Poll: Are you cynical?

[Ilikemilkshake]

Im pretty cynical... but i usually try to experiance something before i properly make my mind up and commit to any actual dislike of something.

For example, im pretty cynical of anything EA touches... but im still hopefull Mass Effect 3 wont be shit... but then i see the "Better With Kinect" video and i go back to cynic mode and fully expect it to be a massive waste of money

 

[Scarim Coral]

I somewhat used to be in the past (High school era) but these days I'm more optimistic than cynical.

 

[BarbaricGoose]

I think my favorite quote of all time is "Cynicism is the intellectual cripple's substitute for intelligence." Oh my god, I love it.

No. I'm not a cynic. Anyone who sees the world through a lens as gray as the cynic's is not seeing things clearly. It may not always be peaches & cream, but it's not as shit as cynics make it out to be. I tend to think cynics are lazy; it's easy to say that everything is shit, and that makes it easier to not care about what happens to the world, so that you feel less guilty when you don't do anything about it.

In reality, the good people in this world far outshine the bad ones, you just don't hear about them. Good people do good things every day. They don't get in the newspaper, or get a thread made about on the Escapist, but they keep doing it regardless. And that's just the way the world works. Which, admittedly, is a bit depressing, but do you see me becoming a cynic? No. I like this world, and I like the good people in it. And I say this as someone who regularly deals with people who call other people faggots and retards (the internet.)

If the world was as shitty as cynics make it out to be, there'd be no world. It would've been destroyed years ago.

 

[Me55enger]

But I'm also British, and being British means that I have a predisposition to thinking any attempt by our country to make something great will inevitably fall flat on it's arse. Also, the sarcasm. Damn I love sarcasm.

The London Olympics

Everyone, repeat after me.

'It's gonna be a bit shit.'

Words of a true Brit. I salute you, your cynacism, your sarcasm and your impressively accurate prediction of the Olympics.

The irony being that the Daily Mail presistently complains of all "those foreigners in our country"

 

[Shiftygiant]

Optimism is something that the weak indulge within to keep safe. hey have to accept there is no reachable dream, no hope and god probosces hates them. The hilarious part is that people always week optimists, when really they need the cynic. My friends say I should be happy, let hope into my life and be blissfully ignorant. I look at them and question weather they are truly hopeful or have tricked themselves into believing themselves to be hopeful, almost as a way to be accepted within society. When they question if I was ever optimistic, I reply that I was long ago. That that time has passed after I saw what people would do given a chance. If they were given an opportunity.

 

[Phishfood]

Between people saying that the gaming industry coughs out nothing but mindless generic games with slapped on gimmicks for the sake of gathering more customers, whom they care nothing about, and saying that we live in Orwellian times, I think that this website might be kinda cynical. Which brings me to ask you a question. Are you cynical, yes or no, and why?

Personally I'm kinda on the fence, I used to be a major cynic, thinking that everyone on the planet with a few exceptions was either stupid, selfish or violent. Then I realized one day that considering that I have a roof over my head, two loving parents, a steady supply of food, a proper education, a stable circle of friends and an overall comfortable life, I don't have much right to complain. Nowadays I try to balance out cynicism with idealism, and frankly I think that the world could use a little more of the latter.

What about you?

Heres the thing, yes I am very cynical about most things. Side effect of my job. However, you can't look at how EA treat their customers and think that is how it should be. Compare EA to valve in terms of how customers are treated. Sure, there was the big fuss about l4d2 but its nothing like EA pumping out sequel after sequel year after year.

As for 1984 - well, back IN 1984 we all used to pirate in our own homes with tape recorders. Taping radio, taping CDs, trading games directly. Suddenly we all do it from a central source on the internet and its so terrible and an excuse for privacy invasion and such?

 

[Matt King]

Optimism is something that the weak indulge within to keep safe. hey have to accept there is no reachable dream, no hope and god probosces hates them. The hilarious part is that people always week optimists, when really they need the cynic. My friends say I should be happy, let hope into my life and be blissfully ignorant. I look at them and question weather they are truly hopeful or have tricked themselves into believing themselves to be hopeful, almost as a way to be accepted within society. When they question if I was ever optimistic, I reply that I was long ago. That that time has passed fter I saw what people would do given a chance. If they were given an opportunity.

dude, i'm optimistic because i like enjoying life, rather than expecting the worse of everything, sometimes it bites me in the arse but other times it doesn't, lighten up

 

[imnot]

The London Olympics

Everyone, repeat after me.

'It's gonna be a bit shit.'

Well yeah, Those Chinese had all those soldiers and fireworks and gymnastics in their opening ceromony, the best we can hope for is some chavs vandalising a bus stop.

OT: ha ha yes.

 

[OmniscientOstrich]

Of course I'm a cynic, I'm English, it's in our nature. That's not to say I feel the need to be the contrarian; decrying anything and everything popular within the contemporary mainstream; platitudinously bleating in tune about sell-outs, accessibility and under appreciated gems along with the rest of the herd of black sheep. I simply have an opinion and I express it bluntly, I'm largely pessimistic and I think ambitious attempts to radicalise, revolutionise and really significantly change things for the better in any area or field are generally doomed to fail. That said, the futility of it all isn't necessarily something that get's me down, despite my often negative outlook, over all I have a rather 'Que sera, sera' type of attitude. Shit happens, whatever will be, will be and by and large there is very little I can do to change that, all I can do is trundle along and try to make the best of what I've got, play the hand I've been dealt; even if more often than not I'll lose all my chips, get thrown ass first out of the casino and have to sell my body out on the streets just long enough so I can get back on my feet. Okay, that analogies gone way off the tracks. That shit is basically flying off the tracks. It's like it wants nothing to do with those tracks. The tracks filed for divorce from that shit and is now seeking custody of the track's and the shit's two kids. But I think it served more or less well enough to illustrate my general disposition on this matter.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

The London Olympics

Everyone, repeat after me.

'It's gonna be a bit shit.'

Well yeah, Those Chinese had all those soldiers and fireworks and gymnastics in their opening ceromony, the best we can hope for is some chavs vandalising a bus stop.

OT: ha ha yes.

Ha! The joke's on you. Our amazing British builders have been on a very long tea break and haven't gotten around to finishing the bus stops.

 

[DanielBrown]

Not really. I'm apathetic, if anything, so I don't really care what happens around me in either way.

 

[Robert Ewing]

I openly hold both cynical and optimistic outlooks depending on situation. But given the current roll of situations, it's almost always cynicism that wins.

That coupled with the fact that me being a pessimist, i.e assuming everything is shit until it proves itself otherwise, doesn't give optimism much of a chance. But I try.

 

[Dark Knifer]

More optimistic realist I suppose. I don't think everything will be flowers and rainbows but I like to keep pushing forward when things seem bad.

 

[ultimateownage]

I'm cynical, but I'm not stupid. I don't act like an angst filled teenager, going on about the non-existent oppression.

 

[mParadox]

I'm very optimistic. Always looks at the bright side of things.

Of course, that doesn't make blind to the realities at work. I can be a very capable cynic, but I prefer laughs to despairs.

 

[imnot]

The London Olympics

Everyone, repeat after me.

'It's gonna be a bit shit.'

Well yeah, Those Chinese had all those soldiers and fireworks and gymnastics in their opening ceromony, the best we can hope for is some chavs vandalising a bus stop.

OT: ha ha yes.

Ha! The joke's on you. Our amazing British builders have been on a very long tea break and haven't gotten around to finishing the bus stops.

So our opening ceromony is just going to be some chavs standing around not doing anything?
eh, could be worse, we could let Boris Johnson speak.

Actually that would be hilarious, I think we should do it.

 

[RatRace123]

I used to be, but then I came to this site and found that I was soooo outclassed in cynicism, so to keep a nice balance and to keep myself from being constantly depressed every time I come here I decided to become an optimist. Also, and this could be completely unrelated, but I stopped being a teenager in highschool and I found that improved my general mood a lot.

Not that I completely believe everything is perfect, but I believe that it could come close, and I believe that it's not all completely horrible now.

 

[TwistedEllipses]

I'm more optimistic. That's most because the vast majority of people around here seem to have prescribed to this postmodern cynicism of everything and I'm the kind of guy who can't stand a one-sided fight so I'll take the side no body wants. Personally, My life might not be rainbows and unicorns but I'm not going to act like a sad sack of crap because of it.

To be honest that's kind of how I think about it too, the world doesn't need another person added to the countless cynics, someone needs to look at it from a different angle...still my sense of humor couldn't be more dry.

They way I see it, the world needs a good mix of optimists and cynics to function. I also like lateral thinking, so I nearly always take a contrary point of view, which tends to be optimism...

 

[King of Asgaard]

I used to be optimistic and had faith in mankind, but I became cynical once I realised that life is full of crap and that decent, upstanding members of society (such as myself) are chewed up and spat out, while the ones who break the rules get ahead.
Plus, I don't have too many friends, never been in a relationship and don't ever expect to be.


I'm quite pathetic aren't I?