You can purport to be an optimist or an idealist but if you are expressing this by being insulting and rude to people who are cynics or experiencing despair, youre not actually an optimist, you are someone trying to feel better than other people. Do you think insulting and attacking people who are in pain creates a hopeful enviornment or a spirit of togetherness, with a confidence we can change society for good? Or does it reinforce cynical ideas and prove that people will attack you for vulnerability and its not safe to reach out to others to help.
Attacking people for losing hope does not give them hope, it murders it. Reach out with kindness, or if you cannot, say nothing at all. It does not foster optimism, hope, or togetherness to be rude and insulting to people for having a mindset that is again, an expression of real pain.
Its not an excuse to be an asshole about it, but even attacking assholes does not help. It only further creates a hostile enviornment. Simply step away from the asshole and create a healing space, which they are welcome to join when they learn to behave, and bar them from when they cannot.
And a lot of people act like someone just being cynical is inherently an asshole when its just not true. They feel that way for a reason, it is an expression of real pain. Even from children and teenagers its not just being immature or dramatic, its that our society treats children and teenagers very badly and limits their autonomy, which is a form of abuse.
A lot of people are cruel. Our current society rewards abuse. Often you have to be more closed off to protect yourself. People will attack any vulnerability, and it is not being irrational to notice this. And it is a normal understandable reaction to be depressed about this, and it makes sense that many people feel they have no choice but to participate in it or else they will be eaten by it. And if they do not wish to participate in cruelty but see no other choice to survive, it makes sense why so many people want to lay down and be consumed by the muck.
But that doesnt mean hope is pointless. In fact, having hope that things can get better, that some people are good and kind, is the only way to not let these negative things consume you completely. It is still worth it to open up and expose weakness, just to find those few people who will bandage your wounds instead of digging their claws in. Humans are natrually a species that helps each other. We are a social species. The way things are is artificial, and human nature strains against it. With patience and nurturing, we can be good and kind as a species again. And even if we may never live to see that day, we can carve out little spaces where people are good and kind to each other. And thats worth doing and living for.
