Why not be positive? Is there a cash prize for all the doubters when the worst-case scenario becomes possible? Does looking at the negative improve your daily existence? I just don't get it.
And I don't think I'm a happy shiny person. But of course, none of us do. I can't deny that knowing someone thought I was cynical would bother me a lot. I do still care about what people think of me, for some reason.
I see negativity as the ultimate logical fallacy. Nothing good is going to happen, so I expect nothing good, and then nothing good happens.
Yes, yes, there's some advantage to having a lowered set of expectations, but it seems like a slim one to me. If you can readjust your plans after somethings turns out not as great as you hoped, how is that different from re-adjusting your plans when something is not as bad as you feared? Either way, the essential skill is adjustment. So why not look on the upside?
Why not wander the world thinking the flowers are pretty, that everyone probably really likes you, that it's kind of frustrating right now, but it's going to turn out okay? Why not believe that you will be in the 60% that recover, instead of the 40% that do not? Why not believe in democracy?
(I could go on and on about voting right now, but will not. But it does seem that part of the generation gap in American election turn-out is because the Millennial generation thinks it doesn't matter, politics is just theater, my vote doesn't count because it didn't go my way last time, etc. It then becomes the self-fulfilling prophecy... and I'm going on and on when I said I would not.)
You can try to argue with me, but luckily, due to nifty things like confirmation bias, I will not be deterred.
And I don't think I'm a happy shiny person. But of course, none of us do. I can't deny that knowing someone thought I was cynical would bother me a lot. I do still care about what people think of me, for some reason.
I see negativity as the ultimate logical fallacy. Nothing good is going to happen, so I expect nothing good, and then nothing good happens.
Yes, yes, there's some advantage to having a lowered set of expectations, but it seems like a slim one to me. If you can readjust your plans after somethings turns out not as great as you hoped, how is that different from re-adjusting your plans when something is not as bad as you feared? Either way, the essential skill is adjustment. So why not look on the upside?
Why not wander the world thinking the flowers are pretty, that everyone probably really likes you, that it's kind of frustrating right now, but it's going to turn out okay? Why not believe that you will be in the 60% that recover, instead of the 40% that do not? Why not believe in democracy?
(I could go on and on about voting right now, but will not. But it does seem that part of the generation gap in American election turn-out is because the Millennial generation thinks it doesn't matter, politics is just theater, my vote doesn't count because it didn't go my way last time, etc. It then becomes the self-fulfilling prophecy... and I'm going on and on when I said I would not.)
You can try to argue with me, but luckily, due to nifty things like confirmation bias, I will not be deterred.
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