Hope Springs Eternal

Someone once asked me why I was so pessimistic.  I corrected her and noted that I am cynical, which is not the same.  As I like to say, cynicism is a protective cloak used by optimists to keep their hopes from getting (too) dashed. 

And damn if that didn't just get proven.  Silly me, I went and posted something to some Tea Partier friend's Facebook page.....He was bitching about 'how will we pay for health care' -- and I gave my usual response about how we are already paying, etc.  I wasn't angry -- I try to be factual when I engage the Enemy.  You know, expecting that rational discussion could be had.

What was I thinking?

Why, time and again, do I think one can actually have some rational discussion with these people?  They were nutjobs, every last one of them (my friend wisely refrained from further comment.....).  Not one of them even responded to the points I made or questions I raised.  Just straight up barf-back of Faux News talking points.  I may as well have been watching Glenn Beck for all the dialogue going on. 

I should've known better, you might be saying right about now.  Yes, I should have.  But for every 100 or so nutbags I suffer, I find one really cool person with whom I can actually discuss and debate.  I guess I only encountered 99 today......

But it just goes to show: I really am an optimist.  Only an optimist could continue to engage such dopeheads in such fruitless conversations that inevitably contain personal attacks.  Now, where did I put that cloak of cynicism...it's around here somewhere........