re: politics sorta, doomposting-adjacent
@cinnamon i also feel like viewing optimism as an inherently misguided mental model is a practice that contributes to this too!
it's gotten to the point where even though it's wrong more often than it's right, pessimism is commonly accepted as "more realistic", because it's more natural to remember the bad things and ignore the good than vice versa
after all, it hurts less to expect the worst and be right than it is to have hope and be wrong, so it's totally understandable why it's more common, especially in circles who had it rough with the status quo to begin with
but even if it's a pretty common point of view, good things still do happen pretty often! and it's really actually pretty wonderful to cognizantly take notice of them rather than dismiss them as a fluke
optimism is hard to justify when you're not used to it, but i feel like most people would give it more credit when they realize how often pessimism takes so much mental energy; only to be wrong--and how that extra energy can help you roll with the punches when optimism ends up being wrong
it's a much happier outlook that a lot of people might not realize they can actually vibe with! and it really does look like more leftist circles are starting to realize this~
re: politics sorta, doomposting-adjacent
@cinnamon oh! one other really important thing optimism does is it helps embolden you to do things that actually can change the way the world around you works~
very seldomly so these sorts of transformative actions have a level of certainty that someone who is pessimistic would be comfortable with, but they can be so, so important in creating the best circumstances for you and those you care about
for example, a lot of pessimists get trapped in horrible workplaces, even when they have opportunities, because what if their next job is worse?
moving, transitioning, going to places they've never been--a lot of pessimism robs people of their willingness to change their circumstances in important ways, and it's very hard to overcome those mental blocks with their pessimism still intact (though thankfully, not impossible!)
re: politics sorta, doomposting-adjacent
@cinnamon (it's true that privilege comes into account here, but pessimism can limit you on top of that too--especially on a mental-energy front, which i feel we all could use a little more of)