I learn something new every day. I have Gustavo Horta to thank for sending me back to a story I hadn’t revisited since kindergarten: “Pandora’s Box.”

Back then, at my Christian day school, they taught us Pandora alongside Adam and Eve. It’s ironic, looking back, that a religious school offered a mythological alternative to the fall of man, but both served the same purpose: explaining the origin of evil. However, I’d forgotten the most important detail—the one thing that didn’t escape.

Hope.

Most people view hope as the “silver lining” left behind to comfort humanity. But there is a darker interpretation: that hope was the final, most deceptive evil in the jar. If you look at how those in power exploit it, that darker view feels much more “realistic.”

The Weaponization of Optimism

Consider Obama’s iconic 2008 “Hope” poster. It was a masterpiece of political branding that promised an end to “perpetual warfare.” Yet, the architecture of power—the global capitalist status quo—remained untouched. Like so many campaign promises, it acted as an ideological Trojan Horse. It appeared as a gift of progress, but contained the very distractions designed to neutralize dissent and encourage social conciliation over real systemic change.

We are told to hope so that we don’t act. We are given a “false sense of hope” so we remain patient while the promises are broken.

“Pessimism of the Intellect, Optimism of the Will”

I find myself returning to Antonio Gramsci, who captured this tension perfectly:

I’ll be honest: after decades of questioning authority and witnessing the cycle of political letdowns, I lean heavily toward the “pessimism of intelligence.” I’m trying to be more realistic, but in a world built on illusions, defining “realistic” is the hardest task of all.

Is hope the thing that saves us, or is it the thing that keeps us from seeing the world as it actually is?

—Tina Marie