(no subject)

I try, you know? I try damn hard.

In a world where everyone seems to hate everyone else, I try to be the one that sees the good in people. I try to be the optimistic one-- to not let a dram of evil spoil all the noble substance, as it were.

So why does it seem like people are trying so damn hard to disprove that outlook? Everywhere I look, there seems to be a counterexample. Is there no room in this world for optimists?

Assuming the best of people always seems to get you screwed over, too. So I'm naive, then? Is the line between optimism and naivete so fine as to be nonexistent?

...

A lot of what's bothering me is people's attitudes towards other people. Sometimes it seems... that ideas are more important than people.

What do you mean by that, Matt?

Well...

(I'm only using this overly specific pseudo-hypothetical situation because I failed at racking my brain for a purely hypothetical situation to explain what I meant.)

Say there's a thread in a forum about a controversial topic. Well... not even controversial; this "debate" is pretty one-sided, with the majority of people having severe objections to one particular side, with varying levels of rationality.

The OP of the thread, however, is picking up the unpopular side and defending it. He does this pretty competently-- but takes a lot of flak for being on the "bad side", whether or not he actually "agrees" with it, as such.

Say that I then decide to post in this thread. I say that I don't really agree with the unpopular side, but admit that my reasons for doing so may be irrational, and for that reason I'd rather not debate for or against it, given that I'm uninformed on this topic and find it uncomfortable to discuss anyways. Additionally, I state my reservations against the prospect of depicting the other side in a strongly negative light, given that I myself have had opinions that have been treated this way. And finally, I commend the OP on his courage for taking up such an unpopular side and defending it, in spite of all the abuse he's getting.

Cue the crapstorm. I'm accused of pandering to this side, of being "hyper-PC", and basically am looked at as a wet noodle. And, of course, you can tell by the language that the response uses that I am now officially lumped in with the unpopular side.

A lot of people's reputations in the forum in question are tainted due to the fact that they dared to defend the "bad side".

So... yeah. Ideas become more important than people. My efforts to support a person got interpreted as support for an idea, as if the two had become synonymous.

Of course... ideas are important. I won't pretend they aren't. But where's the line? When do they become so important that people stop mattering? And how many people am I going to alienate by thinking that they really don't?

And that's the kicker, really. If you try not to alienate people, you get alienated.

And this isn't even all I'm complaining about. Just a small bit of it. There are countless other ways that optimism seems to become a flaw, a maladaptation.

So, is that it? Am I in fairyland for still wanting to be that kind of person? Am I naive?

Fuck me sideways. I'm too optimistic to believe it.