Bright-Faced Mentality During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Loan Huynh
Professor Ingrid Jayne
English 205-32471
25 July 2020
Social Behavior in Popular Culture
The current events, notably the ongoing global Pandemic, sharpen the focus on Barbara Ehrenreich's book "Bright-sided: How positive thinking is undermining America.” The book highlights how positive psychology has deluded Americans. She states that positive thinking is making Americans ignore the harsh realities of the world today. This psychology is making American society fall apart. Comparing this text with Olivia Goldhill's "Trump supporters are living in a reality shaped by television" and Lilliana Mason's “Why are Americans so angry this election” will bring to light the relevancy of her text in the middle of a pandemic. A bright-faced mentality is prevalent today and is hurting America’s efforts to fight the Pandemic.
The behavior of American’s during the Covid-19 Pandemic has shown that the bright-faced mentality persists. As Ehrenreich says, this positive thinking culture is deeply ingrained in American society despite the impending danger. The following examples illustrate this point. When the virus first broke out in China. Comments from leading figures dismissed the severity of the virus. Foremost was President Trump, who compared the virus to common flu and dismissed it as not dangerous. Trump downplayed the dangers of the virus and claimed America was better positioned than other countries to handle it. Leaders claimed everything would get better, and the virus will soon disappear. (CNBC). This optimistic attitude and behavior from leaders ignored the reality as America was not adequately prepared for the Pandemic. This is evident as the US later became the nation's worst hit by the Pandemic. This is in line with Ehrenreich's text, which argues that the bright-faced mentality is delusional.
Putting attention on Ehrenreich's book helps explain how Americans came to this reality. In her book, she disputes the notion that positive thinking is psychologically healthy. She argues that America prides itself as the most positive nation. However, America is not at the top of global happiness surveys. Ehrenreich uses her battle of cancer to dismiss positive thinking. She criticizes health professionals who claim that positive thinking is an element of cure. She says this is living in denial since the patients struggle with pain and suffering daily while undergoing treatment (Ehrenreich). To her, positive thinking is delusional. With this in mind, it can help understand America's psychology during the Pandemic.
During the Pandemic, American's have lived in denial. Their positive mindset has led them to believe that everything will soon get better. Such a mindset dims many people to the realities of the virus. This is illustrated by the number of Americans who do not take serious precautions to protect themselves from the virus. For example, when the states began reopening, people crowded in public places without wearing masks or following social distance guidelines. A viral video showed a packed pool party at the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri, where hundreds gathered to have fun. They ignored social distance guidelines exposing themselves to contracting the virus. This business as the usual approach was not the only incident as videos emerged, showing various crowded pool parties. These examples illustrate Americans' delusional behavior, which caused many people to engage in dangerous behaviors (Pennlive). It supports Ehrenreich's argument that positive thinking "pumps up the belief that everything will get better," making everyone let their guards down. This is despite contrary evidence showing the real danger.
Ehrenreich argues, "it takes the effort of positive thinking to imagine that America is the "best" or the "greatest." This thinking has worked to America's disadvantage during the Pandemic. American's have imagined they have the best healthcare system in the world, which can promptly handle any public health crisis (Ehrenreich). However, the Pandemic has illustrated that weaknesses exist in the American healthcare system. First, America's healthcare system is inadequately prepared for a public health emergency. Second, there is a weak collaboration between various stakeholders in the health sector. Third, social inequalities in America expose minority populations to the health dangers of Covid-19(TRT World). This shows how a bright-faced mentality masked the systemic issues in the health sector. America leads the world in deaths and infections despite its robust healthcare system. A realistic mindset that is encouraged by Ehrenreich would have helped the health agencies to adopt a better response to the Pandemic. The weaknesses in the health sector could have been addressed before the onset of the Pandemic.
In Ehrenreich's text, she discusses how positive thinking undermined America's response before the 2001 terrorist attack. She says, "…positive thinking might not guarantee success after all, that it might dim our ability to fend off real threats.” This attitude led the Bush administration to ignore intelligence reports warning of a terror attack. She further says, "imagining an invulnerable nation and an ever-booming economy — there was simply no ability or inclination to imagine the worst.” This is the behavior of people who demonstrate attitude during the Pandemic (Ehrenreich). Positive thinking undermined the ability of America to respond to the coronavirus threat. The constant optimistic messages from the president and the media only served to promote complacent behaviors from the public. Nobody imagined the worst, all that was said was the economy would recover, ...