Can't Hurt Me

[degringolade]

New Culture Movement (1915-1926) / Fu Baoshi/ Heaven and Earth Glow Red

Lately I have been pondering a lot about the culture of affirmation and positivity that we have morphed into in my lifetime.  It really is the oddest thing.

But lately I have been looking at it from a different slant.  I have been noticing who has been the most vociferous in stating this kind of thing and it is usually the folks in the professional/managerial class who do so.  Usually the higher up they go, they more vocal they are in their full-throated bellowing about this is how you should live your life.

I think that there is a lot to dissect here.  I have always been a big believer in the power of luck in one’s life.  I am also a student of the history of silver spoons.  Nearly all the folks that I know that are missionary in their beliefs concerning affirmation and positivism are either one, usually both of these backgrounds.

Who I find interesting are the folks in power who obviously don’t fit into these lines of BS.  Now hear me out.  They still mouth the words, because that is expected of them as it is part of the expected response to the litany of that cult.  But you can kind of tell that they just want to get it over with because it is expected.

The folks who aren’t in power don’t show the same level of belief.  The demographics of the lower class such as yours truly tend to display three different levels of belief in this doctrine:

  1) Folks who are looking above all else to work their way up the ladder.  They sense that adherence to this belief is a serious aid to the upward mobility they so desperately crave and pursue the professions of faith with the energy of a new convert.

  2) The actual folks who seriously believe that it will help them succeed but still don’t have the IQ or polish required to actually make their dreams work out.  

  3) The unbelievers who don’t even pretend.  This is the most complex group, it is composed of failures, folks who are getting ready to leave, and the odd duck who is content where he is and who he is.

I think that you will notice that I used a lot of terms more appropriate to religion than to anything else.  That is because the American system has created a religion of management and success (success being money and power over others) and the management has set up a set of rituals and initiations that you must either believe in or fake successfully.  

Welcome to the priesthood. 

Comments

by your own lamé straps

[chefxh]

Damned bootstrappers with trust funds.