The Power of Negative Thinking

Years ago one of the most popular books was written by Norman Vincent Peale, and it was entitled, The Power of Positive Thinking. Years later, another minister, Robert Schuler wrote about possibility thinking which was, in essence, an updated version of Peale’s positive thinking. The most current offshoot of this in religion has been instances of the prosperity Gospel which gives a sense that if you have faith and are positive, you will be successful. Positive thinking is, if nothing else, a popular concept.

It’s difficult to say, however, that positive thinking has much power. In fact, it often seems like it’s quite the opposite. Negative thinking, getting people to be negative appears to be the path of power.

Some years ago, when Bill Clinton was the American President his administration was watching events in Russia with a sense of horror. Boris Yeltsin, the non-Communist President was behind in the polling to his opponent who was an avowed Communist. The fear was that if Yeltsin lost the election Russia would become a Communist country again----and no one wanted that. A decision was made.

Clinton sent a group of political advisors to Russia to run Yeltsin’s campaign. They essentially kept Yeltsin from view and ran a brutally negative campaign against his opponent. Yeltsin began to rise in the polls-----so much so that he began to make speeches again only to see his poll numbers collapse. They kept him from view and ran their negativity against Yeltsin’s opponent. When the election was over, Boris Yeltsin who, by any stretch of the imagination was not a good President, was re-elected. It had nothing to do with his skill or talent, but only the skill and talent of those who tore his opponent down. It was an example of the power of negative thinking.

There is great power in negative thinking. Negativity wins elections. Often the secret of winning elections is not so much promoting how good your own candidate is, but how bad the opponent is. There is no need for honesty either. Most people, when given negative information, tend to believe it and are willing to overlook little things like facts.

Being fair, let’s look at the two previous Presidents. President George W. Bush was given the label of being less than intelligent. He was mocked for this and often taken lightly. Truthfully, he didn’t speak well, but there are well spoken fools and mumbling geniuses, so that doesn’t tell us much. There is something, however, that may give an indication of his intelligence. He graduated from Yale University and then received a graduate degree from Harvard University.

Yale and Harvard are two of the most academically challenging universities in the nation and he graduated from both of them. Pass this information on to people and they will make a comment that either Yale and Harvard are bad schools or Bush was ‘passed’ because of his Dad. Despite the fact that he went to these two universities and graduated, his intelligence is still challenged because of negativity pointed in his direction.

Then there is President Barack Obama. A significant number of people believe that he was born in Africa. The so-called ‘birther’ movement became a real and significant movement of which there are still a large number of people. He provided a document of live birth, typically given from Hawaii and produced newspaper birth announcements. Not good enough. He finally produced a long form sent to him specially from Hawaii and it showed, TA DA, that he was born in Hawaii. Despite proving it he is still considered to be a foreign born President by many.

It is widely thought that he is Muslim. His father was a non-practicing Muslim but there is no evidence Obama ever was. There is evidence, however, that he was Baptized and married at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago by Jeremiah Wright. Whether one approves of Wright or not, Wright is a United Church of Christ minister and, if one takes the time to read some of his book and listen to most of his sermons, a very committed Christian. Obama is a Christian but popular opinion often seems to be otherwise. Like Bush, this is still challenged because of negativity point in his direction.

Sadly, within Christianity this kind of negativity is also rampant. It is breathtakingly easy to bash people who are not like us. It is easy for people who are not Roman Catholic to bash Catholics for what they perceive Roman Catholics to believe, as opposed to what they really believe. It is easy for people who are Mainline Protestant to bash people who are unlike them and very easy for Evangelical Protestants to bash other Protestants. There was a recent debate on whether members of The Church of Jesus Christ and Latter Day Saints were Christians or not. Many Mormon theologians were shouted down by people who did not really want to hear what was being said about Mormonism. Facts have no relevance in the face of negativity.

Negativity has power that even facts cannot overcome. Negativity is ecumenical and bipartisan. No matter what one’s religious background or lack thereof, or no matter what one’s politics happen to be, trashing ‘other’ is acceptable and popular and has great power.

But power can be fleeting. Power is having the ability to coerce people to do what you want them to do. If you coerce people to love tenderly it’s a positive thing; if you coerce people to hate with a passion, it’s a negative thing. But all power is external. Power is given over to people or to ideas by others. By us. If people respond to negative thinking and are willing to be negative, no matter what the facts may indicate, they give in to power that is hurtful and often destructive. The only way to make negative thinking powerless is to cease giving in to it.

The change begins by listening and listening some more, and doing research beyond what we normally presume. The change begins by not maintaining our thoughts contrary to evidence. The change begins within our own hearts and minds. It is a challenge for everyone. In all honesty, it is a challenge for me, too. But it’s a challenge worth taking on.