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Onward and upward, delusional optimists!
3 years ago
General
Karno's Rare-Because-He-Never-Has-Time Blather:
Some years ago, in a survey I'm too lazy to look up, optimists and pessimists were compared. The conclusion was that the pessimists had a better grasp of reality than the optimists - but the optimists generally did better in the real world. The most obvious reason for this seems to be that when an opportunity comes along, the optimist jumps up and says "Wow, what an opportunity! I'm grabbing me some of that! This will be GREAT!"
Whereas the pessimist, when presented with the same opportunity, slumps back and says: "Aw, that will never work out. Something ALWAYS goes wrong. Why even try?"
Of course, not all the opportunities the optimists seize work out as well as they hope. But enough of those opportunities work out well, to put the optimist measurably ahead of the pessimist on the success in life scale. As Woody Allen said, "80% of success is just showing up".
So where am I going with this blather? Welp, my usual comment on the New Year is something snarky and pessimistic. Which, now I think about it, is counter-productive. Our assumptions govern a lot of our reality. If everyone assumes a machine or an institution is going to fall apart - then that's what happens. Because nobody maintains 'em. Why bother, if it's just gonna fall apart? A self-fulfilling prophecy.
On the other side of the coin, if the majority of us assumes we can solve a thorny problem *coughClimateChangecough*, then the chances of that problem actually being solved go up massively. If enough people beat their heads against a brick wall, the wall will fall down.
So shoot for the stars! You may only end up reaching the mountain-top....but that's still miles ahead of the inert people who never even tried, stuck in the valley-bottom's mud. Can't win any races if you don't bother to run in 'em.
So what does YOUR self-fulfilling prophecy predict? If it's "miserable failure", I'm sure it's correct. But if you swap that out for a prophecy of "moderate success", hey, that could happen, too. So why not do that? What have you got to lose?
Whereas the pessimist, when presented with the same opportunity, slumps back and says: "Aw, that will never work out. Something ALWAYS goes wrong. Why even try?"
Of course, not all the opportunities the optimists seize work out as well as they hope. But enough of those opportunities work out well, to put the optimist measurably ahead of the pessimist on the success in life scale. As Woody Allen said, "80% of success is just showing up".
So where am I going with this blather? Welp, my usual comment on the New Year is something snarky and pessimistic. Which, now I think about it, is counter-productive. Our assumptions govern a lot of our reality. If everyone assumes a machine or an institution is going to fall apart - then that's what happens. Because nobody maintains 'em. Why bother, if it's just gonna fall apart? A self-fulfilling prophecy.
On the other side of the coin, if the majority of us assumes we can solve a thorny problem *coughClimateChangecough*, then the chances of that problem actually being solved go up massively. If enough people beat their heads against a brick wall, the wall will fall down.
So shoot for the stars! You may only end up reaching the mountain-top....but that's still miles ahead of the inert people who never even tried, stuck in the valley-bottom's mud. Can't win any races if you don't bother to run in 'em.
So what does YOUR self-fulfilling prophecy predict? If it's "miserable failure", I'm sure it's correct. But if you swap that out for a prophecy of "moderate success", hey, that could happen, too. So why not do that? What have you got to lose?
i look at everything half full.
i hope for moderate success in the new year and same for everyone else.
dont get too successful that you end up going stagnant.
be just successful enough that you wanna continue the climb.
"Your heart doesn't have to harden; it just needs to learn how to wear armor."
I can get behind that.
I know Im screwed
sigh
but yer righr, if I shoot fer the stars above, I MIGHT make it to the shittiest sub basement at the botton of them all
at least that would be a step UP from where Im at...
good luck everyone...
you might have heard of young people glueing themselves to the pavement to protest against climate change and the inertia of everyone to do something against it. problem is, they only get on people's nerves without getting across why and what for, they are protesting. for example, throwing potato sludge against an ancient painting and glueoing your palm against the wall beside it does nothing against climate change. whatever has it got to do with that, anyway? so people laugh and turn away.
or blocking a road so hundreds of people have to wait... some come too late for work, even lose their job over it maybe? and what for, climate change? so who's gonna pay my bills?
those kids should do it like on fridays for future, and come up with plans what to do, what to not do, and who's gonna pay for it. then more and more people would follow.
(I know it's not that easy, but it would still accomplish more than throwing paint against a car dealers' storefront, and escape with daddy's X5...)
"Aim for the stars, and you'll at least hit the moon; aim for the treetops, and you'll hit the dirt."
In other words, they are generally upbeat and expect things will work out but still fret the small things within their control and keep a very close eye on them.
Always remembered it as the sad kid in a toy room with bags and the happy kid in a room shoveling horse shit.
If you don't know it I can write it out.
I think the score is 17-0 in their favor at this point, ...
Arthur Carlson "WKRP in Cincinnati"
If a pessimist is right, thing went bad, but he was right in his beliefs they would.
Or as Mel Brooks put it.
Hope for the best. Expect the worst.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_TKXPPjhRk&ab_channel=LockAndLoadp
Similar to what Bunnyman said a few posts up..
Plan for and expect the worst case scenario. If that's what ends up happening, then it went as expected. If anything better than that happens, then it turned out better than expected, which is a positive.
But I will struggle for a better world till my last breath.
Helps that I'm always right, and never have to apologize.
;-P
(I'm KIDDING, for Pete's sake!)
(('cept 'bout being wrong.))
I view life like that Afghani phrase... Have your trust in Allah, but keep your faith in a Pistol.