If You're Privileged, You Must Commit To Optimism

If you're lucky enough, you have no excuses right now

I count myself as very, very lucky.

I have a roof over my head and food on the table. I have a job that pays me enough money to live. I speak English. I’m a white, cisgender male. When I speak, people (for reasons I’ll never take for granted) often listen. The city I live in is not at war. My country is not under siege, nor does an authoritarian regime run it (as defined by The Economist). The rule of law is, for the most part, respected.

I am not suffering from any debilitating physical or mental condition at the moment, nor am I under significant strain because of the impending climate emergency. I live in a city with fantastic public transit that is safe (for me, at least), diverse, and lively. I am in a long-term relationship. I have a loving family who, thankfully, are all healthy. I have the time to write this without the pressure of it being my day job.

I went for a walk this morning without the threat of bombs, violence, or vigilantes. My humanity - who I am - is not being questioned or threatened simply because of who I choose to love, if I have a disability, what religion I choose to follow, or what my gender is.

My privilege is significant.

I get that.

And to be honest, most people I interact with daily share the same privilege. Yes, we have all our challenges - physical, mental, familial, community - but I am surrounded by people with privilege.

Yet, few of us act like it.

And this must change.

Photo by Domo. on Unsplash

---

Right now, the world is being led by people with immense privilege who trade in division, hatred, pessimism, and nihilism. Everything is wrong. It’s those people over there’s fault. And because of them, you are under threat. Yes, you, the person being spoken to by the person with immense power and privilege. It is all a grift, a global looting of time, attention, resources, and money by those who proclaim morality but lack morals. It is an idiocracy mixed with mass theft, led by those who should know better.

If you are privileged like me and you’re not doing something to counteract this narrative, this division, this race to the bottom, then you’re culpable at best and involved at worst.

So what can we do?

I believe that anyone lucky enough to live with inherent or earned privilege should recognise, right now, the power and importance of optimism. We, yes, you who have time to read my Substack, listen up. We need a revolution of optimism.

Deliberate Optimism

In Australia, there is a Centre for Optimism. I’m unsure of its provenance, but it outlines that optimism is “an expectation that good things will happen and that things will work out in the end.” I think this is incorrect. It is not an expectation, but a strategy. It is something we can do, own, and control. It is not about ceding responsibility to others and hoping for the best. That’s ignorance - a bury your head in the sand strategy. No, to me, this is a movement of folks recognizing their privilege and deciding that it is better to be optimistic and change how we act, resist, and engage to fight.

Optimism is a currency that can be more valuable, more lucrative, and more impactful than pessimism and nihilism. And if it’s not being traded en masse by people like me - like you - who have the time, the means, and the capacity to do so, then we will continue to get what we’re given - division, othering, hatred, and inhumanity.

---

Not blind optimism

Blind optimism leads to unrealistic assumptions and strategic ignorance. A hope for the world without engaging in it is also nihilistic. This is not what I mean here. Instead, I see optimism as protest, a fightback, and a political tool. The world, especially in the last six months, has seen people take their privilege, often the same as mine, and turn it into a literal and figurative weapon. A weapon that is used to convince people that they don’t deserve to exist just because of who they are. A weapon that says those people over there, simply because of where they live, don’t deserve the basic tenets of humanity. A weapon that decries cancel culture but then uses it day in, day out to silence anyone who makes you uncomfortable. A weapon that ignores the climate crisis. A weapon that weaponizes privilege. A weapon that is accelerating the decline of all of us.

To me, realistic, pragmatic, unbridled, and unwavering optimism is a counterbalance. An optimism that acknowledges the inherent value of all human beings and expresses that openly. One that doesn’t take a political side that is manufactured to divide and instead stands on a belief that everyone deserves to be safe, healthy, and respected, no matter who they vote for. An optimism that recognizes that everyone deserves the same fundamental frameworks for a safe and secure existence and a commitment to advocate for that, fight for it, and argue for it. An optimism that is intentional, deliberate, and active. Here and now.

I know this isn’t going to stop ignorance and greed, but when you truly focus on being optimistic as a strategy, you realise there are small things that can be done to push for the better.

You saw it in the No Kings protest in the United States this weekend.

You saw it in South Korea, a country that refused to be ruled by a dictator.

You saw it in the Canadian election that refuted inequitable ideology.

You see it in every human rights protest. Those defending the importance of global institutions (however much reform they need), in the rights of migrants (because we can all be that one day). And so on.

It is everywhere.

---

Photo by Liam Edwards on Unsplash

So what does this have to do with work?

I get that this is a departure from what I usually write. I have been debating whether to write this for weeks. I am not publicly political (another privilege, to be honest), nor do I tend to wade into controversy. But I’ve realised that not standing up for optimism is avoidance in itself, and now more than ever, avoidable when one has the privilege to be able to avoid is intolerable. It plays into the hands of fascists. So here I am.

I work in the music industry, which is a privilege in and of itself. Music, as an industry, does not exist in most countries. The simple act of ‘working in the music industry’ is not available to many people in principle. I was born in a country with a functioning music industry in which to work. That’s not a given. There were industrial mechanisms to make and distribute music, IP law to protect it, and a population that, for the most part, respected that along with it being an innate cultural good, it was something that should be paid for. Music was not free or just branded as entertainment (for the most part).

I have been offered opportunities to expand what I do because of where I live, who I know, and I believe, what I look like—a privilege within a privilege. And I believe anyone working in music and making a living, regardless of how challenging a business it is, should also recognise that they also drew a lucky hand. Talent helped, of course, but there are plenty of talented people we’ll never hear or see because of where they live or what they look like.

Music is my tool to spread optimism, but not just with the music itself, but with what it can do in places, to people, all over the world that it is not currently doing right now. Not only can music make people more money now than it currently is in more places - money that calms souls, pays rents, and builds houses- music is also a powerful form of cross-cultural communication. It may be taken for granted by many, but it wouldn’t be if it were to disappear.

As Fela says, music is indeed THE weapon, and when it hits, as Marley told us, no one feels any pain. We need not only to sing these songs but also to embody their message and act on them. We can succeed in doing that only if we first remain optimistic about what’s possible and strategically plan what we hope to achieve. Leading with music, I am confident that much good can be achieved politically, socially, environmentally, and economically.

If we’re to deploy an army of optimists and fight back, we can go further than the master himself. Music and other forms of culture and human expression are among the most potent weapons against pessimism and nihilism. But music is not optimised everywhere. Its power is incomplete. I want to change that, because if we lead with music more, I believe we’ll create more space for thought, introspection, and understanding, and show that optimism is more profitable than pessimism. But this can only happen if music offers the same economic opportunities for everyone, everywhere. It’s a vision that requires pragmatism, regulatory reform, and a mindset shift. Believe things can change, identify where we want to go (for me, a world where every country has a thriving music ecosystem, culturally and economically), and then lead with optimism (we will get there…we can get there).

If Not Now, When?

I genuinely believe that music is a tool to remake the world. Guitars can truly kill fascists. Right now, everywhere. Can music save the world? Maybe, maybe not. But it can surely make it better. And it starts with those with privilege, folks like me and I believe, like most of you, realising that we have a responsibility to be optimistic. Or we’re just making things worse.

The narrative dominating our lives today, peddled by the social media companies we rely on, is contributing to our collective destruction. Yet, enshittification is not inevitable. A world that champions division above all, focuses its efforts on monetising hate and does so by removing humanity from human beings - is NOT a given. It can be rejected. But if those with privilege, such as myself, give in, capitulate, or even worse, join the perpetrators, we will get more of what we have now.

Mark my words (in the words of the genius Scott Hutchison), we should all make tiny changes to Earth. Join me, will you?