all 6 comments

[–]wary_observer 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

This sounds like a modern interpretation. Noticing the negative is not the same as being negative.

The negative person will notice shit on the ground and warn his friends not to step on it.

I just call this being a good friend.

I also disagree with your assessment of their relative value. The first order of business in life is to survive. This is in fact mostly a matter of identifying and avoiding or neutralizing the bad/noxious/dangerous. This "negativity" helps you not to be killed by rivals or die from eating poisonous mushrooms, etc. Once survival is assured you can move on to improving things and building culture, which depends both on avoiding the bad and recognizing the good.

We live in a decaying society that has lost discernment of good and bad. Hence the results we see all around us. The fake positivity is not just noise. It is negative, a noxious product of the dishonesty and insecurity of a dying culture that must continually reassure itself of its "goodness", while parasitically subsisting on the meager residue of past accomplishments.

[–]trident765[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

The first order of business in life is to survive. This is in fact mostly a matter of identifying and avoiding or neutralizing the bad/noxious/dangerous. This "negativity" helps you not to be killed by rivals or die from eating poisonous mushrooms, etc. Once survival is assured you can move on to improving things and building culture, which depends both on avoiding the bad and recognizing the good.

The Sahara desert contains none of these bad things but if you were teleported there you would probably die after a few days. Maybe it is not worth paying attention to in wealthy societies like the modern West, but in normal animal life acquiring good things is essential for survival.

[–]wary_observer 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

The Sahara desert contains none of these bad things but if you were teleported there you would probably die after a few days.

Of course you would die, because you are not prepared for the "negativity" - whatever the type of negative elements, they are there. If you prefer to maintain positive vibes, go ahead and try that and see how long you last. Even the inane survival "reality" TV shows illustrate this principle.

[–]thefirststone 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Dialing in for a desired outcome is the same as taking a drug that makes you insensible to reality. You don't care what is, only what you desire.

Where does hope enter into the equation? It never does. It's too "negative" to describe what could be but isn't.

[–]wary_observer 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Corrupt, cowardly, insecure people and societies are not capable of imaging and bringing into existence the good that could be. They are too busy avoiding the recognition that they have fouled their own nests and assuaging their guilty conscience.

[–]thefirststone 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

And that's why it's hopeless.