All this may seem like no more than harmless self-deluded nonsense, but implicit political assumptions underlie the positive thinking creed. If your thoughts determine your fortunes, then it follows that those who find themselves in poverty are simply not trying hard enough. Positive people get jobs. Negative people get fired. In the words of one motivational speaker, “Negative People SUCK!” Positive thinking is an expression of the most strident individualism and wants no truck with the common good or collective endeavour. If bad things happen to you, too bad – it’s your own fault.
in the time remaining, to help us understand how the man-made system of capitalism will lead to the extinction of our human species, and so many others.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Wishing it don’t make it so
by George Miller from Le Monde Diplomatique, English edition. The author discusses Barbara Ehrenreich's latest book, Brightsided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking has Undermined America