Bright-sided: How Positive Thinking is Undermined America
‘Positive psychologists’ have more recently had an impact, and empirical research has been carried out in a quest to discover what makes us happier. The work of these pioneering psychologists is fascinating and valuable. We can imagine their empirical research as offering a horizontal image of happiness, with its wide data drawn from large cross se
... See moreDerren Brown • Happy: Why More or Less Everything is Absolutely Fine
Or maybe we should just give up entirely on optimism or pessimism—we have to do this work no matter how we feel about it. So by force of will or the sheer default of emergency we make ourselves have utopian thoughts and ideas.
Kim Stanley Robinson • Dystopias Now | Commune
Mass culture is a Peter Pan culture. It tells us that if we close our eyes, if we visualize what we want, if we have faith in ourselves, if we tell God that we believe in miracles, if we tap into our inner strength, if we grasp that we are truly exceptional, if we focus on happiness, our lives will be harmonious and complete. This cultural retreat
... See moreChris Hedges • Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle
Positive thinking in the face of illness purports to give us back a modicum of control. It suggests coherence in a chaotic world. It makes willpower and mindset meaningful again—even though willpower is one of the things that disease can prove to be a false (or at least overdetermined) construct.