304 | Toxic Positivity
Explicit content warning
09/07/21 • 42 min
4 Listeners
Joshua and Ryan talk about the folly of the self-help industry’s focus on exhausting positivity—on trying to convince us that we can out-eat, out-learn, and out-perform our humanness—with author, podcaster, and professor Kate Bowler, and they answer the following questions:
What is the “gospel of hustle”? (00:00)
What are the signs that positivity has become toxic for us as individuals, and what are the signs that our well-intentioned positive vibes are becoming toxic to others? (06:58)
Where did the ‘good vibes only’ orthodoxy originate? (07:21)
Why does complaining seem to encourage camaraderie? (10:03)
What is the problem with the language of positivity? (10:43)
What is “horizon work”? (12:23)
What is “choice poor”? (12:38)
How do we address those that weaponize perspectives, such as toxic positivity, to bully us into accepting and adopting their way of thinking as our own; for example, when people that disapprove of minimalism call minimalists “privileged”? (17:11)
How do you define “elitism”? (21:45)
What is “prudential wisdom”? (23:39)
Where did the notion come from that being positive is the cure for everything, the path for everyone, the solution to whatever life throws at you—what is wrong with embracing sadness, contemplation, grief, anxiety? (31:35)
What is “limited agency”? (33:13)
Detailed show notes: minimalists.com/podcast
Support The Minimalists: minimalists.com/support
Joshua and Ryan talk about the folly of the self-help industry’s focus on exhausting positivity—on trying to convince us that we can out-eat, out-learn, and out-perform our humanness—with author, podcaster, and professor Kate Bowler, and they answer the following questions:
What is the “gospel of hustle”? (00:00)
What are the signs that positivity has become toxic for us as individuals, and what are the signs that our well-intentioned positive vibes are becoming toxic to others? (06:58)
Where did the ‘good vibes only’ orthodoxy originate? (07:21)
Why does complaining seem to encourage camaraderie? (10:03)
What is the problem with the language of positivity? (10:43)
What is “horizon work”? (12:23)
What is “choice poor”? (12:38)
How do we address those that weaponize perspectives, such as toxic positivity, to bully us into accepting and adopting their way of thinking as our own; for example, when people that disapprove of minimalism call minimalists “privileged”? (17:11)
How do you define “elitism”? (21:45)
What is “prudential wisdom”? (23:39)
Where did the notion come from that being positive is the cure for everything, the path for everyone, the solution to whatever life throws at you—what is wrong with embracing sadness, contemplation, grief, anxiety? (31:35)
What is “limited agency”? (33:13)
Detailed show notes: minimalists.com/podcast
Support The Minimalists: minimalists.com/support
Previous Episode
What Is the Root Cause of Clutter?
Joshua and Ryan discuss our ‘why’ of cluttering. Listen to the full episode at patreon.com/theminimalists
Next Episode
Our Goals Lead to Disappointment
Joshua and Ryan discuss how an obsessive focus on goal attainment can actually steer us away from the the values we’re driving toward with author, podcaster, and professor Kate Bowler. Listen to the full episode at patreon.com/theminimalists
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