In advance of today's happy hour... An important person to me once gifted this "Old Fashioned" set with the middling fill-line labeled Pessimist below and Optimist above. As I prefer my favorite spirit neat, it would take a considerable amount to generate the necessary volume to cross over into its positive territory. I always found this proportion ironic, as the owner of this glass analogy has only two choices: Consume enough straight product to overshoot the Rubicon, but leave the senses so dull that facts become unintelligible, and no longer even cared for... or dilute the product so much as to render it ineffective, but APPEAR to have achieved the positive state. It sounds much like the situation with the "words-as-information" being delivered by Business (with a capital B), media, pundit, and State. In order to create the threshold for positive sentiment, there needs to be a complete dilution of the original (fact) as to render it ineffective. Or, provide such a volume of the original, but in low enough quality that a sufficient number of individuals can afford to consume it, and amass a citizenry, workforce, consumership incapable of clarity of thought. It's served to us every day through the veil of business jargon, editorial as headline, opinion as mandate, and placation as policy. So be kind to the pessimist. They're simply being judicious with high levels of "proof," and it's difficult to be an optimist today with a clear head. In our current state of affairs, it's also clearly evident that, if we AS a NATION want to appropriately raise our levels of optimism through REAL accomplishments, it's time for us to lower our thresholds for spin. Anyone else up for some old fashioned thinking?
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