Our middle and upper classes suffer from a massive addiction problem. An addiction to positivity. Religion feeds it by telling us we are special and that god has a plan for us and that our aspirations are divine. However, our feel-good lives come at the cost of other people's misery. And because their misery has a somewhat dampening effect on our vaunted "positivity", we deal with that awareness in two ways.

One is to believe that they're not really suffering as badly as people say they are. The other is to say they are stupid and their suffering is their own mistake. These excuses help us sleep better and hide behind more illusions. Illusions that hide one simple fact - we are junkies addicted to a feel good narrative.

But sometimes, like right now, things get so bad that our favourite positivity peddlers fail to provide us with a large enough dose of feel good "pride". These are times when compassion has a chance of asserting itself. But the peddlers can't have that. So they push more "pride" our way by televising old serials, telling us to not question practices, and by asking why we have to be negative always.

Kick the habit. Class isn't classy. Those walking hundreds of kilometres to get home without food or water are the nation we seek to protect. Acknowledge this and maybe, just maybe, we will grow into actual members of civilised society.

I am not saying positivity is a bad thing. I'm saying addiction to it is a bad thing. Use of anesthesia can prevent pain. But overuse can stop your key functions. We die when the heart stops. Positivity is a need. But we shouldn't let it put us to sleep.