“But isn’t positive…good?” Barbara Ehrenreich heard this question many times while researching her new book, Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America. So let’s begin with a clear understanding of what the book does and does not say about “positive thinking.” Nowhere does Ehrenreich claim that we should focus only on the negative or that we should stop aspiring toward happiness. What Ehrenreich does say is less gloomy, more constructive and, ultimately, much more important than that. Rather than advocating negativity, Bright-Sided focuses on the dangers and limitations of positive thinking as an ideology. To reject positive thinking is not to support negative thinking, but to support a realistic point of view that is critical and constructive. An unfailingly positive outlook may appear harmless, but according to Ehrenreich, it is at best, misleading, and at worst, amazingly dangerous."
Posted on: Thu, 06 Jun 2013 00:45:08 +0000
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