> Cruel optimism, the way Hari interprets it, boils down to the folly of suggesting personal solutions to systemic problems. This is an interesting start but f

> Cruel optimism, the way Hari interprets it, boils down to the folly of suggesting personal solutions to systemic problems. This is an interesting start but feels too narrow as a definition of the term. Cruel optimism, in general, seems like it should mean "cruelty by means of optimism". As in, you don't trouble yourself with how something (which you are morally responsible for) isn't going well and some person(s) will be negatively affected, and you justify that with the assumption that everything will turn out fine in the end, or the problem is much milder or easier to solve than it really is. Neglecting responsibility for a problem justified by downplaying the problem, imagining the problem away.