A lot of time this seems to be because they have their preferred solution to the problem and feel anything else that ameliorates the problem interferes with getting their preferred solution implemented.

> My sad friend, I know you’re dispirited and discouraged. But don’t spread your shit on other people’s optimism.

I feel like I have to borrow this line.

Seriously. "Because Capitalism" is a tiresome thought ender to justify doing nothing. How about we reduce the symptoms until we devise a cure? No? Because that sounds like work and requires more thought and creativity than just telling people to _smash capitalism_?

Absolutely mute-able.

Unless they can propose a solution to the problem that DOES fix the entire problem then no point in dismissing progress.

"EV cars are not the solution to global warming. We need to move to zero cars. And heat our houses using a treadmill!"

I've muted people for this crap.

I find it similar to driving to a place far away for the first time, using only a road atlas to guide you. You plan a route in the macro, but you must make micro decisions at every intersection and highway exit to actually get there, and navigate around traffic and road construction as needed.

It's a real problem

https://www.academia.edu/2998-3665/3/3/10.20935/AcadEnergy8514

Doing nothing can be better than doing something if the something is counterproductive. If you have an oil fire on your cooker and someone is about to pour water on it, stopping them won’t put out the fire but it’s still the right choice.

(Bad situation discussed)

Them: what do you propose?
Me: here’s an example of people succeeding, another one, another one, there are more, you can look them up
Them, within 2 mins: this will never work, first will fail
Here because X, second because Y, third because they are over there and we are not them!

I wished them a good day because an instant reply shooting everything down is a bad faith argument. People piled on me instead because “just because they disagree with you doesn’t mean it’s bad faith”

I didn’t even see any disagreement. Just everything shot down out of negativity. I’m too old and perimenopausal to argue with shallow, negative thinkers who don’t even want to try.

It's not always easy, but I want to celebrate anyone's effort to make something better. Or at least less bad.

I think:

• be suitably pessimistic in order to figure out the most important area to work on (do risk analysis)
• build a prototype to prove the naysayers wrong
• be prepared to throw away prototypes
• build knowledge and expertise
• iterate

Some people are just energy vampires. Exclude them or give them the grey rock treatment.

I think pessimism as a philosophy gets a bad rap, but when you see a persistently negative person, it's not necessarily pessimism that drives them, but nihilism. Definitely avoid/shun those ones!

Please help family, friends and neighbors confirm their voter registration and have a solid plan to vote. We go door to door in our neighborhood with candidate info and encouragement.

Vote out ALL Republicans. Local, State and Federal. Every One! That'll help.
#vote #elections #democracy #family

But I’m totally using that in the future. Cheers!

Dad used to say the best way to clean up an enormous pile of shit was to grab a shovel and start digging.

“IT CAN ALWAYS GET WORSE.”

The point of the phrase is to break yourself out of an all-or-nothing mindset. If you can imagine things getting worse, that means you’re actually somewhere on a CONTINUUM of bad-to-good. And if you’re on a continuum, that means things can get BETTER. You may not be able to fix everything, but you can usually make things better.

PS: The full phrase I use is: “It can always get worse; you could also be standing in shit.”

It takes a bit for me to get over that hump.