RE: Our society values blind optimism.
October 21, 2014 at 9:47 am
(This post was last modified: October 21, 2014 at 9:49 am by bennyboy.)
I think optimisim is the best stance to take, if you act on it.
Say you are stuck in mortal danger. Maybe, for example, you are freezing to death and feeling very sleepy, and the effort of continuing to move around, rub your hands together, etc. seems pointless. You say, "Obviously I'm going to die, because there's nobody within a hundred miles of me. I might as well just find a nice place, relax, and go out with a smile on my face." If you are an optimist, you may think differently: "I COULD be saved. There's no real advantage to giving up, and what's a few more minutes of struggle in the big picture?" Maybe you WILL die. But statistically, optimism is sometimes rewarded with survival, while pessimism, as far as I can see, can never aid your survival.
How about in normal relationships? There's a hot girl in school, and geekyboy wants to talk to her. But he tells himself, "Who am I kidding? That hot girl is way out of my league." If he were more optimistic, he might (against all odds and common sense) tell himself, "Hmmmm. . . maybe if I just talk to her, I'll find we have something in common. Maybe she likes skinny, ugly smart guys for some unknown reason. I won't know unless I try."
Geekyboy may fail, horribly and often, but overall if he has a positive attitude, he's likely to find a higher quality mate than he would if he said, "Let's get real. I'll just marry the first girl who's willing to take me."
I think for the most part, pessimism is cowardice: "I won't try, because trying is stupid (and I don't have strong enough character to handle embarrassment if I fail)."
Say you are stuck in mortal danger. Maybe, for example, you are freezing to death and feeling very sleepy, and the effort of continuing to move around, rub your hands together, etc. seems pointless. You say, "Obviously I'm going to die, because there's nobody within a hundred miles of me. I might as well just find a nice place, relax, and go out with a smile on my face." If you are an optimist, you may think differently: "I COULD be saved. There's no real advantage to giving up, and what's a few more minutes of struggle in the big picture?" Maybe you WILL die. But statistically, optimism is sometimes rewarded with survival, while pessimism, as far as I can see, can never aid your survival.
How about in normal relationships? There's a hot girl in school, and geekyboy wants to talk to her. But he tells himself, "Who am I kidding? That hot girl is way out of my league." If he were more optimistic, he might (against all odds and common sense) tell himself, "Hmmmm. . . maybe if I just talk to her, I'll find we have something in common. Maybe she likes skinny, ugly smart guys for some unknown reason. I won't know unless I try."
Geekyboy may fail, horribly and often, but overall if he has a positive attitude, he's likely to find a higher quality mate than he would if he said, "Let's get real. I'll just marry the first girl who's willing to take me."
I think for the most part, pessimism is cowardice: "I won't try, because trying is stupid (and I don't have strong enough character to handle embarrassment if I fail)."
