Thread: The other side of the "positive thinking" epidemic

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Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America [Hardcover]


Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America: Amazon.co.uk: Barbara Ehrenreich: Books

Interesting book LRM, thanks for posting. From the Publishers Weekly review of the book:

Ehrenreich (Nickel and Dimed) delivers a trenchant look into the burgeoning business of positive thinking. A bout with breast cancer puts the author face to face with this new breed of frenetic positive thinking promoted by everyone from scientists to gurus and activists. Chided for her anger and distress by doctors and fellow cancer patients and survivors, Ehrenreich explores the insistence upon optimism as a cultural and national trait, discovering its symbiotic relationship with American capitalism and how poverty, obesity, unemployment and relationship problems are being marketed as obstacles that can be overcome with the right (read: positive) mindset. Building on Max Weber's insights into the relationship between Calvinism and capitalism, Ehrenreich sees the dark roots of positive thinking emerging from 19th-century religious movements. Mary Baker Eddy, William James and Norman Vincent Peale paved the path for today's secular $9.6 billion self-improvement industry and positive psychology institutes. The author concludes by suggesting that the bungled invasion of Iraq and current economic mess may be intricately tied to this reckless national penchant for self-delusion and a lack of anxious vigilance, necessary to societal survival.

The "power" of magical thinking is something that can't be denied, but it's affects can be disputed. It's easy to understand how being overly negative in outlook and attitude can be a determent but it's less obvious to understand how being overly and falsely positive can be just as damaging, if not more so.

How many scam victims try to use the platitudes of positive thinking as a talisman to banish inconvenient facts about the product or program that's the object of their optimism? Hype and hope can be a deadly combination when left unmoderated by common sense but when a financial interest is involved hype and hope are marketed as an alternative to common sense. "Do you believe in a better day, do you have faith in the golden way," as a species we cling to hope and that's a damned good thing. But any time there's a dollar sign involved in the equation blind faith is almost always the ally of the people who don't have it.

The point is that "positive thinking" is but one aspect of a whole raft of strategies which make up an entity.

Unrestrained "positive thinking" can be as dangerous as persistent negativity.

Let's not forget that the scammers are the ones that think they get to determine what 'negative' means when the truth about their crap is exposed. I could state a fact with no bias at all and it could be deemed, incorrectly, 'negative'. Alloutloser is a perfect example with Narcthatponzi.