Here’s a question I’ve been thinking about recently: is optimism a symptom of privilege?
If a person is born into material comfort and all their needs are readily met, it makes sense that they would grow up expecting things to work out, expecting obstacles to be surmountable. I think.
But on the other hand, I could also see how privilege might spoil a person into noticing the tiny inessential details that are missing; make them habitually notice the small things they don’t have as opposed to appreciating their comfortable and fortunate big picture.
But on the other other hand, maybe it’s more useful to reconfigure our understanding of the word “optimism.”
If we take it to mean the blind faith that things will just somehow work out then it implies that our lives are out of our hands, which is no better than pessimism or even maybe nihilism. It’s, “I have no control over whether things work out, so there’s no reason to try.
However, if we define optimism as having faith in our ability to work through challenges, then optimism implies agency. It’s taking an active role in our fate.
I don’t think optimism is about deluding ourselves about the state of our lives, or the state of the wider world. We’ve all got problems – individual and global. But we’ve made it this far – individually and globally. And I think that means we’ve got a good chance at making it further.
With that in mind, I’d like to present “In Twenty Years of So” by Father John Misty as my current favourite optimist’s anthem.
What makes this a beautiful song:
1. The lyrics he uses to express the futility of the human race and its efforts at civilization are just gut-wrenching. A ghost in a cheap rental suit…A speck on a speck on a speck / Made more ridiculous the more serious he gets.
2. The first verse ends at 1:25, and then the vocals disappear for almost two full minutes before coming back to deliver the bad news: I read somewhere that in twenty years more or less / This human experiment will reach its violent end.
3. But I look at you as our second drinks arrive / The piano player’s playing “This Must Be the Place / and it’s a miracle to be alive. There’s nothing to fear.
Recommended listening activity:
Finding an ant in your house and helping it make its way back outside.