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Encouraging Songs
May. 6th, 2017 01:15 amI was going to say "happy songs" but they aren't just happy, they are songs which try to be encouraging. I'm pondering the nature of encouraging songs, and the different approaches they take. Some of them mean well, but end up being DIScouraging instead.
There are a whole pile of "encouraging" songs that I'm not going to list here, which I find more irritating than anything. They're the ones which declare that "you are special" and that all you have to do is just go for it and believe in yourself and everything will work out. No. To "believe in yourself" may be a necessary condition, but it is not sufficient. These songs can be downright discouraging, because they imply that success is as easy as snapping your fingers to summon the right attitude, and that after that, there won't be any problems. Far too naive and simplistic for me. Almost bordering on blame-the-victim, too; that if you don't succeed, there is something wrong with you because you weren't optimistic enough.
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There are a whole pile of "encouraging" songs that I'm not going to list here, which I find more irritating than anything. They're the ones which declare that "you are special" and that all you have to do is just go for it and believe in yourself and everything will work out. No. To "believe in yourself" may be a necessary condition, but it is not sufficient. These songs can be downright discouraging, because they imply that success is as easy as snapping your fingers to summon the right attitude, and that after that, there won't be any problems. Far too naive and simplistic for me. Almost bordering on blame-the-victim, too; that if you don't succeed, there is something wrong with you because you weren't optimistic enough.
( Read more... )
