i do not properly know how to express that i don't actually feel hope for the world or think that we can actually do better without just coming off as the kind of doomer shit that almost enjoys wallowing in misery
not that i don't think individuals can do better, but just like, not collectively, and not at the scale that's needed, and not against the sheer inertia of a world hell-bent on devouring itself
The premise is, no matter how unlikely things are to get better, acting as if it's a foregone conclusion will guarantee nothing gets better. The optimism is prefigurative.
@exameter left this comment in reply and i think this gets at why, as bleak as my outlook on this whole era is, i don't really fall in with the doomer or nihilist mindset, and why i specifically called that out by name to try to distance the tone from it - "it's all fucked so why try" is uninteresting and useless
im not sure strategic optimism is exactly how i'd describe how i feel, but there's at least a sort of common baseline there of like, at least trying even if you're pretty sure shit's bad
