Justin says:

I’m always being scolded for my dark humour and “cynicism”. I’ve always been somewhat bemused by the outward optimism of our age, which stands in stark contrast to all the history and literature of the past I’ve read. I see our age as one of absurb romanticism, in which we are urged to constantly adpot a rapturous attitude to virtually everything. We are constantly urged to be passionate about our job (ha!), our relationships are supposed to be a never-ending honeymoon, and pop culture demands that we see every new tv show, movie or boring concert as some kind of wondrous transcendent spectacle. Advertising is espcecially guilty of building ridiculous expectations of what our new phones or breakfast cereals are going to do for us. The main problem with such breathless anticipation of how good life should be is that it robs us of the language to observe reality and makes humour increasingly difficult. This is at the heart of the modern culture wars in which a complete lack of irony allows inconsequential episodes to be become national events with exponentially escalating expressions of vitriol. The irony is that an overly optimistic outlook on life invariably leads to equally bitter dissapointment. Liberals are modern societies romantics, and they are always being dissaponted with everything. Liberals will have us belive they are the compassionate heart of society, yet they are the most viscous and excoriating of adversaries and the first to put their friends and enemies alike up against the wall the moment the going gets tough. The left view of the world can be likened to that old high schol joke which referred to certain girls as “Monets” – looks good from a distance, but once you get close, the picture’s not so pretty. Seneca was right, only stoic preparation for all contingencies can lead to reasonable fulfillment.

Fred says:

I want to imagine that Liberals are big on happy faces. But it simply doesn’t compute. For example, in my imagination (but maybe nowhere else), informed Liberals who are concerned about global warming probably are extremely pessimistic. By contrast, many Conservatives condemn as “nabobs of negativity” many sourpuss critics of existing policies.