"Positive" Culture Is A Trap

Some places I've worked have put a disconcerting emphasis on having a "positive" culture. I'm sure I'm not the only one to notice this, or endure it.

Sounds great, right? Upbeat happy people, no one to harsh your happiness, no negativity, no criticism, etc? They're all into the "Power of Positive Thinking™", and life is great, it's a great place to work, blah, blah, blah.

Cool, right up until when something goes wrong, and you have no way to express your concern, or even the fact that something is wrong, without committing the sin of Negativity!!! Then you get "talked to", "written up", "counseled" and shunned for daring to speak up in anything but positive terms.

So of course there is never anything wrong, no one actually complains to management about stuff that the water cooler chat knows is shit, because there is no shared language or motif for pointing out problems in a "positive" culture without dire consequences.  Problems are the opposite of a "positive" culture, because they imply that there's something wrong in paradise.

What happens when management has a problem with someone or something that they f***ed up, then? Simple - they get fired, because the outcome of their work wasn't "positive", therefore they don't fit any more. Nice, huh. It's never a problem with the company, only with the person who did an unpositive thing. Not a systematic failure, or an inability to listen when the person tried to tell them there was a problem. No, in "Positive Land" it's always a problem with the person who did the mistake, or worse, reported the problem to management without the "positive" spin.

Even so, dedicated people try to point out problems, and get smacked down as "negative", "unprofessional", "toxic", etc. The "Emperor has no clothes", but "off with his head" on the person who points it out. It's a self-perpetuating cess-pit of denial and blame of the problem on the person who noticed the problem.

If you are read as a woman, you get told to ask "questions" if you have concerns, instead of stating your concerns - ie female mode. (Why are questions "female mode"?? Because if it has to be phrased as a question, you can be easily told that you are mistaken and gaslighted. After all, you weren't stating fact, you were just asking a question, like you were an unsure little girl.)

So if you are smart, when a company you are interviewing with brags about their "positive culture", run.  Because they are a dumpster fire with the lid on and a sign labeling it "proactive incineration".