Why are a lot of people pessimistic ?

[Massimo2002]

I have seen a few people that are pessimistic and even nihilistic is this a good belief and attitude to have ?

 

[JustGeorge]

For some, sure.

For others, no.

 

[dybmh]

I have seen a few people that are pessimistic and even nihilistic is this a good belief and attitude to have ?

I think it's natural. It takes a lot of work to avoid being pessimistic. Existential dread? If nihilism cuts off the cycling and rhuminating? It's not an entirely bad stop-gap measure.

 

[Twilight Hue]

I have seen a few people that are pessimistic and even nihilistic is this a good belief and attitude to have ?

Yep. Makes it all the better when your wrong and when you are right, you won't have that crushing hopeless feeling like those who's expectations were too high.

 

[Quagmire]

Evolution has just wired us that way.

The early humanoid that walked around thinking, "I'll bet there's a lion hidden in the grass over there", had a better chance of living long enough to pass on his genes than the one thinking, "What a nice day! Look at all those cool little birdies in the sky! Think I'll go for a walk in the grass over there, what could go wrong?"

 

[Balthazzar]

I'm becoming more pessimistic than I once was. Yup, I was the naive optimist with high and far-reaching idealistic dreams involving warm fuzzies and unicorn inspired cotton candy with little star sprinkles. I made a quick 180 in a matter of about a week a few years ago. Reality has a way of getting through to idealistic too old to still have a young mind type like I turned into. Pessimism has its advantages, although the pessimist comfort zone isn't quite on par with the one, I once knew. Best part about it is I'm almost always strategizing a game plan that inevitably gets amended a few times over before taking effect. Caution is the operative term. Can we ever truly be too cautious? Very likely, but who's wanting to let their guard down enough to risk anything of value? Wanting and willing differs from inability to stand guard effectively, so ... I leave you with this:

"Life happens"

That's why.

 

[Mock Turtle]

I have seen a few people that are pessimistic and even nihilistic is this a good belief and attitude to have ?

I think one issue is that the more one knows - as to information and evidence regarding existence rather than simple beliefs - the more one tends to acknowledge that there is as much bad as good in life, whether such is human or non-human life. And only by remaining ignorant or attached to some particular belief might all this knowledge be ignored. Hence perhaps why so many are YEC believers and where they simple ignore the mass of evidence disproving such beliefs. But there is a way not to be so pessimistic - simple acceptance that existence is such, the good and the bad, and living a life as best one can. Preferably according to beliefs that tend towards the good.

 

[PureX]

I think the goal is to be realistic, not optimistic or pessimistic. That way we can take advantage of what's good in life and avoid or at least prepare for what's bad.

 

[Quintessence]

The framing in the OP makes it sound like nihilism is a more extreme form of pessimism. That's not the case.

Pessimists expect poor outcomes and expect the worst of everything - which is not a healthy attitude to have.
Nihilists deny that existence has any ultimate or objective meaning and value - whether positive or negative - which can be a pragmatic attitude to have.

 

[sun rise]

If you pay attention to everything going on, the world can resemble Yeats' Second Coming poem. That can easily lead to pessimism.

 

[osgart]

Depends what you want, truth or comfort that isn't real.

Truth of reality is sobering. Nihilism is the struggle of people who want truth of existence and reality. To figure out just how much is known, unknown, and how much is ever beyond finding out, and accepting that there will always be unknown unknowns. There's no revelation, no inside track to a fantasy heaven.

Goodness is created in the world, mostly and vastly not a natural occurrence. Life is fleeting on our planet with no guarantees of tomorrow for anybody.

I have very convincing reason to believe in an afterlife, but I have no reason to expect heavenly existence nor utopia, zen, nor nirvana. An afterlife is not a 100% guaranteed fact.

Humans have the potential of great goodness or great evil, as well as other things of little value or no great value.

Unfortunately we all must take into account the worst things that can happen to anybody.

 

[osgart]

Depends what you want, truth or comfort that isn't real.

Truth of reality is sobering. Nihilism is the struggle of people who want truth of existence and reality. To figure out just how much is known, unknown, and how much is ever beyond finding out, and accepting that there will always be unknown unknowns. There's no revelation, no inside track to a fantasy heaven.

Goodness is created in the world, mostly and vastly not a natural occurrence. Life is fleeting on our planet with no guarantees of tomorrow for anybody.

I have very convincing reason to believe in an afterlife, but I have no reason to expect heavenly existence nor utopia, zen, nor nirvana. An afterlife is not a 100% guaranteed fact.

Humans have the potential of great goodness or great evil, as well as other things of little value or no great value.

Unfortunately we all must take into account the worst things that can happen to anybody.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Other people turned me into a cynical pessimist. I wasn't always this way, but at some point all the hurt turned me bitter.
Is it good? No. I have few friends and struggle hard when it comes to trust and letting anyone in.

 

[Twilight Hue]

The framing in the OP makes it sound like nihilism is a more extreme form of pessimism. That's not the case.

Pessimists expect poor outcomes and expect the worst of everything - which is not a healthy attitude to have.
Nihilists deny that existence has any ultimate or objective meaning and value - whether positive or negative - which can be a pragmatic attitude to have.

I digress.

I actually enjoy my pessimism and it keeps me well prepared for worse outcome scenarios, and even better still when I have a plan on dealing with them, and if I don't succeed , I'm not as upset about it.

 

[We Never Know]

I have seen a few people that are pessimistic and even nihilistic is this a good belief and attitude to have ?

A pessimistic once told me they are never let down by expecting the worst but are surprised often when it turns out good.
Letdowns =0
Surprises =many

 

[It Aint Necessarily So]

I have seen a few people that are pessimistic and even nihilistic is this a good belief and attitude to have ?

You might be asking either of two questions depending on what you mean by pessimistic. Do you mean negative as a habit of thought (continual complaints, always unhappy) or expecting a bad outcome? I consider myself the second but not the first. I'm happy, but I see very hard times ahead for the planet and expect things to get much worse politically and climatologically before they get better again.

If you mean bitter and hopeless, many Americans (but not Mexicans, in whose country I now live) are consuming continual conservative grievance disinformation (their coming for your jobs, they're coming for your guns, liberals want to enslave you with rules and taxes, "You will not replace us," Communists, Marxists, "elites," etc..). The susceptible people tend to living subsistence lives and have been told who is doing this to them (it's actually the people they trust, but they can't see that). And they're bitter about it.

I think the goal is to be realistic, not optimistic or pessimistic.

Being realistic includes both. Suppose you and your buddy go to a ballgame to root for opposite teams, and his team is ahead 10-1 in the ninth inning. He's optimistic about the outcome, you're pessimistic, and both of you are realistic.

I have an acquaintance of many years with whom I've discussed politics often. All along, I've been prognosticating an ongoing erosion of America. All along, he tells me he's optimistic. What he actually means is he's hopeful. So am I, but I'm pessimistic. He doesn't actually have an argument for his "optimism," which is why I call it hope rather than optimism. I, while hopeful, don't expect a good outcome there, since I consider the American electorate at this point not qualified to be citizens in a democracy (half want an enemy of democracy as their president), and don't expect them to be for much longer based on facts, so I'm a hopeful pessimist.

With climate change, I'm just a pessimist. We've already hit a tipping point and are well on our way to disaster. Again, that's not a habit of thought or a mood, which may be what the OP means. It's a carefully considered, sincerely believed, and constructively offered opinion that climate change will make the pandemic look like a summer cold in comparison.

And I consider all of that pessimism realistic. We're in the bottom of the ninth down 10-1 regarding climate change, and while I hope for the best, I see no cavalry on the horizon, so hope is likely in vain. We're in the eighth inning all tied up politically, but it's a seven-game series, and even one loss will be catastrophic this time.

 

[vijeno]

I have seen a few people that are pessimistic and even nihilistic is this a good belief and attitude to have ?

I think it's often a defense mechanism. People think if they expect the worst, they won't be disappointed. Or they want to appear all cynical and detached, aloof and strong.

Both don't work.

IME, in general, being positive is the better strategy by a long stretch.

However, there is also a basic negativity bias, that seems to be biological in humans, coming from our hyperactive amygdala. It would make sense, from an evolutionary perspective, to always be on the edge, to ensure survival. But I'm not totally bought on this hypothesis. More research needed.

 

[Absolutely Frank]

I have seen a few people that are pessimistic and even nihilistic is this a good belief and attitude to have ?

Pessimism is a more realistic point of view. And I would choose it over the unwarranted saccharine delusions of optimism any day of the week. You can't spend your life ignoring the stark realities of human existence.*staff edit*.

 

[PearlSeeker]

"It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied." (John Stuart Mill)