Bright-Sided: Ehrenreich vs. the happy face
Barbara Ehrenreich's intelligence and journalism awards did not spare her a harrowing encounter with breast cancer, now successfully treated.Terrified, bewildered, even more acerbic than usual, she entered a world of teddy bears, pink ribbons and sugary poems taped to examining room walls. When she expressed confusion and anger on patients' discussion boards, she was scolded for her "negativity" and advised to "work on your attitude"."Cheerfulness is required, dissent is a form of treason", she noted of these web groups.
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g move with Barbara. She decided to take on "the scientific argument for cheer". "Smile or Die: The Bright Side of Cancer" is the first chapter of her recent book, "Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America".Her world view could be summed up as "In God we trust, all others, bring data". She holds (in her words) a "rusty PhD." in cellular biology but has never lost her scientist's eye for rigor. Combine this with a near-perfect BS detector, and you have a woman not susceptible to hype or snake oil.
If someone believes that
- Positive attitude cures serious disease
- "The Secret" by Rhonda Byrne, with its promise of manifesting what one believes, describes an immutable law
- God wants you to be rich (and will do so after you make donations to an organization), or
- If you work harder and display an upbeat attitude, career success is a sure thing, then
Ehrenriech wants her to reconsider.
And if you don't believe it, she has written cogent rebuttals that provide support for your skepticism.
She acknowledges that there is a valid, important place for positivity: likable people get further in the workplace than sourpusses, all of us need support during illness and losses, hope and faith are essential to getting through life. Happy people make more enjoyable colleagues, neighbours, spouses.
But she thinks the promises and patter of unceasing optimism is a shuck, and even more significantly, that adopting a passively positive attitude makes us dumb. We lose our ability to think critically, to ask "Why?", to dig deeper for root cause, to examine claims for evidence.
"Bright-Sided" is unsettling and rabid in some sections. Ehrenreich's conclusions do not always square with mine, but I'm grateful she raises her clarion, contrarian voice.
Here's a six-minute clip in which she comments on her cancer experience and on the "look on the bright side" message often dispensed during job loss:
Comments
The attack on critical thinking in this country is an absolute travesty - I have never seen anti-intellectualism on a greater scale here. It is a disastrous trend showing up in many forms, and I applaud Ms. Ehrenreich for taking it on! It must be made clear that this dangerous direction needs to be reversed.
Thank you for bringing our attention to this!
(Does Ms. E say that faith is essential/"God" gets a pass on providing data? If so...then the critical thinking hasn't gone as far as it should. I don't see a reason for any exceptions.)
And I second what Someone said about the rabit anti-intellectualism in this country. It's downright Orwellian!
Ehrenreich explores the rise of "positive theology", not whether theism itself is valid. The focus of the book is the relentless, deliberate promotion of positive thinking, and who benefits from selling it.
Pseu: Susan Sontag's "Illness as Metaphor" was important to my thinking about this.
I hate happy talk. I love happiness. They are not the same thing. One might even argue that the first stifles the latter.
On the other hand Norman Vincent Peale's "The Power of Positive Thinking", certainly the first book with a positive theology message published maybe 45 years ago, helped people to envision creating a better life for themselves.
My daughter (3 years old) was diagnosed with Leukemia 6 months ago, and we are just now getting out of the darkest part of the 2.5 year treatment program. We have been angry, sad, terrified and very very careful about her treatment. I have been in despair and my only goal for the last 6 months was to avoid another hospitalization.
All that being said, I've discovered that we have *so* much to be grateful for. There has been an amazing amount of positive stuff that has gone on in the last 6 months--our religious community has rallied around us. Our friends have been fabulous with meals, forgiveness when I lose my mind and temper, My daughter has learned to swallow pills and has shown tremendous "grown up" behavior in enduring the weekly chemo treatments. My workplace has been fantastic and forgiving in allowing me to work remotely and take vacation and sick leave extremely liberally without cutting my pay. And finally and most importantly, my daughter has responded in textbook fashion to the treatment, which will result in a "cure" (not just remission) 2 years from now.
So, while I am clinical, critical and vigilant about the details of my daughter's disease, I also choose to see that there are some positive sides to this tragedy and travesty that has befallen us. I don't see that there is anything wrong about trying to find some good in all of the bad.
Belle: In the chapter "The Dark Roots of American Optimism", she takes on Peale, and the lineage he initiated.
spacegeek: An ordeal for you and your family, and I am relieved and grateful your daughter has responded so wonderfully to the treatment. There are certainly gifts, grace and learning within times of great difficulty.
It's really all about balance isn't it. When one side, either positive or negative takes over, then the whole becomes unbalaced with a warped view.
Yes we need dreamers, and we also need those who will bring us back to earth.
Spacegeek - it's lovely how much you have been able to appreciate the good in such a terrible situation. Wishing you and your family much love and speedy recovery for your daughter, what an amazing girl you have.
Imogen: Yes, that's one of her central points, that the imbalance has become so pronounced. I don't agree with all of her conclusions- and it stimulated my thinking.
On the other hand, I disagreed with a point that Ehrenreich made about the latest financial crisis being born of relentless, forced optimism. I don't believe this was even one of the top 10 factors in the crisis!
Then, she moved on to politics and she lost me completely. I did not read the book but from the podcast my impression was that Ehrenreich begins with a great premise (too many in our society believe in crap like The Secret) but then tries to force too many examples that don't really fit.
metscan: It takes awhile for these books to reach a broader market (if ever). Ehrenreich's books are also American-centric.
That said, I doubt that Ms. E. would question the positive energy that does end up being part of the cancer process, if not, sadly, for the patients, more often than not, in some way, for their friends and family. My father lived with prostate cancer for over 20 years -- a good chunk of that in remission, but eight final years of steady deterioration, his last year hovering around one hundred pounds. And it brought an already close family even closer together, and it left us with memories of his strength that will never be diminished. None of that positive spirit, though, stopped the cancer from chewing him up.
My Dad died of a blood cancer. He hoped for the best outcome given the type: to live as long as possible, as wholly as possible. He said to me once, "I'm glad I'm a doctor, they can't snow me. You play the hand you're dealt." He was able to sleep away in the hospital he co-founded over 60 years earlier.
1. My dad died of cancer. It makes me furious every time I hear someone say so and so beat cancer because of her great attitude. My dad did not die because he had a bad attitude. He did not die because he did not fight hard enough. He died because CANCER KILLS PEOPLE! People who survive cancer are LUCKY. They survive because they have a treatable cancer and medical science has advanced to the point where we have the knowledge and the tools to keep them alive.
2. As far as Catholics, Lutherans, Baptists, and other mainstream Christian denominations are concerned, God does not want you to be rich. God wants you to follow him. Period. Most legitimate Christian churches do not think much of prosperity theology. Prosperity theology churches seem to conveniently ignore the parts of the Bible that tell people to get rid of their money and their stuff and follow Jesus. Actually, they seem to ignore the Bible altogether.
My take is that positive attitude and hope help people weather the enormous challenges, and can certainly support them (and the family) to but attitude does not cause cure.
As I recall, BE notes this in the book and says that some of the Christian megachurch pastors (Rick Warren is named) do not support 'prosperity religion'.
I can't bear that uncritical positive thinking but as s. says, its world-weary European counterpart can be just as tiresome, simply because both are uncritical. I'd get the same response Duchesse got from her Parisienne friend from just about everyone in Italy.
We'll all die of something, and most of us won't get rich. I guess there is a difference in being positive as in putting a brave face on things and soldiering on - as they are managing to do in Haiti - and magical thinking.
People stay true to their nature, esp in crisis.