You really don't have to visit the statue or times square.

This is akin to asking the CEO of Exxon and a Climate Change alarmist about climate change.

The CEO might seem more level headed because the more outlandish or accelerated timelines predicted by the alarmist are very likely wrong, but at the end of the day they will always dance around the safety issues because their motivation in power and profit.

The alarmist most likely understates the near term and less outlandish problems by hyper-focusing on the worst case scenarios.

We should listen to both, but probably pay more attention to those who fall somewhere in the middle on the optimism/pessimism spectrum.

I think your framing is half-correct, but I feel it's a little deeper than boredom and doom scrolling. The pandemic was a real shock to the system, and change messes with our wiring, created an environment of fear, etc. I think Trump played a role as well.

I had a weird guy yell at me on the subway once, and a car almost hit me on my bike yesterday so let me tell you why my fear of homeless people is more important than me potentially dying.

Josh Shapiro won by more than double the percentage Hochul did in a Biden +1 state. Look at Whitmer, Evers and Tim Walz as well.

This is not the reason NY Dems blew it.