[hope_full]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')ell that to the single Mom just maken ends meet right now. What in God's Earth do they have to be optimistic about? For those with "means" being optimist is a heck of a lot easier, huh.

[vision-master]

In the past, the extended family all lived in the same community and would help each other. This happened to my Dad as his Mom died from TB at 23 years or age. Everything has changed now. Many kids only VIST parents a couple time a year now. The family has broken down.

[hope_full]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'M')any kids only VIST parents a couple time a year now. The family has broken down.

[charliebrownout]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('hope_full', 'T')his is a serious question. I consider myself to be quite the optimist in every way and yet I hear folks on these forums using the word "doomers" to describe themselves.

I'm not a doomer. In fact, I'm one of the most optimistic people I know, but as a student of history, the most optimistic bend I can put on this Peak Oil problem is that we'll have a soft landing.

I've done a lot of reading on the topic and I don't know how any well-read, independent thinker can think that we're not going to run out of oil - at some point in the not-so-terribly distant future.

So, am I the only starry-eyed optimist here? Generally speaking, do your friends tell you you're an optimist or a pessimist? Or maybe you're an optimist on everything *but* peak oil???

HF

[mos6507]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('hope_full', '
')I think "single moms" will become a thing of the past. Riasing children alone is way, way too hard a thing to do on one's own and I think single parenthood is an anomaly of nature and by no means, "normal."

[mos6507]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('charliebrownout', '
')I also deeply distrust Kunstler--he irks me. I have no idea why, and perhaps it is unfair, but it's true.

[phaster]

Are you an optimist or a pessimist?

What about adding another catagory, such as realist?

Seems to me the optimist, is the kind of individual who believes that nothing bad is going to happen at least not to them. Individuals I'd place in this catageory would be all the suckers who thought there was nothing wrong with subprime loans, and that subprime loans were a way to get rich! Another example of an optimist is president bush and the rest of the political idiots who thought and tries to sell the US public that going to war in Iraq was going to be a cake walk and that US armed forces would be trated as liberators (and not understand that the politics of the middle east is pretty damn complex and is an out growth of thousands of years of tribal skirmishes).

The pessimist, IMHO is the kind of individual who gets their jollys from prepairing for doom and gloom. Continuing with my broad brush strokes of using President bush as an example of an optimist, I'll use Bin Laden and other religious wack jobs of a similar ilk that see no hope in this life or this world and cling to the belief that by dying or being a martyr they will find paradise in the afterlife...

Personally I'm a realist, and understand that shit does happen, but that its possible to avoid making the problem worst or even profit from random shit happening by being prepaired (which if ya didn't know is the old boy scout motto).

[Pops]

Interesting.

This old thread from 2008 saw the oil price high, miles driven already falling, foreclosures skyrocketing and the economy about to go kerplunk, but seems to have most folks confessing to optimism. They didn't think everything was going to be fine, or like OF2, better and better, they thought "things" would get bad but that they personally (and maybe the larger society) would muddle through. I get the feeling that is not the predominant view here now.

So did the optimistic peakers who were actively working to be more 'resilient' go elsewhere?
Like Ludi?

Did they all turn belly-up doomer, aggravated at seeing even the hint of optimism?
Like the folks who went to Maltusia?

Did they get skeered because they found out Doom was not just a computer game?
Turn Ostrich?

Back then, actively working toward some type of resilience was a pretty popular topic, now not so much. I can't help but think that the two are related. It takes a positive attitude to expend a little energy and effort toward change. A pessimistic outlook doesn't leave much room for action, it is more conducive to wallowing in despair.




So sign in, Opti or Pessi?
.

[onlooker]

A happy doomer is a nice description. A realist is what I consider myself. These terms apply because at a certain level we all feel we may be personally affected by world-wide problems. Life is so muddled you may die from a heart attack tomorrow or be struck by a speeding car. So emotional detachment is necessary at some level to not be so deeply affected. In the end pain and death are shadows that hang over all our heads. We all know that at some level. So can you and I deal with those two eventualities. I am perturbed by the prospect of extreme and/or prolonged pain. That is my biggest boogeyman. I am not the least bit bothered anymore by my eventual demise. In a way I look forward to it. My conscious decision is to be at peace. Thankfully in the last few years I have been able to mostly achieve this. So I worry not about the future. I am at peace. So maybe that makes me an optimist.

[AgentR11]

Such a funny question to pop back to the top.
Yesterday, I asserted to my dear family that I was a very optimistic, cheerful, mellow person.
They could not stop laughing at me.

I confess myself... disappointed.

[dinopello]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('AgentR11', 'S')uch a funny question to pop back to the top.
Yesterday, I asserted to my dear family that I was a very optimistic, cheerful, mellow person.
They could not stop laughing at me.

[PrestonSturges]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he Lord says he can get me out of this mess, but he's pretty sure you're fucked!

[Pops]

The part that confuses people is the difference between an optimistic forecast and an optimistic outlook.

Things will be optimal and it'll be great!
vs:
Things may not be optimal but I'll get by.
vs:
We're dead.

[Pops]

I see myself as an optimist too but I'm pretty sure the mainstream would see me as a near-Kazinsky*.

But what does one call themselves if they hope for the best but plan (and expect) the worst?

I know for sure that "Oh well, guess I'll just die and I'm OK with that" is not an optimistic outlook. LOL We're all gonna die, but I'll pass on the Kool Aid for now, thanks.

Maybe I need a better pair of words.


*[a decidedly non-violent, non-terrorist, huggy-kissy Kazinsky for you spooks listening in].

[dinopello]

It's the end of the world as we know it (and I feel fine)...

[PrestonSturges]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pops', '
')I know for sure that "Oh well, guess I'll just die and I'm OK with that" is not an optimistic outlook. LOL We're all gonna die, but I'll pass on the Kool Aid for now, thanks.

[Lore]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dinopello', '[')url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0GFRcFm-aY]It's the end of the world as we know it (and I feel fine)...[/url]

[SeaGypsy]

Seems to be an emerging theme that we 'doomers' have reset our baseline for contentment. We have made ourselves comfortable with scenarios which run concurrent to mainstream requirements of 'normal, acceptable reality'. Seems like people have a version of themselves we recreate despite setbacks, inverse perhaps to an addict or codependent lover who keeps going back despite efforts at leaving.

I bet most of us here are at acceptance on the Kubler-Ross grief process & have come back to ourselves having incorporated views which utterly freak out most people. My guess is we are generally as optimistic or pessimistic as before having to incorporate taboo knowledge.

[ralfy]

As mentioned earlier, a better term is "realist," and only because the effects of physical limitations will kick in no matter what one imagines:

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre ... g-collapse