The lesson to learn: you can never please abusers and bullies... even
if you try to be like them.
Kurovski
(34,657 posts)Facing reality is the first step in taking care of one's self. deriding a person for being "negative" in this regard is...deranged. I've heard it said in my own experience. "You have to stop this negative thinking", such a statement is also at times a non-responsible way of stating "I don't want to get involved".
As for cancer, it is a growth industry and is being sold to us as a marvelous adventure. Such is the corporate mindset. Such is the attitude of a money-making culture that creates the conditions of cancer itself.
Don't give up your autonomy to the hucksters. Don't deny any part of your reality. Demand change in the conditions that force us to force a smile, in all parts of life be they personal or civic.
K&R
OnyxCollie
(9,958 posts)boilerbabe
(2,214 posts)Hydra
(14,459 posts)And when the Gov't is not reading my mail.
Positive thinking is a cute idea, but positive reality is superior.
treestar
(82,383 posts)and still hope for good things. People just don't understand what it means.
There are people who indulge in negative thinking which is unrealistic too.
Orrex
(63,384 posts)I'm not saying that to be a gloomy gus, either; I would love to be wrong about it.
But in decades of exploration of the topic, I have heard nothing to dissuade me, aside from trite Hallmark slogans.
BuddhaGirl
(3,620 posts)Positive thinking does not equal magical thinking...I agree - that it is believing that one CAN deal with diversity.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)Too many people just EXPECT you to be an inspiration.
Solly Mack
(90,855 posts)ReRe
(10,597 posts)RainDog
(28,784 posts)I admire her work.
and she's absolutely right. "positive thinking" is the flip side of the puritan belief that bad things happen because you deserve them.
both are fucked up povs.
and she's also right that this bullshit thought process moves the issue from collective action to personal blame for not being "positive enough."
Oh those Jews in Poland! They just weren't positive enough.
Yeah. That's what it boils down to.
total asshole thought.
Hydra
(14,459 posts)That supports bad social systems.
There's a reason it's been pushed so hard with so much money- it pushes the guilt back on the people who are being victimized, as you pointed out. It's perfect for a bunch of scammers like the guys on Wall St.
distantearlywarning
(4,475 posts)I agreed with pretty much every point she made.
This positivity-uber-alles magical thinking BS that has infected this culture is nothing more than a nicer-sounding version of the same old victim-blaming for every bad thing that happens in the world. Oh, you got cancer? It's probably because you weren't positive enough! Oh, you're worried about being laid off? Think happy thoughts and maybe that won't happen!
I myself am a staunch realist. I try to determine the truth about every circumstance to the best of my ability and face up to life with pragmatism. These days that often comes across as pessimism or negativity, but I'm not actually a negative person by nature either. It's society that's negative and I just tell it like I see it. The bright-siders want me to lie so they don't feel bad about the way the world ACTUALLY is right now.