Pollyannaism

Now, following my pattern of veering between Pollyannaism and dread, I’ll consider whether the pandemic will make us less democratic and more authoritarian, like China.

“I am glad glad glad even to Pollyannaism,” one newspaperwoman writes, “that Jeannette is not ‘freakish’ or ‘mannish’ or ‘standoffish’ or ‘shrewish’ or of any type likely to antagonize the company of gentlemen whose realm has hitherto been uninvaded by petticoats.”

Optimism is not the same as Pollyannaism.

Sure, it is easy to dismiss some of this as so much Pollyannaism.

That may sound less like optimism than Pollyannaism.