#btw I'm in no way trying to deny or downplay the severity of genocide or what's going on in gaza right now

[directactionforhope]

A weird reason I'm optimistic about the future/humanity

I keep thinking about making a post about this on reasonsforhope, and then not making a post about it, for what will become obvious reasons, but anyway here's a thought:

I get asked fairly often (relatively often? I don't get a lot of asks these days because I'm terrible at answering them) how I maintain hope and optimism in the face of everything.

Good question! I wonder that sometimes too, honestly, because I try to stay very aware of the world and very self-aware about my optimism and how realistic it is. (Three cheers for evidence-based optimism.)

And honestly, a really, really significant part of the answer is that I think the past - in general and especially during specific eras - was Significantly worse than the vast majority of people realize.

Like, the past kind of sucked, imho! People died all the time of all sorts of things! And then we had a solid 500 years of Big Time Atrocities. (aka 1492 to like. roughly the 1980s.)

In comparison, the 2000s have mostly been a really big improvement in a lot of ways, imho!

Weird argument for optimism, I know, but it is the basis of a lot of my optimism.

Why do I think things will change in the future, given that?

Well, mostly, it turns out that photography/film/the internet/phone cameras/social media/the general democratization of communication/the modern concept of international law all it way harder to get away with doing atrocities! And also, we now have scientifically validated proof that yes, people really can change, and no, no one is innately or hereditarily evil, and no, not even members of that one group you really hate, which personally I think is very reassuring! And a useful thing for society to have proof of!