Life, 1911-10-19 · page 15 of 48
Life — October 19, 1911 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical piece mocks the formation of a national "Pessimists' Club"—a fictional organization uniting chronically negative Americans. The humor lies in the contradiction: pessimists organizing to formalize their misery, yet finding solidarity through shared hopelessness. The cartoon features caricatured members from major American cities (Chicago, Boston, St. Louis, Brooklyn) responding with letters. Each city's "pessimist" claims their hometown is *most* deserving of club headquarters because residents there are uniquely depressed and cynical—disguising melancholy beneath superficial cheerfulness (particularly Boston). The satire targets early 1900s American social attitudes: regional rivalries, urban self-deprecation, and intellectual snobbishness. The "Patriotic Pessimist" illustration shows a downtrodden figure crushing American optimism. The underlying joke satirizes those who wear pessimism as a badge of sophistication, ironically converting defeatism into collective identity.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
f “LIFE: All is Woe and Disaster! Formation of the Pessimists’ Club Adds Nothing to Our Chances, but at Least it Places All True Pessimisis Where They Belong—Chicago, St. Louis, Boston and Brooklyn Heard From Ak you utterly miserable? Do you con- sider that there is no hope for the fu- ture? If so, join the Pessimists’ Club. The Pessimists of America are at last united. The recent formation cf the Pessi- mists’ Club and the growing membership insures its permanency. “Nothing good can come of this,” writes one of our latest members, This, we os add, is the right BY ee spirit. The Pessi- Z mists’ Club was not formed for any good purpose; if it had been, its very existence would have been threatened. Our sole object is, by forming a combination of pessimists through- out the country, to resist the illogical spirit of hopeful- ness and cheer es that seems to pos- sess some mis- guided people. We may as well face the issue now as at any other time. We had rather expected to have an opening day in con- nection with a grand parade of pessimists, but when the thing was suggested letters came from our members all over the country predicting that under no circumstances was it likely to be a success. We admit that it was doomed to failure from the start; in fact, we don’t expect to be able to start anything and have it go through. “What's the use,” writes a man from Jamaica, L. 1, “of trying to introduce any enthusiasm into our club? It’s bound to be a failure from the start.” ‘The most remarkabie part of the whole affair is that there is not a single member of the Pessimists’ Club who is satisfied with it, or, in fact, likes anything we have done —and it is this very fact that holds it together. From Chicago we have received the following: “Put me down for a membership, but I want to protest against you having your headquarters anywhere else but Chicago. This is the only appropriate place for a pes- simists’ club; if you ask any resident of Chicago if he is happy, he will throw up his hat and shout with joy, but this is only done to conceal his settled melancholy. I PATRIOTIC PESSIMIST repeat that this is the only logical place for our headquarters.” From Boston: “ Having lived in Boston all my life, I should like to apply for the job as Fresident of the Pessimists’ Club. I have every qualification, having never spoken a good word of anyone in my hie, and regarding myself as the unappre- ciated intellectual superior to any man on earth.” From St. Louis: “T have your favor asking me for a list of all the people in this town whom I think will be eligible as members of the Pessimists’ Club. In reply, I send you herewith by express (C. O. D.) a copy of the city directory.” From Brooklyn: “In response to your invitation to join the Pessimists’ Club, we respectfully decline. It isn’t necessary. Everybody who lives here is so unhappy and entertains so little hope for the future that the mere joining of a pessimists’ club would add nothing to our melancholy. In sending in your application, please bear in mind the following facts: For the sake of bringing out the combined sadness and making it more effective, the mem- bers of the club are divided into classes. These classes simply indicate the various temperament- al qualifications of members, and are about as follows: Disaster Predictors: These are pessimists A PEEVER comicbooks.com