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Why Are You So Damn Happy?
Andrew Shurtleff / AP Photo
Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Bright-Sided, talks with Megan Hustad about our optimism obsession and what it has to do with the mortgage crisis, the media, and Joel Osteen’s parking spot.
In June, New York magazine asked the Class of ’09 to characterize their mental outlook. Seven percent identified themselves as pessimists and 81 percent placed themselves in the optimist camp. Drilled for specifics, a scant 2 percent said they believed their lives would be worse in five years, while a whopping 95 percent saw greater things ahead—a strong indication that some self-professed pessimists aren’t so gloomy after all. Indeed, looking on the bright side has become all but mandatory in our culture, Barbara Ehrenreich argues in her new book, Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America.
“Well, Joel Osteen has a very special relationship with the deity. He just has to say things like ‘Thank you, God, for blessing me with the best parking spot.’ And he gets it. He also can get good tables in restaurants, using the same method.”
Ehrenreich has been skewering cherished platitudes for years—from the popular notion that feminism ruined the nuclear family (in her 1987 book The Hearts of Men) to the idea that the poor are poor because they refuse to work, a policy plank whose hollowness she exposed in her bestselling Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America. Now that she’s trained her sights on optimism, Ehrenreich attempts to show how Americans are simply too damned cheerful, and how this well-intended but ultimately misguided optimism has shaped the mortgage crisis, our media, even our religion.
When I reached Ehrenreich by phone at her Virginia home, I asked her about a paradox raised in Bright-Sided’s introduction. Americans stress positive thinking more than any other culture, and yet by measures of self-reported happiness, we’re not faring so well. We rank low compared to the Danes, the Dutch, even the Malaysians. “If there has been a decline in happiness in America, and we don’t shape up well compared to other countries, including, weirdly, Finland, which I always thought of as very dour,” Ehrenreich said, “it relates to all this work we do to make ourselves be more positive. Positive thinking is imposed on people in a lot of settings. If you’re in the typical corporate workplace, you are exhorted to be positive. You’re told nobody wants to be around a negative person—which could mean somebody who just raises questions now and then, questions like ‘Isn’t our subprime exposure dangerously large here?’ People were fired for that in ’05 and ’07, right up until the end of the housing boom. You just could not say something like that.”
Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America. By Barbara Ehrenreich. 256 pages. Metropolitan. $23.
Ehrenreich found herself particularly struck by “big-tent” convocations, for which employers buy stacks of motivational books and bring in speakers like former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani to tell their workers how to be more positive. She sees the 1998 bestseller Who Moved My Cheese?, which essentially argued that job loss is nothing to fear, as a prime example. “What really went on here is that companies began picking up on this motivational industry in the 1980s, precisely when the age of layoffs begins,” she said. “Massive layoffs are a reason to bring in motivational speakers. That’s a reason to give copies of Who Moved My Cheese? free to your workers. Because you don’t want them complaining. You want them to be accepting of their increasingly insecure status. And you want the survivors of layoffs to work twice as hard.”
But hasn’t the positive thinking meme been around for a lot longer? Bright-Sided delves into the pop philosophy called “New Thought,” which enjoyed cultural traction from the turn of the last century through the Jazz Age. I asked Ehrenreich whether determined optimism isn’t a cyclical phenomenon, vulnerable to changes in fortune—New Thought, after all, which promised people any material thing they wanted as long as they thought hard enough, was effectively rendered ridiculous by the Great Depression. “Well, no,” Ehrenreich corrected me. “One of the biggest, most self-deluding bestsellers of this genre dates back to the Depression, and that’s Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. It sold well [in 1937] and it still sells. Hill thought thoughts had a magnetic power. And that’s exactly the kind of thinking that has gone on right up till now.”
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A little compassion would go a long way. I don't believe that positive thinking is antithetical to emotional and political honesty. Ehrenreich's prolific writing is evidence that she is energized by the social/cultural/political critique that comprises her work. That is not the case for many people. The "I will change this or die trying" approach to life may fill some with passion, but it IS crushing for other people. A kinder, gentler alternative to "you're getting it wrong" or "your spiritual practice is wrong-headed" would go a long way to creating change.
Articulating this kinder, gentler alternative for her would be a good first step.
I just spent four years living on the Georgia-South Carolina border, and let me tell you: I don't think the "high on Jesus" lifestyle is good for the community or receptive to persuasion. "God has a plan for the world. The wheat will be separated from the chaff. I am the wheat." This outlook stifles progressive action. It is supremely--divinely--self-centered. Who cares about the neighboring family or country when you're mainlining the divine spirit?
"I don't believe that positive thinking is antithetical to emotional and political honesty."
Hey Buffy, where did you see that? Ehrenreich's calling for balance and a reality check.
'A kinder, gentler alternative to "you're getting it wrong" or "your spiritual practice is wrong-headed" would go a long way to creating change.' What the fuck is this supposed to mean? George Patton
You can decide to be miserable and negative, or not. Simple. You have control of your feelings. You obviously don't know what it's like to struggle from paycheck to paycheck. Oh , and add into the mix, a bad job, bad boss, health problems, life events such as death, and oh yeah, wondering everyday how your going to make it to the next.
Basically, your out of touch with the people your researching.
I agree. I read her "Nickeled and Dimed" (I believe that was the title) and I simply could not get beyond her rather obvious alter-ego of "educated jounalist with ATM card serving as advocate for those I would otherwise never befriend." She came across as a smug outsider.
A survey just came out recently that said Americans were much less happy that they were 30 or 35 years ago, and I can believe it. That corresponds with my view that the last 30 years or so have been a Second Gilded Age that were very good for 10-20% of teh population, but hard on the poor, working class and middle class.
It crashed and ended in a depression, as all such Gilded Ages have in the past. That was historically predictable.
Every survey in the past four decades also indicates a tremendous loss of trust in government, politicians, corporations and the professions--a great distrust of the whole ruling establishment, and profound alienation. Vietnam and Watergate were certainly part of that, as were a number of other scandals after that, as well as declining living standards and life prospects for the majority of people in the last 30 years.
If these surveys are of any value at all, they do not lead to the conclusion that America is a particularly happy, trusting or optimistic society. Far from it.
Last winter, a report came out that the people living in Norway were the happiest people in the world. 60 minutes went to Norway to find out why the people were so happy. The Norwegians were shocked to find out they were so happy. The consensus that emerged from the 60 minute segment (they interviewed psycologists, etc in Norway) was that Norwegians were "happy" because they had very low expectations. When things went wrong in their lives they were not so disappointed because they expected bad things to happen. When something good happened, they were surprised and delighted.
In American society, our expectations are very high. I think we have trouble reaching our lofty goals. Our media, of course, does a great job of attacking anyone and everything. They are experts at finding the "storm clouds" and do what they can to eliminate the "silver lining". That's what they do.
In JFK's 1961 inaugural address, he challenged American's to "ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country"!. I think it is fair to say, that American's have not been challenged this way for a long time. Instead, we have been told that we are basically entitled to everything we want. We have converted our wants into our needs. And, when everyting does not go well, we our bitterly disappointed.
I think that you got the country wrong. I believe that it is Denmark, not Norway.
And in my experience, it's better not to ask God for what you deserve since you might get it, but then I had a strong Calvinist influence when I was young.
I am very optimistic that here negativism will not sell in America.
I believe that you have to look much further back than 1900 to find the roots of American optimism. It goes back to the original settlers of this country. Without excessive optiism that things would be better in a wild, untamed land where even the most basic trappings of European civilization must be imported, who would volunteer to take a harrowing six-week voyage across the Atlantic Ocean? When disaster struck in Europe, whether famine or war or whatever, what factor decided who stayed and who jumped on a boat and emigrated? Optimism. As Americans, our forebearers, chose to come from somewhere else, crossing the Baring Strait land bridge, the Atlantic Ocean or the Pacific Ocean to find what they believed would be a better life at the end of their journey into the unknnown. This, in my opinion, is the definition of optimism, and it is not just our culture, it is our genetic heritage.
Nonsense. You could just as easily say that those Europeans who stayed behind were optimistic that things would get better in their home countries, and those who fled were pessimistic "quitters."
Nonsense, by defenition a quitter lacks the motivation to go on, only adventuristic seekers of a new life, risk takers would have been willing to leave the safety of an established lifestyle. Wether they were pessemists or optimists at heart. I think one has to be an optimist to take chances of such proportion with such unknown outcomes... our ancestors were dreamers seeking an optimistic outcome as are the vast majority coming here still
Optimism is a good thing as long as it's based in reality.
Unfortunately we have a culture now that rewards mediocrity,
for example, in many schools or community organizations
there are no winners and losers when its come to kids'
academics or athletics.
Everyone gets a trophy, don't use the color red to mark a child's paper because it might "hurt their feelings."
Use purple, it's a must "gentler" more "sensitive" color.
No longer recognize Valedictorians because
it's "insensitive" to the other students.
All this unrealistic "optimism" will come back to haunt
those same American students in several years when their counterparts from India and China are achieving without
those same overly sensitive "cushions."
Does anyone think China and India use political correctness
to grade their students ? Doubt it very much.
As for Joel Osteen, when you can convince (brainwash) people into "passing the plate," sure the guy's going to syphon off some of that money to build himself big houses and buy expensive cars,
and live like a king . . . very unlike the "KIng Of Kings" he "preaches" so much about.
Does Osteen ever mention the line " it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than it is for a rich man to get to heaven ?
How could he tell his congregation such a thing
with a straight face ?
Spot on, Ms. Barbara! I'm sick and tired of the optimism crowd. it is preventing us from realistically acknowledging confronting the clogged sewers in our backyard. One area that you did not touch upon so much is the disease of such reckless optimism in and around the business world and in particular peddled by those avatars of risk-taking optimistic capitalists - tenured professors at business schools. "The only way to live in America is to work for yourself, small business is the only way, so much of this is plain BS of the same vein that you mention.
nmrguy
The clogged sewers in our own back yard have little to do with optiism. It is due to our short-sightedness of ourselves and of the media for not seeing ongoing maintenance of our infrastructure as important to our future. Too many of us do not work to maintain our possessions, our interpersonal relationships or even our bodies in good condition. The clogged sewers is just an extension of our clogged arteries and clogged divorce courts. That is just plain, old-fashioned sloth, not optimism.
Jalapeno, Mr Guy has a valid point. The health care debate is a great example. "We have the best health care system in the world" has been the rallying cry to defeat reform of insurance companies.
Veronicaxy
Political lies are not optimism. Political liars are nothing more than confidence men who are attempting for illicit gains of some sort, often money or power. Most should be in jail, but we persist in electing them to public office. Optimism does not describe something we have, as in "we have the best ... in thw world", but what we can achieve if we personally (not governmentally) dedicate our efforts and resources to advance our cause.
Jalapeno:
American Heritage Dictionary definition for optimism:
"A tendency to expect the best possible outcome or *dwell on the most hopeful aspects of a situation*"
Very interesting article.There is optimism,because when you see others suffering in a worst condition,we thank G-d things are not worst. BUT
where is the rest of my post.?? We are optimistic, because religion, steps in and psychologist to help us survive,But people are miserable,scared, unemployed, and reality is things are very bad, for many but the greedy thieves .Those,without jobs,work ,feeling unproductive, not being to take care of your family, there is no mental health and happiness.!! Ofcourse Health is the most imp.but without productivity,income feeling valuable,there is none
Thank you! I'm one of those people that runs through the possible disasters and negative outcomes before making decisions. I research purchases and industries to death before committing to spending more than a few hundred dollars. People ask why I worry so much but my life is a lot less stressful than most people I know despite a severe chronic pain condition.
I bought a house that cost 30% less than the bank approved me for, I live well below my means so I can afford private school for my son and have an emergency fund sitting in the bank just in case. Not because I am wealthy by any stretch of the imagination, but because living below my means gives me a feeling of security and preparedness for the future.
I watch so many people buy cars and houses first and then try to figure out how they can afford them. Then they wonder why disaster keeps striking (some people of course end up there due to unexpected illness, job loss, or some other personal catastrophe and I'm not referring to them). People make major decisions without any research or thought into the possible negative outcomes. It blows my mind when I see someone buy a used car without checking Consumer Reports and CarFax! I can't buy a blender without reading the reviews on Amazon first!
I may be overly cautious, but I certainly don't regret the time spent figuring out the best path to take - it's saved me a lot of time, heartache, and trouble.
stephschhiff,you are so right. But the culture,the society, the fashion industries, the advertisements, the bombardments from credit cards, the banks,all sold us so much glamour,lies, realtors,bankers,mortgagers, got ahold of people,and sold them fake dreams,while they profited. This country taught our youth to live on plastic. we grew out of control. And everyone is out to make the buck and make the consumer spend,and without that,paralization
Finally! And I love all the folks who tell parents of disabled kids what a blessing it is. No bitterness allowed!
The problem is, I don't remember Barbara Ehrenreich or anyone else saying these things during the subprime mortgage boom. I myself was counseled to take out an interest-only loan, and I had the money for a fixed-rate loan (which fortunately I got). She's right when she says they were telling people, This is your way in. Houses used to cost $60,000, now they cost $600,000, who knows what they're going to cost in 10 years. People are rich because they were let in, and we're going to let you in. Did anyone tell them where all this growth was going to come from? That it might not happen? No one wanted to hear it, but I don't recall Barbara Ehrenreich or anyone else trying. Usually the media will let in a token naysayer, even if they don't allow them to say much.
We may be doing the word "optimism" a disservice. Optimism is a crucial quality to success. What Ms. Ehrenreich is exposing is the unthinking reliance by some (too many) people on some vague goodness in the world to take care of people; who tend to not only rely on the unknown, but who are often those who really don't want to work all that hard anyway.
I've been in the corporate meetings she describes (I've just read the book) and she is spot on: there is a group-think mindset that often covers up realities; this is partly why Madoff did so much damage to charities.
We need to realize that acknowledging or dealing with reality is not a pessimistic act or mindset. In fact, confronting truths and doing what's necessary to change things that aren't good (I love her thinking about Elizabeth Cady Stanton) is actually the most optimistic action anyone can take.
The truth is, the optimisim speeches from the religious,or the positive are not working. People are miserable,unhappy,scared, feel,worthless,very down. This has been done by greedy persons, and no real leadership all these years in govt, and new improvement now. This presidency,is loosing support for those who really had hope He would bring positive change.Where is the work,jobs,help for bussinesses?Healthcare should have been after ,he has lost touch .no work,deficits wars, bailouts for banks,not americans.
What Joel Osteen preaches is a crock of shit--and somewhat evil. Instead of teaching people to be grateful for what they have (a fundamental Christian ideal), he worships greed and keeping up with the Joneses.
And if you don't get the bigger house you can surmise that either you're doing it wrong or God doesn't love you. Isn't God supposed to reach out to everyone?
Joel Osteen profits from selling people fake hope while keeping them on a treadmill of despair.
People are really hurting now given the state of our economy. How can you be so optimistic in the face of so much misery? You can't tell a family losing a home... "Just put on a happy face and every worry you have will melt away." The key to being a happier person is to work in a realistic way to achieve your goals with a healthy does of optimism. I agree with Ehrenreich in here, though I do not always have agreed with her. In her book Nickel and Dimed , she blames all of America's evils on corporations.
Unfortunately,we are in a terrible place in the economy all done by those greedy,in control, who wasted,our moneis,ruined many of us,too many inconciderate,and incompetent leaders,politicians,inbed with bankers,wallstreeters,they are the ones who are laughing and optimistic.You need optimism to chase your dream,the problem in this country, is that we cannot trust those who hold our futures not to destroy the dreams,we all strived for. and now the world is changing.Who knows what dreams will be true. Who knows, we are in very shacky grounds.
The megachurches are nothing but corporations selling a sham and should be taxed accordingly. Joel Osteen preaches a "gospel" of "prosperity" that is his attempt to reconcile a religion for losers with corporate and Wall Street greed. He falsely imagines that he can, like a camel, pass through the eye of a needle. Right wing Christians tend to vote with the GOP because they want to cover their own fannies.
There is nothing wrong with thinking positively when you have a good fire escape plan in place.
But then, i am neither an optimist or a pessimist. I am a pragmatist.
"even the Malaysians"?? WTH is that supposed to mean? What moron would assume that some Dane ought to be happier than a Malaysian?
I grew up in New Thought religion. My grandfather loved Napoleon Hill and the many others like him. My mom followed suit. As a kid I was given a lot of those books to study and I did and like a kid assumed they were the truth.
People told me how lucky I was as a kid to grow up with this way of thinking, that I wouldn't have the baggage they did. I'm here to tell you *magical* thinking creates major baggage too.
I'm really thankful I was taught to not blindly accept what I'm told or believe. I'm amazed how people will simply accept terrible circumstances and think nothing could be better and do nothing to change them.
But I found in the New Thought leaders I met the same narcissistic, bullying demeanor I saw in many churches too. My mom created havoc in her life by trying to visualize her way out of problems without action because God would take care of it in a way she wasn't capable if she just believed.
I have a New Thought friend appalled that her Southern Baptist church condemned her cancer stricken father for his illness as the evidence of his sin, but turned around and dumped the same garbage on her dad that he had 'created this disease for a reason and was going to die if he didn't figure it out'. No irony in her about this at all. It was sickening.
I was so disappointed when Oprah endorsed 'The Secret' - it is one of the most aggressively superficial and greedy takes on New Thought I've seen.
Just like Barbara Erlichman notes, you need the capability to confront and effectively deal with unpleasant realities in life. And optimism and visualization are a highly effective motivators.
Once again, Barbara Ehrenreich uses her skill as an observer and a writer to expose social myths and hypocracies.
In my field of mental health, I see so many people suffering not only from hard times, abuse, depression, etc but also from the belief that there is something WRONG WITH THEM for being so unhappy and pessimistic.
Once they accept the fact that their unhappiness is a product of what is happening to them, they have the initiative to start to objectively improve their lives. This is a slow and painstaking process, taking ones' head out of the sand of delusions of magical cures and beginning to reallistically face life's struggles and challenges.
Well said.
You are so right! But it's not only the sand that many people must take their heads out of, if you catch my drift, Frau Doktor. George Patton
This whole culture of needing to be happy all the time is what's fueling our obesity and economic crises, as well as many other addictions. Think about it: if you're told over and over again that you're supposed to be happy, and you're not happy, you'll try to fill that unhappy void with.... something. Alcohol. Drugs. Fast food. New shoes. A bigger house, with hardwood floors and marble countertops. Weekly manicures. Everything is so easy to justify, let's worry about the calories or the credit cards later. Just as long as you're happy, that's all that counts. But it creates a vicious circle, because you need more and more "things" to be happy. You feel the need to keep up with the Jonses. Every purchase made or every fattening food eaten is supposed to bring happiness, but it instead brings guilt. So you have to turn to something new to make you.... happy.
This doesn't seem to be working out for our society so well. Maybe we need to stop giving in to this constant desire for instant gratification/ happiness, and start looking at the long term again. True happiness can't be found in a bottle, a drive thru, more square footage or a pedicure. In fact, breaking free from the need to spend money on all of that crap, or finally admitting that you're worthy of eating well or not drinking/smoking, etc. is what will make you truly happy.
I think the culprit is not optimism so much as magical thinking. A trend touted by religions, self-help books and workshops - your thoughts create your reality. Children believe in magical thinking. And, while self-fulfilling prophecy happens not all reality is tied to our inner thoughts.
The issue with magical thinking is that it places a judgment on the thinker. If things don't go as wished you, you are at fault and by extension a person who just isn't good enough. You are at fault for being victimized, at fault for your pet dying or for having a piano fall on your head.
But the worst judgment deemed by this way of thinking is being at fault for having an illness or having a close one who is seriously ill. By placing blame on the inadequacies of those suffering catastrophe we can create our own magical bubble of protection around ourselves and our families. Bad things won't happen to me or mine because I am a good God-fearing person.
"It's karma," means the person suffering deserves it. And I have heard this used in the case of illness many times - my reply, "How can a child ever deserve this?" This kind of attitude has been around a lot longer than the last century in America.
Interestingly, we used to blame the fickle Gods. Now we can just blame ourselves. Or if you want to inflate your protective bubble even more, use a combination: "Those Indonesians are lousy Christians compared to me and God is punishing them." Works like a charm until a tornado hits.
As a note, the definition of Karma is not necessarily the same in the East as we interpret it here in the West.
I've always thought being happy and/or optimistic in the face of so much suffering in the world is a true sign of mental illness, or at least a ridiculous amount of denial. I consider my melancholy nature to be a sensible response to modern life, which is very hard. It feels real to me, whereas cheerfulness and positivity feel phony and put-on.
Thank you.
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