Pessimists Vs. Optimists

[vt]

Worst Day Ever?

by Chanie Gorkin

Today was the absolute worst day ever
And don't try to convince me that
There's something good in every day
Because, when you take a closer look,
This world is a pretty evil place.
Even if
Some goodness does shine through once in a while
Satisfaction and happiness don't last.
And it's not true that
It's all in the mind and heart
Because
True happiness can be attained
Only if one's surroundings are good
It's not true that good exists
I'm sure you can agree that
The reality
Creates
My attitude
It's all beyond my control
And you'll never in a million years hear me say
Today was a very good day

Now read it from bottom to top, the other way,
And see what I really feel about my day.

Optimists read it from the bottom up:-)

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2015/07/27/worst-day-ever-poem-goes-viral/

[lektrode]

Re: Pessimists Vs. Optimists

Worst Day Ever?

Optimists read it from the bottom up:-)

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2015/07/27/worst-day-ever-poem-goes-viral/

just another example of how near completely intellectually as well as morally BANKRUPT the lamerstream media has become

they cant/WONT publish or broadcast whats really going on in The US today, so they trawl the depths of 'social media' looking for sh_t to fill the otherwise dead air - or whitespace - around all the adverts - which mostly get ignored/tuned OUT.

[gwynedd1]

Re: Pessimists Vs. Optimists

just another example of how near completely intellectually as well as morally BANKRUPT the lamerstream media has become

they cant/WONT publish or broadcast whats really going on in The US today, so they trawl the depths of 'social media' looking for sh_t to fill the otherwise dead air - or whitespace - around all the adverts - which mostly get ignored/tuned OUT.

Maybe they are showing what's really going on. Maybe the world is like that poem and they read it to us the way they like. Perhaps you under estimate just how much our current media might admire such a work. Its source material for any agenda. That is what our news is today. After all we are typically the most fascinated with things we unconsciously see in ourselves . No matter what happens, its source material for any agenda. Read it one way and you see freedom fighters. Read it another and you see terrorists. Consensus is the absence of leadership and dictatorship is the absence of consensus.

[vt]

Re: Pessimists Vs. Optimists

There has been bad stuff going on since the stone age. The press and politicians just want everyone to think the worse so we will need them to "protect us".

Living standards in the U.S. are the highest mankind ever experienced. Food stamps, Obamaphones, housing, etc. etc.

It's all in how one looks at the world. Opportunity is everywhere. Public libraries are open to anyone looking to improve themselves.

There are just way too many people looking for a place to plug in their umbilical cord. The crybabies whimpering is pathetic.

Those who succeed fail many times, but they persevere and win out. The others need to get off their ass and take a risk.

We do need to take care of and protect those whose are disabled, children, and the poor old; but everyone else needs to open their eyes.

[astonas]

Re: Pessimists Vs. Optimists

There has been bad stuff going on since the stone age. The press and politicians just want everyone to think the worse so we will need them to "protect us".

Living standards in the U.S. are the highest mankind ever experienced. Food stamps, Obamaphones, housing, etc. etc.

It's all in how one looks at the world. Opportunity is everywhere. Public libraries are open to anyone looking to improve themselves.

There are just way too many people looking for a place to plug in their umbilical cord. The crybabies whimpering is pathetic.

Those who succeed fail many times, but they persevere and win out. The others need to get off their ass and take a risk.

We do need to take care of and protect those whose are disabled, children, and the poor old; but everyone else needs to open their eyes.

"The highest living standards mankind has ever experienced"? Your information is more than just a little outdated. We're not even the highest right now! Turns out, we come in in tenth, this year:

http://www.numbeo.com/quality-of-life/rankings_by_country.js

I know that the focus of the thread was on optimism vs. pessimism. But I think there is an important place on that spectrum for simple realism as well. And the claims in the quote above are entirely disconnected from reality.

Yes things have been worse in the past, and we don't have to go back to the stone age to make that point. But that is entirely separate from whether they could be better yet, going forward. Or even more objectively demonstrable, whether they could be made better, right here and now.

The persistent and ridiculous delusion that "We're number one!" is keeping us from looking around the world, and seeing better ways of doing things. We're NOT number one; it is simply factually incorrect to claim that we are. And if we finally admit to that, maybe we could finally do something about it.

There ARE still some things the US is still overwhelmingly number one at: Prison population. Military spending. Amount of money given to bankers in the last bailout. If that's what you're referring to when you mean "living standards", then by all means, continue to brag, and we can simply agree that we are interested in different things. But you seem to be referring to upward mobility, and we're not at the top of that list, either. In fact, compared to other OECD nations, we're not doing very well at all:

While faith in the American Dream is deep, evidence suggests that the United States lacks policies to ensure the opportunities that the dream envisions. According to the data, there is considerably more mobility in most other developed economies. The figure below, from The State of Working America, 12th Edition, measures the relationship between earnings of fathers and sons in member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) with similar incomes to the United States and for which data are available. An elasticity of zero would mean there is no relationship, and thus complete intergenerational mobility, with poor children just as likely as rich children to end up as rich adults. The higher the elasticity, the greater the influence of one’s birth circumstances on later life position.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]5678[/ATTACH]

The relationship between father-son earnings is tighter in the United States than in most peer OECD countries, meaning U.S. mobility is among the lowest of major industrialized economies. The relatively low correlations between father-son earnings in Scandinavian countries provide a stark contradiction to the conventional wisdom. An elasticity of 0.47 found in the United States offers much less likelihood of moving up than an elasticity of 0.18 or less, as characterizes Finland, Norway, and Denmark.

One doesn't have to be a crybaby to want life to be better than it is. To me, that seems a fairly normal human aspiration.

But one does need to be delusional to think that we as a nation are doing as well as we possibly could. There's places dispelling that Panglossian notion, by doing far better than we are, even today.

[Woodsman]

Re: Pessimists Vs. Optimists

We're number 10! We're number 10!



In your face Austria! Whooop!

[vt]

Re: Pessimists Vs. Optimists

Have a nice day!

But while you continue to complain about anything and everything, the rest of us will help our fellow citizens to raise the downtrodden out of poverty by creating jobs, ending corrupt cronyism, and moving forward.

[lektrode]

Re: Pessimists Vs. Optimists

Have a nice day!

But while you continue to complain about anything and everything, the rest of us will help our fellow citizens to raise the downtrodden out of poverty by creating jobs, ending corrupt cronyism, and moving forward.

+1
but vt.. uhhh.. by the tone of this, you musta poured yer first at same time i did?

anyway, guess it all depends on ones definition of 'forward' (and whom that might accrue to..)

judging by the latest 'progress' within the beltway ?

it looks like they're all moving forward allright - now that the most recent chapter of kabuki known as 'the recovery' has 'successfully' concluded ? ummm... for some people anyway - The Rest of US, not so much
(read: Obama's former top cop cashes in after six years of letting banks run wild )


now we're gonna have the classic sideshow of 'the reigning in of the gov's 'overstepping' - with likely liz warren as the posterchild+scapegoat du jour - RIGHT?

riiiight....

Look Out, Washington: Goldman-Busting Senate Panel Now Sets Sights on Government

for what - they gonna 'roll back' frank-upin-dodd since it 'hasnt been very effective' ? (unless tits on a bull makes sense)

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

[ProdigyofZen]

Re: Pessimists Vs. Optimists

But one does need to be delusional to think that we as a nation are doing as well as we possibly could. There's places dispelling that Panglossian notion, by doing far better than we are, even today.

+2 for a reference to Candide and Voltaire

Pangloss and Voltaire did share something in common, The French Disease.

And to think modern humans are afraid to catch the common cold when the French Disease was a normal part of life for almost 500 years.

[Woodsman]

Re: Pessimists Vs. Optimists

Have a nice day!

But while you continue to complain about anything and everything, the rest of us will help our fellow citizens to raise the downtrodden out of poverty by creating jobs, ending corrupt cronyism, and moving forward.

Good for you, vt. Go for the Cadillac. Always Be Closing!

[GRG55]

Re: Pessimists Vs. Optimists

http://www.itulip.com/forums/showthr...e-You-a-Doomer

[santafe2]

Re: Pessimists Vs. Optimists

http://www.itulip.com/forums/showthr...e-You-a-Doomer

You live in a more friendly, more socialist state GRG. When you lose in the US you lose Detroit style. I'm not criticizing the US, this is just who we are. It's much more black and white. You win or you lose...Coffee is for closers. We had this idea 50 years ago that we'd be a bit more like our cousins to the north but out heritage won the day. The US is a great country if you know how the game is played and have the talent to play.