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That's Doctorow's prescription of hope rather than "optimism" or "pessimism". Hope reserves agency. Optimism and pessimism both presume an outcome regardless
by dredmorbius 3y ago
That's Doctorow's prescription of hope rather than "optimism" or "pessimism".
Hope reserves agency.
Optimism and pessimism both presume an outcome regardless of action, and absolve responsibility.
- DicIfTEx 3y agoAs a counterpoint, Derrick Jensen's “Beyond Hope”: https://orionmagazine.org/article/beyond-hope/ https://orionmagazine.org/article/beyond-hope/
- dredmorbius 3y agoThat reminds me of Ashleigh Brilliant's aphorism: "I feel much better now that I've given up hope". <https://www.ashleighbrilliant.com/book4.html https://www.ashleighbrilliant.com/book4.html> That's more about hope as expectation than hope as possibility, I think. And that's certainly Jensen's vibe. Thanks for the reference.