It tries to come off like r/upliftingnews, but it comes feels more like “you should be grateful for breadcrumbs slave”. The amount of gaslighting on sub that everything is fine and you live in the greatest nation on earth is pretty disgusting. They also seem to heavy misinterpret data such as billions have been lifted out of poverty while leaving out the classification for poverty was “The World Bank classifies anyone living on less than $2.15 a day as living in extreme poverty.”. Even when people tried to argue in good faith they still seem to get angry at anyone who dares to question their reasoning. Here’s the link to the good faith discussion: https://www.reddit.com/r/OptimistsUnite/comments/1buwixw/a_polite_critique_of_this_subreddit/
When I first stumbled upon this subreddit thought it was satire, but when I looked more into it I discovered its massive cesspit of toxic positivity. A lot of the posts try to come off as positive, but to me they come off more as negative. It really comes off as a cult.
Here’s the quote from their about page:
“We are living in an age of unprecedented wealth, with millions entering the middle class every year. Homo sapiens live longer lifespans than ever before, with better nutrition, and better medicine than ever in our history. This is also the most peaceful time in our history, with record lows in crime and war deaths. The developing world is surging in wealth, and in the “west” we have more opportunity and communication than ever. Our great grandparents would trade places with us in a heartbeat.”
I’m going to address the stuff said in the about description.
The first point: “We are living in an age of unprecedented wealth” yes we are living in an age of unprecedented wealth right now, but most people won’t even see that wealth.
Second point: “with millions entering the middle class every year.” last time I check millions of people were kicked out of the middle class after 2008 recession and more after the 2020 pandemic.
Third point: “Homo sapiens live longer lifespans than ever before, with better nutrition, and better medicine than ever in our history.” The life expectancy in the USA decreased by 1.8 years in 2020 then by 0.9 in 2021. There was increase in food deserts in 2020 and more people are having hard time affording nutritious foods. Don’t get me even started healthcare. While there is a lot of medicine that has become generic and cheap like tylenol or benadryl, a lot of life saving medicine is out reach for the average person in USA without good insurance. Even with good insurance you’ll still have a difficult time affording treatment.
Fourth point: “This is also the most peaceful time in our history, with record lows in crime and war deaths.” While war may not be at previous levels back then, a lot of war is undeclared under gauze of “peacekeeping” or “stabilization” in foreign countries nowadays. While some crime has been going down such as violent crime, a lot petty crime like shoplifting has been going up. War deaths while not a previous levels in the past, they have been going up due to Ukraine war and Gaza conflict. Also the US has been at war for 225 out of 243 years of its existence since 1776.
Fifth point: “The developing world is surging in wealth, and in the “west” we have more opportunity and communication than ever.” Most of the developing world has been losing wealth due to resource extraction and exploitation of the poor people from companies like Nestle. In the west opportunity has been dying as companies as companies layoff vast amounts of employees while boasting about record profits and education keeps becoming unaffordable for most people. Probably the only thing remotely close to being positive is communication, but even then a lot communication is censored and you have to great lengths to avoid surveillance by corporations and government.
Final point: “Our great grandparents would trade places with us in a heartbeat.” They would not even dare suggest that we trade places. They would be horrified and disgusted at what our society has become. If they were able utilize the knowledge they had about today’s world, they would do everything in their power to prevent life from becoming like it is today and put in all the necessary protections to make the future better for all.
Conclusion: While I’m not saying you can’t find positive aspects nowadays, but for every small positive aspect you can find a hundred big negative aspects. I not trying to come off as pessimistic, I find some positivity in being realistic and to aware of the many problems we have nowadays. If you don’t believe look at some of the posts on the subreddit and you’ll see diehard cope. That’s my opinion and what’s your opinion on it?