[Peace] [Peace-discuss] join peace-action list serve / you are invited to brainstorm actions for peace
Jean Mendoza
jamendoz at illinois.edu
Mon Mar 15 07:40:44 CDT 2010
Oh, yes, Publisher's Weekly is known for its insight into social trends... <:-~
I have not seen Ehrenreich's book, but what Carl presents is fair game for deconstruction...
"Reckless national penchant for self-delusion", yes -- but there was/is also rampant delusion on the pessimistic side, a willingness to, for example, see WMD where there were none and to follow "leaders" who tap into the worst aspects of human nature (whatever it may be), willingness to build a hideously ugly, pointless "wall" along the border with Mexico, and the list goes on and on. Those are not the result of "optimism" but of pessimism -- a sense that Something Awful will happen if one doesn't Do Something (albeit something stupid, mean-spirited, expensive, and ultimately useless). And as for that supposed "lack of anxious vigilance, necessary to societal survival" -- just read or listen to Beckreillybaugh, the teabaggers, the border vigilantes, the barely closeted racists who are fit to be tied that somebody white is not occupying the White House. There is NO shortage of anxious vigilance in the US. But I doubt that their sort of vigilance is necessary to societal surv!
iv!
al. My impression is that they are vigilant in the wrong direction.
I'm hoping that Barbara Ehrenreich's assessment of the need for negativity is more nuanced than what PW has apparently provided.
Jean M.
---- Original message ----
>Date: Sun, 14 Mar 2010 23:50:23 -0500 (CDT)
>From: "C. G. Estabrook" <galliher at illinois.edu>
>Subject: Re: [Peace] [Peace-discuss] join peace-action list serve / you are invited to brainstorm actions for peace
>To: "Jenifer Cartwright" <jencart13 at yahoo.com>, peace at lists.chambana.net, "Peace-discuss List" <Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>, "Karen Medina" <kmedina67 at gmail.com>
>
>Why, what could Jenifer possibly mean by "less negativity"?
>
>I had thought Barbara Ehrenreich's recent book ("Bright-sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America") was a bit overstated, but here's the peace-discuss list to prove me wrong once again:
>
>"Ehrenreich (Nickel and Dimed) delivers a trenchant look into the burgeoning business of positive thinking. A bout with breast cancer puts the author face to face with this new breed of frenetic positive thinking promoted by everyone from scientists to gurus and activists. Chided for her anger and distress by doctors and fellow cancer patients and survivors, Ehrenreich explores the insistence upon optimism as a cultural and national trait, discovering its symbiotic relationship with American capitalism and how poverty, obesity, unemployment and relationship problems are being marketed as obstacles that can be overcome with the right (read: positive) mindset. Building on Max Weber's insights into the relationship between Calvinism and capitalism, Ehrenreich sees the dark roots of positive thinking emerging from 19th-century religious movements. Mary Baker Eddy, William James and Norman Vincent Peale paved the path for today's secular $9.6 billion self-improvement industry an!
d!
> p!
>ositive psychology institutes. The author concludes by suggesting that the bungled invasion of Iraq and current economic mess may be intricately tied to this reckless national penchant for self-delusion and a lack of anxious vigilance, necessary to societal survival." (Publishers Weekly)
>
>---- Original message ----
>>Date: Sun, 14 Mar 2010 21:32:47 -0700 (PDT)
>>From: Jenifer Cartwright <jencart13 at yahoo.com>
>>Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] [Peace] join peace-action list serve / you are invited to brainstorm actions for peace
>>To: peace at lists.chambana.net, Peace-discuss List <Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>, Karen Medina <kmedina67 at gmail.com>
>>
>>Karen et al,
>>Peace-action would not solve the problem that most
>>concerns me. Yr last item, "* discuss potential actions to
>>promote peace," is one of the things that happens on
>>Peace-discuss (think Karl Rove protest). If we want a
>>listserv w/ a more positive outlook, we need less
>>negativity on the part of those posting. Until that's the
>>case, peace-action would mean a second listserv available
>>for negative stuff.
>> --Jenifer
>>--- On Sun, 3/14/10, Karen Medina <kmedina67 at gmail.com>
>>wrote:
>>
>> From: Karen Medina <kmedina67 at gmail.com>
>> Subject: [Peace] join peace-action list serve / you are
>> invited to brainstorm actions for peace
>> To: peace at lists.chambana.net, "Peace-discuss List"
>> <Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>
>> Date: Sunday, March 14, 2010, 9:25 PM
>>
>> There have been a few proposals to repurpose
>> peace-action at lists.chambana.net
>>
>> So, HERE IS AN INVITATION!!!: Join peace-action list
>> http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace-action
>>
>> The proposed uses:
>> * Focused on discussing actions that AWARE and related
>> people might
>> take, and information that might lead to action.
>> the purpose of the list would be to
>> * propose potential actions to promote peace
>> * publicize potential actions to promote peace
>> * discuss potential actions to promote peace.
>>
>> No forwarding of articles and no debates about policy -
>> people have
>> peace-discuss for that...
>> http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace-discuss
>> ( Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net )
>>
>> The idea of this is that it would give people a way to
>> stay tuned in
>> without being subjected to the high traffic of
>> peace-discuss...
>>
>> A place to brainstorm actions before they are finalized.
>>
>> Once plans and events are finalized, people have the
>> peace list for
>> that: http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace
>> ( peace at lists.chambana.net )
>>
>> The proposals came mostly from Stuart Levy and Robert
>> Naiman, but
>> based on several discussions at AWARE Films events.
>
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________________________________________
Jean Mendoza, PhD
Associate Editor
Early Childhood Research and Practice
University of Illinois
jamendoz at illinois.edu
(217)333-1386
________________________________________
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