Greatly enjoyed this piece. I came across a similar argument recently, albeit through a different disciplinary approach. You might enjoy reading it. The author, John Plotz, is a Victorianist with political side interests and what he and others call ‘B side’ texts, those texts ‘lost’ to readers because other, ‘bigger’ texts get all of the attention. His term for ‘doomerism’ is ‘anticipatory despair’, riffing on Timothy Snyder’s notion of ‘anticipatory obedience’. I do, though, really like ‘Futilitarianism’. Thank you for introducing me to that term.
I came, I saw, I was vexed, I stuck around, I conquered.
Your wisdom and that of others is a beacon of hope that is needed. Not all crises are quickly addressed or easily fixed but we have, as human beings, tackled lots of problems over time and come up with answers, insight and/or acceptance.
#3 in Pragmatic Solutions has been an interesting pursuit for me. From my grandparent's journals with WWI-era, Kansas Dust Bowl and New Deal firsthand experiences and lessons, I've seen the living, breathing version of history. The challenges and setbacks have been monumental in our country's relatively short history but so have the advances and improvements.
We build on what we have, we grow on what we face.
Also, newspapers.com has extraordinary value whenever we think we're facing new problems or that we think we can say with certainty that "there never used to be [fill in the blank]" or "we've always [fill in the blank]." Newspaper articles from the 1800's and forward tell rich and realistic stories of how things do and don't change.
I think part of how we get to this more can-do, positive-sum attitude is by ensuring young people learn about the heroes that built the modern world.
Too much in education is either just delivering knowledge (without much indication on who figured things out and how) or self-criticism of the West. If knowledge just happens and the culture that made it just happen is obviously morally corrupt then how can you think things can get better?
That makes sense! Only I think there is more than one culture that made knowledge happen. I don't think we have to engage in hate-of-the-West to acknowledge contributions of the many cultures that have contributed to the richness and variety of this world.
I would add one thing to your great article. Always ask the question of: "How can I use what happened to my personal benefit?" It restores agency and re-frames an event into actionable terms.
I love her! I cited her when I first started noodling on this article (I posted a predecessor to this piece on Facebook weeks ago), but then I forgot to include her in the final piece.
Greatly enjoyed this piece. I came across a similar argument recently, albeit through a different disciplinary approach. You might enjoy reading it. The author, John Plotz, is a Victorianist with political side interests and what he and others call ‘B side’ texts, those texts ‘lost’ to readers because other, ‘bigger’ texts get all of the attention. His term for ‘doomerism’ is ‘anticipatory despair’, riffing on Timothy Snyder’s notion of ‘anticipatory obedience’. I do, though, really like ‘Futilitarianism’. Thank you for introducing me to that term.
Here’s a link to Plotz’ short ‘essay’: https://www.publicbooks.org/lying-in-politics-hannah-arendts-antidote-to-anticipatory-despair/
Veni, vidi, vexatus, velcro, vici!
I came, I saw, I was vexed, I stuck around, I conquered.
Your wisdom and that of others is a beacon of hope that is needed. Not all crises are quickly addressed or easily fixed but we have, as human beings, tackled lots of problems over time and come up with answers, insight and/or acceptance.
#3 in Pragmatic Solutions has been an interesting pursuit for me. From my grandparent's journals with WWI-era, Kansas Dust Bowl and New Deal firsthand experiences and lessons, I've seen the living, breathing version of history. The challenges and setbacks have been monumental in our country's relatively short history but so have the advances and improvements.
We build on what we have, we grow on what we face.
Also, newspapers.com has extraordinary value whenever we think we're facing new problems or that we think we can say with certainty that "there never used to be [fill in the blank]" or "we've always [fill in the blank]." Newspaper articles from the 1800's and forward tell rich and realistic stories of how things do and don't change.
Love this take and also this suggestion!
Jason Crawford calls this “solutionism”: https://newsletter.rootsofprogress.org/p/solutionism-part-1
I think part of how we get to this more can-do, positive-sum attitude is by ensuring young people learn about the heroes that built the modern world.
Too much in education is either just delivering knowledge (without much indication on who figured things out and how) or self-criticism of the West. If knowledge just happens and the culture that made it just happen is obviously morally corrupt then how can you think things can get better?
That makes sense! Only I think there is more than one culture that made knowledge happen. I don't think we have to engage in hate-of-the-West to acknowledge contributions of the many cultures that have contributed to the richness and variety of this world.
I would add one thing to your great article. Always ask the question of: "How can I use what happened to my personal benefit?" It restores agency and re-frames an event into actionable terms.
This is such a great read! The “abundance agenda” needs to be embraced
I choose practical optimism!
Two of us for Team Practical Optimism! Our motto can be, "Probably we're not all going to die tomorrow so let's get to work."
I love this. Do you follow Rebecca Solnit? Her writing on hope is useful
I love her! I cited her when I first started noodling on this article (I posted a predecessor to this piece on Facebook weeks ago), but then I forgot to include her in the final piece.
lol