Hal - Deliberately Basic

Pessimism Redux

I thought I was the last living pessimist, and damned proud of it. Too much sweetness in times of stress has always been to me, an optimism deactivator. I tend to feel the need to asphyxiate the perp who tells me to “turn that frown upside down.”

Having just discovered Barbara Ehrenrich from an article in Harper’s Magazine - February 2007 issue - entitled “Pathologies of Hope”, I feel renewed that someone out there sees the bullshit perpetrated by the pop psych crowd. Her blog is certainly well worth reading unless you are overwhelmed with joy about the world, and full of hope that everything will work out for the best.

In her essay about the cogency of hope and the effect it is having on American people, we see that hope without action is unproductive and dangerous. In other words, be realistic. If your are going over a cliff in your car, hope is probably less than useless. Anticipation beforehand that there is a possibility of going over the cliff may save you. An ounce of pessimism is worth a pound of hope if it keeps you from killing yourself.

Lack of skepticism can cause death at one extreme. Or at least make you into a gullible chump. The passing of tabloid email messages around the Internet is one example of just how willing people are to be duped. I sometimes feel that I am the only person in the world who bothers to check snopes (or any of the various ways to verify information) for validity of a “pass it on” message. And these are often some of the most intelligent people I know, higher than average IQ folks.

This is not to preach gloom and doom, nor deny that there is anything good in the world. This is about denial that there is anything bad in the world, and how that attitude has affected our social behavior. When you refuse to listen to someone who needs to complain, you are being cruel to that person. Would you neglect to help someone hit by a car? Where is the difference?

If you really feel the need to make the world a better place, do something to ease the pain. Don’t deny that most of the people in the world are starving, killing each other, dying from horrible diseases, and maladies - come to think of it, right here in the US. Fuck the whales, listen to someone complain.

Hal Brown

Related posts:

1. Venting, Bitching, And ComplainingThe Sad State of a Stressed Man Men are pressured to release the pressure that...
2. Finally, a Ray of HopeI have not been excited about a new president since JFK. Though I was young...
3. Why you Should Never Say You Are RetiredYou work for years, dreaming of the day when at last you can pursue the...