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RSA ANIMATE: Smile or Die

Royal Society of Arts

790K subscribers • 6 videos on Rounds

YouTube
  • Recommended by 3 people, in Hacker News, across 3 different months.
  • Presented by Barbara Ehrenreich, as the video describes them
  • Debated among experts. Its central claim is contested, so look for the other side.

For anyone, no background needed. Education, not medical advice.

2.5M views16 years ago3 recommendations

Mental healthStressDepression and anxiety

Barbara Ehrenreich explores the negative consequences of forced positive thinking and how it can lead to delusion and systemic denial.

Acclaimed journalist, author and political activist Barbara Ehrenreich explores the darker side of positive thinking. The RSA is a 258 year-old charity devoted to creating social progress and spreading world-changing ideas. For more information about our research, RSA Animates, free events programme and 27,000 strong fellowship. Follow the RSA on Twitter: twitter.com/RSAEvents Like the RSA on Facebook: facebook.com/rsaeventsofficial/ Listen to RSA podcasts: soundcloud.com/the_rsa See RSA Events behind the scenes: instagram.com/rsa_events/ ------ Produced and edited by Abi Stephenson, RSA. Animation by Cognitive Media.

Why it's here

3 people recommend this

What people say. Recommended for its critique of toxic positivity and how the cultural pressure to stay positive can dismiss real problems.

MostAwesomeDudein Hacker News • Recommends

On “Dealing With (Not Dealing With) the Open Source Assholes”

…ood people," who I presume are people that are Good-aligned, but that's never going to reveal systemic weaknesses or flaws in your code; you're just going to end up as another group of people that relies on black hats to point out where your code was flawed. In other words, this entire post feels like thinly veiled positive thinking in excess. See link to this video for a much better summary of the problem.…
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ak39in Hacker News • Recommends

On “Apple - Think Twice”

…gh, as I've aged, I think that is better than showing a cold shoulder) or that we readily invest in "idiot compassion". What I'm saying is: we are all trapped in this existential reality together and we all need to show kindness with all forms of suffering. Being cruel to be kind as a philanthropic philosophy has never worked (for me). Watch this: link to this video (RSA Animate on "Smile or Die" a talk by Barbara Ehrenreich)…
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aleccoin Hacker News • Recommends

On “Negative comments”

…k this is typical of the times. If you call out somebody you are dismissed as a debbie-downer, cynical asshat, or other things like that. This comes from a culture now dominated by PR/marketing/sales, getting crazier by the growing viral marketing and astroturfing craze. I strongly recommend you to watch Smile or Die, a talk by Barbara Ehrenreich. link to this video The parallel with that is a delusion SOLD to the community. In the case of "hacker" school I criticize it as I did with the "MBA" program by Seth Godin. And I consider that I might be _completely_ wrong in both cases, but what is telling is how aggressive people got with me for speaking up my opinion.…
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aleccoin Hacker News • Mentions

On “Google+ Opens to All”

There is a dark side to overly positive thinking. I'd settle for mostly positive with reservations and open discussion. link to this video
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b0rsukin Hacker News • Mentions

On “Pay Too Much for everything”

1. It's not always true that things that are more expensive are also higher quality. But the reverse is true: things of higher quality are more expensive. Because they're made of better materials, because they were grown naturally, because they were made of natural ingredients, because they were tested... better stuff is usually made with more effort or better material. 2. Because of #1, distinguishing genuine high quality stuff from a simple ripoff takes critical thinking. People don't like thinking too much, don't like analyzing, and critical thinking is unpopular especially in United States of America. link to this video
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eliasmacphersonin Hacker News • Mentions

On “Why Anti-Authoritarians are Diagnosed as Mentally Ill (2012)”

RSA Animate - Smile or Die link to this video Touches on the same idea of those who are anti authoritarian being sidelined without reason, and enabling and exacerbating the recent global financial crisis.
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vanderZwanin Hacker News • Mentions

On “How Rap Genius Raised $1.8M in Seed Funding Without Knowing What We Were Doing”

…you do and agree that this generally leads to good results, but that interpretation frames the sentence in a completely different context than the original story, which is the following: > So fundraising is a psychologically trying experience that depends very little on any sober analysis of the quality of your product Smile or die, motherfucker! link to this video > It's unquestionable that you need energy, excitement and confidence to be good at something. Anything from being a doctor, lawyer to professional athlete. Oh, that is VERY questionable. The first two are focussing on positive emotions and ignore the important role negativity plays. Smilarly, confidence does not in any way equate capabilit…
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jamesmiller5in Hacker News • Mentions

On “All LinkedIn with Nowhere to Go”

…same impact compared to hearing those points as answers to difficult questions. As a fan of the slow-web I would like to see Influencer articles find a sweet spot between timely and long-form. For example, a lot of the posts give good information but don't weave that information into a memorable narrative of when and how to apply said advice. 0: link to this video…
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aleccoin Hacker News • Mentions

On “The Powerlessness of Positive Thinking”

The TED talk "Smile or Die" explains problems arising when positivity is used as corporate or government policy. link to this video
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pdkl95in Hacker News • Mentions

On “Congratulations You’ve Been Fired”

> when you got fired, it was called “graduation.” "Smile or Die" (RSA Animate) link to this video This seems to be a variation on the Wall Street style of magical thinking.
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pdkl95in Hacker News • Mentions

On “Gmail really wants me to say yes”

> wage laborers are forced to wear a mask of positivity RSA Animate made a short animation about how a culture of forced positivity in white color jobs, and how it contributed to the late-2000s financial meltdown. "Smile or Die" link to this video
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pdkl95in Hacker News • Mentions

On “Welcome to the era of the hyper-surveilled office”

> based on their facial expression Phrenology is still pseudo=scientific bullshit even when the calipers1 are replaced with an "AI" black box of software. > Just need software that punishes employees who aren't happy enough at work, then we'll have a proper nightmare. "RSA ANIMATE: Smile or Die"2 1 link 2 link to this video
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