> But why is it that to some lefties, being positive or -- even worse --
> spiritual, a sign of weakness? I know that there is comfort in
> maintaining a
> grim outlook (I did it for years), but is it at all constructive?
I think it connects with the thread on "opium of the people." As noted therein, Marx's view of religion was considerably broader than just that frequently quoted phrase, but it is quite easy for folks who feel very urgently that society's problems must be solved as soon as possible, and nothing else takes priority, to assume that anyone whose mind is on anything but how dismal the world situation is is doped up with this "opium."
I don't think it's constructive at all, but I guess I must be one of the "opiated ones." :-)
Happy New Year to all!
Jon Johanning // jjohanning at igc.org __________________________________ When I was a little boy, I had but a little wit, 'Tis a long time ago, and I have no more yet; Nor ever ever shall, until that I die, For the longer I live the more fool am I. -- Wit and Mirth, an Antidote against Melancholy (1684)