Remember the scene from the movie ‘Fast Times at Ridgemont High’ with Nick Damone?  He explains to his friend rat, ‘Wherever you are, that’s the place to be’ or some such statement and proceeds to show him, no matter what the circumstances you just act like right now, right here is the ‘best’.  I mean, everything is cool, it’s all going to be great. Right?

Well, what happens to society when we keep saying to ourselves it’s all going to work out in the end.  Key facets of our daily lives appear to be shrinking, instability reigns and we keep shrugging our shoulders and moving on. After all, this is the U.S., right? WE’RE EXCEPTIONAL’.  We delude ourselves into thinking the worse will not happen. ‘IT CAN NEVER HAPPEN HERE’.

In today’s episode we explore examples of toxic positivity.  What does toxic positivity look like? What are the consequences to our society when we keep adjusting to a new normal that looks an awful lot like a nation built on weak economic policy and even weaker social cohesion.  When is it ok to call out the worst of our behaviors to each other.

And can’t we address real social issues, call out real political enemies of our democracy while still remaining mature and hopeful?

Seems reasonable to us.  Just remember, EVERYTHING IS AWESOME!