Why is it so trendy to be cynical?

[Maia]

I imagine that none of these hardened cynics even realise that they're following a cultural fashion, each trying to outdo everyone else in sneering at everything around them. Does it really make them feel any happier or fulfilled? I think we can safely say that the answer is no. It could be said, and I'm sure many do, that the times we're living in demand such an attitude, but anyone familiar with history knows that the times we're living in have always been full of corruption and stupidity.

I'm aware, of course, that Cynicism is also a branch of Classical philosophy, which bears almost no relation to the modern use of the term.

[Flannel Jesus]

Like many things, there's a sweet spot here. Some things are ostensibly correct to be cynical about. Some things are maybe not so correct. Some things you'd be correct to be cynical about, but it would be a waste of time to think about it a lot, it would lower your quality of life to worry about it, with no tangible benefit to anyone ever.

So the sweet spot is I guess some calculus involving knowing what things elicit justified cynicism, what things don't, and what things you would do better to ignore.

What type of trendy cynicism triggered this post of yours?

[Harbal]

There are a few posters on this site that tend to provide links to online articles, and such, to support some idiotic claim they are making. The material is often presented as news, and you don't need to click on many of these links before you realise that cynicism is quite a wise default position.

This is pretty widespread thoughout the internet.

[Maia]

Like many things, there's a sweet spot here. Some things are ostensibly correct to be cynical about. Some things are maybe not so correct. Some things you'd be correct to be cynical about, but it would be a waste of time to think about it a lot, it would lower your quality of life to worry about it, with no tangible benefit to anyone ever.

So the sweet spot is I guess some calculus involving knowing what things elicit justified cynicism, what things don't, and what things you would do better to ignore.

What type of trendy cynicism triggered this post of yours?

I'm not sure if there was any specific example that triggered it, it just seems to be everywhere. An attitude of trying to undermine everything, or just not caring.

[Maia]

There are a few posters on this site that tend to provide links to online articles, and such, to support some idiotic claim they are making. The material is often presented as news, and you don't need to click on many of these links before you realise that cynicism is quite a wise default position.

This is pretty widespread thoughout the internet.

Caution is justified, but I don't think that's necessarily the same as cynicism.

[Alexis Jacobi]

Is this the definition that fits the term?

Cynicism is an attitude characterized by a general distrust of the motives of “others.” A cynic may have a general lack of faith or hope in people motivated by ambition, desire, greed, gratification, materialism, goals, and opinions that a cynic perceives as vain, unobtainable, or ultimately meaningless and therefore deserving of ridicule or admonishment. The term originally derives from the ancient Greek philosophers, the Cynics, who rejected conventional goals of wealth, power, and honor. They practiced shameless nonconformity with social norms in religion, manners, housing, dress, or decency, instead advocating the pursuit of virtue in accordance with a simple and natural way of life.

May I quote a great American cynic (Mark Twain from The Mysterious Stranger):

You are not you--you have no body, no blood, no bones, you are but a thought. I myself have no existence; I am but a dream--your dream, a creature of your imagination. In a moment you will have realized this, then you will banish me from your visions and I shall dissolve into the nothingness out of which you made me. I am perishing already, I am failing, I am passing away.

In a little while you will be alone in shoreless space, to wander its limitless solitudes without friend or comrade forever—for you will remain a thought, the only existent thought, and by your nature inextinguishable, indestructible. But I, your poor servant, have revealed you to yourself and set you free. Dream other dreams, and better!

Strange! that you should not have suspected years ago—centuries, ages, eons, ago!—for you have existed, companionless, through all the eternities.

Strange, indeed, that you should not have suspected that your universe and its contents were only dreams, visions, fiction! Strange, because they are so frankly and hysterically insane—like all dreams: a God who could make good children as easily as bad, yet preferred to make bad ones; who could have made every one of them happy, yet never made a single happy one; who made them prize their bitter life, yet stingily cut it short; who gave his angels eternal happiness unearned, yet required his other children to earn it; who gave his angels painless lives, yet cursed his other children with biting miseries and maladies of mind and body; who mouths justice and invented hell—mouths mercy and invented hell—mouths Golden Rules, and forgiveness multiplied by seventy times seven, and invented hell; who mouths morals to other people and has none himself; who frowns upon crimes, yet commits them all; who created man without invitation, then tries to shuffle the responsibility for man's acts upon man, instead of honorably placing it where it belongs, upon himself; and finally, with altogether divine obtuseness, invites this poor, abused slave to worship him!

You perceive, now, that these things are all impossible except in a dream. You perceive that they are pure and puerile insanities, the silly creations of an imagination that is not conscious of its freaks—in a word, that they are a dream, and you the maker of it. The dream-marks are all present; you should have recognized them earlier.

"It is true, that which I have revealed to you; there is no God, no universe, no human race, no earthly life, no heaven, no hell. It is all a dream—a grotesque and foolish dream. Nothing exists but you. And you are but a thought—a vagrant thought, a useless thought, a homeless thought, wandering forlorn among the empty eternities!

[Maia]

Is this the definition that fits the term?

Cynicism is an attitude characterized by a general distrust of the motives of “others.” A cynic may have a general lack of faith or hope in people motivated by ambition, desire, greed, gratification, materialism, goals, and opinions that a cynic perceives as vain, unobtainable, or ultimately meaningless and therefore deserving of ridicule or admonishment. The term originally derives from the ancient Greek philosophers, the Cynics, who rejected conventional goals of wealth, power, and honor. They practiced shameless nonconformity with social norms in religion, manners, housing, dress, or decency, instead advocating the pursuit of virtue in accordance with a simple and natural way of life.

May I quote a great American cynic (Mark Twain from The Mysterious Stranger):

You are not you--you have no body, no blood, no bones, you are but a thought. I myself have no existence; I am but a dream--your dream, a creature of your imagination. In a moment you will have realized this, then you will banish me from your visions and I shall dissolve into the nothingness out of which you made me. I am perishing already, I am failing, I am passing away.

In a little while you will be alone in shoreless space, to wander its limitless solitudes without friend or comrade forever—for you will remain a thought, the only existent thought, and by your nature inextinguishable, indestructible. But I, your poor servant, have revealed you to yourself and set you free. Dream other dreams, and better!

Strange! that you should not have suspected years ago—centuries, ages, eons, ago!—for you have existed, companionless, through all the eternities.

Strange, indeed, that you should not have suspected that your universe and its contents were only dreams, visions, fiction! Strange, because they are so frankly and hysterically insane—like all dreams: a God who could make good children as easily as bad, yet preferred to make bad ones; who could have made every one of them happy, yet never made a single happy one; who made them prize their bitter life, yet stingily cut it short; who gave his angels eternal happiness unearned, yet required his other children to earn it; who gave his angels painless lives, yet cursed his other children with biting miseries and maladies of mind and body; who mouths justice and invented hell—mouths mercy and invented hell—mouths Golden Rules, and forgiveness multiplied by seventy times seven, and invented hell; who mouths morals to other people and has none himself; who frowns upon crimes, yet commits them all; who created man without invitation, then tries to shuffle the responsibility for man's acts upon man, instead of honorably placing it where it belongs, upon himself; and finally, with altogether divine obtuseness, invites this poor, abused slave to worship him!

You perceive, now, that these things are all impossible except in a dream. You perceive that they are pure and puerile insanities, the silly creations of an imagination that is not conscious of its freaks—in a word, that they are a dream, and you the maker of it. The dream-marks are all present; you should have recognized them earlier.

"It is true, that which I have revealed to you; there is no God, no universe, no human race, no earthly life, no heaven, no hell. It is all a dream—a grotesque and foolish dream. Nothing exists but you. And you are but a thought—a vagrant thought, a useless thought, a homeless thought, wandering forlorn among the empty eternities!

Yes, that fits the definition I was thinking of. The Ancient Greek Cynics, on the other hand, seem to have had some interesting ideas.

[Dubious]

May I quote a great American cynic (Mark Twain from The Mysterious Stranger):

You are not you--you have no body, no blood, no bones, you are but a thought. I myself have no existence; I am but a dream--your dream, a creature of your imagination. In a moment you will have realized this, then you will banish me from your visions and I shall dissolve into the nothingness out of which you made me. I am perishing already, I am failing, I am passing away.

In a little while you will be alone in shoreless space, to wander its limitless solitudes without friend or comrade forever—for you will remain a thought, the only existent thought, and by your nature inextinguishable, indestructible. But I, your poor servant, have revealed you to yourself and set you free. Dream other dreams, and better!

Strange! that you should not have suspected years ago—centuries, ages, eons, ago!—for you have existed, companionless, through all the eternities.

Strange, indeed, that you should not have suspected that your universe and its contents were only dreams, visions, fiction! Strange, because they are so frankly and hysterically insane—like all dreams: a God who could make good children as easily as bad, yet preferred to make bad ones; who could have made every one of them happy, yet never made a single happy one; who made them prize their bitter life, yet stingily cut it short; who gave his angels eternal happiness unearned, yet required his other children to earn it; who gave his angels painless lives, yet cursed his other children with biting miseries and maladies of mind and body; who mouths justice and invented hell—mouths mercy and invented hell—mouths Golden Rules, and forgiveness multiplied by seventy times seven, and invented hell; who mouths morals to other people and has none himself; who frowns upon crimes, yet commits them all; who created man without invitation, then tries to shuffle the responsibility for man's acts upon man, instead of honorably placing it where it belongs, upon himself; and finally, with altogether divine obtuseness, invites this poor, abused slave to worship him!

You perceive, now, that these things are all impossible except in a dream. You perceive that they are pure and puerile insanities, the silly creations of an imagination that is not conscious of its freaks—in a word, that they are a dream, and you the maker of it. The dream-marks are all present; you should have recognized them earlier.

"It is true, that which I have revealed to you; there is no God, no universe, no human race, no earthly life, no heaven, no hell. It is all a dream—a grotesque and foolish dream. Nothing exists but you. And you are but a thought—a vagrant thought, a useless thought, a homeless thought, wandering forlorn among the empty eternities!

Now, some quotes are truly worth reading. I never knew Mark Twain had it in him to be so "metaphysical"...especially so in such a way which reflects the dream-like content of reality, instead making the dream more real.

Quite brilliant in its inversion of reality as we "normally" experience it.

[iambiguous]

Let's start with the dictionary:

Cynical:

1] believing that people are motivated purely by self-interest; distrustful of human sincerity or integrity.
2] concerned only with one's own interests and typically disregarding accepted or appropriate standards in order to achieve them.

Now, in today's world, is it or is it not reasonable to be cynical? Well, that depends of course on how your own life has unfolded. And on your current set of circumstances. For some, cynicism makes perfect sense. For others it does not. The part I root existentially in dasein.

One thing, however, seems abundantly clear to some of us: capitalism and cynicism go hand in hand.

As I noted on another thread:

You can see [cynicism] play out in the reality TV program Big Brother. It's the only program of this sort that I have ever watched. It's just a fascinating glimpse into the reality of pop culture and capitalism.

For those unfamiliar with it...

A bunch of men and women -- mostly young and attractive of course -- get together in a house and compete for the grand prize...750,000 dollars. Each week they vote someone out. At the same time however they often form these really close relationships, friendships. Some even become lovers. But: in order to win the money, they basically have to continually lie to and to deceive each other...stab each other in the back over and over again. Why? Because in the end it is always about the money!!

They have a rendition of it where you are as well: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Broth ... TV_series)

Now, given my own numerous exchanges with you, I would venture to speculate as follows: the reason you are not cynical is because you have managed to acquire an intuitive, spiritual "intrinsic self". You "just know" deep down inside you that something is either right or wrong, good or bad, true or false. Then the manner in which, in turn, this is conveyed to you by a Goddess.

Something that [to me] seems embodied profoundly by you, in you, for you. But something that cynics of my ilk don't experience at all. My cynicism is derived from moral nihilism. A frame of mind that, given the life that I've led and the philosophers that I have read, has predisposed me to think as I do. Here and now.

Though, sure, given new experiences, relationships and access to information and knowledge, that might all change. Again, here and now, however, I don't possess [as you do] an intuitive, spiritual Self to anchor my identity to psychologically.

[Iwannaplato]

I imagine that none of these hardened cynics even realise that they're following a cultural fashion, each trying to outdo everyone else in sneering at everything around them.

I'm sure there are people like this, catching the, or 'a', zeitgeist.
But I am sure many cynics have become cynics due to experiences they've had and seen others have, perhaps with some knowledge of systemic problems thrown in. Toss in some in-built temperment and you've got a cynic.

Does it really make them feel any happier or fulfilled?

It might prevent more pain.

Note: I'm not saying cynicism is right. More like, I think it's more complicated than this.

It's not just following a fad, at least for many, and it's not just a stupid coping strategy. It has benefits. And for some, given their life situations, it might even be a net plus.

[vegetariantaxidermy]

1] believing that people are motivated purely by self-interest; distrustful of human sincerity or integrity.
2] concerned only with one's own interests and typically disregarding accepted or appropriate standards in order to achieve them.

Odd that it would have two completely different meanings without actually being a homonym. Meaning 1 is an ability to recognise those who are meaning 2. That's awkward.
Is someone a 'cynic' if they recognise that wars are motivated by money and power and never altruism?

[iambiguous]

1] believing that people are motivated purely by self-interest; distrustful of human sincerity or integrity.
2] concerned only with one's own interests and typically disregarding accepted or appropriate standards in order to achieve them.

Odd that it would have two completely different meanings without actually being a homonym. Meaning 1 is an ability to recognise those who are meaning 2. That's awkward.
Is someone a 'cynic' if they recognise that wars are motivated by money and power and never altruism?

How about this: Decide which meaning is the least "woke" and go with that one.

[Alexis Jacobi]

1] believing that people are motivated purely by self-interest; distrustful of human sincerity or integrity.
2] concerned only with one's own interests and typically disregarding accepted or appropriate standards in order to achieve them.

If the original Cynics distrusted those who defined cultural norms and believed that, really, underneath all of that there were only *self-interest*, and if they disbelieved whatever *front* those who defined cultural norms put up ---

--- then it would follow that such a Cynic would have recognized that they were motivated by self-interest, but were more honest about it, then the two definitions actually work together. A) they see conventional norms as hypocritical, and B) turn against or subvert the hypocritical norms and values in brazen displays.

It is not hard to see how the original suspicion about motives comes to be. And it is also not hard to see that a *mood* of cynicism in regard to all established hierarchies might then take over (as a cultural trend) and become fashionable.

[Alexis Jacobi]

How about this: Decide which meaning is the least "woke" and go with that one.

But the question would remain: which is most inclined to embody the *here & now*; to have side-stepped abstractions, triple backward flips, and highfaluting transports on intellectual skyhooks that take one up to those remote spiritual clouds. That is if you understand what I'm talking about.

[iambiguous]

How about this: Decide which meaning is the least "woke" and go with that one.

But the question would remain: which is most inclined to embody the *here & now*; to have side-stepped abstractions, triple backward flips, and highfaluting transports on intellectual skyhooks that take one up to those remote spiritual clouds. That is if you understand what I'm talking about.

Next up: Cynicism encompassed in a WALL OF WORDS!!!