American Gullibility Is Optimism's Dark Side

From Forbes.com - by Rich Karlgaard - Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds gave the average sports fan what he wanted--a thrill. Those amazing years of 60-plus home runs changed the pleasure of watching baseball from sublime to sensational. Americans are suckers for the sensational. Just check movie box-office ratings. Sensational trumps sublime every time. Bernie Madoff gave his investors what they wanted too: a 1% return per month, 12 months a year, year in, year out. Think about that--a quarter-million annual retirement income on a humble $2 million stash. You, Bernie, are sensational! Lance Armstrong stirred the cancer community by beating the disease himself then coming back to win the most physically demanding event in sports--a three-week sufferfest called the Tour de France--a record seven times. Our sensational Texan put those spandexed Euroweenies in their place. None of these were remotely plausible feats, of course. They belonged in the superhero comic books. So why did we eat them up at the time? What unmet needs did Americans have--and still have, as evidenced by the thriving Armstrong cult--that causes us to swallow these tales every time? Read more

American Gullibility Is Optimism's Dark Side