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Blink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
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Smile or Die summary
Barbara Ehrenreich
How Positive Thinking Fooled America and the World
12 mins
Brief summary
'Smile or Die' by Barbara Ehrenreich is a critical analysis of the positive thinking movement. She argues that this overly optimistic approach to life can actually be harmful and prevent us from dealing with real-world problems.
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Smile or Die
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Key idea 1 of 5
The United States today is a land of “positive thinking,” but early settlers were far more pessimistic.
Let’s say God has already determined whether you’re going to heaven or hell, and there’s nothing you can do to about it. If you look deep within yourself, or catch yourself thinking sinful thoughts or acting lazily, you’ll just confirm what you already knew: that you’re doomed.
That’s what early European settlers to America, adherents to Calvinism, believed. Calvinism is a strict, frugal form of Protestantism that stresses the importance of labor and frowns upon leisure, frivolity and excess.
Reacting to their religion’s extremist beliefs, many children raised in Calvinist households eventually rebel, preferring a less forbidding God and developing new, more accepting spiritual attitudes.
Take Mary Baker Eddy, for example. The daughter of strict Calvinists, her spiritual writings helped shaped the New Thought school in nineteenth-century America.
New Thought was a philosophical movement that taught that God’s loving spirit lives within all people. Believers felt that anyone could overcome suffering, even physical illness, by thinking “divine” or positive thoughts.
This marked the beginning of what we now call positive thinking, or the idea that every person is in charge of his or her fate. This mind-set went on to transform America into a place of boundless optimism and opportunity.
Just like Calvinism, New Thought stressed self-analysis, but through a different lens. Positive thinking encourages a person to believe that things can always get better, an assumption that makes one think she can influence fate.
In other words, such an ideology promotes the idea that anyone can do anything as long as they try hard enough.
Since then, a cult of positive thinking has spread and grown to become a national ideology: the idea that every American has the opportunity to succeed.
But there’s a major problem with such logic. If people believe that it’s up to them to change fate, then they’ll hold themselves accountable for everything that happens to them.
And that’s precisely what has happened in America.
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What is Smile or Die about?
Smile or Die (2009) explores the impact of positive thinking on mainstream American culture. These blinks show how Americans have convinced themselves that they alone are in control of their happiness, buying into a mass delusion which in the end only does them harm.
Smile or Die Review
Smile or Die (2010) by Barbara Ehrenreich offers a thought-provoking exploration of the dangerous obsession with positive thinking in contemporary society. Here is why this book is definitely worth a read:
- Through candid analysis and thought-provoking anecdotes, Ehrenreich sheds light on the potential harm of toxic positivity and the importance of critical thinking.
- The book challenges the cultural belief that positive thinking alone can solve all problems, and instead presents a nuanced perspective that encourages a focus on realistic solutions.
- With its engaging storytelling and well-researched arguments, it successfully captures readers' attention and ensures that the topic of happiness and positivity is anything but boring.
Best quote from Smile or Die
If pride goeth before a fall, the United States has one heck of a comeuppance in store. – Paul Krugman
—Barbara Ehrenreich
Who should read Smile or Die?
- Anyone curious about the roots of American optimism
- Professionals who question positive attitudes promoted at the workplace
- People annoyed when told to “be more positive”
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Smile or Die FAQs
What is the main message of Smile or Die?
The main message of Smile or Die is challenging the culture of positive thinking and looking at the dark side of positive thinking.
How long does it take to read Smile or Die?
The reading time for Smile or Die varies depending on the reader's speed, but it typically takes several hours. However, the Blinkist summary can be read in just 15 minutes.
Is Smile or Die a good book? Is it worth reading?
Smile or Die is worth reading for its thought-provoking exploration of the negative impact of positive thinking. It challenges conventional beliefs and offers a unique perspective.
Who is the author of Smile or Die?
The author of Smile or Die is Barbara Ehrenreich.
What to read after Smile or Die?
If you're wondering what to read next after Smile or Die, here are some recommendations we suggest:
- A Year of Positive Thinking by Cyndie Spiegel
- The Age of Empathy by Frans de Waal
- Super Human by Dave Asprey
- The Little Book of Stoicism by Jonas Salzgeber
- Lost Connections by Johann Hari
- Why We Love by Helen Fisher
- The Antidote by Oliver Burkeman
- The Daily Laws by Robert Greene
- The 33 Strategies of War by Robert Greene
- Influence by Robert B. Cialdini