Recent searches
Search options
Administered by:
Do your best to resist #cynicism, because cynicism destroys nuance, and almost everything valuable in life exists inside nuance.
Resist saying #cynical things like “who cares about privacy; your data is already out there”, “who cares about stopping climate change; it’s already too late”, “who cares about voting; we don’t have a democracy any more”, and any number of similarly simplistic, thought-destroying nonsense.
Cynicism is faux-intellectualism. It’s attempting to impress people with rational-sounding generalizations that lead to absurd, defeatist behavior. It’s a claim of “being real” while being too lazy to think through the problem. It’s feeling superior by kicking a table on which someone else is doing their homework.
Nuance exists even during a crisis—it’s arguably even more important then. Things can ALWAYS get worse, and things can ALWAYS get better. Working to make things better is worth doing. Feeling smug and telling people to give up is not; it’s the asshole’s easy way out.
@drahardja
Yes and another attitude you see quite a lot in disillusioned middle-aged Germans is #Cynicism which has a similar effect.
@johentsch I think “cynicism” may be a better word than “nihilism” actually. It’s a statement of the meaninglessness of life, plus an attitude that you can’t do anything about it to add any meaning.
@johentsch I’m going to change the post to use “cynicism” because it’s a much better word!
@drahardja
Totally on board :)
@johentsch @drahardja Cynicism is also way broader than just these simplistic views. And I think cynicism can often be a healthy or at least necessary way to deal with certain situations.
Perhaps if the point is to avoid oversymplifications, it doesn't need another term than that.