Foreword: Just My Opinion™
Pessimists are creatives who are able to see the worst possible outcomes. To me, this means we have people who are able to effectively sound the alarm, and it’s worth at least listening to what they have to say.
I feel Pessimism is shunned nowadays because it comes close enough to Realism so as to be uncomfortably familiar, as what we’re seeing unfold is one of the worst potentialities we had at our disposal (I think most if not all of us agree that we couldn’t have anticipated a dystopia THIS fucking stupid).
In a healthy society, however, one in which things work in favour of the citizens and every soul has the necessities of life assured, Pessimism would serve as a cautionary element. It would demonstrate the disasters we’re avoiding or will have to avoid.
I feel this has always been its role, from Ancient Greek Tragedies to contemporary dystopian sci-fi, but somewhere along the way it became something to be avoided like the plague (see Toxic Optimism/Positivism).
An optimist invents the airplane. A pessimist invents the parachute.
Exactly! Thank you! Yes, I realised I’ve focused too much on Pessimism (guess I’d make for a good defence lawyer! or a poor one, food for thought…) and not the big picture.
Yes! It’s about reasonably establishing the risks and actually setting safeguards in place, whereas optimism should be allowed to roam free and dream stuff up! One tempers/uplifts the other!
Warning for crummy poetics: and in the synnergy of the two, Reality is born!:)))