You're Being Negative

 YOU'RE BEING NEGATIVE

Has anyone ever said to you, "You're just being negative!"?  You should be really pleased if so.  It signifies that you actually have given something some thought.  Usually, much to the surprise of the person who has called you "negative".  I can't think of anything I'd rather be called than "negative".  

Being negative indicates that you, the person being called negative, thinks that the other person, the person calling you negative, is either being stupid or acting in a stupid manner - - which are really the same thing, one simply being more pronounced than the other.  Being negative is simply a polite way of saying to the other person "That is really stupid".  You're simply being polite and you shouldn't be criticized for that, now should you?

So let's give those being negative a break for a change.  They are simply being polite when someone does or says something stupid.  The problem usually is the person from whom the statement issues does not recognize the fact that the "negative person" is simply trying to be polite - - more evidence of little understanding.  No thought processes are recognizable.  The first effort  to be made by the person saying stupid things or acting in a stupid manner should be to make an effort to understand their own stupidity.  At times stupidity is a learned trait and can be corrected - - not often, but sometimes.

The person calling you negative is really in a confessional mode.  They are confessing they are stupid or are acting in a stupid manner.  And as a matter of kindness, you may not want to bring it to their attention other than by simply being negative.  Calling someone stupid is not necessary, when simply disagreeing is enough.  The conversation could devolve into name calling by one person saying the other is stupid and the other person saying the other is being negative and so forth and so on.  

One could easily, in a discussion of negativity, go way beyond the spatial limitations of a short article such as this.  It really could lead to a whole series of thought processes with no clear end in sight  - - possibly book length.  I'm sure that others in the history of printing have commented on negativity.  Maybe Kant or Hegel for instance, but I can't say since I've read neither.  Let's just say that being negative is really not a negative quality, but in fact a positive quality that should be recognized more generally.

Richard E H Phelps II

Mingo