Do you consider yourself an optimist? A pessimist? A realist? A whogivesashitist?
This is a pretty generalised rant, but I want to clarify some of the things I've recently read/pondered. I actually started thinking about this after reading about the International Relations theories of realism (which, to me, should be called pessimism) as well as being introduced to Antonio Gramsci via Marxist theories.
I used to think of myself as an optimist. I smile a lot and am generally cheerful. If you look at it purely physiologically, stressing is bad for your health. Fact. So finding something to be happy about seems like a pretty healthy (if anything) approach... but I have realised that there are at least two types of optimists - those who find good things and those who deny bad things.
.. and then there's my current boss. He's the most irrational, childish, wacked out optimist I've ever met. His approach to being positive is denying anything negative. I think this is simply wreckless. Negative things are often like pain - a signal that something is wrong and should be fixed. Avoiding this merely exacerbates the damage. This is what led me to question optimism in general...
you see, I think optimism leads to complacency. If you ignore negative things and pretend to be happy you won't be as motivated to change things as someone who thinks everything is going to shit. The danger of the other extreme - pessimism - is apathy. If you're TOO negative, you won't be motivated to change anything anyway. So what's a good balance?
Gramsci put it perfectly. He called for "pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will". I think it's best to stay cheerful and by entertaining a hope of inherent goodness in people to actually make more people around you happier. Consequently, you've gotta look at things realistically and accept that there are screwed up things in this world but instead of resigning to some apathetic sulk, just be the change you want to see. Whether this is what they call 'realism' I don't know.... but this article summed up a lot of my thoughts really well.
So whatever the glass is, if you're thirsty - drink the fucking thing. Otherwise, leave it for someone else and do something useful with your time.
P.S. Don't worry ~ I'll post some more entertaining stuff soon...
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