Motivational Positivity and Wilful Ignorance

Why changing your pessimistic view of the world ‘for the better’ only dooms us further.

Every once in a while, I’ll go to a social media platform for some content. Many people do. It’s not uncommon to want to see news coming from a community you might like, taking a look at some funny posts, or just seeing some adorable little kitten falling over on the ground.

These platforms are great for sort of thing. But then you slowly go from one place to another, and eventually, you get agitated because of something you do not like. You go from that happy mentality you went online for to one that is filled with a lot more anger.

Motivational communities can do a lot of good, such as bolstering people who might be feeling down because of a particular event or just anything that has happened in someone’s life. It’s beautiful in some aspects, but not so great in other ways.

Photo by Benjamin Davies on Unsplash

When discussing the idea of motivation and the content behind motivation on these very same platforms, you will frequently find posts that express one of the following sentiments:

“Pursue your dreams and don’t let anything stop you!”

“You are your own worst enemy and should not make excuses for yourself!”

“Changing your outlook on life and the world is the key!”

I want to focus mainly on the third one mentioned, as I feel that this is the most detrimental to development and the most beneficial to ignorance.

You might be wondering, why is that? It seems rather innocent, at least at first glance. It explicitly tells people to look at the good in the world and focus on those elements over the bad things! With all the horrible things going on in the world, it should be evident that concentrating on the better aspects of life is the key to a successful and happy life!

But that’s precisely the problem.

By focusing on the very grandiose notions of ‘positive’ elements of life, we slowly become blind to the horrors that are currently occurring in the world as you’re reading this.

Those horrors may be war, genocide, social and economic disparity, disease, or climate change. But whatever it may be, they are still happening, regardless of if you choose to notice them or not.

Now, I don’t want to be this extremely pessimistic person that’s telling you all the unfavourable elements within our world, but what I do want to do is explain how all these things don’t ever change if you don’t notice them.

Photo by Randy Colas on Unsplash

If you decide to pursue a more positive lifestyle, then, by all means, go for it. Just do not undermine or completely gloss over the fact that terrible things happen around the world and to ordinary people such as yourself and myself. Considering the idea that the only thing you need to change to fix a very complex issue is a different worldview not only does not work, but it also comes from a very privileged standpoint.

Siblings in Yemen cannot simply ‘get over’ the fact that their parents died because of routine bombing campaigns.

A homeless person cannot simply ‘get over’ homelessness and buy a house.

An individual suffering from mental health issues cannot simply ‘get over’ them and feel better the next day.

The idea of ‘getting over something’ is extraordinarily reductionist and fails at almost every level to solve a given issue because the statement is said from an outsider’s point of view. This means that the person that is exclaiming the ‘positive’ statement has little to no actual grasp on the variables that are affecting the person they’re talking to.

If we tie this into a political worldview, these posts and statements do precisely what the manufacturers of war want to do: make people turn a blind eye.

No one likes talking about the fact that “an estimated 821 million people were undernourished in 2017”.

No one likes talking about the fact that bombs are being dropped against other countries in unprecedented amounts.

No one likes talking about the fact that things are happening in the world that are horrible.

But if no one is talking about these things, then how do we go about solving them? Do we just let them happen and continue to live in a fantasy world that is free of suffering and oppression?

Photo by João Pedro Salles on Unsplash

Are we supposed to turn a blind eye? Or are we supposed to try and help stop the madness that is ensuing every day? Unlike a lot of things that people say you have control over, this you can actually participate in. You can always do something to help bring awareness to these humanitarian issues, imperialist conflicts, and more.

Do not listen to the idealist motivation provided by various outlets that seek to tell you that if you change your worldview, you will be happier. Not only will you know that you’re turning a blind eye, but you will also most likely feel worse off than before.

That is unless of course, you genuinely believe the following statement: