I agree with the first two points but not the third. Employees need to fit into the corporate culture, no matter what that is. In the law firm I worked in, you had to be willing to work 80 hours a week to make partner. They expected you to work late and every weekend. Woo woo or positive upbeat enthusiasm would have gotten you thrown out the door. If you were not serious and work-obsessed, it was not the place for you. If you go to work at a place that wants upbeat, cheery people, don't sign on if you can't be (or fake) it.
Gunn: The final score can't be rigged. I don't care how many players you grease, that last shot always comes up a question mark. But here's the thing. You never know when you're taking it. It could be when you're duking it out with the Legion of Doom, or just crossing the street deciding where to have brunch. So you just treat it like it was up to you—the world in balance—'cause you never know when it is.
'Underneath'
Natter 66: Get Your Kicks.
Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, pandas, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.
Scrappy - Jun 08, 2010 8:55:37 am PDT #5143 of 30001
Life moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.
Ginger - Jun 08, 2010 8:56:59 am PDT #5144 of 30001
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda
And the cancer stuff is even more depressing.
She was spot on with the whole positive attitude, pink stuffed animals, sappy aphorism part, which I found more appalling than some of the treatment. (I yelled profanities at the nice volunteer who tried to give me a pink stuffed bear and asked her if men with prostate cancer got blue stuffed bears.) Ehrenreich unfortunately had a completely erroneous understanding of risks and percentages with regard to treatment.
§ ita § - Jun 08, 2010 9:02:25 am PDT #5145 of 30001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
I, on the other hand, love water. Not swimming. Just wallowing.
There was one tub in a hotel in downtown Chicago with a TV on an extended arm--the tub was long enough to stretch out in and I could watch basketball. It was the heaven.
msbelle - Jun 08, 2010 9:03:19 am PDT #5146 of 30001
I remember the crazy days. 500 posts an hour. Nubmer! Natgbsb
Barbara Ehrenreich
She tends to grate on my nerves. In Nickel and Dimed I really thought she was ao black and white on things and at times I felt she pushed things in her situation to fit the point she wanted to make.
With the caveat that I have not read the book, I think it is problematic to refer to people who believe in positive thinking as being happy about things. Being a member of the church where "The Power of Positive Thinking" was written, what I hear much more of is along the lines of "You can choose how you look at things." or "Life can be extemely hard and there is no doubt suffering, but it does not have to defeat or define you." I think the constantly "cheery" people are not really getting the message.
Fred Pete - Jun 08, 2010 9:03:28 am PDT #5147 of 30001
Ann, that's a ferret.
if men with prostate cancer got blue stuffed bears
Actually, not a bad idea, as far as it goes. But also not a substitute for realism and substance.
tommyrot - Jun 08, 2010 9:06:47 am PDT #5148 of 30001
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.
With the caveat that I have not read the book, I think it is problematic to refer to people who believe in positive thinking as being happy about things.
She does point out that "positive thinking" doesn't necessarily lead to being happy about things, because if you try "positive thinking" and you don't get what you want (e.g. your cancer doesn't go away) then it's all your fault. So to employ positive thinking is to constantly examine your thoughts and feelings in an attempt to purge any negative thoughts.
Connie Neil - Jun 08, 2010 9:06:58 am PDT #5149 of 30001
brillig
I enjoy a nice long bath with a cat sitting on the rim of the tub, staring at me with a concerned "You know you're surrounded by water, right, Mom? And this is something you wanted to do? Let me tap it, just to make sure--ooh, yeah, that's water, all right."
Jesse - Jun 08, 2010 9:07:40 am PDT #5150 of 30001
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.
Being a member of the church where "The Power of Positive Thinking" was written, what I hear much more of is along the lines of "You can choose how you look at things." or "Life can be extemely hard and there is no doubt suffering, but it does not have to defeat or define you." I think the constantly "cheery" people are not really getting the message.
And then there's the corruption into The Secret and that stuff, where what you think actually makes things happen, and I think that's a real problem. I can't say it for 100% certain, but I am pretty damn sure no one ever got cancer (or cured) because of their attitude.
I haven't read the Ehrenreich book either...
msbelle - Jun 08, 2010 9:11:23 am PDT #5151 of 30001
I remember the crazy days. 500 posts an hour. Nubmer! Natgbsb
because if you try "positive thinking" and you don't get what you want (e.g. your cancer doesn't go away) then it's all your fault.
yeah., I am pretty positive (see what I did there) Norman Vincent Peale and Wayne Dyer would never say that.
The Secret is a twisted money making thing, on the same level as "be a good Christian and get rich" ministers.
Ginger - Jun 08, 2010 9:12:40 am PDT #5152 of 30001
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda
With the caveat that I have not read the book, I think it is problematic to refer to people who believe in positive thinking as being happy about things.
She's talking about positive thinking in the sense of "I believe $10,000 will appear in my bank account" and the "if you believe it, you receive it" concept. She kind of conflates Norman Vincent Peale, Dale Carnegie and abundance theology, which are very different.