Four Positive Attitudes and Their Opposites

I generally dislike those type of household decorations with words that encourage positive things to promote in your life or to be thankful for. I’m sure you know the kind that I’m talking about, like motivational or inspirational posters for the home. I guess a good word for such things is schmaltz, or more meanly: “virtue signaling”.

One wonders then why I spend so much time making somewhat similar diagrams for this blog, although I don’t (often) print and pin them up for display. And I can say for the most part that they are not of this nature, but that’s just an excuse. Even so, I kind of like this one, so please forgive.

These four attitudes (calm, care, love, and hope) started with their four opposites (anger, spite, hate, and dread) as the key messages I took away from ads from a certain political party a few years ago. Unlike my post Capitalistic Values, which dealt with actual, social objectivities, messages with these four types of negativity were intended to inculcate base subjective emotions.

But the more I looked at them and considered what to say about them, the more I thought that I was adopting these negative attitudes for myself as well. And so I hope that I can choose the positive ones and not their negative counterparts, as things continue forward.