Let’s Make Hope

Even if you do not like the word ‘hope,’ bear with me.

Image by 🍀 🌻 from Pixabay

Some people do not like the word “hope.” It is often an empty word. It is used in greeting cards. But hope, just as often, has deeper meanings.

I am not attached to the word “hope,” but it is a common word for certain concepts that are important. Here, in discussing these concepts, I use the word “hope.” I am prescriptively suggesting a better version of what hope can be, not describing worse options that might be out there such as shallower ways of being hopeful or less meaningful ways of using the word.

I hope you will bear with me and consider these ideas. If you have a word you like more, that is fine — and you should drop it in the comments!

Present and Future

Judging the Present: Good or Bad?

We all perceive the same world from different perspectives. We are given different sets of information, and we seek and find revisions to that information. Whether a situation is livable or intolerable, and whether a change is a major or minor improvement or perhaps not actually an improvement at all but instead a worsening, is a judgment that depends on someone’s viewpoint. A person’s viewpoint includes their experiences, values, opinions, and knowledge.

Information is often skewed toward a particular perspective. It may be driven by unconscious “motivated reasoning” (i.e. what someone wishes were true) or it may be deliberate spin to mislead and persuade others. Even with these biases, information can serve noble ideals, often in good faith, often with good results. Sometimes, though, information only serves power, and it emerges as disinformation (intentional lies) and misinformation (wrong information that spreads).

Predicting and Judging the Future: Optimism or Pessimism?

Optimism and pessimism alike are often defined as a prediction of the future, and most predictions tend to assume that the future will come to pass regardless of what actions we take. There is, of course, also a value judgment implicit in whether we consider certain futures to be good or bad.