You can't be pessimistic without a misty optic...

I recall that, long ago, my Dad had a little leather wallet containing a special cloth for cleaning spectacle lenses, on the wallet's cover were the words "You can't be optimistic with a misty optic" - from whence came this post's heading - kind of.

Reading around the internet these days one encounters a dense layer of gloom and pessimism about the future - and the present. While accepting that this is not without reason I do wonder whether, as Howard Zinn wrote, in his book You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train: A Personal History of Our Times :-
"Pessimism becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy; it reproduces itself by crippling our willingness to act."

20th century astrologer C.E.O. Carter, in his Encyclopedia of Psychological Astrology outlined basic astrological lore as to how specific planetary placement at time of birth can reflect likelihood of pessimistic inclination:

The watery signs [Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces] all tend to moodiness; the fiery [Aries, Leo, Sagittarius], especially Sagittarius, are either up or down; Libra is easily ruffled, but soon recovers equanimity, and the airy signs [Gemini, Libra, Aquarius] and Virgo usually attain an intellectual placidity. The earthy signs [Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn] are usually content, except Capricorn, which is easily depressed by snubs or slights.

Pessimism, as a general attitude, is the result of heavy Saturn afflictions, and weak benefic influence, in which is included the Sun. If the 9th [house] is involved, this attitude may even take form as a philosophy. The mutable signs [Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces], and especially Virgo, seem the commonest victims of pessimism, while the cardinal [ Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn] are far less liable to contract it.

Pessimism has been with (some of) us always: pre-Trump, pre-Brexit, pre-Obama, pre-Bush, pre-Clinton, etc. It's part of human nature. Scanning a collection of quotes on the topic of pessimism I noticed this from one of my favourite astrologers, Rob Brezsny, of Free Will Astrology.

“It is noted that from 1967 to 1995 essays on negative emotions far outnumbered those on positive emotions in the psychological literature. The ratio was 21:1. Even those supreme perpetrators of pop nihilism, The New York Times and The Washington Post, have a better ratio than psychological literature. They average 12 negative stories to every one that might be construed to be non-negative. Many of their non-negative stories, however, cover success in sports and entertainment.

I demand that the purveyors of despair who pretend to be dispassionate observes of the human condition go ahead and disclose that the 10 most beautiful words in the English languages are chimes, dawn, golden, hush, lullaby, luminous, melody, mist, murmuring, and tranquil; that Java sparrows prefer the music of Back over that of Schoenberg; that math experts have determined there are 1/96 trillion ways to lace up your shoes; that the Inuit term for making love is translated as ‘laughing together in bed;' and that according to Buckminster Fuller, “pollution is nothing but resources we’re not harvesting.”
― Rob Brezsny, Pronoia is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World is Conspiring to Shower You With Blessings