Cynicism is the cheap seats.
January 14, 2025 2:43 PM   Subscribe

We Don't Need More Cynics. We Need More Builders.
"Here’s a more charitable reading of cynicism: it’s not an intellectual position. It’s an emotional defense mechanism. If you expect the worst, you’ll never be disappointed. If you assume everything is corrupt, you can’t be betrayed. But this protection comes at a terrible price. The cynic builds emotional armor that also functions as a prison, keeping out not just pain but also possibility, connection, and growth."
posted by otherchaz (76 comments total) 40 users marked this as a favorite
 
Seems like the author found a new word, "meliorism", to express the classic silicon valley phrase, "making the world a better place".

The criticism kind of writes itself from there, especially with the article's chosen image of a laptop slathered with corporate stickers. I don't want to come off as a cynic, though. I'm making the world a better place as evidenced by the value of my RSU grants.
posted by tuffet at 2:57 PM on January 14 [8 favorites]


“A cynic is someone who found out there is no Santa Claus and never got over it.”
posted by Lemkin at 2:58 PM on January 14 [6 favorites]


Exactly. Cynicism is “safe” and lazy, which is why is often used.
posted by Liquidwolf at 3:01 PM on January 14 [3 favorites]


Plan for the worst, hope for the best.
posted by nofundy at 3:07 PM on January 14 [6 favorites]


Anyone who can look at a world where 85% of Americans didn't crawl over broken glass to keep That Fucking Guy out of power and still isn't cynical is... something, that's for sure.
posted by outgrown_hobnail at 3:09 PM on January 14 [30 favorites]


Oh, this discussion is going to go well.
posted by Galvanic at 3:28 PM on January 14 [32 favorites]


skepticism is advised in a behavioral scientist article i found a bit ago (for an Ask answered well before i finished the draft i draw from:)
“By leaning into skepticism—paying close attention rather than jumping to conclusions—you might discover pleasant surprises everywhere.”
posted by HearHere at 3:31 PM on January 14 [11 favorites]


I'll generally agree with this. The cynic doesn't have to do anything , they just poke holes in what other people are doing.

My ward got a new city councillor in 2022. During the election her platform was against things like supportive housing and increasing local cycling infrastructure, or rather she said that previous decisions were done without enough local consultation and she'd re-open them. I did not have high expectations for her, but local community groups got in touch with her, had discussions and invited her to events, and she's become much more supporive of the initiatives.

I'm fairly cynical and after the election I said that she's going to be an enemy of these causes and worried about what would happen over her four year term. The people in the groups just kept on doing their work and engaged with her and were able to get results. Even if they hadn't been able to get results they're still building relationships with each other as well as city staff and their communities on both personal and practical levels which will help for the next initiatives.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 3:32 PM on January 14 [37 favorites]


Builders get the end of the stick that Jimmy Carter did. While he's still my hero and I will still privately try to be like him as much as I can, as a self-defense mechanism, I'm absolutely going to be cynical AF.
posted by SpecialK at 3:40 PM on January 14 [3 favorites]


I super resonate with this.
posted by latkes at 3:51 PM on January 14 [5 favorites]


the fundamental weakness of a cynical stance is it comes from thinking you've got it all figured out. You haven't. You're wrong. You've failed. You've lost the forest for the trees.

skepticism on the other hand ...
posted by philip-random at 3:52 PM on January 14 [13 favorites]


and then I actually read the article and see the writer is using cynicism and skepticism as synonyms which they're not ...

When you feel the pull of cynicism, ask yourself: Is this helping? Is this default skepticism making you more effective or just more comfortable?

Cynicism knows.
Skepticism isn't convinced.

There's a big difference.
posted by philip-random at 3:59 PM on January 14 [31 favorites]


"Cynicism is boring" is in my mottos and inspirational phrases file (yes literally I have such a file though it's digital). I can't recall who said it -- probably some phrase in chatter between Mariame Kaba and someone else. The motto is there to remind me that being resignedly cynical -- always reacting with "as I expected" or using the foreseeable horrors of the world let me check out -- is not really healthy for me, doesn't encourage others to be THEIR better selves and is, well, boring. I'm also prone to criticism and skepticism -- easy to see problems but harder to engage on how to make it better. Rejecting (or striving to reject) cynicism for me is not a call to excuse or reframe awful events or circumstances as acceptable, but to try to see the good that might be there or to understand how the bad came to be so I am ready to at least try to improve what I can (and at minimum not deride those who try). If all else fails, at least it helps me to laugh at us silly humans and our foibles.
posted by R343L at 4:00 PM on January 14 [8 favorites]


This is why all kids should have to read Candide.

Plus--and kids love this--it's like 130 pages long.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 4:02 PM on January 14 [13 favorites]


Cynicism is an easy stance for young people to take, to discard when they think they'll have some measure of control over things, and relearn when they discover they don't. At that point, it just becomes realism. To paraphrase The Princess Bride, people who tell you otherwise are usually just trying to sell you something.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 4:10 PM on January 14 [6 favorites]


I like the structure and title of this as I think it gets at the main problem. There's nothing WRONG with cynicism on an individual level and it's a useful defense mechanism against... everything that's happened, but our current society definitely has more cynicism than is healthy. I say this as a depressed person who naturally tends towards cynicism if I don't make a conscious effort to fight it.

Hanging out on Reddit (and here) for the last few years has shown me how cynicism naturally spreads through the internet. It is fairly easy to write minimally "interesting" content/commentary that talks about how something has failed or is going to fail. Very few efforts succeed at all of their goals, and the clear shortcomings make for a much better conversation topic than the confusing and partial successes.

I really wish that as a society we would spend more time talking about partial successes and treating them as legitimate and important. Cynicism is warranted when some initiative really will make the world significantly worse, but a more balanced approach is better for rewarding and encouraging plausible attempts to improve society.
posted by JZig at 4:19 PM on January 14 [9 favorites]


As one who came to cynicism through having the things I tried to build get kicked over and squashed by those with the power and advantage to do so, and seeing plans for a better world get co-opted by op opportunistic charlatans, I find cynicism to be a necessary requirement for getting anything built in 2025.
posted by Jon_Evil at 4:25 PM on January 14 [5 favorites]


I think this is a false dichotomy.
I am a cynic about climate catastrophe, and yet I run a regenerative farm.
I am cynical about politics, but I still vote.
I am extremely cynical about the current value of the internet, yet here I am.
posted by birdsongster at 4:35 PM on January 14 [27 favorites]


I think there is a useful nugget here but I also sort of think this piece needed an editor.

birdsongster’s comment above really resonates, though. I have committed to futile acts to protect something valuable and then been pleasantly surprised. I have also committed to such things and seen them through to the inevitable. In neither case did I regret acting as I did.
posted by eirias at 4:44 PM on January 14 [5 favorites]


What's the old motto? Pessimism of the intellect, optimism of, um, you know, the thing
posted by jy4m at 4:55 PM on January 14 [4 favorites]


Cynicism doesn't just blind people to new opportunities. It often blinds them from reexamining the "known good"s in their world. They'll confidently spout dogma about why NewThing is the worst without investing a moments thought into the deep flaws of good OldThing. Advanced cynics will breathlessly extol the shortcomings in OldThing as necessary and virtuous.
posted by neonamber at 4:58 PM on January 14 [2 favorites]


I've worked with early-stage startups for nearly two decades and in the early years, I frequently told founders "your thing is never going to work" and I prided myself in my directness.

After a few years I realized that I had, in several cases, been completely wrong and they went on to huge success. I was quite capable of getting it wrong.

I eventually changed my framing to "if I was working on your thing, I would be digging into these things." The same underlying information, but without taking crap in their breakfast cereal.
posted by ifatfirstyoudontsucceed at 4:59 PM on January 14 [14 favorites]


I eventually changed my framing to "if I was working on your thing, I would be digging into these things." The same underlying information, but without taking crap in their breakfast cereal.
posted by ifatfirstyoudontsucceed at 4:59 PM on January 14


Eponysterical!
posted by eirias at 5:02 PM on January 14 [2 favorites]


If you've lived long enough and have been paying attention, it's almost impossible to be an optimist. You're dealing with humans after all...
posted by jim in austin at 5:03 PM on January 14 [2 favorites]


“Obsessing on evil is boring. Rousing fear is a hackneyed shtick. Wallowing in despair is a bad habit. Indulging in cynicism is akin to committing a copycat crime.”

Rob Brezsny
posted by tspae at 5:08 PM on January 14 [8 favorites]




My parents were Builders. When they moved to Canada in the 1960s there were barely any mosques or cultural associations or accomodations for people like them and so they and people like them built them in their free time because they all needed to have day jobs. As part of their building they forged strong connections with people they may not have known otherwise and made lifelong friends out of them. Growing up I'd call these other builders my uncles and aunts and their kids were like my cousins so there was work but there was also found family. Their work wasn't always easy and they'd have disagreements with each other but they all kept at it in their own ways. My father did this until the literal day he died and my mother who is approaching 90 still participates and helps out as much as she can.

As much as I think these people did important work, and that their lives were enriched by it I can only think of one child of all these people that became a Builder themselves, the rest of us are content living our lives and devoting our precious free time to our families and personal interests. I don't know what that means, if anything.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 5:35 PM on January 14 [21 favorites]


Is recognizing enshittification cynical?
posted by nofundy at 5:38 PM on January 14


This is a good point, I think:
okay, so, the thing is, being contrarian makes you *more* susceptible to propaganda, not less, in the same way bottomless cynicism does. you’ll grasp for any straw you can find that supports an alternative narrative.
posted by NoxAeternum at 5:48 PM on January 14 [13 favorites]


As much as I think these people did important work, and that their lives were enriched by it I can only think of one child of all these people that became a Builder themselves, the rest of us are content living our lives and devoting our precious free time to our families and personal interests. I don't know what that means, if anything.

Volunteerism has been declining in Canada for generations. 50-60 years ago I think life was hard in it's own way, but I also think a lot of people just assumed you could work hard enough, with others, to make a difference. I am not sure people feel that way today. Is it cynical to state this?
posted by ginger.beef at 6:11 PM on January 14 [4 favorites]


Why does this author have to be so cynical about the value of certain defense mechanisms? It seems like if they kept an open mind about preparing for disaster, they might learn a thing or two instead of being knee-jerk centered around putting a lot of effort into projects that could easily fail (/s)
posted by rikschell at 6:16 PM on January 14


Cynicism looks at a thing or who says a thing and without considering the thing itself, dismisses it. Skepticism looks at a thing or who says a thing and says "Maybe we should look into this more deeply." Cynicism tends to rush to judgment. Skepticism slows judgment down.
posted by kaymac at 6:18 PM on January 14 [10 favorites]


...and that's why skeptics aren't very welcome in fast moving environments.
posted by kaymac at 6:20 PM on January 14 [1 favorite]


It’s quite possibly to be externally cynical but internally hopeful. People’s cynical behaviors can be a defense mechanism against being vulnerable around others. It doesn’t have to reflect their beliefs, necessarily. I find cynicism insufferable, same with toxic positivity. They’re both a facade used to protect people from vulnerability. Granted, I wish them peace of mind.
posted by waving at 6:22 PM on January 14 [7 favorites]


Cynicism is a good start, but you need to finish something
posted by eustatic at 6:46 PM on January 14 [4 favorites]


"I have seen too much bad news to be complacent, too much good news to despair" - Donella Meadows
posted by storybored at 6:47 PM on January 14 [6 favorites]


The author Joan Westenberg is the same nimrod who wrote this remarkably subtle climate pseudo-denial last week. Ain't surprised Westenberg intentionally conflates cynicism and skepticism too.

In reality, serious breakthroughs in scientific and engineering almost always come hand-in-hand with discovering real physical limits. I suppose almost everyone here learned the Carnot cycle in some physics class once upon a time. It's what make heat engines work, meaning the entire modern world. To discover it, Sadi Carnot formulated one of the first flavors of the 2nd law of thermodynamics.

Yes, the most terrifyingly limiting law of physics was discovered to make modern society possible. We do new things that seemed impossible before by discovering the limits that make many related things actually impossible.

As an aside, Napoleon’s wife once babysat Sadi Carnot (source).
posted by jeffburdges at 7:01 PM on January 14 [15 favorites]


Meliorism:
The doctrine that the world, or society, may be improved and suffering alleviated through rightly directed human effort; a policy embodying this doctrine.

1877 "The only good reason for referring to the ‘source’ [of the word ‘meliorist’] would be, that you found it useful for the doctrine of meliorism to cite one unfashionable confessor of it in the face of fashionable extremes."

‘G. Eliot’, Letter 19 January in J. W. Cross, George Eliot's Life (1885) vol. III. 301

1877 "Our line of reasoning provides us..with a practical conception..which, to use a term for which I am indebted to..George Eliot, may be appropriately styled Meliorism. By this I would understand the faith which affirms not merely our power of lessening evil—this nobody questions—but also our ability to increase the amount of positive good.

J. Sully, Pessimism 399

Your local library card may get you free access to the OED.
posted by PresidentOfDinosaurs at 7:44 PM on January 14 [1 favorite]


The author Joan Westenberg is the same nimrod who wrote this remarkably subtle climate pseudo-denial last week. Ain't surprised Westenberg intentionally conflates cynicism and skepticism too.

Oh, God, I might have known. Why do we keep being graced with these pearls of wonder?
posted by kittens for breakfast at 7:57 PM on January 14 [4 favorites]


Advanced cynics will breathlessly extol the shortcomings in OldThing as necessary and virtuous.

I must be peak cynic then, because I despise old and new with equal vigor.
posted by CynicalKnight at 8:43 PM on January 14


I think that there’s a lot in the article that the author got right. I’m not too fond of the apparent tone which to me came across as “I’ve got all the answers. If you listen to my wisdom your life will be better”. I definitely stumbled over the cynicism/skepticism because although they’re in the same ballpark, they aren’t the same.

Years ago I started calling myself a cynical optimist. I still do and it feels right. If IT, whatever IT is, can go wrong then it probably will but we have to try anyway because maybe it won’t. And there’s value in trying and failing in the hope that it’s going to work. There’s very little value in not trying because of your cynicism.

Lately I’ve been trying to break a lifelong habit of first seeing the reasons why I can’t do something or why it’s going to be really hard. Instead, I’m telling myself that it can be done and I’ll work through the challenges, whatever they might be. Oddly enough, they’re almost exactly the same: “I can’t do this because of xyz; I can do this because of xyz.” And xyz is the same in both cases.

Being cynical is a hard habit to break and an invisible weight but I think that my outlook has become more positive, the load is a little lighter, the hill less steep and shorter. There’s still a ways to go and I truly hope that I can get there.
posted by ashbury at 9:07 PM on January 14 [8 favorites]


> It’s an emotional defense mechanism. If you expect the worst, you’ll never be disappointed.

This is me.
posted by I-Write-Essays at 10:01 PM on January 14 [1 favorite]


“A cynic is someone who found out there is no Santa Claus and never got over it.”
posted by Lemkin

A conspiracy theorist is a cynic that sees a sinister worldwide cabal of collusion among all parents to keep the no-Santa Claus reality from children at all costs. WAKE UP SHEEPLE KIDS!
posted by zaixfeep at 10:36 PM on January 14


I think this is a false dichotomy.
I am a cynic about climate catastrophe, and yet I run a regenerative farm.
I am cynical about politics, but I still vote.
I am extremely cynical about the current value of the internet, yet here I am.
posted by birdsongster


Me too. The trick is trying to reconcile completely justified and, yes, to some degree protective cynicism, with the practical need to at least try to improve things.

As to labels, I have long preferred 'constructive realist'.
posted by Pouteria at 10:50 PM on January 14 [2 favorites]


I've always understood the essence of cynicism to be the belief that everybody is motivated purely by self-interest.

My own cynicism, therefore, is pretty much applicable only to the very wealthy, to the otherwise powerful, and to the advertising industry as a whole.

Self-interest is just boring. People actually worth getting to know have a much wider and more interesting range of motivations.
posted by flabdablet at 11:21 PM on January 14 [3 favorites]


Pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will, folks.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 12:02 AM on January 15 [2 favorites]


I must be peak cynic then, because I despise old and new with equal vigor.
posted by CynicalKnight at 20:43 on January 14


Eponysterical, Sir!
posted by otherchaz at 1:53 AM on January 15 [1 favorite]


The only thing I'm cynical about is Upworthy!-style soothsayers like Westenberg. Her writing is a threadbare cloth, held together by shallow motivational bromides and faux dichotomies, that barely conceals a self-help-guru-shaped void.

"We need a new intellectual stance that’s neither naively optimistic nor reflexively cynical"

The goldilocks position, then. Underwhelming, but let's see where it goes:

"We need to be selective about where and how we apply skepticism. Not all domains benefit equally from cynical analysis. Some areas — scientific investigation, financial planning, and security systems — benefit from rigorous skepticism. Others — creative endeavors, relationship building, social movements — often suffer from it."

In other words, we need to be skeptical when we need to be skeptical, and not when we shouldn't — which is completely unhelpful. It's so trivially true that it's hard to think of an example where the advice to "be selective" doesn't apply. You always need to be selective, whether you're dabbling in skepticism, astrology, or criminal law.

When you feel the pull of cynicism, ask yourself: Is this helping? Is this default skepticism making you more effective or just more comfortable? Are you choosing the easy path of criticism over the harder path of creation?

Why not be comfortable and effective? Why not create and be critical?

"What [the world] needs are ... people who can engage with reality while working to improve it"

Instead of people who are able to work on improving the world without engaging with reality? What does this even mean.
posted by dmh at 3:22 AM on January 15 [3 favorites]


A piece on cynicism by a climate-change denying, self-help extolling PR flack?
And the cynics are the deluded ones?
posted by fullerine at 3:37 AM on January 15 [1 favorite]


societies that do well know it.

If there's a lot of cynicism, I doubt a lot of it has to do with people's attitude rather than the state of society itself.

If a society is to remain positive despite dire circumstances, its a society that's not willing to acknowledge the grim reality of its circumstances.

Some nice links to read/watch more

Mental Illness Is a Normal Response to Our Society
Deep Adaptation: A Map for Navigating Climate Tragedy
posted by mahadevan at 3:43 AM on January 15 [2 favorites]


I think this is a messily written and sprawling essay that doesn't do a great job with a lot of things, but I did find myself nodding so hard in the beginning that my head fell off.

I work for a government agency, and I'm not sure which type of person I hate more: the person inside government saying that we can't do anything new and different (and gets in the way of it all), or the people outside government who say that government can't do anything.

I'm not sure I needed an internet essay to find a new way to say "People saying something is impossible should get out of the way of people doing it," but I feel deeply in my bones that criticism without sweat equity ain't worth shit.
posted by entropone at 5:27 AM on January 15 [11 favorites]


I think of it as dealing with reality as it is, rather than how we would like it to be. It is guaranteed the world will go to Hell in a handbasket no matter how much positivity you practice.
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 7:03 AM on January 15


Instead of people who are able to work on improving the world without engaging with reality? What does this even mean.

Instead of people who engage with reality and as a result reject the very idea of working to improve the world.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 7:14 AM on January 15 [1 favorite]


The trick is trying to reconcile completely justified and, yes, to some degree protective cynicism, with the practical need to at least try to improve things.

Pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will, folks.

These sound like alternate definitions of Stoicism: hope for the best; expect the worst.
posted by ifatfirstyoudontsucceed at 7:15 AM on January 15 [1 favorite]


I think of it as dealing with reality as it is, rather than how we would like it to be. It is guaranteed the world will go to Hell in a handbasket no matter how much positivity you practice.


Only because the world is always doing that. The folly is in thinking your job is to stop the handbasket's trajectory rather than making it a better and more secure handbasket.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 7:15 AM on January 15 [3 favorites]


Pouteria: The trick is trying to reconcile completely justified and, yes, to some degree protective cynicism, with the practical need to at least try to improve things.

For me that's a muttered, "Here we go again," while I put my shoulder to the wheel anyway.
posted by wenestvedt at 7:51 AM on January 15 [3 favorites]


Consider two groups:

The first group are leftist progressives who won't shut up about climate change disasters, cryptocurrency scams, AI destroying search engine results with slop, capitalism, single-use plastic, mask-wearing, the genocide we Americans are funding, enshittification, and the arrival of yes-we-mean-literal fascism.

The second group are centrists.

Which group is more cynical? Which more consistently says that better things aren't possible? Which is constructive when it comes to pushing policy and which is constantly slowing down any positive change, big or small?

Because the way the center-right Democratic Party has preemptively surrendered to fascism even before Trump's inauguration, hoping they can more easily ride out the decline of America?

That is cynicism.
posted by AlSweigart at 7:56 AM on January 15 [4 favorites]


Yeesh, all the nonsense in this article and in these comments.

"Cynical" is correct. "Cynical" is reality. We are in the situation we're in precisely because people aren't cynical enough when the latest crop of hucksters came along spouting this utter nonsense about being open to new possibilities.

What the fuck do these comments about "boring" even mean? Why would being right about reality be exciting? It just is, it's not supposed to be entertaining. It's exactly this rejection of reality for something you find more fun or interesting that's the problem.
posted by star gentle uterus at 8:01 AM on January 15 [1 favorite]


Lol a lot of Metafilter slamming the "I'm in this picture and I don't like it" button rn
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 8:11 AM on January 15 [14 favorites]


Whatever you think of the article, accusing the author of being a climate-change denier because they wrote something cautioning people from doomscrolling is really quite, quite a leap! Similarly, you can think that things are bad and need improving and also resist the cynicism that says that nothing can be done and t'was ever thus and will ever be thus. Good grief, the hatred and negativity here is unreal sometimes. This author appears to be a trans woman who is sharing her ideas in an attempt to probably make the world a better place, so proooobably not a secret center-right shill. Surely we can take our personal grievances down a notch or two and realize this is probably not an attack on everyone with legitimate concerns for the world but someone trying to encourage positive action in her readers.
posted by ch1x0r at 8:16 AM on January 15 [7 favorites]


Corporate branding consultant is right up there with the most bullshit and arguably harmful jobs in America, so I suspect the author is living in a bubble of denial, which sort of tracks with relentless unjustified optimism.
posted by caviar2d2 at 8:18 AM on January 15 [3 favorites]


The first group are leftist progressives who won't shut up about climate change disasters, cryptocurrency scams, AI destroying search engine results with slop, capitalism, single-use plastic, mask-wearing, the genocide we Americans are funding, enshittification, and the arrival of yes-we-mean-literal fascism.

Yup, I have a friend who is one of these people. His Facebook comments are epic and cutting. He has never volunteered for an organization or a political campaign, never started anything to work for change. But he's an amazing leftist who has never done anything wrong. Because he's never done anything, other than comment on Facebook. And he won't do anything, because "what's the point, it's all hopeless anyway."

"Why didn't people walk across broken glass to vote against TFG?" Because in many cases, they have become so cynical that they don't even think there is a point to voting.

Cynicism can be a toxin that prevents people from taking action on anything.
posted by rednikki at 9:03 AM on January 15 [10 favorites]


"Knee-jerk unconstructive pessimism" is something everyone can be against, just like "toxic positivity." The dosage makes the poison.

But we still aren't all on the same page that, yes, this problem (climate change, a second Trump administration, covid-19, car culture, violence against trans people, etc.) is real and, yes, this problem is that bad. And you can sound like a "cynic" when you are repeatedly banging on these drums.

Meanwhile, there are plenty of "builders" offering "solutions" that want your buy-in (or to shut up and stay out of their way): AI hype and Mars colonies and miracle cures and their new non-profit organization to stop human trafficking. Cynicism, in the proper dose, makes you doubt stated motivations and public image campaigns, and assert that the purpose of a system is what it does.

I suppose that when it comes to cynicism, I look at it as a glass half-full.
posted by AlSweigart at 10:21 AM on January 15 [1 favorite]


But we still aren't all on the same page that, yes, this problem (climate change, a second Trump administration, covid-19, car culture, violence against trans people, etc.) is real and, yes, this problem is that bad. And you can sound like a "cynic" when you are repeatedly banging on these drums.

but who is this WE? I'm seriously not encountering many of them around here.

Though, for the record, I don't view such banging on as cynical at all. More demoralizing.
posted by philip-random at 10:37 AM on January 15 [1 favorite]


Optimists often face arguments from cynics and the skeptical about the flaws and problems in their plans and approaches, or because they seem to be substituting how they feel about a possible issue for having a practical approach to tangible hurdles.

Cynics are attacked for having a negative attitude. Because negative is bad, right.

I know which of these approaches seems more constructive and meaningful, and it's not the one being sold by a Silicon Valley PR agent who misdefines the thing she is apparently arguing against.
posted by onebuttonmonkey at 1:08 PM on January 15


These sound like alternate definitions of Stoicism: hope for the best; expect the worst.
posted by ifatfirstyoudontsucceed

For me that's a muttered, "Here we go again," while I put my shoulder to the wheel anyway.
posted by wenestvedt


Something like that.
posted by Pouteria at 1:19 PM on January 15 [1 favorite]


Forget the word "cynicism" for a second:

"It's easy to critique, it's hard to build" is a reality of life among humans. Go ahead, be the critique guy, have fun. But if you're not also building something, you have little to offer in our desperate times and I personally don't want to waste my time listening.

It's absolute bullshit to just sit on high saying nothing is worth doing. Human history has been much, much worse (periods of mass enslavement; holocausts; senseless world wars, etc) and human beings reduced those harms by making plans together and fighting for those plans. Making plans and fighting to win things is always worthwhile. Having healthy disagreement and critique is invaluable, but critique alone - without any effort to organize/grow/build/change is actively destructive.

I get why folks are hopeless - it's completely understandable - but it's not useful and now more than any other time in my life time, I'm hanging with the folks who are making themselves useful.
posted by latkes at 2:14 PM on January 15 [8 favorites]


I wanted to stay out of this, but I can't resist. Labelling the author a climate denier depends on a really bad-faith, uncharitable reading. And I think that's true of a lot of the comments in this thread. It would be nice to not go hunting for the worst possible subtext FIRST.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 3:49 PM on January 15 [5 favorites]


What a coincidence: if you were not Alexander, I would also wish to be Diogenes.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 6:04 AM on January 16


Mod note: Comment edited to correct gender of author.
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 6:25 AM on January 16


I don't think we should conflate cynicism and "negativity" even though unguarded cynics can be pretty negative.

Cynicism is a stance on people and their motivations. "Negativity" is going to be a common mode, but an underlying position is "people do things for corrupt reasons whatever the virtue of their outward cause," and that can be expressed in ways that seem positive and affirming.

The best manipulators of any disposition—sour and doubtful or sunny and affirming—often have a cynical position on the people whose buttons they're pushing or whose levers they're pulling: They manipulate and entice based on an underlying belief that their marks are fundamentally hypocritical or vain, or that their deepest motivations are selfish or transactional.

When some of the national BLM organizers were reported to be enriching themselves and were accused by local chapters of stiffing the movement on the whole, the cynics—some of whom had anti-racist commitments—went to their biographies (same as people here have done, on this author) to argue that the whole thing had been an elaborate marketing hustle from the beginning. Non-cynics offered explanations that went toward their intentions being good but also being inexperienced at managing a movement and in over their heads.

Cynics use phrases like "virtue signaling" to condemn yard signs, suggesting that they're just a way to come off like a good person whose underlying commitments remain selfish or racist, while a non-cynic may also decry them quite negatively not because they think that a yard sign is just a way to come off like a good person but because they question the efficacy of yard signs and wonder if they're very useful at pushing people to activism. It wouldn't be a cynical position for them to say "I think that's a stupid idea that won't advance our cause," it'd be a cynical position for them to say "what a great idea! That'll really get the message out!" while thinking to themselves "rich liberals won't do much, but they'll never pass on an opportunity to make themselves look good."

The thing is—the thing I take from this post—is that most cynics probably won't find their ways into, for instance, the organizing committee of a local anti-racist coalition, because why get involved in a movement full of virtue-signaling guilty white liberals? People whose cynicism goes the deepest will never not find a reason to stay on the sidelines. People who can set aside their cynicism will figure out a way to commit to activity despite their mistrust of the people around them because they figure it's better to be doing something than not.
posted by A forgotten .plan file at 7:48 AM on January 16 [3 favorites]


I disagree. Yes, we much non-helpful cynicism online, but in practice I think people must find the place where they find what they're doing meaningful.

As an extreme example, I've one friend who knows incredible amounts about what's wrong with different approaches to preserving privacy online, including all the obscure experemental tools nobody really uses. We all thought he'd become an awesome contributor once he worked through his cynicism, as his software development skills clearly sufficed. Yet, he really never did so much, ala "the perfect being the enemy of the good". Instead, he eventually found rewarding work supporting some political outreach for privacy.

If your action triggers skepticism, then either cite resources that argue its viability, because people really do study this stuff, or ignore the skepticism and do it anyways. If the skeptics are legitimate then they'll take other actions they feel more productive. If otoh you want to help people with climate anxiety, then you should focus upon the wider range of actions, because they may feel skeptical about some actions, or just be unwilling or unable to do them.

Also, concern trolling was an actual industry for ages, but that's expressly not what this autor discusses, because it's really what the author is doing. We've classical concern trolling examples like Gloria Steinem derailed leftist organizing, but these look less like skepticism, and instead add tangentially related concerns, because that's how the concern trolls join the organizing committee.
posted by jeffburdges at 9:03 AM on January 16


on the BLM tip, I'd see the cynic as the person who is probably not that committed at the start but at some point sees the mismanagement etc and finds a way to "help" ... and lo and behold, some of those donations end up in their pockets.

I'm guessing most professional criminals are hardcore cynics. Seen Goodfellas lately?
posted by philip-random at 9:18 AM on January 16


I'm guessing most professional criminals are hardcore cynics. Seen Goodfellas lately?

Criminals were on my mind, too. I was thinking of the closing scene in House of Games as I was typing that up, but cut out the placeholder in the comment to keep things a little more tight and focused.
posted by A forgotten .plan file at 12:33 PM on January 16


I disagree.

I'm not sure which part you disagree with and would like to learn, because I don't think we agree on the definition of "cynicism." The friend you're describing sounds more like a "pessimist" to me.
posted by A forgotten .plan file at 1:18 PM on January 16


I'd see the cynic as the person who is probably not that committed at the start but at some point sees the mismanagement etc and finds a way to "help" ... and lo and behold, some of those donations end up in their pockets.

Took me a few minutes: Yes, sure, I agree. That would also be a cynic. I don't think criminality or misbehavior is the defining characteristic. I think cynicism is directed at human motivations.
posted by A forgotten .plan file at 1:21 PM on January 16


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