this post was submitted on 29 Oct 2023
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Optimism doesn't change the world, but if you don't take time to recognize something might be a positive, that just seems to increase helplessness even more to me. Like there has been action done to encourage the growth of socialism by people for decades, so seeing that there seems to be a least one indicator of it not going further backwards, we should reflect on that lest our spirits be completely crushed.
Angela Davis said a few days ago: “Hope is the condition of all struggles.” I believe this is true and don't desire for leftists to lose hope. But just as deadly to movements is blind optimism, the belief that things will necessarily improve automatically and without struggle.
Religion may help the masses cope with the world, but it is still illusory and often leads to counter revolutionary thought, if one puts more faith in external causes rather than revolutionary ie human-driven change.
A poll of youth opinion of capitalism is meaningless in itself and needs to be normalized with historical data, such as the tendency for younger age groups to be historically more optimistic by default before those same people become more cynical and reactionary in later life.
That is true, much more important than faith and optimism or anything like that is determined action. I think I've just been feeling a bit too pessimistic/stressed lately so felt like I needed to defend positivity haha.
I feel you, it’s hard lately especially with Palestine. In spite of everything I said, there are still things which make me hopeful. There is more support for Palestine among western citizens than I remember from past events in the region. Leaders from the global majority countries are cooperating more and more, and the disproportionate influence of the US has been waning in significant strides in the last 20 years. These occurrences of blatant imperialism will hopefully grow more infrequent as a result. Of course, that’s what the neoliberals also promised in the 1980s, but I think there is a stronger case for it this time.