two signals drive the human spirit: positive and negative vibes.
while at first glance, both might seem like legitimate ways to actuate people, one (negative) is devouring, the other (positive) is enhancing. that is why positive news should be preferred here instead of negative ones.
I’m saying this because I see a lot of very dystopian headlines being pushed around here.
(while at first glance, negative news might seem to get more attention; in the long run, positive news is what sticks with people. be encouraging, not discouraging.) :D
Hope and positivity are two different things. Hope dissociates from the present and the future, externalizing your care into an imagined future you can not affect. Empirically, people with hope fare worse psychologically than those without hope, because those with hope have no coping mechanisms when their hopes get dashed.
What we need is not positive news, but a positive life. Sit in a meadow, share meals with friends, be kind and generous, work at things that mean something to you, make art with passion, and rage during political protests.
When so much of the world’s news and media are pushing a narrative of unending consumerism and growth, it is good to keep reminding ourselves with factual news that this world will collapse sooner rather than later.
If it helps, all life ends in misery, be it decreptitude, disease, ecosystems collapse, or all of the above. Life has never been about how it ends, it is about what we do while delaying the end. Everything we do for the future, we do for the future that will actually be, not for the future that gives us comfort to imagine.
Your examples for a positive life are a relief for me to read, thank you for this <3
Anti-nuclear activist and system theorist Joanna Macey has written with Chris Johnstone about what they call “Active Hope.” I recommend the book and the Work That Reconnects, if you are interested. Best summarized by the question “What do I hope for and how can I be active in moving that way?”
There is a difference between “wishing” and “hope”. “Wishing” actually does externalize the way you can shape the future you want. “Hope” on the other hand just lays out a positive future, which you can strive for.
That “hope” in form of a vision distinct and different to neoliberalism is one of the biggest reason the left has failed so badly in the last decades. We just need a vision of the future, which is practical in the real world. Hence worker cooperatives, permaculture, renewable energy, co-housing and all those other great projects, which actually can replace neoliberalism are so important. Without those working alternatives, we are doomed to just fight the evils of neoliberalism, fascism and dictatorships forever, as we can just never set up that alternative. Obviously we also should not fool ourself into believing it will be perfect if those are gone, but it hopefully is better.