Toccata

I've never quite known if I should describe myself as an optimist or a pessimist.  I think the world is falling apart, think the aggregate level of human intelligence is falling (while the population is rising), think that just about all art forms are in irreparable decline, and think that while in the short term Western Civilization will Reign Supreme, it is in the process of committing suicide.  But, I am generally cheerful, think things will be OK, don't dwell on the negatives, and don't worry much.  I tend to laugh at the comedy of human existence.  Does this make me an optimist or a pessimist?

In part to sort out this less-than-earth-shattering question, I read John Derbyshire's We Are Doomed: Reclaiming Conservative Pessimism.

Derbyshire reliably writes moderately to rather interesting material, and this book is no exception.  (He is one of the few bright spots in National Review--sigh, I just got the latest issue of National Review--how I long for the days when I looked forward to the next issue of National Review.  I haven't even looked through it to see what is in it.)  This book was moderately amusing.  Derbyshire is tired of those happy conservatives--the ones who think that if only the world just became more conservative, things would all work out. (Yeah, he's looking at you George and Sarah.)  He's tired of all those conservatives who think that things are getting better.  They are not.  Derbyshire argues in area after area that things are getting worse.  Much worse.  And there is nothing we can do about it.  They are just going to keep getting worse and worse and worse.  Politics?  Education?  Diversity?  Immigration?   War?  The Economy?  Human Nature?  Culture?  Yep.  All getting worse. And worse. As I said, the book is somewhat amusing for one who likes to laugh at life.  And the joke here is not just on the culture, but also that Derbyshire is so unrelentingly gloomy.  Even the author picture on the back cover is a picture of him scowling.

And here is the funniest part.  In one part of the book, Derbyshire is actually optimistic.  He thinks he is being pessimistic, but he isn't.  The joke is on him.

The subject?  Religion.  Derbyshire can't stand religious conservatives; he is really really annoyed with the Creationists.  And so he has a whole section devoted to showing how Religion is getting worse, that people are becoming less religious, that the new atheists are getting more persuasive and that the whole religious enterprise is going to smash on the hard facts of science.  He writes as if this is yet another side of decline--after all religious faith is declining.  But, and here is the funny part, Derbyshire is obviously pleased about the end of religion.  So, while he writes as if he is arguing that things are getting worse, the fact that in this case he wants to see the forces of Religion lose means that he actually thinks things are getting better.  Derbyshire is an optimist!  And he doesn't even know it!

You want to know how bad things are getting?  Even a thoughtful conservative who wrote a whole book to explain about how bad things are getting sees reason to be optimistic about the future. 

So, you make the call:  Is this a reason for optimism or pessimism?