A bit more than a decade ago, I launched a column for The Atlantic and Reuters and then Slate. It was called “The Edgy Optimist.” The goal was to take a weekly look at what might go right, rather than focus relentlessly on all that is going wrong. Now, in a time of deep pessimism bordering on despair, I’m re-launching
Brand new Millennium, brand new century---like Sandy Walker sagely observes---we're "21" now, time to grow up! With over 8 billion of us now, we really can't just fart around anymore. Amazingly, though, we are so close to what Wallace Stevens called an "Imperfect Paradise" (the only "perfect" one is death, so. . .), especially here in the USA, where ya can pretty much smoke a blunt and buttfuck on just about any corner anywhere: I'm being brutally facetious, of course, but we are living like Rajas, even the lowliest of us down here below the bottom rung---compared to most everywhere else in the world. But that's how it should be everywhere. FREEDOM. Free to be the human you were meant to be. Free to Live exactly how you want to Live. And we know exactly what to do to ensure that Freedom: get into Space, mining the Asteroid and Kuiper belts and building an International Moon base; solar-paneling the world (it just might offset the Albedo effect; plus, think about how many megavolts could be generated just from the Pentagon's vast roof alone); and ensure that every human everywhere has the right to live the longest, happiest, healthiest life they can, without fear of any kind of oppression, whether political, economic, or criminal (and war is the biggest crime of all here in the 21st Century---totally unacceptable). We're accepting too much---Trumpy The Unbearable an actual viable Presidential candidate? Chucky is a saner choice---and we don't have to accept anything: out of that 8 billion there's at least 6 billon of us who just want to live the longest, happiest, healthiest life we can, and we know the only way that's gonna happen is if EVERYONE EVERYWHERE is living the longest, etc. That's it. Anything else is BULLSHIT! I'm tired of shoveling it everyday when there's absolutely no reason to have to shovel it 'cept we're too chickenshit to take actual responsibility for what's actually happening in the actual world and take the actual steps to prevent this wonderful planet from spiraling into an actual, and very brutal, oblivion. Oh, but don't stop blunting and sodomizing---I ain't---'cause that's what's greasing these Revolutionary gears (no, not really, but blowing smoke up one's ass takes on a whole new meaning). ---M. R. Abbink-Gallagher
I'm on board! Let's hear your edgy optimism - we definitely need more of it! I read The Progress Network newsletter every week and I share the positive news on my social media. I believe we are in a time of humanity "growing up" from a childish immaturity of "I can't do it" to the maturing adolescence of "Maybe, I CAN do it." Be the forerunner you are, Zachary! 🙂 Let it rip!
Thank you for relaunching the Edgy Optimist. And also, this --- "Optimism, therefore, isn’t the certainty that tomorrow will be better than today; it’s the certainty that we have the capacity to make it so."
I will look forward to each issue and I'm happy and honored to share the world of optimism with you!
Thank you Zachary and this community! I also want to add something I've been pondering. It's funny how if I DON'T anticipate the worst possible outcomes in the future--for politics, for environmental protection, for violent conflicts--I'm suddenly an optimist.
The thing is, though, most people who are sucked into online news and social media anticipate a future that's extremely far on the doom side of the spectrum. So when I suggest possibilities that are somewhere else on the spectrum, but still not on the other end--not on the utopia end--I'm called an optimist. If you suggest a future for something that isn't apocalyptic, you are an optimist? Even though in my heart I am an optimist, that reasoning doesn't really make logical sense.
There's a HUGE spectrum of possibilities--and like you said, it's arrogant to assume we know the future that hasn't been built--and the most likely outcomes are somewhere on the spectrum that isn't the extreme, on either side. Hope that made sense :)
One might also add that when the bad things happen as expected, they're not nearly as bad as we imagined and we are much better at coping and still getting joy from life than we think.
I look forward to further exploration. You wrote, “I also won’t avoid confronting questions that some people would rather not ask, on the left, on the right and everywhere in between and beyond. The only way to find balance is to always examine our assumptions, always challenge our deeply held beliefs.” And I would clarify that we may not find balance but rather truth, and that can be dis-equilibrating. Patty G
Wowzee...I feels hoptimistic already! Thanks, I hoppreciate you, have a binky-filled and blessed day!
I don’t see any articles. I’m not being raised up yet
Recommended by Steven Pinker - there isn't much higher praise as far as I'm concerned.
excellent perspective
Brand new Millennium, brand new century---like Sandy Walker sagely observes---we're "21" now, time to grow up! With over 8 billion of us now, we really can't just fart around anymore. Amazingly, though, we are so close to what Wallace Stevens called an "Imperfect Paradise" (the only "perfect" one is death, so. . .), especially here in the USA, where ya can pretty much smoke a blunt and buttfuck on just about any corner anywhere: I'm being brutally facetious, of course, but we are living like Rajas, even the lowliest of us down here below the bottom rung---compared to most everywhere else in the world. But that's how it should be everywhere. FREEDOM. Free to be the human you were meant to be. Free to Live exactly how you want to Live. And we know exactly what to do to ensure that Freedom: get into Space, mining the Asteroid and Kuiper belts and building an International Moon base; solar-paneling the world (it just might offset the Albedo effect; plus, think about how many megavolts could be generated just from the Pentagon's vast roof alone); and ensure that every human everywhere has the right to live the longest, happiest, healthiest life they can, without fear of any kind of oppression, whether political, economic, or criminal (and war is the biggest crime of all here in the 21st Century---totally unacceptable). We're accepting too much---Trumpy The Unbearable an actual viable Presidential candidate? Chucky is a saner choice---and we don't have to accept anything: out of that 8 billion there's at least 6 billon of us who just want to live the longest, happiest, healthiest life we can, and we know the only way that's gonna happen is if EVERYONE EVERYWHERE is living the longest, etc. That's it. Anything else is BULLSHIT! I'm tired of shoveling it everyday when there's absolutely no reason to have to shovel it 'cept we're too chickenshit to take actual responsibility for what's actually happening in the actual world and take the actual steps to prevent this wonderful planet from spiraling into an actual, and very brutal, oblivion. Oh, but don't stop blunting and sodomizing---I ain't---'cause that's what's greasing these Revolutionary gears (no, not really, but blowing smoke up one's ass takes on a whole new meaning). ---M. R. Abbink-Gallagher
Great to have you back!
I'm on board! Let's hear your edgy optimism - we definitely need more of it! I read The Progress Network newsletter every week and I share the positive news on my social media. I believe we are in a time of humanity "growing up" from a childish immaturity of "I can't do it" to the maturing adolescence of "Maybe, I CAN do it." Be the forerunner you are, Zachary! 🙂 Let it rip!
Thank you for relaunching the Edgy Optimist. And also, this --- "Optimism, therefore, isn’t the certainty that tomorrow will be better than today; it’s the certainty that we have the capacity to make it so."
I will look forward to each issue and I'm happy and honored to share the world of optimism with you!
Looking forward to your weekly posts!
Thanks for restarting this
Thank you for the kernel of hope I needed
Thank you Zachary and this community! I also want to add something I've been pondering. It's funny how if I DON'T anticipate the worst possible outcomes in the future--for politics, for environmental protection, for violent conflicts--I'm suddenly an optimist.
The thing is, though, most people who are sucked into online news and social media anticipate a future that's extremely far on the doom side of the spectrum. So when I suggest possibilities that are somewhere else on the spectrum, but still not on the other end--not on the utopia end--I'm called an optimist. If you suggest a future for something that isn't apocalyptic, you are an optimist? Even though in my heart I am an optimist, that reasoning doesn't really make logical sense.
There's a HUGE spectrum of possibilities--and like you said, it's arrogant to assume we know the future that hasn't been built--and the most likely outcomes are somewhere on the spectrum that isn't the extreme, on either side. Hope that made sense :)
Love the premise of this. Hope this community can be an inspiration to do the work to make tomorrow better.
"Optimism, therefore, isn’t the certainty that tomorrow will be better than today; it’s the certainty that we have the capacity to make it so."
One might also add that when the bad things happen as expected, they're not nearly as bad as we imagined and we are much better at coping and still getting joy from life than we think.
I think that definitely depends on who you are and what you look like.
I look forward to further exploration. You wrote, “I also won’t avoid confronting questions that some people would rather not ask, on the left, on the right and everywhere in between and beyond. The only way to find balance is to always examine our assumptions, always challenge our deeply held beliefs.” And I would clarify that we may not find balance but rather truth, and that can be dis-equilibrating. Patty G
😊👍