4 ms·
There are essentially two mentalities I've observed in people around me. 1. The Optimist. Believes they live in "the best of all worlds" and everything always
by archhn 5y ago
There are essentially two mentalities I've observed in people around me.
1. The Optimist. Believes they live in "the best of all worlds" and everything always works out for the best--Voltare satirizes this idealism in Candide.
2. The Broken Nihilist. Believes everything is bull shit. Everyone is a liar, civilization is a scam, and all human interaction is a power struggle.
The optimist doesn't feel the need to worry about anything because they believe some magic force will make everything right for them. They thus are more susceptible to deception because they believe there can be no bad consequences of their actions...they are living a magical life in the best of all worlds...nothing can go wrong.
The nihilist, as we may suspect, is naturally immune to deception within the bounds of his reasoning capacity. This gives him an advantage over the optimist...and he always looks down upon the optimist as an idiot.
- datavirtue 5y agoOn my experience these "optimists" you describe are often raging pessimists when it comes to progressive human endeavors. And as a nihilist myself, I retreat into a study of institutions, trying to discover ways to alleviate human suffering. I do look down in disgust on these "optimists" but for very different reasons. They are the enablers of continued human suffering.
- archhn 5y agoPessimists in the sense of complacency? Like, "Oh, things are great as they are. We don't need to change anything. Everything should stay precisely as it is because the status quo os the image of right."?
- lanstin 5y agoLook harder. There are people acting to make the world better, optimistic at times because of the effects of taking action on ones sense of the world, and yet aware of the gap between reality and the description, aware that even self deception is possible. the middle path, so to speak