False Positivity

It’s the fashionable and socially-approved thing to do these days. Embrace those who promote positive messages (i.e. those that you agree with)! Delete the phone numbers and Facebook friends of those who make you feel bad! Proclaim your righteousness across the universe! And for a while, it feels good. You’re “taking control of your life” and “taking action” and “embracing change” and all that cool exciting shit. But are you creating a supportive environment? Or an echo chamber where people ignore the shadows–instead of shining light on them so they can be examined?

Helloooooo echo chamber

Knowing that anything I post on Facebook is data-mined to hell by Zuckerburg’s corporate minions, I would occasionally post meaningless stuff, mostly political links, to play around with them. One week I’ll post stuff about Republicans taking government handouts, and the next week I’ll link to an article about Barack Obama killing dolphins. It’s amusing to see who unfriends me after that, and yes there are apps that will tell you. I’ve realized that people’s lives reflect an echo chamber of sorts: much like Fox News and the Huffington Post have their own audience, people have their own vibrational frequency when it comes to the types of things they read and the types of people they interact with. I’ve also noticed that people will stop talking to you instead of argue with you, because in this day and age it’s easy to find people or places that share your exact viewpoint.

The socially correct thing to do is to think higher (vibrationally), to chose the more positive interaction, or at the very least, choose interaction with those you agree with. But that ignores the fact that not everyone has been treated equally or comes from the same environment, and to ignore their perspective simply because it may be tinged with negativity is denying yourself valuable information. Is it someone’s fault that they are bitter because they have faced abuse, racism, sexual or religious discrimination? There are those who will say it’s their personal choice how to react to events outside their control. But I’ve noticed people who say this–without any empathy or offering any support–simply to dismiss others entirely and return to their positive bubble. Regardless, you’re missing out on information.

People who talk about bad things, or are currently in bad situations, are not necessarily bad people

I know people who give free hugs, post cute inspirational kittens online, etc. That’s all good, everyone needs their kitten fix. Screw them, I want penguins!

100% cooler than those kittens

But I also know people who bitch and rant about the world using various expletives talk about non-politically correct things like men’s rights, child molesters, false imprisonment, welfare abuse, etc. People attack them and ignore them for being too negative, but they bring light to aspects of the world that would otherwise be hidden without their anger and resentment. I’ve personally railed against the whole “all men are evil” meme and angered militant feminists over it. Whatever, they can stew by themselves instead of garnering male support which they would have attracted had they not written me off as “the enemy”. Rants on other topics remind me of pissed off, elderly white nationalists who are about to become politically irrelevant due to changing demographic trends. But that doesn’t mean their gripes shouldn’t be critically analyzed, because they do have valid points.

Keeping it real

There’s also lack of empathy when it comes to false positive people. You’re having a bad day, or bad week, or even a bad year. Everyone has a bad day once in a while and if nothing bad ever happens to you, you’re probably a lying sociopath 🙂 The so-called “positive” person would cut you off from their life in order to keep you from dragging them down, instead of asking how you are doing or offering you any support. Talk about fair-weather friend…puke!

False positive content: Years ago, I used to attend Law of Attraction events. For the uninformed, it’s based on the principle that whatever you think of gets attracted to you, which is why most practitioners tend to focus on positive uplifting, thoughts. This is wonderful in theory, but I stopped attending events in person after running into smug, self-righteous people who wrapped horrible beliefs in the cloak of uplifting spirituality. I’ve met people who believe that starving children in Africa deserve to starve, because it’s 100% their fault for not thinking positively enough (The audience smiled and nodded after hearing this). I’ve heard LOA used to justify rape. As techniques are morally neutral, I blame those people for being douchebags.

False negative content: As a contrasting example, in the days after Obama’s reelection, I’ve been reading news articles from bitter, angry Republicans. Most people would ignore them because they are bitter and angry and Republican, but some of the writers are realizing that their current strategy isn’t working for them anymore, and that they need to adapt. I look forward to seeing this ‘negativity’ transform into a revitalized political party.

In a nutshell, information is neutral, and dismissing it because it comes from “positive” or “negative” people is useless and ultimately self-limiting. Judge the content itself, instead of how it makes you feel or who says it.