Reply #153: optimism is another drug pushed by the fascists [View All]

"Here, have another toke and ignore the stormtroopers in the town square".

When negativity is banished, it will take with it the capacity to analyze, to disassemble and evaluate, prevailing physical conditions and identify what is wrong amidst them, how they can be changed to improve the human condition, etc.

If we're all just busy being cheery, we are in danger of not being able, or refusing, to pay attention to conditions that are flawed and need improvement.

You need both: optimism for the future, pessimism about the present. Realism about the past proves this.

And recall throughout all this that the attempt to reduce all questions to starkly contrasting opposites which produces a restricted choice among two alternatives is:
- a fatally simplistic view of any situation
- can be an attempt to restrict your choices - alternatives are presented to you instead of you identifying them yourself
- is an easy excuse for not exerting oneself intellectually by those who like to claim that life is simple
- is currently a conservative tactic for controlling debate - "It's 'bout good vs. evil".

All this in response to previous discussion in this thread about whether to be optimistic about a variety of issues.

Keep hope alive, cause it's the one thing we can't lose, but set it in opposition to solid understanding of what's wrong and needs changing.