Why are some people so negative?

[beli]

Why are some people so negative?(IMHO)

I have been pondering this a lot, and also avoiding FYM as I find some of the debates to be depressing.

What I want to know is why do some people read about a catastrophe caused by a limited amount of people and presume the rest of the world is going to tumble down the same hole?

I think perhaps I have more faith in the human race than some people on this board and I?m curious as to how and why some negative people decide to focus on a disaster and extrapolate the scenario on to the population at large.

This is not intended as a personal attack on anyone, just more a case of me fundamentally not understanding some people. And in doing so Im frustrating myself.

Just pondering..........

 

[anitram]

I think probably, there are many reasons.

Sometimes, people just have different personalities. My mother is the most optimistic person in the world, while my father is so depressingly pessimistic and negative that he constantly brings people around him down. He knows this, but in his 55 years has never managed to change either his outlook on life or his communication methods.

Some people just like to go for shock value, so they take something little and make it into something big and ugly because it's more sensational that way.

Some people have certain predispositions (cultural, religious) to certain topics and feel very strongly about things and voice them in ways which can come across as negative or even paranoid to people who do not share a common context.

Some people like to argue for the sake of arguing. No, I'm serious. It's like that annoying little brother you have - he'll argue with you simply because he can and he'll nitpick and he'll quibble for no good reason other than the fact he is able to.

Some people really do think that shit is rolling down hill and the world is fucked.

I don't know, but there are lots of reasons why lots of people (I think all of us) are negative at times.

 

[Dreadsox]

To sum it all up.....I am a Red Sox fan.......

that explains it.

 

[melon]

Frustration.

That's my answer.

Melon

 

[beli]

To sum it all up.....I am a Red Sox fan.......

that explains it.

Ha. That means absolutely nothing to me.
Other than it explains your user name. I always wondered why someone would use the word 'dread' to describe themselves. Tis a bit of negative word but fits right in with your narky bastard image.

So its a sporting team of some sort?

 

[Screaming Flower]

the red sox have nothing on the cubs.

but actually i'm a pretty positive person.

 

[verte76]

I try *not* to be too negative in the sense that I try not to criticize anyone or anything (like a political party) too much. Sometimes I'll agree with the liberals (on social issues, mostly), sometimes I'll agree with the conservatives (I practice a religion, Catholic Christianity, that has a conservative aspect to it) and I don't see myself as particularly taking "sides". The people here are my friends, whether or not I'm voting for the same people they are in the next elections, and I respect their opinions. I've been depressed about alot of the news lately. The prison torture controversy has been really, really painful to me, as a U.S. citizen, and I have expressed that, sometimes in the form of anger. I apologize if I've offended anyone in any of my notes about the controversy. I'm certainly not trying to drag anyone into the pits of Hell over this or any other issue. It's just been really saddening and actually pretty damn confusing to me as well. I don't know what else to say about it.

 

[Screaming Flower]

i think you are a very positive person verte, and you're good for fym.

 

[beli]

Oh Verte, thats not what I meant. A thousand apologies. I can understand the grief felt by USA and UK citizens over those incidents, and incidents in previous wars and conflicts. Australia has a one of the best records for not doing that sort of thing so its not something that has affected me personally. It still is tragic on a global scale.

If I use your example, what Im thinking is there were wot maybe 50 people involved in those incidents? And there are how many USA and UK troops? Tonnes. I like to believe that the majority of the soldiers are behaving themselves.

Tis like the cleft palate abortion thread. Theres been a couple of people who have done it but I dont think it reflects badly on mankind as a whole.

I hope I havent muddied the waters. (Im pretty good at doing that)

 

[nbcrusader]

Being positive takes work and is a selfless task, but I think it's worth it none the less.

 

[A_Wanderer]

I think that it is a product of the media. People will blame the politicians for creating a climate of fear but in the final analysis it is the mass media that shapes the populations perception of what goes on in the world and what they see. September 11, Prison Abuse, North Korea it is all used to sell papers and unfortunately good news doesnt really sell as well as bad news.

I try to remain an optimist about humanity, I think that peace is the natural order of things, given enough time and effort I know that we will see a just peace on earth. That keeps me positive, that and music, its all about the music people!

 

[meegannie]

I'm always very negative about my own life so I'm never disappointed when things go wrong because I never had my hopes up to begin with. I think I'm very optimistic about other people and society in general, though.

 

[Kieran McConville]

I think it is good and healthy to try to retain some sense of optimism, at least within one's own life. However if you aren't feeling negative some of the time, you probably aren't paying attention.

 

[Salome]

I try to be optimistic about stuff I don't know much about
and I tend to be realistic about stuff I actually do know a fair bit about

and I distrust politicians

 

[Scarletwine]

I think it is good and healthy to try to retain some sense of optimism, at least within one's own life. However if you aren't feeling negative some of the time, you probably aren't paying attention.

 

[Klaus]

A_Wanderer:
Good news also CAN sell verry well (for example Weddings of celebs).
But of course there is a lack of attention to the good things when there is a big shadow of horrible news.

I think optimism is good, but it's extremely important to stay realistic if we are fed with too optimistic news we might run in difficulties later (Soldiers will be welcomed with flowers etc.)

So try to be relistic with enough optimism to change the world you live in

Klaus

 

[Popmartijn]

If nobody is pessimistic, how do we know what is optimism then?

 

[verte76]

No problem beli! I'm just a little worried about possibly saying the wrong thing about something this sensitive and insulting someone who had nothing to do with the abuse. Notice I keep saying "whoever knew this stuff". I don't want to point fingers and claim that Bureaucrat X ordered the torture stuff when it's entirely possible that they did not. That would be terrible. You're right about a few people being guilty of this stuff, and a heck of alot of people being innocent. There are also the brave souls who blew the whistle on the whole sordid affair. That took incredible guts, and alot of character. Some soldier named Sutton, I forget his rank, was one of the whistle-blowers. I think they should give him some award. He wasn't thinking about himself. He was thinking about the rules. If they were all like that, this wouldn't have happened. You can't expect them all to be like that, but he's a terrific example and he really should be recognized. I'm trying to be fair to our fine men and women in uniform and realize that it's just a few bad apples. The problem with the bad apples is that they are such a damn disgrace to my country and decent people of all political persuasions and views are very angry.

 

[verte76]

If nobody is pessimistic, how do we know what is optimism then?

Good question. There's also the issue of the realities of the situation, as Klaus said. It wasn't fair to anyone to expect the Americans in Iraq to be greeted with flowers and candy. This is not the fault of the soldiers, it's the fault of the planners. You have to be honest about screw-ups, but fair, too, and realize just who made the mistakes and who was just doing their job.

 

[melon]

Pessimism is disillusioned idealism. For those who lack idealism completely, it is apathy.

Melon

 

[Pinball Wizard]

Some people like to argue for the sake of arguing. No, I'm serious. It's like that annoying little brother you have - he'll argue with you simply because he can and he'll nitpick and he'll quibble for no good reason other than the fact he is able to.

You make us sophists sound so despicable.



With regards to the thread, I think at times there is a tendency for people to sensationalize, but the pendulum of perspective doesn't find balance at the "rational" middle without having spent time on the extremes.

As well, I find it disturbing that the word negative always has negative connotations.

 

[U2Kitten]

I'm always very negative about my own life so I'm never disappointed when things go wrong because I never had my hopes up to begin with.

I totally agree with this philosophy, though I get knocked for it all the time. It annoys me when people go around pushing a 'positive attitude.' It doesn't change a thing. If you always expect the best you will almost always be let down, but if you expect the worse, or nothing, you will most often always be surrpised in a good way I'd rather have it that way.

 

[iacrobat]

Pessimism is disillusioned idealism. For those who lack idealism completely, it is apathy.

Melon

Melon

I think I am somewhere between naive and optimistic.

Sometimes I like to argue for the sake of arguing, I take the position I disagree with (but not in in FYM generally).

The one thing I like about FYM is that the one characteristic that cuts across people's beliefs here is optimism. If we weren't all optimistic to some degree, why would we bother posting at all?

 

[Dreadsox]

Ha. That means absolutely nothing to me.
Other than it explains your user name. I always wondered why someone would use the word 'dread' to describe themselves. Tis a bit of negative word but fits right in with your narky bastard image.

So its a sporting team of some sort?

http://www.hbo.com/bambino/

This is how it all began.