Unrealistic Optimism

The Optimistic Weed

The struggle for life must surely include a level of optimism. The “Hey I can grow here” attitude so well exhibited by the weed in the picture. It is desperately trying to flourish against all the odds of lack of nutrients, hot oil from the train and indeed steel wheels on iron rails… that would hurt… a lot.

One can’t help but admire the weed for its stoic approach to life. Perhaps it isn’t optimism, perhaps its bedevilment… “I am growing here whether you like it or not!”

Let’s not take away the plant’s optimism though, it needs it to survive and in the end it may not be unrealistic.

What is unrealistic optimism?

Rather unsurprisingly this is where the article swaps from a discussion about a stubborn plant in the most unnatural circumstances to the other most unnatural thing, politics.

Here in Great Western Land we have general elections just around the corner and here in Great Western Land the decision of whom would receive the vote was pretty well made up…. until…..

On of the parties was so buoyed up with confidence that they are already considering themselves the outright winners. With this level of over-confidence it would seem that they have acquired the ‘God Complex’ and that the people will naturally follow them …. come what may.

Their optimism is therefore unrealistic as their latest policy gaff is to assume that the older generation will accept a plan that will take away everything the older generation was building up to pass on to their inheritors.

This is the same older generation that voted “Brexit” and effectively got rid of the previous prime minister. Again the “God Complex” was in play and as there was no backup plan…. out went the PM.

The current PM is so convinced that her party will win a general election was called to vote her in. This would make her elected as PM which she currently isn’t. It would give her the complete backing of parliament, which she doesn’t have and everything will be great…. which it isn’t.

Both the weed in the picture and the PM have a high degree of optimism, despite all the odds of being crushed it appears that the weed is more in touch with its world than the government is with this one.