Positivity Culture Isn't All That Positive
Happy thoughts, positive affirmations, and hopeful outlooks are not inherently bad things. They can truly work wonders for some people and can make a huge impact on their lives. If these things work for you, great! Keep doing them for yourself and be happy! But be warned, I will not accept these phrases being told to me or other marginalized people when I am talking about racism, sexism, xenophobia, islam-hate, and all bigotry in general.
Positivity culture is incredibly prevalent in all walks of life and seeps into the majority of social interactions. This is the belief that being "positive" in your outlook on life and "trying your hardest" will always result in happiness and success. This then implies that the acts of being "negative," angry, or vocal about your unfair treatment and disadvantages are the the real causes of your oppression. It also pushes the ideology that we cause our own struggles and can easily stop it all but are consciously choosing not to. Positivity culture blames the effects and disadvantages of racism on melanated people just not putting in the same amount of effort or willpower as white people. It blatantly implies that all forms of bigotry are not immensely serious issues and that the small amount of bigotry taking place in the world is due to people wanting to be victims and to get something for nothing. It accuses marginalized people of exaggerating their problems or blaming it all on others. Positivity culture denies the realities of intrinsic privileges and white supremacy as myths created by people who are just "l*zy."
I want to focus on the effects of positivity culture on race relations and misogyny for this article.
Let's get some things straight right now:
Racism is not dead or only existing in clearly overt acts.
Racism is not limited to the older generations.
Racism is ingrained in all aspects of our lives.
Racism affects melanated folks whether we deny it with positivity culture or face it head on.
Oppression. Is. Not. L*ziness. Not only is that claim false, but it is also ableist. Try mixing being melanated with being a woman, poor, disabled, LGBTQIA+, not Christian, etc...it's a lethal mix!
There are many ways that positivity culture is toxic and harmful. It blames the victim for their own oppression, it invalidates their anger and lived experiences, and it silences their words. It also lets privileged people avoid all accountability for their actions and it upholds a system of supremacy that continues to oppress marginalized people. It also perpetuates the problematic notions of exceptionalism and lateral oppression within the marginalized communities.
When melanated people talk about the struggles we go through in our daily lives, we aren't looking to be victims and we sure as hell aren't choosing to stay in these positions. We end up working twice as hard to get half of what white men get. If hard work resulted in security and financial stability, then every single person who works long grueling hours would be rich! Yet that is almost never the case, now is it? Melanated folks, especially Black folks, are not granted the same opportunities as others and do not have the same access to resources, so no matter how happy and positive we are, our communities are simply at a huge disadvantage. How are we supposed to believe that we are the makers of our own opportunities when we are being denied fair treatment in schools, jobs, banking practices, home ownership, etc.? How can we work hard enough to overcome these factors when they determine how we work...?
It is a slap in the face when a white person tells me that being positive and trying harder will make my life better...that being angry, frustrated, loud, or too tired isn't going to help anything. For centuries, we tried the "positive" approach...and ended up worse off than before. Positivity culture ends up working for privileged people because you are born with far fewer hurdles than us. Now, I'm not saying that is your fault or something you can control - you being born white, heterosexual, into a wealthy family, in the US, are all things that you did not decide to do. We aren't asking you to somehow change your skin color or sexual orientation. We simply want you to listen to us when we talk about our oppression and understand that there are things we can never change about ourselves...that these things are viewed as a negative and burden us with many disadvantages.
**Discussion**
What can you do to combat positivity culture from within your privileged group?
How does positivity culture perpetuate various forms of oppression?
Are there any things that you do not understand about this topic?