The Power of Delusional Thinking: RSAnimated Lecture by Barbara Ehrenreich

[DP]

Barbara Ehrenreich is one of those rarest of birds: the female curmudgeon. In dozens of books and essays she explores, with humorless diligence, just how crappy modern life can be.

Her work includes such titles as:

• The Worst Years of Our Lives
• Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream
• Smile! You’ve got cancer
• Smile Or Die

Ehrenreich has been known to give readings at Town Hall, and I’ve tried hard to follow her, but I’ve always found her message simply too glum to stomach.

Well, not any more.

The folks at RSAnimate recently illustrated one of Ehrenreich’s talks (from Smile Or Die, known in the U.S. as Bright-sided) in such a way that I find not only listenable, but actually somewhat amusing.

Here’s the lecture. Have a look-see:

http://www.wimp.com/positivethinking/

And here’s the happiest photo of Babs I could find . . .

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[JoB]

DP..

thank you for posting this.

I have always been a fan of Barbara Ehrenreich

i have found her message to be one of hope.

and aspire to be her kind of curmudgeon :)

Some people process better visually..

you might be one of those…

this cartoon certainly works well for the visual among us.

It’s only when you give up delusions

that you can begin to identify the things you can change.

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[dhg]

Thanks for the post. The *animation* or fast forward sharpie whiteboard thingy was amazing.

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[sarelly]

I liked her book “Nickeled and Dimed.”

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[anonyme]

DP, I’m a female curmudgeon. It comes with being a female INTJ, the rarest and possibly most reviled of Jungian personality types. You got a problem with that?

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[JoB]

anonyme ;)))

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[JustSarah]

Anonyme – fellow (self-assessed) INTJ here. Also curmudgeonly and female. High-five!

Also, I don’t know if you’re a fan of “Mad Men,” but some fans have labeled Peggy Olson as an INTJ, which makes me quite happy.

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[B-squared]

fist bumps to anonyme, job and sarahscoot. right there with you;)

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[charlabob]

This ENFP salutes you-all (The world would be a better place if I could become a T, but I’m not — so….)

Thanks for the reference, DP — great stuff! If you haven’t read “Nickeled and Dimed,” go get it. When I discovered it (on a business trip to the midwest) I gave copies to two servers in my hotel’s restaurant. I still hear from one of them.)

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