The danger of untempered optimism

"When you believe that the brokenness of this world can be not just ameliorated but fixed once and for all, then people who don't share your optimism, or who do share it but invest it in a different system, are adversaries of Utopia. (An "adversary" is literally one who has turned against you, one who blocks your path.) Whole classes of people can by this logic become expendable - indeed, it can become the optimist's perceived duty to eliminate the adversaries."¹

This quote from How to Think is spot on. It is easy to become so invested in what is believed to be the "right way" of doing things that any disagreement is seen as a threat. Arguments are shot down and any disagreers are shut up and labeled with the appropriate pejoratives. (see Argument as war)

Perhaps the issue isn't optimism in general but one that is untempered and attempts to circumvent the consequences of the fall in this life. Rather than facing circumstances as they are and living with the uncomfortable tension of the "already and not yet," we bank on systems that offer heaven on earth in some form or fashion, whether it is health, wealth, the ideal family/marriage, or a Christianized society.

Given the latest round of discussions on social media among Christians, I will leave you to make your own application.

1. How to Think, Alan Jacobs, Currency Books, 2017, pg. 74.