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Saturday 21 February 2015

I'm at my conscious level.

From Wikipedia

 The Pollyanna principle (also called Pollyannaism or positivity bias) is the tendency for people to remember pleasant items more accurately than unpleasant ones.[1] Research indicates that at the subconscious level the mind has a tendency to focus on the optimistic while, at the conscious level, it has a tendency to focus on the negative
 
I think of myself as pretty much that type.  I've been accused of it often enough, felt righteously indignant, then remembered that mostly I'm happy with my self and my principles, and the person who was annoyed enough to call me a Pollyanna has lots and lots of good qualities.

I'm having trouble with my Pollyanaism lately though, when I go on Facebook and see the absolutely unforgivable statements about gender, race, age, poverty and politics.  I know that I have been outspoken about some of these issues, and that my energy is used to combat them---all but the political.

I don't know the opposite of Pollyanna, but I do know that for the last 8 years I've seen a meanness, a contra-compassionate, a with-us-or-against-us kind of government that I feel is just as likely as not to gobble up all the things I've Pollyannaishly thought of as Canadian.  Being Canadian is important to me, for a number of reasons, both obvious and not.  Maybe it's been too easy to be complacent, but I've taken pride in our approach to multiculturalism, our progress in equalizing rights, our local compassionate programs, our general label as "nice".  

Damn it, I can't take on another cause, and I'm glad that Dave has waded in hip-deep into the "a different government" move, but even that has its drawbacks as it seems to have added a layer of give to our personal relationship, and I'm a bit cranky about that.

And all this because we really need some groceries, I'm not doing much winter-driving and Dave was on the phone being passionate and totally right for over an hour this morning.  

I am a shallow Pollyanna.  But mostly, I'm nice.


4 comments:

  1. Oh, I have a love/hate relationship with Facebook. haha
    We have many issues like that in the here, too. Us/them... Dem/Repub War/Peace... etc.
    Some days I try to start a conversation and can't get a comment. Other days I put up a snarky picture and get a bunch of likes.

    I think you're very nice.

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  2. That was supposed to be ... issues like that here in the US, too. :)

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  3. I see a lot of ignorance and bigotry posted on FB, and also in those group-forwards that get emailed around by Perfectly Nice People who aren't thinking either deeply or widely before they spread around the self-righteous b.s. they see online.

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  4. My mom used to say that I "Remembered the good times as being so much better and the bad times as being so much worse than they were!" What is that?!
    I can't wait til facebook goes the way of AOL messenger MySpace. Lol

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