So-called "feel-good" stories that "ought to make you throw up." [View all]

[Garrett78]

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/8/2/1785447/-When-That-Feel-Good-Story-Really-Ought-To-Make-You-Throw-Up

If you've recently cheered the story of the enterprising young man so dedicated to his job that he ran twenty miles back and forth to his employer day after day until some kindly boss gave him his old car; if you teared up to the tale of the young couple whose baby was born with a life threatening condition prompting a local community to band together and start up an enormously successful GoFundMe page; or you’re just in awe of the generosity of the coworkers who donated their own vacation time to allow a mother a few extra days with her newborn, please take a moment to reflect. While everyone loves the happy endings and admires the spirit of sacrifice these types of stories emphasize, there are countless other untold stories where the outcome is not nearly so rosy.

Jessica Goldstein, writing for Think Progress, captures what is inherently insidious about all of these feel-good stories: they try to put a positive spin on something which ought to be treated with outrage if not out-and-out horror.

Stories like this keep popping up on Twitter like zits on a prepubescent forehead: The sunshiney announcement about the GoFundMe for the guy with leukemia who can’t pay for his own medical costs. (He is employed by an organization whose owner has a net worth of $5.2 billion.) The dad who works three jobs to support his family saving up to buy his 14-year-old daughter a dress for an eighth grade dance. The college student who ran 20 miles to work after his car broke down and whose boss rewarded him for this effort by giving him his own car.

A common thread running through many of these “inspirational” vignettes is the existence of a seemingly impossible social dysfunction solved by the miraculous ingenuity and sheer generosity of others. The focus is always on the unique "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" solution rather than the underlying institutional problems that allowed the situation to exist in the first place.

...more at the link.