Acclaimed journalist, author and political activist Barbara Ehrenreich explores the darker side of positive thinking.
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IMO, the author's point was not that there was a problem with Positive Thinking, Attitude, & a Smile (PTAS). I don't think she was saying that these things are not required. I took her issue to be with the mindset that PTAS is always either sufficient unto itself or the single most important factor to overcome every problem and every obstacle.
If I had a dollar for every time somebody insinuated that all my problems and obstacles would magically solve themselves and go away if I just had PTAS, I wouldn't need to work.
Does Realism really exist? I mean someone needs to give it a pragmatic definition, a definition by which we can judge whether which choice of actions is Realistic. Most of the things in this talk, as well as some articles on The Economics or The Foreign Policy, could be viewed as merely "judging in retrospect and called it Realism."
Agree! It's like in the movie Coraline. The OTHER mother make the puppet doll Whybie smile all the time by sewing his mouth into a smiling shape. CRUELTY!
Can't get over what a genius talent the artist is.
I don't understand the point the speaker is trying to argue against. It seems to be about people thinking you don't need anything else than positive mental attitude to do anything ever, but I don't think anyone would think that. It doesn't even make sense, as of course it's not the only thing required. Don't get me wrong, the points raised by the speaker are very valid, but I don't think the attack against a book like The Secret or its author make the point any more relevant. It's a frustration against a belief that doesn't exist.
I think the problem is really that the ideology of positivity is valued but genuine happiness isn't. People want to talk about such but when the choice is between emotions and agendas (e.g: cultural ideas of worth and deserving), agendas come on top.
Atomisation and muh bootstraps force a sanctimonious stoicism and alienation which prevent our id from being free to do its thing. People feel more alienated and less loved, do the next step is finding something else to hate.
The world matures significantly when it refuses to take Americans seriously……
That what GOP fake Christian believe
the illustrator is superb ….
Such a great talk! Can't believe I missed this.
Yeah, but, if you are surrounded by negative people including, friends, doesn't that drain you and waste your energies? Whatever your situation, you will have to deal with any and all problems and feeling sorry for yourself like a lot of people do will not solve it! You have to take action because just because you may be sad for your situation, will not solve your problems. That said, being positive allows you to focus your energies on the problems and solve it to give you the best outcome possible. I would rather be positive as I find negative people only add to may problems and not help it! Negative people will never deal with their problems because they have to blame someone else instead, of themselves. And some problems are self-inflicted wounds. I know because I talk to friends who tell me their problems and I point out that they came to me for advise which I gave them but, they did what they wanted anyway despite, being told of the possible consequences of their actions!
she has not the slightest grasp of the difference between positive thinking à la self-help gurus and positive psychology as a field of research….
Do you know how much of my childhood you just exposed to me? No wonder my mom always loved the adage "dont worry, be happy" while I was failing existence; it's exactly like soviet mind control!
I love the art on this!
Wow, I was actually thinking about that dumb book, "The Secret," during this video. Lo and behold, she actually brings up the book and talks about what a dick the author is lmao. The author and her book is a huge con.
To be honest any totalitarian system is based on being happy.Positive thinking taken to the extreme is just another variation of 1984.One thing that people in the West rarely realise is that totalitarian systems almost never actually portray themselves as being 'bad' in the sense that things are not great.They always strive to portray things as being great or awesome or whatever you want to call it.Here there might be a problem since westerners only ever knew totalitarian systems upfront in wartime more exactly the nazis.Even with propaganda you couldn't really hide the fact that there was a massive war taking place.They have very little knowledge of what a peacetime totalitarian system means.Basically its you're either happy or an enemy of the state no in between.In a totalitarian society people have to be happy because the system is perfect any unhappiness means you're an enemy of the system.So yes positive thinking applied and mandated to a society is basically North Korea.
Impressive work! 🙂
I hope you're not being demonetized. If you are or your viewers are tired of the PC police join the free union.
YouTubeUnion.org
The happiness industrial complex is everywhere.
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The whole positive thinking movement has been outed as a system of social control.
Corporate positivity where your positivity benefits the company you work for but not yourself. And then we have those positive thinkers who tell you you can achieve anything. Those book selling guys. Just let's all write books. Copy and paste here and there, combine with your own thoughts, kick in your own push. And don't forget your anecdotal stories about people you know personally. But keep them anonymous of course. There you go. You think positive now to sell books about it.
I was once told that my cousin, two years of age back then died of cancer because either her parents or someone else had bad thoughts. Can you imagine that? But then it is the same people who could kill you with a smile and repent before an imaginary Jesus to feel good about it and believe to go to heaven. The world is that ugly and riddled with self inflicted lies.
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The examples she was citing were the extreme. There is a definite personal benefit to focusing one's thoughts towards things that are good, that is, in a general sense. So in other words, if everything else in life is fine, and you're just having a normal day, it usually does you more benefit to think about positive things than it does to think about negative ones. With that as your baseline, you can build a space upon that to process the thoughts and feelings that come with real life negative events. The process is most beneficial as a process, though, and can become destructive if it becomes rumination.