RSA ANIMATE: Smile or Die

Why HN readers recommended it

HN uses it as a go-to short critique of mandatory positivity in workplaces, startups and corporate culture.

This is a summary from the source dataset, not an endorsement by Hacker News or the video creator.

Video & recommendation details

Creator / channel

Royal Society of Arts

Topic

critique of positive thinking

Format

explainer

Level

general

HN recommenders in dataset

3

HN mentions in dataset

12

Recommendation years in dataset

2011–2022

These counts and years describe the included Hacker News records; they are not YouTube views or the video’s publication date.

From the original HN conversations

Excerpts from the recorded comments. Follow each source for the full comment and surrounding discussion.

• As a writer of critical comments of "hacker" school, I think this is typical of the times. If you call out somebody you are dismissed as a debbie-downer, cynical asshat, or other things like that. This comes from a culture now dominated by PR/marketing/sales, getting …

• My issue wasn't with the "retarded" line, actually; I was more concerned by this: "If someone says something negative about your project in an unreasonable way, don’t take it to heart. There’s something good in every project (it’s open source, it already has one thing …

• I disagree. The reason why we are often too eager to dismiss is because kindness takes effort. Empathy, and certainly sympathy, is hard work. We get lazy, we become exhausted and our reactions become snappy. Almost always the "dry your eyes" advice is inappropriate and …