I originally wanted to post this as a reply to someone else's journal entry, but I realized that he really probably didn't need or want to hear me on my soap box and it's something that grinds my proverbial gears in general, he just happened to be in my line of fire. Therefore I'm going to make my own journal entry about it.

I'm a literature major at school as well as astronomy (hoping to write sci-fi one day ... like that's going to happen, ha) and the thing that pisses me off the most about literary fiction, science or otherwise, is that somewhere along the line someone decided that a work didn't have any merit unless it told us what dirty, dirty flawed evil beings we are. Granted, I suppose this has been a common trend in literature since the Bible, but since science fiction became mainstream it has become more pronounced. Why, does it seem, that schools and English classes give so much more literary merit to Orwell and Huxley than they to do Heinlein and Asimov? Because the former two are depressing and the latter two aren't, that's the only reason. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with the darker side of fiction. Granted it's certainly not my cup of tea, I have enough issues in the real world without reading to become depressed, but I believe that there is at least room in the world for more than one type of fiction. People need to be uplifted at least every once in awhile or they will simply give up on trying to improve themselves. Many great acts through history have been accomplished as a combination of both types of inspiration -- to achieve the hopes and dreams of a better future, and to prevent the nightmares of a worse one. Cautionary tales are one thing, but telling humanity we're pretty much screwed and deserve to be that way just seems like a form of giving up to me.

In fact, it seems like pessimism has a noticeable effect on the prosperity of the people. Right now we live in a very pessimistic era. The 1970s, too, were extremely pessimistic. The economy sucks now, and the economy sucked in the 1970s too. Coincidence? I don't know. I'm not an economist. But I don't think that there's anyone who doesn't on some level wish for the more optimistic times of the 1990s or 1960s. Also it seems like progress and advances in technology have slowed down as a direct result. In the 1960s we were going to the moon and all kinds of other things, and then as soon as 1970 hit people decided that humanity wasn't worth it, and suddenly we could barely build a space shuttle that worked. The point is I hate this pessimism about humanity. I realize we are flawed, but just telling ourselves that and patting ourselves on the back for realizing it is NOT going to make the world any better of a place. Because there's a certain arrogance, too, from attempting to be humble and saying humanity is worthless. Like you're one of the Holy Enlightened Ones who is above worthless humanity just because you've given up on your foolish caveman notions of hope and perseverance. It makes me sick. What's wrong with dreaming of a better future? What's wrong with working towards one? What is so horrible about trying to overcome our weaknesses instead of succumbing to them?

Thank you for listening to my bitch rant.