Author Barbara Ehrenreich on her new book "Bright-Sided" Democracy Now 10/13/09 2 of 2

[dontblockmedk]

The money/property system is the ROOT of all problems. Luckily it is all fake and it won't requre everyone to get it. Here are some question everyone should answer.

1. Is the minimum requirement of whichever 'system' to make sure EVERY person has the basic necessities of life provided?

2. Do we have the resources and technology to acheive #1 worldwide?

3. Which system is best? And how do we get there?

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[catgumart]

Barbara Ehrenreich makes a good point here..I really appreciate her realistic outlook on things....I agree with much of what she says..I wish I could see more of her commentary here on Youtube..

[TheLogicJunkie]

Babs is my favorite. She fucking rocks.

[358Liberty]

Barbara is not a libertarian but probably a socialist curious how she does not make the connection good intentions and feelings, motivations don't lead to good cosequences

[joewu1981]

damn all this positive thinkers fucking up the world yep she finally said it so to all of you continue to enjoy your shitty lives but I like to do it with a smile lol stop thinking positive and think real wtf is real thinking some people say some "really stupid shit. give me some info on this new neuroscience.. people complain to much and now this bitch is complaining about people being positive. well have a rainy day to you too :) she dealt with her emotions by writing a book, think about it!

[mowgli2071]

REAL is saying the house is on fire, instead of complementing the warmth. Real is refusing to smile just to please those whose smile depends on not noticing other's REAL reasons not to smile. Real is understanding someone's loss that they experienced, to be an ACTUAL loss, not forcing them into a false redefinition. That girl in the famous vietnam picture whose clothes (and skin) were burned off was not in a fashion transition, she was running down the road screaming. You can't ask her to smile.

[joewu1981]

OK I see your point no one shoots them selves in the foot with a smile on their face... ON the point of what's really there In my town it's the relentless promotion of religious institutions in my mind that has undermined America but of course too many books have been written on that subject. So after thinking it over she does have a very good point but thank corporate America for that one while they smile in your face an fire you the next day. but there always a brighter side in my reality.

[mowgli2071]

I definitely agree with you on the religion and coporate america points. "Religulous" sums it all up, pretty near flawlessly, i.m.o. As for the "shoots themselves..." point, my only obs. is that it's usually the effects from without, that the "positivity police" are trying to get you to play down, in order to make every thing look picturesque around them, not so much the mistakes that you end up doing to yourself.

[haymaker710]

I was the victim of a housing scam and lost all the money I put in and some of my belongings. I was homeless and broke and the day got evicted was my birthday. That day the guy driving the moving truck told me to smile. I felt like ripping his fucking head off. I just needed to be angry and I didn't feel like smiling.

[JennMahoney]

(cont'd from below) But if Barbara is happy believing what she believes I have no issue with it. It's just not personally how I would choose to look at things.

Also, I think she oversimplifies by saying that the U.S. financial collapse is due to the "positive thinking" movement. I agree it's due to denial, but not to positive thinking. I think it's due to people's attachment to money & things and their denial as to how they are effecting the world around them with their blind greed.

[JennMahoney]

I think she has a point about "The Secret". I like the overall message of "The Secret" but I agree that they oversimplfied the philosophy and I do think many people took the message at face value (i.e. if you think positive you will get a car, etc.). But I didn't take that from the movie. What I took from it is more like the Eleanor Roosevelt quote, "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent". In other words, I have the power to choose my outlook about something.

[JennMahoney]

I hear what she's saying about the idea that some of this "magical" thinking can be a form of denial, but I disagree with her on another level. I do think that we can choose acceptance and even happiness in any situation. It has worked for me and made me a happier and more peaceful person. And I find that I handle situations better because of it. But I also allow myself to feel whatever I'm feeling. I don't deny my feelings.

[GrahamCLester]

Positive thinking isn't really thinking, and in the long run it isn't really positive either. Positive thinking is really a sort of alternative to thinking that keeps real thinking at a distance.

[humboldtsentinel]

I have a difficult time taking Ehrenreich's call for realism seriously when she's such an Obama booster, as if she can't see the "real world" of his administration's war crimes and escalation of the slaughter in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

[felixthehuman]

Susan Sontag covered a lot of this in _Illness as a Metaphor_ - her emphasis was a little different, she concentrated on how the idea that positive thinking would help you get over cancer leads to the idea that cancer victims die of their own negativity-iirc, it was the late '80's when I read it, but it was really interesting at the time.

[SweetSweetWaldo]

I find myself using the phrase "unwarranted optimism" quite a bit in my dealing with counselors and bureaucrats during economic crisis. I use the phrase in lieu of an impolite one: Bullshit. Ehrenreich is not condemning positive thinking spiritually or philosophically, but "positive thinking" as a euphemism for the more Dickensian: Shut your cakehole and take what's coming to you!

[NinaLoris]

i love this woman. no one can be happy / positive all the time. life is hard. yup.

ppl who are "happy" all the time, i often questioned if they really do know how they feel....how do they know theyre actually happy if its the one emotion that they seem to have all the time trying to oppress other feelings?

i love this woman...about time someone said it.

[martiniisgood]

Love this woman. Yay for grouchy people.