For subscribers
We need to make pessimism uncool again
It may be fashionable to be a catastrophist, but the consequences can be alarming.
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Pessimists might think that their doom and gloom is helpful in motivating people to act, but many studies have shown the opposite is true.
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: PEXELS
Jemima Kelly
Follow topic:
The world of self-help teems with motivational quotes about the power of positive thinking, and the importance of reframing the negative. “Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you’ll start having positive results.” “Positive thinking is more than just a tag line.” “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” (That last one is from Shakespeare himself, via Hamlet.)
Yet when it comes to the way in which we think and talk about the world outside our own heads, its future in particular, striking anything other than a very gloomy tone is not the done thing.
