Pessimist or Optimist

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Generally I am quite pessimistic - I think in worst case scenarios even though nothing but perfection is satisfactory to me (so I'm not quite a "defensive pessimist" - except when it comes to politics, of course, as I knew Obama couldn't and wouldn't change the dynamics of US politics).

The "Law of Attraction" is superstitious New Age nonsense and overoptimism caused the economic meltdown.

I essentially live my life under a sort of atheistic purtainism - i.e. while hard work is a neccessary condition to sucess (for most people, excluding generational wealthers), it is by no means sufficient. Everything is determined in causal chains and never be complacent enough to assume you'll never end up homeless.

Last edited by Master_Pedant on 20 Jun 2010, 10:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Optimist, definitely.

Life is too short for the other one.

I would rather live an unsatisfied life full of a realistic understanding than a satisfied life full of delusion.

Personally, I like being happy. Note that being optimistic doesn't mean 'blind to the truth'. It just means that you see the good in things, that's all. Bad stuff happens all the time, I'd rather keep my head up then wallow in angst.

Irrational optimism fuelled the Wall Street excesses, while mild, rational pessimists saw it comming.

Without recognition of what is wrong there is no catalyst for change. Without recognition of how flawed systems are, one believes change will happen smoothly and through personal saviours.

Optimism is delusional and I will not reduce myself to it, regardless of whether I live a few less years because of it.

Irrational optimism fuelled the Wall Street excesses, while mild, rational pessimists saw it comming.

Without recognition of what is wrong there is no catalyst for change. Without recognition of how flawed systems are, one believes change will happen smoothly and through personal saviours.

Optimism is delusional and I will not reduce myself to it, regardless of whether I live a few less years because of it.[/quote

Being optimistic isn't being stupid and not seeing obvious flaws, it's saying 'we can fix this and get things good again'. The Wall Street problems were caused by people gambling away the wealth of millions, the wall street problems were caused by parasites. Optimism doesn't equal being a parasite, in fact it's got nothing to do with it at all.

But if you honestly think that seeing that good in things is something you are 'reduced' to doing, then that's not really my problem.

More of a realist.

Honestly I'm more optimistic, but people would say I'm pessimistic. I can get discouraged easily by other people, but I don't get discouraged easily by situations at all.

I definately look for the negatives of a given situation and attempt to avoid them.

Optimism is about erring on the side of "things are going alright or can be readily fixed". If you think things "aren't really that bad then there's less of an incentive to address various social problems. Furthemore, which of the people below would you trust as a better reformist?

Person O: Oh, boy, things are good and we'll easily get change through! Hope, unity, change; hope, unity, change!

Person P: The path to reform will be long, costly, done with much blowback from the elite sectors of society, and may end up disasterous if we don't do things right. It won't come from any given "saviour", rather it'll take a lot of grassroots, bottom-up, organizing to pressure institutions for structural reform. It'll be a long road fought with much fustration.

I'm not sure about you, but I'd trust person P a lot more than person O when it comes to implementing structural reforms.



Optimism does somewhat correlate with complacency and getting screwed over. As Barbara Ehrenreich has documented a culture of overoptimism reigned supreme over Wall Street - anyone thinking that this bubble might burst being fired as a sour sport.



This is a forum for rational debate. You've presented what I conceive of as a poor rationalization, I've criticized it as such, and the discussion has preceded. I see none of this as externalizing a "problem" of mine but rather as in arguing for my worldview.

I'm an optimistic realist, and that is NOT a contradiction. If religion is the opiate of the masses, philosophy is the LSD.

Pessimism is always assuming the worst. Realism is always remaining aware the good and bad things can and do happen. They are not the same thing at all.

Well, in terms of whether I'm pessimistic or optimistic? I'd say that at various times I've been on either side of the equation as I've had some people think that all I do is whine & complian while on the other hand, some people admire my courage of heart to not let some variables get me down.. I would say more but, it would be like some sort of psychotherapy session and unfortunately, I wish not to have my internal demons known to all a this time..

Depends on the situation.

As a pessimist, I am never disappointed. I am always either proven right or pleasantly surprised.

I've been a pessimist for most of my life, but now I think I'm more of a realist.

Really depends on the situation, in my case.

I tend to be more of a pessimist though.

Then you're a defensive pessimist?