Bright-sided

I'm a fan. This is my fourth Ehrenreich. I am politically and culturally on her side and yet . . .
And yet I'm going to say something a bit negative. Bear with me. As Ms. Ehrenreich points out, bearers of bad news often don't fare well.

My first objection is to the conclusion, namely that we become realistic, as if this is both possible, and a matter of will. I believe our view of the world is necessarily distorted by our culture and our personal psychology. To believe one can read this book and reply "Yeah--I will look at things clearly from now on." is, pardon the expression, overly optimistic. I wonder if there have been studies of what percent of people see themselves as realists and what exactly those people's points of view are.

My second objection is to Ms. Ehrenreich's bias against introspection. It's as if she thinks looking inward and making adjustments to one's point of view is always an exercise in self-delusion. She thinks one naturally sees the truth if one doesn't tamper with the apparatus. I believe there's a lot to be gained by exploring one's inner world, knowing thyself, as it used to be called. Not that this is easily undertaken and isn't in danger of become an opportunity for some sort of Calvinist self-hate, but but that's no reason to reject it out of hand. The unexamined life has been accused of not being worth living, and though that may be a bit of overstatement, it is more true than the converse.

Also, in some cases (certainly not MOST) getting fired, or even cancer can improve a person's life. People get stuck in a rut and sometimes only force can get them unstuck. (I could tell anecdotes but I'm not that kind of a guy.)

Behind the demand that others be positive (Ms. E mentions this but I think it could use more emphasis) is often the message "I don't care about you." along with "If you don't tell me your troubles, I can continue to be my own center of attention."

To end on a positive note, I appreciated the history of "new thought," Christian Science, Positive Psychology, business coaching and the various strains of positivity all brought together where they can be looked at for what they are.

Commute audiobook. Narrator was fine. Book was perfect level of difficulty for a commute audiobook (moderately complex, adequately engaging).

In this book Ehrenreich explores the the invasion of American preoccupation with positive thinking into various aspects of our lives: corporate culture, church, medical diagnosis and treatment, motivational speaking as big business, social stratification, psychology as an academic field.

Why not think positively? It might help! It certainly can't hurt, right?

Wrong, Ehrenreich says. The results of all this forced positivity are mostly -- perhaps entirely -- damaging. Through the lens of positive thinking, everything is good for us and we should be grateful it's happened to us. Cancer patients (pardon, "survivors" or "fighters" who are "battling" cancer) aren't supposed to be angry or sad for even a moment. Employees shouldn't be angry or sad about the erosion of employee-friendly labor policies or job termination. If we think enough positive thoughts, good things will come to us because "God wants to give us nice things."

But denying negative emotions/negative situations doesn't help us in the long run. Sometimes shitty things happen for no reason, and we need to acknowledge that. Sometimes shitty things happen for systematic reasons (e.g. the wealth gap, poverty, wage inequality) and failing to acknowledge that maintains the status quo. All this positive thinking -- "if I think positive thoughts hard enough, good things will happen to me" -- has the corollary that if good things DON'T happen to me, it must be my fault because I didn't think positively enough. It couldn't possibly be due to living in an unfair, chaotic world in a society structured to keep the little guys down. Positive thinking ends up a key component of the modern conception of rugged American individualism. Notably, the major figures of the positive thinking movement are, Ehrenreich points out, Republicans, the party which would gut the social safety net and constantly extols the hard work of individuals without reference to systematic factors that helped the successful achieve their success.

Does money buy happiness/positive thinking? Does happiness/positive thinking attract money? This was a very good book, challenging the idea that happiness and positive thinking are the be-all and end-all in the cause of good things. It points out that a lot of the “positive thinking” agenda basically blames the victim for anything that happens negatively. It challenges everything from religion to health to economics and how “positive thinking” is used to salve people's beliefs into thee feeling that they are responsible for any undesirable outcomes simply because they did not think positive enough. I personally found the section on “positive thinking” and happiness affecting health. When I was in college, I wrote a paper on “health and happiness”, but I approached it from the realm of good health CAUSING happiness, not the other way around. Clearly, the whole “positive attitude” thing is trying to turn it on its head. I now realize that numbers have nothing to do with causality! Similarly, all studies that appeared to point out that thinking good thoughts CAUSES good health does not show any such thing. She spent a little too much time on religion and religious thoughts, as well as “teambuilding”, but overall I think it was a very good book. And it was really REALLY good if you're someone saying that thinking good things is not the be-all and end-all!

I will begin by saying that this book was not as engaging as other books by this author. I found Nickel and Dimed to be more interesting; I read that book and reviewed it here as well. Maybe because that book has the author doing more things rather than just presenting research. Having said that, this is a book that should be read, but it is also a book that you can scan large parts of it and still get the point.

Ehrenreich looks at the cult of the positive thinking in the United States, and it exposes it for what it is: something that actually dulls our edge, and it serves as a social control tool. Yes, the cult of positive thinking can be placed right along things like Stalinism. But getting rid of it is not as easy as it sounds given that, in the U.S., the cult of positivism is a billionaire industry. There are a lot of coaches, speakers, and ministers making a vast fortune over telling you that, if you do not become wealthy yourself, it is your own damn fault. People have pretty much bought into what is basically a con game.

Ehrenreich does a very thorough job of going over the history of positive thinking starting with the Calvinists and Puritans and working up to the modern gurus of today. She leads then from the beginnings to the current financial meltdown and economic mess we are facing. The message is simple: we need a defensive pessimism. It is what keeps us alive and gives us an edge. And we need to be realistic, get some empathy, and help each other out. And we need to be very skeptical. This is something I found appealing given that I am often surrounded by worshipers of the happy thoughts who are more than happy to exclude me if I express what they see as a "negative thought." And in a society where you can be fired for being "too negative," those of us who are realists have to pick our battles. Yet in the end, as the financial mess has proven, it was the naysayers who saw what was coming, but they were disregarded. It is a harsh lesson that needs to be learned and remembered.

I am not saying don't have a positive outlook. I am just saying you should temper it with realism, as Ehrenreich seems to say at the end. If you want a real explanation of why things are as bad as they are, skip all the financial analysis books and such and read this instead. Only reason I did not rate it higher is because it does get a little repetitive at times. The ideas Ehrenreich presents are not really new ones. Anyone with half a brain who has critical thinking skills probably has thought of some of this. Her strength is in taking all that and putting it together in an accessible form.