No B.S Friday: what if we’re looking at this problem backwards?
I try not to get too cynical.
It’s very intoxicating. It’s a drug.
But I’m trying to give it up.
It’s hard not to get cynical in times like these.
Remember, cynicism is the belief that people are motivated purely by self-interest; when you are distrustful of human sincerity or integrity. (That’s the dictionary definition, so let’s go with that.)
It’s not hard to see how even the most gentle-hearted could end up cynical in a world like this. People seem to be entirely selfish turds. Integrity is thin on the ground.
Humans are war-mongering monkeys, obsessed with sex and status.
But still I think there is a difference between understanding people and the world in a clear-eyed way, and falling into a cynical world view.
Because the way I see it, most cynicism is a bit lazy.
Cynicism allows you to avoid having to examine the facts on their merits. It allows you to just cut straight to your default setting – a bitter distrust of the human species.
And this has been in full display during Covid.
All nuance, all detail, all reality has just been swept aside by a rush to believe that people are just garbage.
“Of course the government is lying to us about Covid. They are inherently evil and want to eat our souls.”
“Of course the protestors are idiots. They don’t care about our rights. They are just being selfish.”
Cynicism excuses you from any further thought or analysis. It just allows you to throw it all in the basket labelled “Evidence that people suck.”
Job done. Move on.
And I think a lot of the tension we’re seeing right now comes from this cynicism. It comes from people who have fully bought into the idea that people are horrible, and now see everything through a lens of confirmation bias.
So the point I’d make is that cynicism gives you a false sense of rationality.
We think that if we have reached the conclusion that people suck, then we have reached bedrock.
If we’re given the impression that people are nice and do nice things, we are suspicious of that. We look for ulterior motives.
Once we find them, and the data seems to suggest that people suck, then we feel like we’ve reached the end of our line of inquiry. No need to look any further. This must be the true reality.
But why do we think that?
Why are we so ready to believe that people would want to deceive us into believing that people are actually good, while we’re not open to the idea at all that someone might be deceiving us into thinking that people are crap?
Surely it’s in someone’s interest to have us all cynical and isolated?
Why do we never say, “It looks like this is a case of people being selfish weasels, but then that IS what they want us to believe.”
If we think it is possible that there is some vast conspiracy out there, hiding us from the full extent of the world’s evil, why are we not open to the idea that there is a vast conspiracy out there trying to hide all the goodness in the world from us.
What is it asymmetric?
Why do we value cynicism over faith?
So look, I don’t know what the truth is. But nobody does.
All I’m saying is that it is easy to be cynical. It’s lazy to be cynical.
So why not hold the faith and choose to believe in something more beautiful.
And what do you think might happen if we all did that?
JG
Jonathan says
I’m reading things properly now, I need to thank and be grateful for those who helped now I know how to look
Roger says
Possibly part of the problem is our selective memories. We tend to remember the times that other people treat us badly, but do not recall all the small kindnesses that happen every day. For instance on a drive through a town or city we will experience numerous occasions of considerate driving, but it is the ignorant knob that cut us off is the one we remember. Conclusion every one (except me) is a hopeless driver. Similarly in our daily lives, everyone (except me) is a greedy, immoral pig!
In previous posts you have discussed thankfulness, I think this goes to the same root. If we remember to be thankful for all our daily blessings and at the end of each day do a reckoning, we will find the good generally outweigh the bad.
Jonno says
This is something I have been kind to in ignorance, that ignorance also came as no one could speak to me in a way where I could understand.i am a weird individual that can accept and wrap his head around anything if he can get the information to understand and now I see the signs everywhere. Does not make it any better yet now I see my faults more than most would. The conclusion now for me is very different my driving is very messy as i was never able to listen and all it took was someone speaking to me not at me which is something I needed to experience to learn myself,I owe you an apology and you’re going to get it.all I ask is that you hear me as that’s all it takes for me to hear someone . Now it feels like a large slice of people have just been trying to get me to see ,they care I’m the one who hasn’t as I closed off which is why I’ve understood not a thing til now
Sam says
Things are changing at a great rate of knots. Humanity will become kind again. Appreciation will be our new normal as we collectively create our new reality.
Jonno says
That is exactly my aim as my judgement has been clouded for years in misguided hate from lack of knowledge on certain matters. I’m getting back to my actual self. All about growth knowledge. Appreciation was my normal I want to get back to it
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