Sarah Vowell, "Pessimism Deficit"

[Inland]

http://select.nytimes.com/2006/02/19/opinion/19vowell.html?n=Top%2fOpinion%2fEditorials%20and%20Op%2dEd%2fOp%2dEd%2fContributors%2fSarah%20Vowell


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My go-to worldview is pessimism. I see a Times Square billboard promoting a musical that has its audience "dancing in the aisles" and I can't help but think, "That is a fire hazard." But it has been my happy experience that if one moves through life in a constant state of low-key dread, then one gets to be continually pleasantly surprised.
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Alas, I see my initial worries about the current administration as the greatest betrayal in my whole life by my old pal pessimism. I attended the president's inauguration in 2001. When he took the presidential oath, I cried. What was I so afraid of? I was weeping because I was terrified that the new president would wreck the economy and muck up my drinking water. Isn't that adorable? I lacked the pessimistic imagination to dread that tens of thousands of human beings would be spied on or maimed or tortured or killed or stranded or drowned, thanks to his incompetence.

I feel like a fool. All those years of Sunday school, and still the apocalypse catches me off guard.

[BurgherHoldtheLies]

1. Thanks for posting. There are some great lines in that article.

I almost wish I had nytimes select to read the whole thing...maybe I'll pick up a copy of the paper today.

[Richardo]

2. Sarah Vowell is a treasure - and a damn good writer...

Thanks for the post!

[Wilber_Stool]

4. She was on TDS last night.

It's a good thing she is a damn good writer because she has the voice of a cartoon character.

[MurrayDelph]

5. Ummm... She WAS

the voice of a cartoon character:

[Inland]

6. Other way around!

Having the voice of a cartoon character let's her snag jobs that let's her both eat and write.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

3. I hate these teasers...

get back to us when you have a link we can all read.

[HamdenRice]

7. Her editorial was OK, but whenever she's on radio, I switch stations...

Listening to her on This American Life, she always struck me as someone who loves to write too much, because basically she usually has nothing interesting to say, but thinks we all want to here it. It's just like having waves and waves, oceans of bullshit wash over you, when she is reading her work on the radio.

That pretentious, cartoon voice doesn't help either

My question always after one of her readings is, "why did this shit get published?"