Pessimism

Experience has taught me that optimism and hope is foolish. Any glimmer of hope of me becoming an optimist died when I read Candide. The world as I see it is a bleak one, where everyone is only interested in saving their own skins or progressing their own lives, with little regard for anyone else. Not always true, but that doesn't mean the generalization is false.

Optimism is foolish. You build up hope and hype for something and bring it to so lofty an expectation that whatever the final product is, it cannot possibly fulfill your fevered anticipation. In the end, you will almost, certifiably always be disappointed. This is a fact of life. The one exception is The Dark Knight.Harry Potter 7 was hyped as hell, and it was pretty mediocre. 300 was touted as the movie-going experience of a lifetime but it was all flash no substance. I have been especially susceptible to this curse, disappointed time and time again, so every time something is announced, I just automatically assume it's crap until I get the opportunity to let it prove me wrong.

Doesn't apply to just various forms of entertainment. When I work with other people I don't know, I merely assume they're going to give me crap and from there work it out. It happened on my last English presentation. Dumb bitch didn't know what was going on during Robert Frost's time, so literally at the last minute, I told her to paint the poem as an anti-industrialization piece. I also practically did her part for her. Of course, when I work with people I do know, I think I'm entitled to have some expectations: I know them, for crap's sake.

You could say this is unhealthy, being so negative all the time. I just find it an effective shield against disappointment. When you're negative towards something, if it turns out to be good, you're happy, you're one up. But if it turns out it sucks, you've lost absolutely nothing! It's always a win-win situation.