In the current day, it’s very difficult to come across people who have not been tarnished with a level of cynicism. Some are only lightly cynical and others are doubtful about almost everything. Is cynicism in fashion? Or has it always been this way? In either case, the rise of cynicism was inevitable because it’s just so easy to be a cynical bastard, always looking for an ulterior motive or a sinister subtext.
What makes people act this way? We all start out naive and full of wonder. Bit by bit, our naivety is stretched and broken, to the point that we are no longer willing to accept anything at face value. We reach a point where we are happy to question the motives of even the most innocent.
There are a couple of major reasons why we are cynical today. Firstly, with so much news and information at our fingertips, we’re almost constantly bombarded with cases where a cynical mind would have probably fared better than an accepting attitude. “Ahhh”, we think to ourselves, “why didn’t she realise her husband was such a bad man? The signs were all there, but I guess she was blinded by love”. Or “of course he was getting a kickback, any idiot could see self-interest at work”. And each further case we hear of simply builds an internal well of cynicism. We almost value it — no one will be able to play us for a fool, we’ve heard and seen it all, and if we haven’t, well we’d better just question everything just to be safe.
The natural extension of this, and my second reason for the unbounded cynicism in the world today, is that being cynical can give one the appearance of being very clever. When you’re ready to point out the flaws in the thinking of a positive person, they can seem awfully simple. “Oh you don’t feel sorry for them do you? You know the media has just drummed up the story, its really not that bad”. There’s often little evidence to contradict cynicism, and it seems plausible enough. In fact, we then chide ourselves for not being more naturally circumspect too. If only we could see through these things we tell ourselves, instantly elevating the idea of a sceptical and questioning nature in our minds.
Some will say we’re only so cynical because we’ve got good reason to be, but even they would admit the world would be a better place if we could all just be a little more innocent.
Update: or to make my little essay completely obsolete – a great quote from David LaChapelle in the February 2006 issue of The Observer when asked what he would like told about himself:
“That I’m not cycnical. That I like more things than I dislike. And that’s healthy, that’s the way it should be. People are afraid not to be cynical because otherwise they’d be naive. But you don’t have to be an apolitical airhead, you can still have ideas and values without having to judge everybody and everything you come across. But everybody thinks it’s so fucking cool to be cynical these days.”
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