My name is Brian Woulfe and i am the spokesperson for group #3.
in our discussion Tuesday, group 3 focused on BE's pessimism and dark humor that was pointed at the cult of positivity, especially in the breast cancer community. i think the aspect that really got a good and thoughtful response from all the group members is "is there any merit in an overemphasis on the silver lining that one may find in the darkest clouds of our experiences, or, is the American Psyche trained to try and find the lining even when it doesn't exist? Also; if the silver lining can not be found in these situations, are we manufacturing it through wishful thinking to keep ourselves from dealing with the darker side of the human experience?" we did not come to any consensus on these points but did have some good debate and some great analogy's that illuminated the different points of view. I'll share my own anecdote with the class since i cant touch on all the great points from our talk. i feel that we construct the silver lining in the dark clouds of our lives....it softens the blow from terrible realities, and for one reason or another, we have trained ourselves to truly believe we could never face without these emotional "air bags". i have a friend from high school that is happily married; unfortunately he and his wife lost their first born child four days after he was delivered. in my eyes, and i trust in most of yours, this is a tragedy....however; on facebook for the days and weeks following their loss, the most common words that were written were less consoling than they were explanatory. So many of his friends and acquaintances said that it was better that their new born, and now dead baby boy was in a better place....and this should make this unlucky couple feel better about their and their baby's misfortune. i can critisize what those people said, but i was no better than all of them. i dared not point out that these people were saying something that i found attestable because i saw what effect these condolences had on him and his wife...they responded to all of them with a polite thank you and expressed how their supernatural justification helped them through a tough time.....i think that BE is right on with her snarkie criticism of the cult of positivity and think that i speak for the rest of group 3 as well.... any thoughts?