Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America
Book by Barbara Ehrenreich Some quotes below.
http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/6642954-bright-sided-how-the-relentless-promotion-of-positive-thinking-has-unde
“Breast cancer, I can now report, did not make me prettier or stronger, more feminine or spiritual. What it gave me, if you want to call this a “gift,” was a very personal, agonizing encounter with an ideological force in American culture that I had not been aware of before—one that encourages us to deny reality, submit cheerfully to misfortune, and blame only ourselves for our fate.”
“There is a vast difference between positive thinking and existential courage.”
“I couldn't help noticing that the existential space in which a friend had earnestly advised me to 'confront [my] mortality' bore a striking resemblance to the mall.”
“But the economic meltdown should have undone, once and for all, the idea of poverty as a personal shortcoming or dysfunctional state of mind. The lines at unemployment offices and churches offering free food includes strivers as well as slackers, habitual optimists as well as the chronically depressed. When and if the economy recovers we can never allow ourselves to forget how widespread our vulnerability is, how easy it is to spiral down toward destitution.”
“I do not write this in a spirit of sourness or personal disappointment of any kind, nor do I have any romantic attachment to suffering as a source of insight or virtue. On the contrary, I would like to see more smiles, more laughter, more hugs, more happiness and, better yet, joy. In my own vision of utopia, there is not only more comfort, and security for everyone — better jobs, health care, and so forth — there are also more parties, festivities, and opportunities for dancing in the streets. Once our basic material needs are met — in my utopia, anyway — life becomes a perpetual celebration in which everyone has a talent to contribute. But we cannot levitate ourselves into that blessed condition by wishing it. We need to brace ourselves for a struggle against terrifying obstacles, both of our own making and imposed by the natural world. And the first step is to recover from the mass delusion that is positive thinking.”
= new reply since forum marked as read
I agreed with pretty much every point she made.
This positivity-uber-alles magical thinking BS that has infected this culture is nothing more than a nicer-sounding version of the same old victim-blaming for every bad thing that happens in the world. Oh, you got cancer? It's probably because you weren't positive enough! Oh, you're worried about being laid off? Think happy thoughts and maybe that won't happen! 
I myself am a staunch realist. I try to determine the truth about every circumstance to the best of my ability and face up to life with pragmatism. These days that often comes across as pessimism or negativity, but I'm not actually a negative person by nature either. It's society that's negative and I just tell it like I see it. The bright-siders want me to lie so they don't feel bad about the way the world ACTUALLY is right now.
