He sees that the top four answers are all critical of him. But he chooses to see three of them as complimentary. That’s optimism.
Like when a certain chief executive went to England, and was pleased to see that huge crowds had gathered for him.
Optimism and self-delusion are different things.
In a similar vein, yesterday’s “Non Sequitur” offers three choices, one of which is supposed to be “obviously wrong”, but it doesn’t really say which one:
Also, the guy in the red shirt is sucking up to the boss by declaring that the word he chose to describe the boss’s leadership was “optimistic”.
Oh, darn. I used the S-word.
Kilby. The joke is clearly supposed to be that Real Estate Paperwork is so torturous that everyone would rather burn or freeze. The joke is its an exaggerated hyberbole.
This is a very common hyperbole: What horrors await? will they pull out my fingernails? No worse. Will they drill in my teeth without anesthetics? No worse. What then. They’ll make you listen to a Kenny G album! Nooooooooo……..
Surely you’ve heard these types of joke/exaggerations before.
I don’t recall the characters’ names, but the boss is a Mr. Burns-like character, and is okay being called greedy, unethical, and irresponsible (my guess on which three), but the Smithers-like character is a real sycophant, and has to let boss know that the word he used on the anonymous survey was “optimistic.” I think the joke would have been better off without that last comment, but it doesn’t totally destroy it, either.
chemgal, I interpreted it the same but I found the “optimistic” comment to be off the wall and confusing. If the joke was that the assistant would have synchophantic praise, then it’d be something more active and forceful such as “dynamic” and “optimistic” is just a weird choice. I figure that somehow “optimistic” was supposed to be a toadying spin on the four but… how on earth is optimistic a spin on “greedy” “unethical” “irresponsible” and “incompetent”. I assumed this is what was not understood about the comic.
I think James explanation is what the cartoonist intended. I don’t *like* this interpretation and I don’t think it works as B.A. points out. But I think this is the explanation.
“Optimism and self-delusion are different things.”
I thing they can overlap considerably.
“Oh, darn. I used the S-word.”
We can say “asshole” but we can’t say “s*ck”??????
Oh, I guess we *can’t* say the “a” word anymore. I swear we used to be able to. I remember being a little surprised by that. I guess the swear filter has gotten stronger.
I think chemgal has it. (Though, regardless of who has it, I feel like this strip just doesn’t scan well either way.)
To think that “greedy, unethical, and irresponsible” are compliments is self-delusional, which as B.A. says, is different than optimistic. But the strip doesn’t even say that he thinks they’re compliments. He says he’s OK with being thought of as “greedy, unethical, and irresponsible.” Being indifferent to others’ opinions isn’t self-delusional or optimistic; it’s just being indifferent.
@woozy: Considering greedy, unethical and irresponsible positive (or similar negative traits the employees would point out) was predicted by the toady, who knew that the boss would recast almost all negative comments as positive ones. He expressed this as optimism (a bit of sarcasm there), knowing that calling it self-delusion would probably not go over well.
I wouldn’t see it as self-delusional at all: people see him as greedy, unethical, and irresponsible (with other people’s well-being, not with his own or his family’s); he sees himself the same way, and is happy with himself being that way. That’s self-knowledgeable, not self-delusional. The toady is aware that he was going to do this, and figured that Barney would focus on the fact that people saw himself in ways that don’t bother him to be, rather than the fact that people don’t like him, or the “incompetent” part, which WOULD bother him. That’s “glass-half-full”-type optimism.
“I wouldn’t see it as self-delusional at all: people see him as greedy, unethical, and irresponsible (with other people’s well-being, not with his own or his family’s); he sees himself the same way, and is happy with himself being that way”
The self-delusional (and optimistic) part is that he believes that others view these traits as positives (as he himself does).
I don’t think considering Greedy, Unethical, and Irresponsible as positive virtues (are at least nuetral) is either “optimistic” or “delusional”. It’s having an alternative self-service sense of values. I’m not sure which positive sounding adjective would describe that; “self-determined” is the best I can come up with or maybe (multi-word) “makes his own rules”. But “optimistic” seems particularly off-key. After all, if he’s so self-centered he doesn’t care what people think so … what’s he being optimistic about?
“The self-delusional (and optimistic) part is that he believes that others view these traits as positives (as he himself does).”
Why would he care? (And I’m pretty sure he knows they don’t.)
@ woozy – I didn’t say that the “Real Estate” option wasn’t obvious, I only said that it was not explicitly identified as the “bad” choice.
Ah, then I misunderstood your point.
I believe implicitly but not explicitly stating is standard joke-telling methodology. But the non-sequitor is subtle in offering a coin for *two* options.
“Why would he care? (And I’m pretty sure he knows they don’t.)”
The toady is the one who offers “optimistic”, not the boss. Take it up with him.
“The toady is the one who offers “optimistic”, not the boss. Take it up with him.”
That’s exactly what I am doing. Hey, toady: the word “optimistic” doesn’t work. And while I’m at it; Hey cartoonist: You are having the toady say a word that doesn’t work and that makes the joke not work.
I thought the word “optimistic” was a subtle criticism, not sycophantic. The optimism was not in his interpretation of the unsurprising results, but that he authorized a company wide survey to get the unvarnished truth when he is self-aware enough to be unsurprised by any of the four (and finds three of them OK); only an optimist could think the results would reflect well on him.
Comics I Don't Understand 
He sees that the top four answers are all critical of him. But he chooses to see three of them as complimentary. That’s optimism.
Like when a certain chief executive went to England, and was pleased to see that huge crowds had gathered for him.
Optimism and self-delusion are different things.
In a similar vein, yesterday’s “Non Sequitur” offers three choices, one of which is supposed to be “obviously wrong”, but it doesn’t really say which one:
Also, the guy in the red shirt is sucking up to the boss by declaring that the word he chose to describe the boss’s leadership was “optimistic”.
Oh, darn. I used the S-word.
Kilby. The joke is clearly supposed to be that Real Estate Paperwork is so torturous that everyone would rather burn or freeze. The joke is its an exaggerated hyberbole.
This is a very common hyperbole: What horrors await? will they pull out my fingernails? No worse. Will they drill in my teeth without anesthetics? No worse. What then. They’ll make you listen to a Kenny G album! Nooooooooo……..
Surely you’ve heard these types of joke/exaggerations before.
I don’t recall the characters’ names, but the boss is a Mr. Burns-like character, and is okay being called greedy, unethical, and irresponsible (my guess on which three), but the Smithers-like character is a real sycophant, and has to let boss know that the word he used on the anonymous survey was “optimistic.” I think the joke would have been better off without that last comment, but it doesn’t totally destroy it, either.
chemgal, I interpreted it the same but I found the “optimistic” comment to be off the wall and confusing. If the joke was that the assistant would have synchophantic praise, then it’d be something more active and forceful such as “dynamic” and “optimistic” is just a weird choice. I figure that somehow “optimistic” was supposed to be a toadying spin on the four but… how on earth is optimistic a spin on “greedy” “unethical” “irresponsible” and “incompetent”. I assumed this is what was not understood about the comic.
I think James explanation is what the cartoonist intended. I don’t *like* this interpretation and I don’t think it works as B.A. points out. But I think this is the explanation.
“Optimism and self-delusion are different things.”
I thing they can overlap considerably.
“Oh, darn. I used the S-word.”
We can say “asshole” but we can’t say “s*ck”??????
Oh, I guess we *can’t* say the “a” word anymore. I swear we used to be able to. I remember being a little surprised by that. I guess the swear filter has gotten stronger.
I think chemgal has it. (Though, regardless of who has it, I feel like this strip just doesn’t scan well either way.)
To think that “greedy, unethical, and irresponsible” are compliments is self-delusional, which as B.A. says, is different than optimistic. But the strip doesn’t even say that he thinks they’re compliments. He says he’s OK with being thought of as “greedy, unethical, and irresponsible.” Being indifferent to others’ opinions isn’t self-delusional or optimistic; it’s just being indifferent.
@woozy: Considering greedy, unethical and irresponsible positive (or similar negative traits the employees would point out) was predicted by the toady, who knew that the boss would recast almost all negative comments as positive ones. He expressed this as optimism (a bit of sarcasm there), knowing that calling it self-delusion would probably not go over well.
I wouldn’t see it as self-delusional at all: people see him as greedy, unethical, and irresponsible (with other people’s well-being, not with his own or his family’s); he sees himself the same way, and is happy with himself being that way. That’s self-knowledgeable, not self-delusional. The toady is aware that he was going to do this, and figured that Barney would focus on the fact that people saw himself in ways that don’t bother him to be, rather than the fact that people don’t like him, or the “incompetent” part, which WOULD bother him. That’s “glass-half-full”-type optimism.
“I wouldn’t see it as self-delusional at all: people see him as greedy, unethical, and irresponsible (with other people’s well-being, not with his own or his family’s); he sees himself the same way, and is happy with himself being that way”
The self-delusional (and optimistic) part is that he believes that others view these traits as positives (as he himself does).
I don’t think considering Greedy, Unethical, and Irresponsible as positive virtues (are at least nuetral) is either “optimistic” or “delusional”. It’s having an alternative self-service sense of values. I’m not sure which positive sounding adjective would describe that; “self-determined” is the best I can come up with or maybe (multi-word) “makes his own rules”. But “optimistic” seems particularly off-key. After all, if he’s so self-centered he doesn’t care what people think so … what’s he being optimistic about?
“The self-delusional (and optimistic) part is that he believes that others view these traits as positives (as he himself does).”
Why would he care? (And I’m pretty sure he knows they don’t.)
@ woozy – I didn’t say that the “Real Estate” option wasn’t obvious, I only said that it was not explicitly identified as the “bad” choice.
Ah, then I misunderstood your point.
I believe implicitly but not explicitly stating is standard joke-telling methodology. But the non-sequitor is subtle in offering a coin for *two* options.
“Why would he care? (And I’m pretty sure he knows they don’t.)”
The toady is the one who offers “optimistic”, not the boss. Take it up with him.
“The toady is the one who offers “optimistic”, not the boss. Take it up with him.”
That’s exactly what I am doing. Hey, toady: the word “optimistic” doesn’t work. And while I’m at it; Hey cartoonist: You are having the toady say a word that doesn’t work and that makes the joke not work.
I thought the word “optimistic” was a subtle criticism, not sycophantic. The optimism was not in his interpretation of the unsurprising results, but that he authorized a company wide survey to get the unvarnished truth when he is self-aware enough to be unsurprised by any of the four (and finds three of them OK); only an optimist could think the results would reflect well on him.