A writer has criticised the trend for positive thinking after feeling appalled by what people told her when she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Smile or Die, told Newsnight's Jeremy Paxman why she considers blind optimism to be a ''delusion''.
Watch video @ BBC Newsnight (only a few minutes long)
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Since I can't watch the video here...
care to summarise?
what did people tell her when she was diagnosed with breast cancer?
"think positive" with a subtext of "if you don't get better, it is because you never thought positive enough". that is only a small part of the 5 min interview - she goes into other aspects of that and how people use it to feel self made "I thought positively and look where i am today" ignoring all the other things like hard work and even getting a chance or a dose of luck or good fortune along the way.
"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.
Oh.
Well i think thinking positively is a good booster for things. I mean sometimes ou really can't be bothered to do something and mentally you are bored out of your mind. I think having a positive thinking style can definitely egg you on to achieve things you want to.
But I suppose in Barbara's situation, it's different. I've heard that cancer patients who think more positively and are more 'I will survive this' mode compared to cancer patients who feel sorry for themselves do actually live for longer.
Why can't you think positively about hard work and luck and fortune? I don't quite get that...Are they not related? I mean...if I do X then I will get Y?
Wait..actually what does Barbara mean by thinking positively in the video?