I've definitely done this, but I hate the way this is phrased. This makes it sound like the left are a big club with rules: "Thou shalt first acknowledge how shit the world is, or else." What BS. It disallows for the possibility that this is actually how people are feeling. They must be doing it because of social pressure. I don't think anyone on either side of the political divide would admonish you if you just posted about your engagement, but (for myself at least) it's legitimately how I feel about things right now. 100%, A-grade, home grown despair, baby! I ackowledge it because it's really how I feel, not because my friends would chastise me if I didn't.