The Dark Side of American Cheerfulness
theatlantic.com
The Dark Side of American Cheerfulness
"Reality is subjective, and there's an unenlightened tendency in this culture to regard something as 'important' only if'tis sober and severe.
Sure and still you're right about your Cheerful Dumb, only they're not so much happy as lobotomized. But your Gloomy Smart are just as ridiculous.
When you're unhappy, you get to pay a lot of attention to
... See moreThe rewards for exuding a positive manner are all the greater in a culture that expects no less. Where cheerfulness is the norm, crankiness can seem perverse.
Barbara Ehrenreich • Bright-sided: How Positive Thinking is Undermined America
the “tyranny of positivity” dominates most workplaces.