Optimism is Killing Us
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- Опубликовано: 8 июн 2024
- Why Are We Addicted to Optimism?
American culture tends to be pretty optimistic, arguably to a fault. But is there merit to optimism? And if not, should we all seek bleak solace in pessimism? And what if there’s a third way that’s actually more empowering than using affirmations, or assuming everything is doomed? Let’s find out in this Wisecrack Edition on Optimism: What’s the Point?
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Written by Michael Burns
Research by Michael Lodato
Hosted by Michael Burns
Directed by Michael Luxemburg
Edited by Benji Dunaief
Produced by Olivia Redden
Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound
#Optimism #Pessimism #Wisecrack
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Toxic positivity is so annoying. “It called the American dream because you have to be asleep to believe.” George Carlin
I have not had a Carlin quote steer me wrong yet.
And yet it is possible to return to the ways it was to achieve the American dream
Meritocracy is a lie, end capitalism.
True. My mom has a naturally sunny disposition, while I have suffered from depression and anxiety since I was a teen and have a naturally skeptical/cynical disposition. Growing up, expression of any negative emotion was met by changing the subject, saying I just needed to be more grateful for what I had, etc. I was a politics/news junkie, too, and my mom didn't even like when I talked about (often negative) current events because she preferred to maintain her blissful outlook about the world. Anything even slightly negative would make her uncomfortable and would be immediately shut down or dismissed. In short, it was never ok to not be ok. I was home over Thanksgiving break (I'm 34 now) and somehow this came up. I introduced her to the term "toxic positivity" and, to her credit, I think she genuinely tried, for what felt like the first time, to understand how attempting to hoist her unrelating "look on the bright side" approach on me (and my siblings) was not the best approach. (To be clear, I love my mom and she was/is a great mom in many ways. I just wanted to share about how toxic positivity is often pushed by well-meaning people, but can be really invalidating and unhelpful.)
@@highcouncil1302 "Return to the way it was" The American Dream has always had an asterisk, so let's not. Breaking and changing the system is the only path forward.
I always live by the mantra of "hope for the best, but expect the worst." That way, you'll be prepared even in the worst situation, but you recognize that a positive future is possible.
I try not to expect the worst, but I definitely try to prepare for it
I used to live that way but it made me quite depressed trying to find the worst possible way things could go to prepare for them. Now I just focus on my personal journey as a piece of a larger, self directed whole.
@@zacheymczachface yea this
@@lorrygoth You aren't supposed to focus literally on the things that can go wrong, just hold the inherent knowledge that something COULD go wrong.
@@barrette.lediard4010 it's still bad advice for people with PTSD and anxiety according to my therapist, it's an outdated mantra and instead of that we should be living by "Do no harm and take no shit" and "you can't control what others do you can only control how you react to it". These are much better perspective building and self-care encouraging mantras to live by
My frustration with our “optimism” culture is that it’s often not actually a view that things can/will get better but a willful avoidance and ignorance of problems. This actually prevents us from doing anything to bring about that change. Then when the sh!t inevitably hits the fan, all those “optimists” can’t cope until we cover up the problem again. Thus we mainly get surface level changes, and sometimes that allows the deeper problems to get worse
Our "ignore it and it'll go away" response to Covid-19 is a prime example...
a million times this
I would argue that nihilism more than optimism leads to the outcome you’re correctly pointing out, at least in this present moment.
@@AARon11414 no, i'm not referring to nihilists here, who don't act, regardless of if they acknowledge the issue, because to them nothing matters. i'm speculating calling out a more mainstream attitude and people who call themselves "optimists". they live in blissful ignorance and when you bring up a small issue that could be addressed to some degree before becoming a big problem, they call you a "killjoy" or "alarmist" or "crazy". then when that big problem happens, they go into flight/fight/freeze and say things like "nobody could see this coming..." it's not nihilists, but mainstream "optimists" giving some of us chronic cassandra syndrome for the last 6+ years
@@AARon11414 it's really both. "Everything will be fine" and "Nothing matters" are equally unproductive. And annoying 😅
Daria wasn't really a pessimist, she was a realist. That was what the whole first episode was about, people mislabelling her as being unhappy when she was just being honest.
Kind of the whole point of Daria was to show how the happy go lucky persona out of most people around her was just that, a persona, a front put up to hide and deflect from their true feelings, and to appear more like they felt others would like them to be. Most people around Daria found that disturbing, not because they disagreed, but because they secretly agreed, but for the sake of of their persona, they had to not show that.
The even deeper meaning though, was even this "no bullshit" take itself was a persona, as shown with her star crossed romance.
@@ethanstump My favourite episode of the show that speaks to this interpretation was the one where the highschool's football hero comes back to town and promptly dies. Daria is ostracised for refusing to feel bad about the death of someone she didn't know and who was an undeniably bad person, and resists the immense pressure of the town to have and exhibit a specific set of emotions for the sake of fitting in, but also doesn't deny the validity of other people having that reaction at the end of the episode.
"I don't have low self esteem. it's a mistake... I have low esteem for EVERYONE else..."
I loved Daria. I was often accused of pessimism when it was just realistic observations. My dad has actually started to apologize to me for calling me alarmist as a teenager.
Meh, she was at least a little bit on the cynical side, Jane could see the same things as Daria yet clearly was having more fun most of the time without pretending.
Optimism, like Cynicism, is healthy as long as it’s balanced and a decent amount. Yeah, you sometimes exist in one spectrum for a little too long, but that doesn’t last very long.
You mean like realism, because realism is an actual thing you know? It's neither optimism nor pessimism, it's it's own thing. If someone asks a realist if the glass is half empty or half full, they would tell you that the glass is filled with water. Of course if I were there, I would just get a pitcher and just fill the remaining glass with more water because why not?
@@deannal.newton9772but that just obeservation, realist will never care if it'll get better or get worse.
Pratacilty realist aren't even ironcally as they really care, because they don't make an asumption or used their experince to have some view in the world being either Bad or good.
They feel like drones just listing off whats in front of them instead of people.
Optimist know shit sucks and they won't allow that to destroy they reality as the good things in existence are something worth going for as well yeah they are, no amount of damage will take such powerful things away.
It isn't naieve to focus on the good to overcome the bad,its strategic to enjoy the things you do and continue on thats why is neccerary.
Cynism is a feeling that things are just horrible, they aren't wrong about it since if you wanna look at shitty things they aren't that far away.
Though the problem is they sit in a depression and assume its reality when reality is just what they said it was not what they wanted, so of course it's depressing you only care for when it is.
The glass is half full! And it could get better!
The glass if half full wished it was better.
One focuses on both content and improvement while another doesn't care for both.
They both need exist as usually everyone starts with cynism though I believe they should move to optimism to actually live otherwise they'll ignore anything good life has just willow in an empty space.
(Because they're exceptions in their minds)
Watch "you're wrong about optimsm" by FEE(Feduration for Econmic Education)
"Hey Wisecrack! You're always so pessimistic. Would it kill you to cheer up a bit?"
Wisecracl: "Optimism is killing us, and here's how"
That's what happens when you run a RUclips channel that requires you to do research into controversial topics. It turns you into a depressed pessimist. I don't think people who run these kind of channels really realize the damage that they are doing to their own mental health when they cover these topics.
They watch way too much Rick & Morty.
@@OversoulGaming Why is it damage? the stuff they talk about are real so it's not like they are spreading pessimism based on conspiracies
@@OversoulGaming it is okay if they are self-aware. Knowingly self-inducing a pessimism means being able to string together all the negative data points (in their research work) while simultaneously can treat its emotion as superficial, like acting.
They are not even closely pessimistic , pessimistic would be to understand human exhistance is not a thing that has value .
What is really killing us is the idea that we need to either be in one extreme or the other. What everyone really needs is a balance of Optimism and Cynicism.
We also really need to destroy Twitter.
Do you close all your comments with this statement? That would be really cool. "Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam."
Like everything else, us Americans seem to have an issue with moderation. And looking at everything as binary extremes.
@@DoloresLehmann Cato the elder would destroy Twitter too, so yes
Musk is doing a real stellar job on that last one.
So he cant be all bad :P
Trump should’ve banned it
I feel the doomerism of today fully acknowledges that the future is in our hands, but expect people to act in the worst way because it’s the easiest path of action to follow
History proves that "doomerism" correct. 100% is a very statistically significant figure.
You just put into words my feelings on the matter.
Does that cynicism apply to the Doomers themselves?
Fighting an uphill battle to preserve the planet is hard. Would it not be easier to surrender to despair?
Would it not be easier to assume that everyone else is unlikely to take action, which then absolves the Doomer for their inaction?
That's been my impression too. Not so much a belief that we're already doomed, as the observation that it's taking people - particularly the ones holding the *big* levers and buttons - way too long to actually do anything about the situation, combined with a ticking clock. Or, put another way, when you're repeatedly disappointed by your fellow men's inability to grasp the severity of the situation, it becomes hard to maintain any kind of optimism that this will somehow just magically *change.*
@@BlakeTheDrake Of course it doesn't magically change. You have to DO something.
The problem I have with meliorism is that it assumes we all have equal agency over our lives and future. My pessimism does not come from a book that says I'm fated to do/be x, it comes from a system that props up and incentivizes the worst aspects of human behavior
You're not wrong that the system is rigged and that some people (corporations especially) have far more power to influence the future than others.. But we still have to try! I would say as an addendum to meliorism that we should focus on the parts of life that we do have control over rather than the parts that we don't. Of course "bootstraps" will only get us so far, and all progress is a constant struggle, but it's better than rolling over and dying.
@@Tolgeros I think striving for perceived capitalist success is much worse then striving for social change through working together. It’s not worth trying to get rich. It’s worth trying to change the capitalist dogma. Your approach is a synthesis between optimism and doomerism. Yeah you have high hopes, but in the end it all goes nowhere.
@@franekkkkk This viewpoint is so important, and expand on it it's modern capitalism's greatest success that they've managed to convince people to police and demonise each other and themselves to "do the little things" rather than gaze upon the rich and powerful and demand reform. I've had this argument with a friend recently, how he's a good little capitalist soldier because he is proud of himself for "voting with his wallet", recycling, driving an ev, ensuring he only buy renewable energy etc. He's content doing his little part because "if everyone did it it'd solve the environmental problems" and also engaging in shaming of those who don't. It completely ignores that, his little contribution achieves nothing, he's just playing into the marketing. Same companies he gets all his eco shit from are funded via the stock market by others who profit from destroying the world. His neatly recycled garbage gets mostly dumped in a landfill anyway, his eco power gets subsidised by gas power stations during peak hours. He's just being sold popular products at the rates the rich think they can ideally profit, if they thought they'd make more money that way they would've went full renewable ages ago, instead they trickle into it as it's the most profitable way while a small percentage of privileged people get to buy into feeling superior because "they buy more responsibly". This doesn't work, he and many others completely ignore that the reason this tiny improvement happened was because the government demanded and subsidised it, against great resistance from the corporations that are now selling these things as novel ideas, and the government did it because a small amount of people campaigned hard enough for it so the general sentiment changed forcing the government to do the bare minimum. This is how we change things, we go after those in power and make sure they understand that power can be taken away, we need systems for that power to be under scrutiny and these same systems must be extended to the privately powerful(the rich, the multi tens millionaires and billionaires). We need to demand the government makes it illegal to use the marketing propaganda that blames, targets and shames individuals to deal with the world via individual contributions, we have to band into groups and contribute communally.
@@Eagle3302PL What is collective organizing and collective action if not each person doing little acts of texting someone about ideas and about schedules, putting marker on cardboard to make a sign, putting one foot in front of the other at a march... Big acts are an amalgamation of little acts. And personally, I like composting and recycling and also collective action to improve the system. :)
I feel like we past the point of diminishing returns on mindless optimism a while ago. It seems like there are more people made more miserable by the pressure to hide their depression than there are people helped by the pressure to feel happy all the time.
Exactly
My pessimism is literally fueled by the failures after trying.
Shit doesn't always work out, and that's okay, so long as you don't fall into learned helplessness.
I thought it was so funny that he brought up Americans and their small businesses at the beginning. I started a small service-based business out of my house last year and it’s so fucking hard to be optimistic because of my past failures. The ups and downs are exhausting and it’s difficult to think that things will work out because generally in the US if a billionaire CAN make your small business obsolete they absolutely will.
@@farmpunk_dan I thought it was funny that article mentioned small businesses propping up while the poster image is a highly mechanized big business auto factory.
My realism is fueled in the same fashion.
"The optimist believes this is the best of all possible worlds. The pessimist fears it is true."
I disagree. An optimist can believe things are bad but can get better.
Trash quote lol
The problem is that nobody actually believes that this is the best of all possible worlds. This is a misrepresentation of how people think.
Toni Morrison made a distinction between hope and optimism that I've carried with me since I read it a year ago. To paraphrase, optimism is the belief that things are and will continue to be good, whereas hope is the acknowledgement that things are bad and likely will continue to be bad, but holding on to the belief that the bad things *can be changed* and that better things are possible in the future.
The thing that is so damaging about both optimism and pessimism is their contentedness/resignation. No matter whether you think things are great or terrible, both perspectives have the attitude of 'nothing can or should be changed.' Optimism ignores the things that are wrong and pessimism believes that the things that are wrong are unchangeable and inevitable.
This hope Morrison describes is the middle ground I've settled into: things are bad, things have been bad, many things will continue to be bad, but what makes life meaningful is to fight to make it better, because it **can** get better.
That things that are wrong are unchangeable and inevitable is the very foundation of Zen. Faith is the henchman of hope and Zen is the faith that the current moment is as it must be. How could it be any different if actions (ours or nature's) have brought the current condition? It is illogical to be any other way.
Christopher Lasch phrased it another way, saying that hope, as opposed to optimism, is the belief that even if things get worse, you can deal with it and survive.
@@hemanthnair1290 I think it's better to come from the POV that whatever happens, whether you survive or not, it is what must be for this moment. Sort of like fate (don't confuse with destiny) but born from the ripples of the last moment (not some predetermined path). There will come a moment that we don't survive so the idea that we always will is ego.
I think optimism with discernment is the best use of it. Optimism can help pull us out of some dark places. It can also push us deeper into our dark places if we are using it to deny our feelings. If we can be honest with ourselves about our feelings (ie being able to be afraid and optimistic and able to sit with the fear while holding hope) optimism can be a very useful tool. There will always be things outside our control, to accept our limits in that regard is to be honest and allows for freedom in expression and experience.
At least that's my two cents :)
What if you believe that people guide the future, but that people are also terrible at everything?
They got us here in the first place. We can climb higher, but it could also go to shit.
All aboard the train to painful, marginal progress over a long period of time! 🚂📈📈📉📉📉📈📈
Called realism xD
"so hopelessness is the key?"
"it's my only hope"
As someone diagnosed and on meds for clinical depression, being optimistic is VERY hard for me, but also essential on some days for keeping me going. We aren't even "addicted", its simply that all the news, twitter updates, even this very channel, is always so dreary and filled with implied doom, and we as a society are collectively bombarded with such dire prospects every minute of every day.
So yeah, Of COURSE people are gonna want to get away from that. I completely disagree with the base conjecture of this video. If anything, optimism is keeping me from doing something truly irreversible.
Almost every period of human history has had times of bleakness and struggle so that's pretty common. One must expect Yin-Yang to shift because human action is not static, or even close to it in a national way, so balance becomes harder to find. Too many possibilities involved for balance to happen. I simply trust that each moment is as it must be and that I can best bring peace through detachment from expectations.
Spend less time looking at things that make you unhappy. Take active measures to prevent it from reaching your eyes, if you must.
Hope you are out of treatment in the time that is the healthiest for you. Although my experience during treatment (also medicated) for the clinical episode might be completely different from yours, recuperation was only possible when I put it in the effort and the work to reach it. I'm not saying that you want to be in this state of emptiness and that external factors doesn't have and effect on you but this a chronical disease like diabetes or adicción. We have to own it as a patient and be disciplined to keep it under control, not only go to therapy and completely rely on drugs. Apply and used the tools give by your therapist. You said it, being optimistic is hard and doesn't come naturally but you the effort cause you know what happens when you chase your thoughts down the rabbit hole. I'm from Mexico so I hope that I was able to transmit correctly what I meant and that maybe it might help. Don't let it win tvdinner you are strong, we all are and your not alone. I'm a stranger on the internet and I understand and care. Te mando pura buena vibra.
And the truth is that nothing remains the same forever, so even situations which we experience as bad are only temporary
@@JamesTyreeII So it goes.
I'm probably a cheerful pessimist. I've worked mostly in customer facing jobs so putting on a cheerful attitude just makes life a bit easier but I'm very aware of how bad it is and can get. Never say, "It can't get any worse." because it will.
Also liked the "...if you pay them money."
Having now finished the video I'd say I'm an Idealist Pessimist. I know humanity can do better and overcome most obstacles, but I have a very bad feeling we won't.
As an Australian we suffer a bit from toxic positivity aswell. i have fond memories of hitchiking through europe where smiling and being in a good mood is not the default. it was quite refreshing. I now live in Norway where some of the same toxic positivity exsist, but for different reasons. i miss being surrounded by openly msierable people haha.
This is new to me. Could you explain Norway's brand of "toxic positivity", please? How does it differ from America's and Australia's?
@@howtoappearincompletely9739 this is one of the most materially wealthy in the world, and its citizens know that. even if people are mentally struggling, people would never dare complain as they know how good they have it and don't want to seem ungrateful.
but it is no where as bad as it is in Australia.
@@blainn7788 Norwegian social justice movement has kind of painted them into a corner where you're not allowed to complain because someone else has it worse somewhere else, so you have a nation of people who appear happy, they bottle up all the small things and let them fester and compound, children raised that way have higher risk for depression and turn to extreme views because they're never allowed to feel anything that would appear as ungrateful. That usually turns the next generation to the other extreme as we're currently seeing in USA.
@@Eagle3302PL so nonogerman-party dominant in 2060? haha jokes.
thanks for your reply. i take this phenomenon as a result of Janteloven
I feel like your in my search history my man. I just looked this up over the weekend & this has happened a few times.
Thank you.
Glad our computer hacking is working out!
In germany we don't really view Americans as too optimistic (at least not in my social circle) but as blind to the fact, that the american dream is fools gold. In particular the social system is viewed as unbearable. The media is too flashy, the mindset too capitalistic, egocentrical and shallow. Not that we germans aren't guilty of some of these aspects on our own, we view Americans as the exaggerated version of all our own worst traits.
Personally, as an American, from what I have seen, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. What I think that means is that America really does emulate the mistakes that the Uk made in the past, thinking that "this time" it'll be different. With Germany, they've already made those mistakes, and while they still have idiots, they know how to steer them away from the worst of it, while ours are still at the wheel. While it is a cliche, America is still really young as a country, which means there's a lot of lessons that Europe has learned that we are still learning, such as transit and health care.
I think it will get worse before it gets better, but that's IF we get through climate change.
and many “third world” countries are all too eager to emulate the flashy side of the US instead of focusing on the amazing arts and music that the US has also produced AND CONTRIBUTED to the world! 🇺🇸
@@SchopenhauerVsCamus i mean, even the contemporary art's and music in the USA since like the 90's has been flashy, utlra consumerist and aggressive. i get your point that we still have thing's like harry chapin and jim croce, but those really have fallen out of the mainstream milleu, and for very on the nose reasons.
mostly, because those in control of our society want us to focus on style over substance, because they are far more likely to stay in power if our critiques likewise are far more stylistic than substantial.
@@ethanstump
all of it since the 90s? Hardly. Just look at the indie music scene in the US. A lot of it is excellent! It can hardly be called ultra consumerist or overly flashy.
Same with contemporary art. A lot of it is good. It has become somewhat of a pass time for certain groups to deride contemporary art as a whole.
I do agree that the entire celebrity artist to gallery to collector to auction house tax write off pipeline sucks in its own special ways but that’s a global phenomenon. Not one that’s exclusive to the United States.
Style is subjective as is substance, especially as far as art is concerned. Those two factors depend on one’s politics, cultural and personal point of views don’t they?
I believe the bigger threat is pretentiousness and snobbery. 😂
@@SchopenhauerVsCamus i agree with you on everything and more. what i'm trying to distinguish is between the indie scence that only a few who actually participate know about, and the corporate monstrosity the normie's are familiar with. further, at one time, it was this indie scene that is the popular conception, as i mentioned jim croce, harry chapin and the grateful dead. now, if i bring up blue Wednesday, or Scoobert Doobert, or dan henig, literally none of my family member's is going to get what i'm referencing, even probably my soc dem brother.
what i'm getting at is the indie scene ISN'T the american exceptionalism that people know when they talk about it.( and honestly, i think a lot of indie creator's are relieved they aren't tied to patriotism)
"I consider myself a realist, but in philosophical terms, I'm what's known as a pessimist." - Cohle
'The world is indeed full of peril, darkness is in many places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands hope is now mingled with grief, in the hearts of those who try, it grows perhaps the greater. Leave all that can be spared, behind. Let us hunt some Orc.'
Optimism can be as toxic as unending pessimism. Realism creates (or should create) a balance. I am optimistic about some things, but I also recognize that going around with rose colored glasses means all the red flags get ignored or missed. So I try to do what I can to make things better, but I also know that the road to Hell is paved with good intentions, so sometimes optimism isn't really appropriate all the time.
Exactly
My dream is to not have to struggle just to survive in the richest country on the planet.
I try to stave off unreasonable cynicism and optimism alike, but I still can't help but feel that a lot of modern optimism is repackaged delusion.
I really loved this video. I had heard the term 'meliorist' before in passing and never quite clocked where it came from. I loved this accessible version of William James and how you wove it all together. Thanks!
Waymond from Everything, Everywhere, All at Once put into words what I've been unable to for all of my adult life. To paraphrase: "You see my optimism as naivete, but I've been on this world just as long as you have. Seeing goodness is how I survive."
It is sad all my life I have been mistaken for a pessimist when in reality I am a realist. That is because reality isn't always optimistic.
It also isn't always pessimistic either.
@@terrystanley8216 Yes, but for your average person who refuses to disconnect their emotions from a topic any lack of optimism is perceived as pessimism simply because they don't let themselves be moderate. Future is a balancing act and the smart thing is to balance the scale in favour of good outcomes, while being alert of bad outcomes compounding but most people choose to pretend the good will outweigh the bad without any moderation, thought or scepticism. This always comes back to people not being able to visualise, understand and contextualise large numbers and probability, it always comes back to this, it's empirically proven that the human brain is not good at these things, especially statistics, it's inherently optimistic and quite aggressively so. It takes conscious thought and willingness to learn to break that over optimistic thinking and become more pragmatic.
@@Eagle3302PL Optimism is an attitude, it doesn't reflect someone's preparation for negative outcomes and it doesn't mean they don't have a pragmatic understanding of their situation.
It just means that they deal with that shit on private and just want to talk about the optimistic shit with others- so don't be a condescending dildo and start lecturing them like they're stupid. People like you are the worst
Exactly
I've always loved the character of Puddleglum, C.S. Lewis's best character from his worst book. He is always pessimistic, but also always driven to move forward. He uses his pessimism as a shield that allows him to shrug off the setbacks they face, when the same setbacks crush the optimists.
Indeed. The possibility of a future worse than this is a grand motivator to keep moving the needle forward.
Although it does strike me that the grand arc of man is towards improvement. Some kicking and screaming along the way.
Hey! I like that book! It's not worst, definitely not worst.
But I agree. He's one of best characters.
@@temin2776 I mean, it's just an opinion, and Lewis is an incredible author, so the worst from him can still be considered a fine book.
@@erikeverson7812 I've read many of Lewis' books. He's one of my favorite authors. But the "Silver Chair" is one of my favorites in the cycle. Mostly because of Puddleglum, but still...
There's toxic positivity and there's healthy positivity, just as there is toxic negativity and productive negativity.
Toxic positivity says "Everything will turn out for the best, no need to take action!". Toxic negativity says "Everything sucks and you're a fool for thinking anything will change". The commonality here is a willingness to do nothing when presented with problems.
Healthy positivity involves facing grim situations with an attitude that let's you roll up your sleeves and try to effect change, as well as convincing others to do so as well. Productive negativity is a mechanism to discard that which is ineffective, offering and accepting criticism without encouraging inactivity.
Don't let positivity prevent you from seeing the bad. Don't let negativity prevent you from seeing what could be.
I think if you actively choose to "take it easy" with a dash of positivity that could be a mix of both worlds.
"I do believe in people and humanity and help out when I can, in the meantime, I'm going to "take it easy" knowing I'm not the prodigy or the one of the crazy drive and talent, keeping my options open either way"
("In other words, I don't know")
There is nothing wrong with optimism. However, when I see a person constantly dispense positive platitudes, regardless of circumstances, it is a tell-tale sign they are in denial, dishonest, or they are not very bright. Many times positivity, divorced from evidence justifying it, is a means for one group to pacify any attempt at meaningful change. Optimism becomes a tool to engender complacency.
The idea of possibility and power of human action is a very poetic and seemingly useful thought. Perhaps my only concern with meliorism arises when considering what/whose actions/interests can have a real impact on our world/society(ies), the prevailing social dispersion in which we live, and the suspicious materialization of collective action encouraged by online networks... just to mention a few things that came to mind while I was outlining my rant. At some point it seems that meliorism implies a kind of blind faith, the need to trust other people's intentions/motives and hope for the best, but to me that would never stop feeling like some kind of wishful thinking and I doubt that this is what we need.
Hmm
What about utilizing a 'power' power? As in a mathematical power as a measurement of the effects one's actions have on peoples, systems, etc - the 'power' of their actions
Like person A has a math power of 2 but person B has a math power of three
So 'power' is P
So the difference is squared vs cubed, as in A has P² and B has P³
Or a corporation has P⁵
Or a talking point has P⁴
I feel it makes it feel less ethereal
Here is a quote made popular by Gramsci, which resumes Wisecrack: "Pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will."
William James ftw yet again. And I totally agree with you about how America at its best is meliorist; we succeed not because we are either optimistic or pessimistic, but that we see a problem and act together to make things better. Thanks for this!
There's differing degrees of optimism and pessimism, and you can have a mix of optimistic and pessimistic views on different matters.
In the last few years I've come to a sort of perpetual balance that I think has huge benefits to my mentality, without dipping into the obnoxious territory of either extreme.
That balance is very simply:
No matter what happens, no matter how good or bad an outcome is, I know I'm going to be ok in the end.
I could lose everything tomorrow, and honestly I know there'd still be meaning in my life. I enjoy all the things I have in my life, but I also know that the human mind is resilient, and no matter what happens, if things get much better or much worse, my perspective will gradually shift to where I am and my baseline of happiness will move with it (This is the principle of Hedonic Adaptability).
Honestly I think adopting this mindset has a ton of positive effects. For example, I generally feel a lot less anxiety in life, and overall I think my baseline level of happiness has increased! It's also made me much less invested in positive or negative outcomes, and as such made me much less likely to project an optimistic or pessimistic bent onto things, which is a tendency I think many people can have which leads them to being less objective. While all ideas will be shaped by the information one has and biased by their temperament, and anyone who claims to be a "realist" is full of it, I do think that this kind of outcome-independence is a good step in the direction of more rational analysis.
Well, you’ve basically given up then huh?
Like, the outcomes don’t matter because no matter what happens you’ll be fine, which good for you I guess. But for the overwhelming majority of humans, outcomes DO have an impact on ones life. A government poorly handling a viral outbreak can lead me to lose my job, and fair dinkum if you’re okay with living on the streets but I sure as hell ain’t.
It speaks to me that you have far more privileges than you even realize if you think “we’ll I’ll be fine either way” is a mindset everyone can have.
I’m an American with a cold temperance which my friends are often VERY upset about my perspective. I think a lot of our optimism stems from being an individualistic culture first and for most. We, as a culture, seem to see how the individual can affect society at large akin to starting from a center puzzle piece and “building out”; whereas, a lot of societies see how their society affects the the individual akin to seeing a cog in the machine. I guess our American society doesn’t seem to see the scope of things hence our Can-Do candor.
You can see this in our culture of entrepreneurship: where they place blame on the individual for not grinding enough-for not being steadfast AND harder working. And once successful they huff their chest saying it was because of all “their hardwork”. Its like America is built off being a success story. I remember my therapist using the “Micheal Jordan got rejected…The Colonel who made KFC was older when…” to appeal that my success will EVENTUALLY come if I work hard enough. That my life is just one of many on the conveyor belt of success stories. I think a lot of Americans don’t realize that LUCK plays a huuuuge factor in success. Many people are very unlucky and still are hard workers that never made it.
But anyways I think we’re in a turning point in out culture that could redefine our optimism if we critique it correctly. I think the chronically and terminally online (Americans) are “doom and gloom” because we are making connections to the larger context of things. That there are an interwoven machine that connects us all. But let’s be real: most of the doom and gloomers and the critics are us, a small minority. It doesn’t seem that way but the algorithm and other stuff behind the scenes brought us here. Our meeting is unnatural.
Anyways, I think there’s something inherently beautiful about our optimism. But at the very same token it builds to delusion. There’s nothing wrong with being “delusional” though. Just as we need something that grounds us, we need something that gives us incredible hope to keeps us persevering despite the odds. I think that now in the digital age its hard to the cold facts of how interwoven out problems are and how deep they go and how little the individual has in the way of de-rooting it. I think us who are blessed by the algorithm to be here, to be critics of our culture, have a chance to course correct the culture by having those hard talks with our friends and family by how bad things really are. Within our culture many individuals can make ripples enough if we “truth-bomb” -with a soft and alluring voice-because our “voice”ripples. So be the literal voice of change you want to see before leaving this country (lmao) cuz I know I will. Once I come to realization of if my helping hand will be accepted or not I’m legit getting out of here, probably moving somewhere that’ll actually matches my temperament.
Yes, America has a very strong emphasis on "rugged individualism" at the expense of seeing the Big Picture.
I also find it amusing that so many "self-made" people still end up getting support from somewhere. Nobody lives in a vacuum.
@@HylianFox3yep. attribution bias.
I hear a lot of pessimists describe themselves as "realists." I used to do the same. Optimism believes that things will turn out alright. Pessimism believes that things will not, or at least that will have to be bad before anything gets better. Cynicism is pessimism with the added bonus of no hope--everything is always shitty. That used to be my outlook.
Realism is simply seeing things as they could be, that is, possibilities. This often enough includes the things that could go wrong, which is why I think realism and pessimism get confused with each other. Realism can also see the good things, the silver lining, etc.
I think I'd call myself an optimistic realist (which is probably synonymous with the "cautious optimist"). I see what could go wrong, and that makes me cautious, but I also, increasingly (thankfully), see what can go right. I see the silver lining more often than not. I'm thankful for good things, even when everything looks shitty. I go to sleep and wake up with some amount of hope for the future (at least for that day). The funny thing is, I think I'd also describe myself as a nihilist, which doesn't seem very optimistic. I'm not sure why I have any optimism at all, but I'm glad it's there. The crushing weight of a meaningless existence is less...heavy.
Tomorrow is a new day.
Edit: After watching the rest of the video, I guess I'd be a meliorist. It helps to watch the whole video. 😅
Meliorism... I love that I can click on your videos & learn something new to apply practically to my life!
Being a pessimist has saved me like million times..
Does it keep you going though? Optimism is about confronting the issues and believing things can be better as no matter how true that is it is worth believing in.
Its worth believing if we face our fears we will overcome them or challenge them as its worth believing its true.
Otherwise we'd just believe that doing nothing works and no thats not optimistic since inhetly thats not believing things will get better with effort, is just assuming things will get better with juse believe not pratacality.
Which it can get confusioning with the hole" believe you can" just yeah its true,if you don't believe it, you will never create it or try.
"You're wrong about optimism" video by FEE(Federation for Economic Education) expands this.
The ultimate optimism is recognizing the problems of the now and fixing them in the pursuit of a better tomorrow.
That's not optimism. That's realism.
@@dontmisunderstand6041 At least the first part
@@skyteus Fair. I guess more accurately, the full statement is idealism.
When I first started getting healthy(both physically and mentally), I felt like being a realist helped me find things I COULD control and at least better my life in those ways. And that actually ended up spilling into all the other aspects of my life.
That said, part of my drive for getting healthy was to not get caught in a possible revolution completely unprepared.
I think I'm idealistic with a dash of pluralistic, which seems to fit my panentheistic outlook well. Love your videos, always!
Always love topics from Wisecrack. Actual help the generation in thinking.
The funny thing is that one of my few criticisms of Wisecrack is that they are too optimistic... 🤣
Reminds me of Du Bois’s “ugly progress” critical of mainstream teleological accounts of an inevitable human progress (American optimism), in favour of a more grounded, agency-focused human progress aimed at tackling our flaws in a meaningful way
People often confuse cheerfulness for optimism and cynicism with pessimism. They aren't the same. You can be a grumpy cynical optimist, or a cheerful pessimist who believes people are altruistic by nature. Whether a person is constructive or destructive is much more important than most other traits. I'll pick a constructive pessimist over a destructive optimist every time.
when I saw the title for this, I was like " please don't take away my hope, its the only thing I have some days" lol like I understand that being overly optimistic ignores things, but being overly cynical kind of sets you up for failure. honestly i feel that as i age i become more cynical, but I try to stay optimistic cause its really not good to wallow in the sadness that comes from being completely cynical.
Cynicism and wallowing being conflated might be a start to your internal misunderstanding.
@@arlokloiber2715 I feel like you're trying to be snarky and/or be a grammar Nazi, but I'm pretty sure used wallow correctly there. You can wallow in an idea. Check your dictionary. for example, if I were to wallow in nostalgia, that would basically be the same idea and grammatically correct. You can completely immerse yourself in a way of thinking or a bad mood. Now if I said something like waller, that would be different. So I will continue attempting to not wallow in cynicism. I feel like you would have had an argument if you got into me about conflating sadness and cynicism because those are two different expressions, but I kinda feel like cynical thinking can lead you to being depressed and the video above kinda agrees on that point when it talks about doomers.
@@darkmyro I feel like you're trying to be snarky and/or be a grammar Nazi, but I'm pretty sure you used wallow ignorantly there. Simply because you point out sadness wallowing and assign it to cynicism. Cynicism is not attached to sadness. Check your dictionary. Also cynicism in the antient philosophy sense rather than the modern "any negativity is bad" sense is a helpful thinking tool, debate topic and a possibly happy/content lifestyle. Negativity = sadness is only true if you are not able to reconcile the negativity with pragmatism.
@@Eagle3302PL your right, but cynicism can lead you to be sad. like you can cynically think the world is never gonna change and we're all slowly marching to our doom and that thought can fill you with negativity and sadness and dread.( I would rather not think that way cause it leads to a stale never changing world, but) you are right to say that cynical thinking is not necessarily negative, but it can be. Even you admit that by saying its true if I can't think practically enough, and and I feel you can be so consumed with the cynical way of thinking that you lose the objective pragmatically thinking and that can lead you down a dark path.
also
( from Merriam -Webster)
wallow
verb
wal·low ˈwä-(ˌ)lō
wallowed; wallowing; wallows
intransitive verb
1
: to roll oneself about in a lazy, relaxed, or ungainly manner
hogs wallowing in the mud
2
: to billow forth : SURGE
3
: to devote oneself entirely
especially : to take unrestrained pleasure : DELIGHT
4
a
: to become abundantly supplied : LUXURIATE
a family that wallows in money
b
: to indulge oneself immoderately
wallowing in self-pity
5
: to become or remain helpless
allowed them to wallow in their ignorance
I feel like 4b or 5 is basically the way I used it. I feel like we're arguing( might be a strong word for it) cause I added a metaphor to my language here.
@@darkmyro the issue I had rather was the implication ,that to be cynical is to inherently wallow. By the definitions you showed , to wallow is to completely or indulgently drown in a particular feeling. Never does it say or denote that this feeling must be negative, the definition simply denotes an implicit danger to drowning in any emotion or vice. So to be clear, you have conflated the two concepts into one as you seem to be implying to be a cynic is to drown in that philosophy inherently, which is simply untrue.
Bill Gates saying he’s optimistic makes me pessimistic.
To be fair, he's got it made. He's optimistic that his bunker in New Zealand will be a nice place to retire.
I liked it thanks.
Hey :)
thx for the beautiful Video!!! I have been a fan for long and always enjoy your videos!!! :)
This video just reminded again of what i was fascinate by in university. It was the Idea of ambivalence.
Instead of a third way which combians optimism and pessimism why are we not see the world with optimism and pessimism existing...
I would love to see your take on ambivalence philophy theories. :)
Have a great day :))
Huh. Ive always felt its modern society's all encompassing pessimism that will doom us all.
Imo I think it encourages both extremely overly optimism and definitely pessimism to the extreme
I think this devotion to optimism is a more serious mental illness than depression and pessimism.
Optimism and pessimism are the same illness at opposite extremes.
@@dontmisunderstand6041 All about control, either believing you have all the control and need that to feel safe OR let go of all control and sink into apathy.
I get the feeling a lot of us want to be realists or feel like our actions are based on logic, but everyone probably leans more towards optimism or pessimism naturally and probably even move between the two depending on our circumstances and feelings.
Valid point I'm more of a realist for the most part than overly optimism and definitely overly pessimism but lately of this current world I'm definitely leaning towards extremely realistic pessimistic
"The optimistic is a fool, and the pessimistic is Dull. Great, really, is to be a holpeful realistic" (Ariano Assuana)
Speaking as a former pessimist, present meliorist (apparently, I just learned the term), I can say that the important switch in my mind were two realizations: 1) a recognition of my own ignorance, 2) the tendency of the self-fulfilling prophecy
1): In short, any real assessment of how accurate one's predictions are about the future will demonstrate that not only are they usually wrong, they're often not even wrong. What I mean by this is that every individual inevitably lacks most relevant knowledge for how the future will go, because there is too much to know. We all make decisions day-to-day based on habit and intuition, whose aim are to become efficient and effective at surviving in the present, "close enough to work," not actually understanding the world for what it is. These habits and intuitions are reflected in our temperament, our emotional perception of the world. It is the way we take for granted the world works, and is reflected to others by the way we speak of and behave in the world day-to-day.
The temperament is changeable by reason of course, and temperament also governs reason. Philosophy itself is a temperament, as its name, "the love of wisdom" clearly spells out, and is achieved by discovering and accepting one's ignorance. In accepting that we are personally ignorant about the world, we naturally begin to explore it to find out more. Our temperament adapts to one that seeks accurate and verifiable knowledge beyond its current understanding as a rule, rather than as needed. Philosophers reason to fit the world to their particular temperament, and write philosophy to change the temperament of the world to fit them, and philosophy in general.
2): Self-Fulfilling prophecies: Philosophy is a good example of how temperaments can change behavior by generating self-fulfilling prophecies. Philosophy, by admitting its ignorance, expects to find new questions. If you seek out new questions, you will usually find them. finding unanswered questions reveals and validates one's ignorance. Rinse and repeat. The self fulfilling nature of temperaments is normal and expected. Once you begin to see the world as inherently some quality, you will then seek to confirm that is true. You automatically select for information that validates your temperament, and if this perception proves to be useful in the real world, it is deemed valid. What this means is that if you make optimism or pessimism your temperament, that means you will select only for good or for bad news in all domains under all circumstances. This is not as helpful as being able to accept both when warranted by the truth, but it is very easy to do at first. Meliorism, on the other hand, accepts that both good and bad outcomes are possible, that our perception of our circumstances affects our actions, our circumstances are malleable to our action, that we are fundamentally, but not necessarily, ignorant of how to use the prior realizations effectively in the real world, and that it is good to learn how to. A much more functional set of premises, in my estimation.
I think the realization of 'what you don't know that you don't know' is not the same as 'what you know you don't know' is one of the most important and humbling personal-revelation 'accomplishments of thought'
It also helps with road rage, I've found
Beautifully written … thank you
I definitely feel a sense of detachment. I would like to live in a better world, but that's outside of my individual control. The question is whether humanity as a whole can be better and that's significantly more difficult to achieve. The level of collective action and cooperation we would need to solve our current problems is high
"You know why we in the Britain don't have a dream? It's not because we lack a sense of manifest destiny or optimism; no, the reason we don't have a British Dream is because we're awake."
- Al Murray, The Pub Landlord
It seems like the biggest forces that can be positive or negative outside of our control is the wills, beliefs, and casual inclinations of another. This seems like a fundamental struggle for deciding what good action is.
Optimism is having a plan, cynicism is preparing for the worst. Doing both gives you the best results.
Yeah I see a lot of people hear "optimist" and assume it's the attitude that kicks up their feet and assumes things will inevitably work out. As if they can't conceive of someone feeling that hard work can achieve anything.
Valid point
I think this is a little bit of a hot take. All I see almost everywhere is doom preaching and pessimism, and I would argue it is just as dangerous and detrimental to society as toxic positivity. Leads to the type of hopelessness that can push people over the edge and harm themselves or others. Also the type that makes people lose faith in every type of institution, as flawed as they may be, that keep society afloat in different ways. It's good to want change but hopelessness and pessimism doesn't actually change anything either or makes things better. There is something to be said about trying your best within the confines of the shitty hand you were dealt and the circumstances out of your control.
Balance, much like with everything else.
Ye, there is both toxic positivity and toxic negativity.
I am just trying to cut out my own little corner in this world. I failed at university, but that won't stop me from moving on.
I tend to think more of a lukewarm take, given how much they go back and forth on positive and negative ascept of optimism and pressism to the point of having subcategories.
3:22 touché! Although I'm more of a realist (what you in the US would label as pessimist) this one went straight to the heart. Maybe both could meet halfway?Perfectly balanced...
The "danger" with having a culture that is very optimistic at its baseline, like in much of US culture, is that you really can get some expectational whiplash once you go through prolonged downturn or stagnation in the opportunities for people. On the other side a culture that is pessimistisc at its baseline is more mentally ready for the bad time but may fail to capitalize on the good times.
Ahh yes, watching Wisecrack keeps me happier than Eor on a hilltop😢.
I’m a pessimist because if things go bad, I was right and didn’t expect anything less. If things are good, I’m genuinely surprised and feel twice as happy as the optimist who saw it all coming. It’s a win win……. But we’re all going to die and everything we know and have ever known will get swallowed by our sun before it explodes.
Good news! Our sun won’t explode! It’s not big enough, it will just shed its outer layers and fizzle out. It very well may engulf the Earth before that, though. Depends on whether our orbit decays enough before the sun reaches red giant stage in roughly 2 billion-ish years.
My question is more are we actually optimistic or pessimistic over "everything"?
I am more thinking that we people are pessimistic about thing's and that we are optimistic about other things.
And there are still opportunities in this world. And it's also a good thing to enjoy from the things we have.
There are forces both helpful, and in the way that are out of our control, and I agree with the meliorism ideas that the future is not predetermined and can be shaped by intentional action, one way or another.
the worst part is when they dismiss the negative person when they're right because of their pessimistic attitude lol
"Why are you negative all the time??"
@@MCSorry why are you pessimistic? *gestures vaguely at the world*
They dismiss those who offer another version of what might be an action's outcome by turning immediately back to hope. They promise to fix the problem so that it never happens again. We smile and give them money to make it so but, of course, it does because of human nature, competition, and consumption. Hope was the last thing out of Pandora's bloody box and we forget that to our peril.
Right how? I think you're conflating facts with attitude.
Optimist: "Yeah, the glass is half full.
Pessimist: "No, It's half empty.
Realist: "Why are you guys staring at a cup of piss?
Good and bad things are gonna happen. Some things will get better and some worse. It’s all about balance. That’s why I fell into Optimistic Nihilism as a base philosophy. I make my own meaning in life and take things as they come. I have a balance of hope and dread.
The good thing about being a pessimist is when things don't go as expected it means something good happened...
Very valid point tbh I'm not extremely pessimistic by nature but I'm more of a realist especially the older I get by crazy weird modern world we live in.
Idk man ever since 2010, I feel like the world has developed a nhilistic approach to life and I sorta need optimism back (from the public as a whole, I mean)
Absolutely agreed.
Out of Frame did a video on how Hollywood killed Morality
Wow, so avant-garde in today's hyper optimistic and sincere world. Hanging the opinion that optimism bad is a great, new, refreshing take I've never heard before! -Said the Doomer
the sniffling sound at 3:40 made me think someone was in my house
My disposition is that we have to find ways to improve and sustain protective systems, even when they malfunction against us. This can apply to natural, biological or social scenarios; it reframes problem solving process into identifying and treating the root cause, and avoids the pitfalls of self-delusion which can result from any heavy-handed optimism or pessimism. Feynman remarked "The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool." I think American culture could benefit most from breaking away from 'performative work', so individuals can sometimes interrupt their processes of doing stuff, reflect on the consistency of their reasons and purposes, and explore constructive solutions.
Next: We're Killing Optimism
Oh my Heavenly Father! 😱😱😱
Meliorism... I like it.
Rejecting the hubris of false dichotomies
Acknowledging the gamble that the future is and that progress, decline, etc isn't linear
'Data' / information based probabilistic optimism-pessimism-spectrum flexibility with accessibility to agency
There's a huge range of scales between the low-end pragmatic optimism and the openly-toxic hallucinatory optimism. 'Things are okay and can get better' is fine as a baseline. 'Things aren't okay but they can get better, we'd better get to work' as a baseline is very effective, it lets you admit the need to improve while maintaining the capacity to believe it will work. Even 'things are good and we can make them better' admits the prospect of flaws and expresses a desire to improve. Optimism goes from ordinary to toxic when it is used to blind yourself to the need to improve things - especially that particular hallucinatory optimism that rejects evidence of problems instinctively.
Hallucinatory optimism and doomerism both serve the same emotional purpose - proofing you against the need to ever try and change things because it looks hard. One rejects the need for change, the other rejects the possibility of change, but both are purpose-driven denial strategies.
I hate fake or forced optimism. Being too pessimistic is also bad. You need to stay as realistic as possible, which ain't easy.
A nihilist walks into a bar...
The worst thing about the American dream is that you guys spread it across the word.
~An African guy who used to be optimistic.
My bop-it told me to subscribe to wisecrack
Great video! I'm surprised you didn't touch on philosopher Alain de Botton's take on pessimism vs romanticism. Would love to see a video on that in the future, but great job, as always
Oh i just though of a comedian that really nicely fits that mold. Tom Papa, in his special, "You're Doing Great," has a very upbeat take on the things most westerners are generally upset about. It's worth a few hundred watches🤣
“What need is there to weep over parts of life, when the whole of it calls for tears. So just chillax bro”
- Seneca
I think that unconditional optimism is bad because it reinforces the status quo, but optimism about the possibility of making things better can be useful in actually making them better.
The pessimism about the present drives change towards an optimistic future. In dialectical terms, you should be pessimistic about the contradictions of the present and use that to fuel your optimism in resolving these contradictions.
Maybe we should talk about the Stockdale Paradox, Admiral Stockdale believed that you must have faith that you will eventually succeed in any difficult situation, but you must also accept the reality of your current situation and take action to improve it.
Oh that monarchy dig really got me. Thanks for having coffee all over my keyboard now :P
Good vid.
This pretty much details a saying I've always had: Gray is the only Way.
I doubt I'm the first to use that phrase, but, to me, it means that black & white thinking of good and bad, optimism and pessimism, are as reductive as anything possibly could be. "The Way" here means that one must take everything on a case by case basis. Not that we shouldn't learn from others mistakes or sometimes make assumptions about ideas we already know to be problematic, but we MUST NOT generalize to the point of a false dichotomy of a thing being only bad or good.
Gray is the Only Way.
💯a non-binary mindset.
8:35
Which of these temperaments emphasize "persistence"?
My mentality I that I expect the worst, but I don't let it get to me, if that makes any sense.
Throughout this whole video, I could not help but to remember one of George Carlin's finishing lines, which is a tidbit of wisdom: "The owners of this country know the truth: it's called "The American Dream", because you have to be asleep to believe it."
What I find refreshing is that George didn't need to read any of the works of Carl Marks to learn this. He figured it out all on his own.
Anyways, nothing wrong with having a bit of optimism, but not when it is the key focus of one's life. Gotta have a healthy dose of pessimism to make sure that you don't walk into a situation blindly.
You should read Humakind a hopefully history. It’s more about the pessimism in social science really worth checking out
my patron saint is debbie downer. that's right, i'm reclaiming her, and her message of hope, because to call out a problem is the first step to addressing it
I'd say that optimism works in the lines of faith or is usually associated with belief ie. Believe we'll reach X outcome (and usually questionably functional when there's intent to downplay the means in which X outcome is attained.)
Pessimism directs you to exercise introspection by recognizing possible, or likely problems. So in that sense it's apparently more functional.
Even when things go awry and you went full Batman (contingency plans for your contingency plans), being a pessimist prepares you for disappointment and thus makes you more likely to better learn from failure: by virtue, a pessimist already started analyzing the inner workings of the problem/situation because bad outcomes are the expectation by default.
This probably says something about me, but all these fun philisophical dilemma always make me think Easter style enlightenment is the answer.
Like the conclusion: “don’t put any expectations on the future, “is basically staying in the present and commenting on the suffering of the mind. Don’t know why I felt the need to share this but I did so enjoy.
I think you should be optimistic when you know for sure that you're going to put in the effort to set the example to bring forth that optimism.
Exactly
Michael! Longtime fan first time caller. Can you do a video on how many Americans are lonely and have an unhealthy reliance/obsession with dogs as a “fix” for their loneliness? Dog moms and fur babies and the prevailing attitude that dog lives are greater than human lives. I think it would be controversial and get people talkin.
Early in the video, when he was reading the text on the screen and the highlight was following his words, what was that noise when it moved to the next line?
Mental Attitude is important. One almost never finds out just how vital it is to maintain a positive outlook until one is in an extended survival situation.
I feel like this was part-two to your everything everywhere all at once video