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My very radical suggestion is realism where we try to figure out what is actually happening in the world, and see what we can do about those parts of it that are threatening or hurtful.”
Barbara Ehrenreich, journalist, author and political activist
began to see a pattern and found it in more and more aspects of American life: this mandatory optimism and cheerfulness.”
Ignoring Problems Doesn’t Solve Them
One area where it is strongly concentrated now and has been for some time now is the corporate world.
The biggest evidence is the financial meltdown of 2007. People who tried to raise problems would be shut up or fired:
- You couldn’t be inside Countrywide Mortgage Company and say ‘I’m worried about our sub-prime mortgage exposure’ or you’d be out.
- People within Lehman Brothers who tried to point out that the housing prices could not last forever were fired. It was willful ignorance.”
To Solve Problems, They Need To Be Raised & Worked On
We are hard-wired to be vigilant…and on guard, that is how our ancestors survived, not by saying everything’s probably okay.
My very radical suggestion is realism where we try to figure out what is actually happening in the world, and see what we can do about those parts of it that are threatening or hurtful.”