How exactly is "There are ants in my pizza" negative at all? It's a basic statement. It should have been something like "There are ants in my pizza. I'll probably choke on them and die."

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Most people don't like insects crawling around on their food.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Statements of facts are never pessimistic. There needs to be a negative point of view, not a neutral one.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

The exclamation point implies some urgency to the situation, which would indicate that the speaker is either overjoyed to have ants on their pizza, or terrified/angry about it. Considering that, as I said, most people don't like insects on their food, it is likely that the speaker (in this case, the pessimist) is scared or angry about it. Thus, it is a negative statement.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

The exclamation point could also imply shock, which does not equal negativity.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

The tone of the statement suggests that it is negative, because it's being said by a pessimist.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

But the words said suggest a neutral standpoint. If I said "Bears have escaped from the zoo!" I am stating a fact, I'm not showing any inclination on whether I like that or not

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Put that into context, and consider that in this post a pessimist would be saying, and it becomes negative.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Not every thing a pessimist says magically becomes negative. If a pessimist says they're happy about something or whatever, just because they're a pessimist it makes it bad? Then why does a neutral statement become bad?

by Anonymous 13 years ago

If I'm being pessimistic, saying that the bears have escaped from the zoo is obviously not a good thing, they //could// kill someone. But if I say it from a optimistic standpoint, the bears escaping means they can be free and happy. I've just found some good in the situation.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

So because a pessimist said a neutral statement, it has to be negative. Is that what you're saying?

by Anonymous 13 years ago

The fact that a person noted to be a pessimist saying something that could be positive, negative, or neutral implies that it is negative, otherwise you wouldn't have bothered to note that they were a pessimist. Are you a troll, or do you just have nothing better to do than overanalyze part of a simple joke that isn't even a big part of it?

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Don't say I have nothing better to do when you replied to each one of my comments.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

No, not exactly. I don't mean to say that everything they say is negative, but generally a pessimist looks at the worst possible conditions or outcomes of a situation. Also I'd like to point out that it isn't always what you say that matters the most, but how you say it. However, sometimes when reading text you can't tell the tone of what a person is saying, therefore, it's important to examine the context of what is being said.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

We're probably not going to convince each other, so if you want we could just leave it at this. We can keep going if you want though, up to you.

by Anonymous 13 years ago