Positive Thinking = Denial of Reality?


	Positive Thinking = Denial of Reality?

mcsmithblack

10-10-2009 11:28 PM

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mcsmithblack says:

Barbara Ehrenreich, author of "Nickel and Dimed", has a new book out, called "Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America".

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/889bbd6a-0a23-42ac-8fbd-8565600067ca/FE8BB780-7C86-479D-8876-A2F83C7BC0F9/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.alternet.org/workplace/143187/barbara_ehrenreich%3A_the_relentless_promotion_of_positive_thinking_has_undermined_america/?page=1" href="http://www.alternet.org/workplace/143187/barbara_ehrenreich%3A_the_relentless_promotion_of_positive_thinking_has_undermined_america/?page=1" style="font-size: 11px;">www.alternet.org</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.alternet.org/workplace/143187/barbara_ehrenreich%3A_the_relentless_promotion_of_positive_thinking_has_undermined_america/?page=1"><P class="storyheadline">Barbara Ehrenreich: The Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.alternet.org/workplace/143187/barbara_ehrenreich%3A_the_relentless_promotion_of_positive_thinking_has_undermined_america/?page=1"><P>Positive thinking is different, she says, from being cheerful or good-natured -- it's believing that the world is shaped by our wants and desires and that by focusing on the good, the bad ceases to exist.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.alternet.org/workplace/143187/barbara_ehrenreich%3A_the_relentless_promotion_of_positive_thinking_has_undermined_america/?page=1"><P><STRONG>BE:</STRONG> I look at it with a little bit of sociological detachment. It's a brilliant system of social control. When bad things happen to people you say, "Well, it's really your attitude that has to change."</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.alternet.org/workplace/143187/barbara_ehrenreich%3A_the_relentless_promotion_of_positive_thinking_has_undermined_america/?page=1"><P>You take people who have been really victimized, and I use that word advisedly, with cancer and with lay-offs from unaccountable corporations. And then you tell them, "Well, you just have to change the way you think." And that's very clever.</P></blockquote><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content7.clipmarks.com/images/clip-icon.gif" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.alternet.org/workplace/143187/barbara_ehrenreich%3A_the_relentless_promotion_of_positive_thinking_has_undermined_america/?page=2" href="http://www.alternet.org/workplace/143187/barbara_ehrenreich%3A_the_relentless_promotion_of_positive_thinking_has_undermined_america/?page=2" style="font-size: 11px;">www.alternet.org</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.alternet.org/workplace/143187/barbara_ehrenreich%3A_the_relentless_promotion_of_positive_thinking_has_undermined_america/?page=2"><P>I have traced how positive thinking became <EM>the</EM> corporate culture in America. It was mandatory to be positive.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.alternet.org/workplace/143187/barbara_ehrenreich%3A_the_relentless_promotion_of_positive_thinking_has_undermined_america/?page=2"><P><STRONG>BE: </STRONG>I'm saying this is an ideology that takes away all the indignation there might be about extreme economic polarization.</P></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/FE8BB780-7C86-479D-8876-A2F83C7BC0F9/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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