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Bright-sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America

Book by Barbara Ehrenreich · 4 quotes · Positive Thinking, Thinking, Cancer

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Bright-sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America Quotes

“Happiness, after all, is generally measured as reported satisfaction with one's life - a state of mind perhaps more accessible to those who are affluent, who conform to social norms, who suppress judgment in the service of faith, and who are not overly bothered by societal injustice...The real conservatism of positive psychology lies in its attachment to the status quo, with all its inequalities and abuses of power. Positive psychologists' tests of happiness and well-being, for example, rest heavily on measures of personal contentment with things as they are.”

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Book:Bright-sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America
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“As a recent editorial in the Journal of Clinical Oncology put it: "What we must first remember is that the immune system is designed to detect foreign invaders, and avoid out own cells. With few exceptions, the immune system does not appear to recognize cancers within an individual as foreign, because they are actually part of the self.”

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Book:Bright-sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America
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“I realize that after decades of positive thinking the notion of realism, of things as they are, may seem a little quaint. ... When the stakes are high enough and the risks obvious, we still turn to people who can be counted on to understand those risks and prepare for worst-case scenarios. A chief of state does not want to hear a general in the field say that he 'hopes' to win tomorrow's battle or that he's 'visualizing victory'.”

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Book:Bright-sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America
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