Cynicism: An Endless, Useless, and Destructive Cycle.

[Dangit2019]

I was laying in bed the other night, completely awake, thinkin' bout stuff (you know, stuff), and I came to a sudden epiphany:

Cynicism is the result of people being cynics.

Let's start with the definition of cynicism as we know it:

An attitude of scornful or jaded negativity, especially a general distrust of the integrity or professed motives of others.

Here's the thing: when people have a distrust of others, they'll have a tendency to make decisions that benefit themselves, and disregard how it effects others. When these decisions affect somebody negatively, they in turn grow to distrust others. It passes on and on, and suddenly, the whole world turns to shit because of people who think the whole world is shit.

Why is it then, that culture seems to glorify those who have negative and distrustful views of the world?

Take the Star Wars prequels; George Lucas wants us to relate to Anakin Skywalker's motivations and moods, but how can we when he's constantly moody and negative about childish things such as actually having to follow his master's better orders (not even to mention the sand issue). He just sees everything as horrible bile, and we're supposed to relate because...why?

Maybe I'm just irked because I'm in high school, and even though the majority of students at my school are upper middle class white dudes with no real problems of their own, myself included, everybody seems to think that they are the only sane people in a sea of mindless "sheeple" (I hate that fake word so much).

I don't want to parade the streets telling people how awesome the world is, I just wish that people would be less dismissive of happiness. I wish people would believe in sincerity. And for once, I just wish people would stop acting like they're the smartest cookies in the jar because they don't listen to mainstream pop, which somehow makes them better than everybody else for some reason.

Wait, where was I? Oh yeah.

TL;DR
Why do people seem to gravitate towards cynicism as a superior trait? And would the world be better if people were less cynical?

 

[Keoul]

"better" is such a simple word...
I wouldn't necessarily say the world would be better with less cynics in it, doubt after all is an important feeling when dealing with people, after all without a little bit of cynicism we'd all be pretty damn gullible. But as always "everything is good in moderation" and cynics are just too doubtful and negative.

 

[Dangit2019]

"better" is such a simple word...
I wouldn't necessarily say the world would be better with less cynics in it, doubt after all is an important feeling when dealing with people, after all without a little bit of cynicism we'd all be pretty damn gullible. But as always "everything is good in moderation" and cynics are just too doubtful and negative.

True true. Again, I'm not saying that some situations call for a more negative look on things (for example, tragedy is not the best time to be happy and cheery), but what I'm referring to is the attitude that thinking "the world is shit" is superior to positive sincerity.

 

[Thaluikhain]

I disagree. Many people call cynicism what's simply an aware of some of the bullshit in the world, and the mistrust that causes.

Now, you get people play-acting at it, of course, claiming the world is terrible but who'd be shocked and appalled if anything remotely bad happened to them personally.

But there is a lot that is insincere, we are bombarded with it in eveyr piece of advertising, every political speech, every fairytale on TV.

 

[NightmareExpress]

The world would be horrid if it was full of only cynics or optimists.
Dreams and reality should really co-exist, but one should know that not all dreams become reality and the waking world isn't as happy-go-lucky perfect as they might imagine it to be. On the flipside, some amazing things couldn't be possible without dreams and the world is as much of a living hell as you make it out to be.

My optimism/cynicism fluctuates...but I really find it hard to trust people.
Too many wear a facade of smiles with a selfish ulterior motive behind the mask.
I've put on the mask before, but at least I can admit it. The greater powers that be help the poor souls who don't.

Also, I find it interesting to see that you think that people gravitate towards cynics or the process of how one becomes a cynic. I've found it to be quite the opposite, in that people gravitate towards people who seem optimistic and cynics are born from a culmination of personal experience and observations rather than the mere influence of another. If they agree with someone cynical than it just happens that they were a cynic themselves to begin with.

Captcha: don't stop
Good advice, I rather like my stance on things.

 

[thesilentman]

Maybe I'm just irked because I'm in high school, and even though the majority of students at my school are upper middle class white dudes with no real problems of their own, myself included, everybody seems to think that they are the only sane people in a sea of mindless "sheeple" (I hate that fake word so much).

Why has no one posted this yet?

xkcd to the rescue once again!

TL;DR
Why do people seem to gravitate towards cynicism as a superior trait? And would the world be better if people were less cynical?

This reminds me of the time that we had a discussion in English a few months back over Brave New World. We were supposed to tell how far humanity will go in the next 100 years.

I decided to take the unusual stance of being an optimist as everyone else decided to be utterly negative about the future.

And guess what. No one looked at the future the way I did. No one wanted to see good things. No one wanted medicine to be hyper-advanced. No one wanted to get new insights on how we could change the future. No one thought about the fact that in the future, a majority of us will be educated highly.

All everyone kept thinking about was the social aspect of life.

Take a moment and laugh. It makes no sense, I know. So, they say that the future sucks because it isn't what they dealt with on a pure social level? Are they saying that? Seriously?

I learned two things that day; one being that our (I'm 16, also in high school) age group has an obsession with being negative and that most of them are very selfish, if you know what I mean.

I also learned that cynicism is good, but not to the point where you become focused on one topic. I, myself, am a cynic. It doesn't mean that the world's the shittiest thing next to [insert generally shitty object agreed upon by people here].

Cynicism is never a replacement for the type of view you hold; it's supposed to be a counterpart to what you see. It should also never be over saturated, as then people just become ignorant.

 

[Hoplon]

I was laying in bed the other night, completely awake, thinkin' bout stuff (you know, stuff), and I came to a sudden epiphany:

Cynicism is the result of people being cynics.

Let's start with the definition of cynicism as we know it:

An attitude of scornful or jaded negativity, especially a general distrust of the integrity or professed motives of others.

Here's the thing: when people have a distrust of others, they'll have a tendency to make decisions that benefit themselves, and disregard how it effects others. When these decisions affect somebody negatively, they in turn grow to distrust others. It passes on and on, and suddenly, the whole world turns to shit because of people who think the whole world is shit.

Why is it then, that culture seems to glorify those who have negative and distrustful views of the world?

Take the Star Wars prequels; George Lucas wants us to relate to Anakin Skywalker's motivations and moods, but how can we when he's constantly moody and negative about childish things such as actually having to follow his master's better orders (not even to mention the sand issue). He just sees everything as horrible bile, and we're supposed to relate because...why?

Maybe I'm just irked because I'm in high school, and even though the majority of students at my school are upper middle class white dudes with no real problems of their own, myself included, everybody seems to think that they are the only sane people in a sea of mindless "sheeple" (I hate that fake word so much).

I don't want to parade the streets telling people how awesome the world is, I just wish that people would be less dismissive of happiness. I wish people would believe in sincerity. And for once, I just wish people would stop acting like they're the smartest cookies in the jar because they don't listen to mainstream pop, which somehow makes them better than everybody else for some reason.

Wait, where was I? Oh yeah.

TL;DR
Why do people seem to gravitate towards cynicism as a superior trait? And would the world be better if people were less cynical?

Well if they don't want to be sheeple why are they doing what almost every western teenager does? because teenage rebellion is banal. specially in middle class white kids.

which is not to say cynicism isn't a valid stance, it is. And they might have good reason for it.

 

[Indecipherable]

I prefer 'sceptical' rather than 'cynical' as it has less negative connotations. Cynical seems to imply you think the worst in people while sceptical carries a more neutral yet still investigative tone.

 

[Doclector]

Well, quite frankly, I'm a cynic because life gave me enough reasons to believe that was the only smart way of doing things. Sure, some people have had it worse, but I had it pretty bad.

If the world proves me wrong some day, then I'll gladly stop being a cynic. Right now, however, I'd prefer to see bad things coming and be surprised if things work out than the other way around.

 

[Angie7F]

Being desperately gullible is not cool.
Being a little bit withdrawn and cynical shows that you are not taking life too seriously and therefore not a pawn in the system.

But I think you get past the point where "trying too hard" is not cool ant that with maturity you start to accept that it is ok to be trying hard.

It is just like xmas and easter. you grow out of it in your teens but end up wanting to do all that tree egg and sock thing all over again oonce you have a kid of your own.

 

[Vault101]

had an interesting talk with my brother and he made a good point..the internet it too hateful. often people have their claws out with no intention of trying to change minds or writing somthing thourght provoking..its just hate mixed in with "I'M BETTER THAN YOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!"

the articel in question:
http://thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=youre_not_a_nerd

then this also was kind of cool


another thing I think I heard Yahtzee vaugley say is to assume everyhting is shit untill proven otherwise...not to disrespect yahtzee or anything but what a fucking miserable existance...not only that its kind of cowardly in a way [i/]oh noes I can't be having my feelings hurt so I'll put on my cynacsm armour[/i]

 

[manic_depressive13]

That breaks down when you acknowledge that people have vested interests. For example I am cynical about my government's claim that the reason we mistreat refugees is to protect them. I can guarantee you that my government doesn't lock refugees away indefinitely because of my attitude. They do it because they're racist. The reason they won't let gay people get married isn't because "marriage is defined as being between a man and a woman", it's because they're pandering to the religious right. This isn't a "once bitten twice shy" thing because Australians once got fucked over by an influx of gay refugees. Some people are just bigots.

-

Awww, what a touching story about a bunch of racist scumbags harrassing a man.

 

[HardkorSB]

Considering the society we've created, in which millions of people can get fucked (and are getting fucked over) over because of greed and deceit, it more advantageous to be at least somewhat cynical.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

Because it's better than being gullible/naive, which is the alternative. We're lied to in modern society a damn lot, by politicians and businesses, and a cynic will think critically and see downsides as well as upsides, but without expecting downsides you have less chance of finding them.

 

[Padwolf]

Well today we are often lied to in society by a variety of people. The news rarely shows anything good too. It can be to an advantage to be a little bit on the cycnical side. To be completely cynical I think is a bit foolish, for there is much good in the world and much good in people. To be withdrawn from it would be quite sad. In the words of Oscar Wilde:

"What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing"

 

[CrazyGirl17]

I'm a cynic because I know what people are capable and can't trust their intentions... though that might also be my paranoia talking...

 

[someonehairy-ish]

I'm a cynic when it comes to humanity and the state of the world as a whole, but I like individual people as much as the next guy. Individuals are complex and interesting and usually quite reasonable, but as soon as they become part of a group all of that goes, the group mentality become the most important thing...

All in all, I'm probably an anti-nihilist, if you had to pin down my exact worldview. http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheAntiNihilist

It has served me well enough so far.