John Higgs
Announcement from the Cockpit in London: "PESSIMISM IS FOR LIGHTWEIGHTS! #JourneyToNutopia presents more positivity in another open conversation about future narratives that challenge the inevitability of global dystopia. Fri 5th Jun 7 p.m. with special guests
John Higgs and Salena Godden."
Tickets are one pound and the event will be held over Zoom; more here.
Thanks to our British correspondent Nick Helweg-Larsen for the tip.
1 comment:
Iain Spence:
Pessimism is for Lightweights!
If pessimism is for lightweights does this imply that optimism is only for heavyweights? I’m sure there must also be room in life for heavyweight pessimism and lightweight optimism too. And if we were to draw up a quaternary chart for such a view, wouldn’t we try to find some kind of central balance between the four, rather than championing just the one strong optimistic outlook?
In light of this view, eventual pessimism is the price we pay for optimism and likewise optimism can become the happy pay off for pessimism.
I’m always a tad wary when people try to promote ‘optimism’ like some kind of slogan. Reminds me too much of Harris’s I’m Ok, You’re Ok, which was (I think) such a superficial corruption of Leary’s original IDP from the 1950s. Perhaps the brighter and more positive the rallying call, the greater is the need to confront the hidden (pessimistic) shadow.
I’m sure John Higgs & Nick Helweg-Larsen are kind men but over in the USA there’s another very peculiar man who’d be keen to use Higgs' slogan. And he doesn’t write lovely poetry like Salena Godden. He does however have a great fondness for imbalanced exclamation marks. (In fairness to Higgs, the event title itself doesn’t include an exclamation mark.)
We might also remember that Optimistic Strength is lacking in any moral compass, just like the other three main atavistic outlooks.
Well, whatever...challenging times ahead certainly, Iain
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