Books: Smile or Die

Ah, if there were any book more suited to my Bitchface, I haven't glowered at it. Ehrenreich takes a long hard look at the American cult of  positivity, from it's beginnings as a reaction to Calvinism (that's God as a whip bearer) to the current day pro-Capitalism Christianity (that's God as an ATM). Of course she savages Rhonda Byrne's The Secret, comparing it to a cosmic mail order service.

My favourite section were the voodoo practices taught in books like Napoleon Hills "Think and Grow Rich" , many of which promote affirmation (that's chanting to you) and making "dream collages" of what you want. Does that mean my shrine to Matthew Perry is appropriate? Let's hope so.

The most interesting part was on how such positivism is used against lower and middle-class Americans. Ehrenreich posits that the Classic American "can do" attitude is all surface. After all, Americans are low down on the world "Happiness Index"; they also consume two-thirds of the world's anti-depressants. It's this distortion of reality which may have contributed to the Global Financial Crisis, as overly positive (or negligent - or both) finance companies offered utterly insane loans to people who could not reasonably afford them. It also has interesting echos in why such Americans support Mitt Romney - despite his intention to lower taxes for the rich while raising them for the poor.  If they have a rich president, they might get rich too. Since the only reason they're poor is because they're not being positive enough, right?