Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Barbara Ehrenreich Attacks Positive Thinking!



In her new book, Barbara Ehrenreich goes for the jugular with the broad indictment against purveyors of positivism. The following is an excerpt taken from Amazon.com's product description:

"With the mythbusting powers for which she is acclaimed, Ehrenreich exposes the downside of America’s penchant for positive thinking: On a personal level, it leads to self-blame and a morbid preoccupation with stamping out “negative” thoughts. On a national level, it’s brought us an era of irrational optimism resulting in disaster. This is Ehrenreich at her provocative best—poking holes in conventional wisdom and faux science, and ending with a call for existential clarity and courage."

It's a sad day when an author exhibits such a poor sense of judgement. To attack optimism and hope is an act similar to driving a dagger into the heart of a puppy ...or, perhaps, a cuddly pink teddy bear!

As a measure of self-defense, the FSRI has decided to take a preemptive strike to counter the vituperative claims by this rogue scholar and to defend the institutional dogmas of Faking Smart! Not only does the FSRI, the FSIHL and K.W.A. consider the publication Ms. Ehrenreich's new book a threat to Faking Smart!, but we consider it a threat to the entire well-being and future of America!

If this country loses the belief that cancer can be cured by clowns, that God will reward prayer with wealth, that the stock market's rise and fall has an inverse relationship with the price of bauxite; that a career in corporate America is the best thing you could wish for ...why live at all? Ms. Ehrenreich, thanks a lot. NOT!

You can find an additional review of Ms. Ehrenreich's book at the Democracy Now! website.