Calvinism, Positive Mental Attitude and Class Hatred

The economic meltdown should have undone, once and for all, the idea of poverty as a personal shortcoming or dysfunctional state of mind.

Earlier this month, my friend Randy Mayeux presented a synopsis of Bright-sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America by Barbara Ehrenreich at this month's installment of the Urban Engagement Book Club, a CDM public policy initiative.

Ehrenreich authored the remarkable book Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America.

In her new book, she suggests that “positive thinking” is not always all that positive. At least not in all circumstances. Here is an excerpt from the last page of the book...

For centuries, or at least since the Protestant Reformation, Western economic elites have flattered themselves with the idea that poverty is a voluntary condition. The Calvinist saw it as a result of sloth and other bad habits; the positive thinker blamed it on a willful failure to embrace abundance…
But the economic meltdown should have undone, once and for all, the idea of poverty as a personal shortcoming or dysfunctional state of mind. The lines at unemployment offices and churches offering free food include strivers as well as slackers, habitual optimists as well as the chronically depressed. When and if the economy recovers we can never allow ourselves to forget how widespread our vulnerability is, how easy it is to spiral down toward destitution.

The threats we face are real and can be vanquished only by shaking off self-absorption and taking action in the world. Build up the levees, get food to the hungry, find the cure, strengthen the “first responders”!

Ehrenreich gets it.

We should listen.

Comments (1)

Ken Poland

Thank you for sharing your "positive thinking" and programs. Action in your community is the evidence of positive thinking.

Larry, it seems to me the "compassionate conservatives" of today treat the poor and "underclass" in society like the Jews and religious leaders treated the leprosy victims of their day! Shun the victims and vanquish them until they can declare themselves clean. They blamed the victims for their "unclean" condition, thus relieving themselves of any responsibility. They left the "devil possessed" victims to their own destruction because they were a nuisance and embarrassment to society.

We claim to be a Christian nation. What does that mean? Do we treat the victims of society like Christ showed we should, by His example?

We. who claim to be Christian, should be ashamed and embarrassed. When I look around, I find, often times, that those who reject Christianity treat the under priviledged and victims of society's neglect with more compassion than we do.

Positive thinking can change my attitude, but unless positive thinking changes my actions nothing around me will change.

Posted by Ken Poland | February 24, 2010 7:59 AM

Posted on February 24, 2010 07:59

Post your own comment

Name:

Email Address:

Remember personal info?

(To create links here or for style, you may wish to use HTML tags in your comments) We want to know what you think. Feel free to share whatever you'd like to:

Menu

Shortcuts

Frequent Contributors