this post was submitted on 14 Sep 2026
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Comic Strips

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[–] dohpaz42@lemmy.world 36 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

That’s not hope. If anything, it’s spite. Hope is what we tell ourselves to convince ourselves some uncertainty might not be so bad.

I hope the girl I like likes me back.

I hope I don’t oversleep in the morning and miss my interview.

I hope this comment won’t be lost on the readers.

[–] gastroglizzy@piefed.social 23 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

To add to that, hope is the opposite of fear. Every "I hope" statement can be rephrased as an "I'm afraid" statement.

I'm afraid she doesn't like me back.

I'm afraid I'll oversleep.

I'm afraid this comment will be lost on the readers.

It's important to maintain the "I hope" mindset.

[–] dohpaz42@lemmy.world -2 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

I disagree with maintaining the β€œI hope” mindset. It’s as dangerous as β€œI’m afraid,” if not more so.

~Admittedly, my perception is based on my personal experiences, and I must add the obligatory YMMV.~

[–] gastroglizzy@piefed.social 14 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (4 children)

I hope you're wrong.

To give a real answer, "I hope" leads to action. "I'm afraid" leads to inaction. Action is required to progress. Inaction is required to regress.

[–] notabot@piefed.social 5 points 3 weeks ago

See, I think you have that backwards. "I'm afraid" is an active, albiet negative, emotion, and drives you to find a solution, whether that's running away or turning and facing your fear. "I hope" is entirely passive, you just want the universe to drop your desired outcome in your lap. I see hope as the killer of striving, of trying to make things better. A better positive view is to ask "what can I do to make my desired outcome more likely?" It's not quite as pithy as "I hope...", but it encourages action, rather tgan passivity. Obviously there are some things we don't have any control over, and for those, all we have is hope.

[–] idunnololz@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago

I'm afraid you are wrong.

[–] dohpaz42@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago

I hope I’m wrong too.

But for me, I learned that to hope is to not take responsibility, and thus my inaction. So now, I have to β€œdo” and not rely on β€œhope”. Because for me, there is no invisible hand to do things for me. There is only me. And if I do something, there is no need for hope.

I hope that makes sense. πŸ˜‰

i'd like to respond to this. both hope and fear are real motivators and can lead to both action and inaction, depending on what you're talking about. examples from my own life: hope leaves [people who should really move on or re-evaluate] "stuck in the friend-zone" in relationships. i "invented" a cheap, shitty musical instrument out of (temporarily realized) fear i'd lose access to my expensive one.

i don't feel like most emotions themselves are good or bad, it's what you do with them.

[–] Dozzi92@lemmy.world 6 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

What's that whole thing, anxiety is fear of the future and regret is fear of the past. I think if you're able to do your best controlling those, you're doing well.

[–] dohpaz42@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago

I love this sentiment. And I agree wholeheartedly.

I try to reverse those though: anxiety is the fear the past will repeat itself, and regret keeps me from making the same mistakes again.

It’s twisted, but it’s working.

[–] gastroglizzy@piefed.social 2 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

I've never regretted anything I've done. I only regret the things I didn't do, the thing I didn't say, the feelings I didn't express.

My mistakes were required to grow and learn. They're part of me and don't define me; we're all better than our worst mistakes.

[–] dohpaz42@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

I am the sum total of all my life’s experiences. β€” Unknown

[–] Zensate@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Hope is an attempt to fight off the idea of hopelesness, which is itself an illusion. So hope is not only an illusion in the second degree, but the very thing that keeps hopelessness from being exposed. It is no wonder that Hope was the greatest curse to escape Pandora's Box.

[–] OpenStars@discuss.online 2 points 3 weeks ago

That's cope.

[–] Buffalox@lemmy.world 15 points 3 weeks ago

Wonderful. πŸ‘

[–] Bonje@lemmy.world 6 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] grranibal@lemmy.zip 8 points 3 weeks ago

I might be too optimistic butttttt think WE can

[–] Grail@multiverse.soulism.net 2 points 3 weeks ago

Maybe I'll use this tactic next time I run into climate doomerism

[–] sqw@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 3 weeks ago

i like floating void skull

[–] Sparhawk@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 weeks ago

Damn it Morte stop making me feel things.

[–] NaibofTabr@infosec.pub -2 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

Aha, so hope === delusion

∴ giving yourself hope === self-delusion

[–] gastroglizzy@piefed.social 4 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

When hope is all you have, that's when you need it most. Hope is what makes you get up and do what you have to do to make it another day. Without hope, we'd give up. Never give up. Once you give up, you've lost, even if you regain the advantage.

[–] NaibofTabr@infosec.pub 2 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Yeah, I've heard evangelicals make the same type of arguments about "faith".

I agree with Shelley's description of hope and despair as the torturers of the living:

[...] Hope and despair,
The torturers, slept; no mortal pain or fear 640
Marred his repose; the influxes of sense,
And his own being unalloyed by pain,
Yet feebler and more feeble, calmly fed
The stream of thought, till he lay breathing there
At peace, and faintly smiling [...]

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Complete_Poetical_Works_of_Percy_Bysshe_Shelley_(ed._Hutchinson,_1914)/Alastor;_or,_the_Spirit_of_Solitude

Hope and despair are two sides of the same coin. Both are illusions, or delusions. We don't hope for the future to be better, we plan to make it better. Hope is ephemeral, and as useful as prayer for actually getting anything worthwhile done.

Without hope, we'd give up.

Why would you give up?
Because you didn't get what you hoped for? That's childish. Try again, or admit to yourself that the goal isn't that important to you.
Because getting what you wanted turned out to be more difficult than you hoped? Again, childish. Reassess whether your goal is worth the effort, then keep going or do something else.
Because you despair that you won't get what you wanted? You have defeated yourself before you've even begun. Perhaps the world is better off with you doing nothing anyway.

Chasing hope is like chasing fairy lights in a swamp - a good way to wind up lost and drowning. Hoping shifts the burden of improving your circumstances off of yourself and onto the world around you, and distracts you from doing something practical. The only reason that it's not generally considered superstitious is that it's so common, and yet superstition it is. Hope belongs in the same bin with your fears of black cats, spilled salt, and the number 13.

Don't hope. Plan, then execute, then deal with the consequences, then plan again.

Don't hope, don't despair. Get started.

Spite also functions very well in place of hope.

"Fuck you, i'll show them" got me through a pretty rough decade.