How do you Reconcile the Ideals of Freemasonry with a Pessimistic Outlook on Humanity?

The tenets of Freemasonry are all about being good and true, and being serviceable to fellow creatures. I do try to uphold these ideals in my day to day interactions with mankind, but like Brother John Ratcliffe, I often find modern society to be awfully discouraging.

My concentration this afternoon has been derailed by news coverage of idiot parents who are up in arms over the fact the the President of the United States will be giving a live talk about education to kids in schools all over the country next week. Why? Because rabid right-wing TV and radio personalities have convinced them that it's "socialist indoctrination." I'm at a total loss for words. Who are these people, and how do they get mainstream news coverage? Can you imagine the TOTAL! MORAL! OUTRAGE! we'd hear from these same talking heads if a liberal parent objected to a conservative President addressing their kid in school? "Unpatriotic! Unamerican! Encouraging the terrorists!"

Meanwhile, all any concerned parent would do in a reasonable society would be to discuss the President's speech with their kids after school that day, you know, like grown-ups used to do: calmly and rationally.

While I'll freely admit to having liberal tendencies myself, what bothers me is not the fact that a person might not agree with the sitting President's political views or agenda. It's the willful ignorance and anti-intellectualism that has overtaken civil discourse in our society, and the despicable people who bend those tendencies to opportunistic advantage, poisoning the well for the rest of us who want nothing more than to coexist amicably with our neighbors.