Life — February 29, 1912 — page 11: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "Who is the Greatest Pessimist?" This satirical piece mocks a "Pessimists' Club" that compiles lists of history's greatest pessimists. The article presents a humorous roster including W.J. Gaynor, Henry VIII, Cotton Mather, Arthur Schopenhauer, Bernard Shaw, J.J. Hill, and Dick Turpin. The two cartoons illustrate club activities: one shows members discussing their miseries ("Get together and discuss their symptoms"), while another depicts them barring women ("Have barred out women"). The satire targets pessimism as a fashionable affectation among certain intellectuals and public figures. The article pokes fun at people who wear gloom like a badge of honor, suggesting their complaints are performative rather than genuine. The club concept itself ridicules organized pessimism as both absurd and self-indulgent.