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Escaping Cosmic Dismay with Feel-Good Platitudes
What passes for philosophy on Instagram
Perhaps there’s a name for the fallacy of sneaking in an uplifting non sequitur after conceding the most pessimistic assumptions.
It’s not just deranged optimism when this inference takes the form of a dazzling display of sophistry. Sophistical optimism amounts to audacious gaslighting, and when expressed as self-confidence, this is known to Jews as “chutzpah.”
Or using a cliché from journalism, this fallacy would amount to “pivoting” from some unpleasant facts to a more reassuring subject matter, without acknowledging that you’ve just changed topics instead of logically connecting some statements in an argument. Without arguing for the transition, you’d gaslight others into thinking that an encouraging conclusion follows from some ominous premises.
Regardless of what we might call it, I came across a stunning example of this fallacy in an Instagram reel that the algorithm sent my way. With almost 600,000 likes and over 4,000 comments at the time I saw it, “Leo.ng9” posted a reel with this text:
Eventually, everyone gets forgotten. In just a few generations, no one will remember your name, your struggles, your achievements, or your failures. Whatever feels so important now will disappear…
