tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1089082204850170942.post4867835224373975855..comments2024-03-21T12:52:08.166+11:00Comments on Freedom and Flourishing: Do most people have a pessimistic bias?Winton Bateshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07383561940886657594noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1089082204850170942.post-14452599443374955832009-01-18T11:22:00.000+11:002009-01-18T11:22:00.000+11:00Me-Me: That isn't the way the rest of the world se...Me-Me: That isn't the way the rest of the world sees Americans. I'm not sure I am entitled to speak for the rest of the world, but (despite what I have written above) I am sure that Americans are nearly all incorrigible optimists. <BR/>When Americans are down on their luck they console themselves with the thought that their luck must change soon and in any case every cloud has a silver lining. Australians console themselves with the thought that things could always be worse. Sometimes a relatively optimistic Australian will assert that things can't get much worse than they are now. But such people are quickly told not to get their hopes up too high because things could actually get a "hellava" lot worse.<BR/>You might appreciate this poem by John O'Brien which captures the traditional pessimisim of Australians: http://www.middlemiss.org/lit/authors/obrienj/poetry/hanrahan.htmlWinton Bateshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07383561940886657594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1089082204850170942.post-23127549627209487422009-01-18T08:12:00.000+11:002009-01-18T08:12:00.000+11:00It seems commonplace that Americans are pessimisti...It seems commonplace that Americans are pessimistic. My dad heard the doom of the future from his father, I heard it from my dad, my children have heard it from me and so it goes. It's easy to accept that mindset, I think, when governments perform poorly.Me-Me Kinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15702437014277335742noreply@blogger.com