1 - At first glance I think it's the real world manifestation of BYU Battered Fan Syndrome. (if I wasn't bleary-eyed and exhausted from basically being up all night not able to sleep I would dig out a list of the crushing....soul-destroying losses over the last 10-15 years).

2 - Some people just can't help themselves. They are hard-wired to be "glass half full" types. Their defense is usually based on wanting to be realists instead of optimists.

3 - Some people LIVE to be contrarians. It's their way to stand out from the crowd and garner a little attention. They enjoy swimming upstream against popular opinion.

There. I just used up every last bit of what I retained from my 2 or 3 Psych classes at BYU.