why is cynicism considered a bad thing?

It was merely philosophical question. Being cynical... I don't see reason to shed cynicism so I can live longer to see more of screwedupness.

And that is not the "world be mean, I wanna die" angst. Maybe we have only so much of experience we can accumulate in one existence... and this knowledge makes people somehow bitter and cynical... and if cynicism kills us, than so it be.

Perhaps you are too cynical to accept the options at this point.

I can't blame you, it is truely hard, and once you grasp a very strong sense of cynicism, it is extremely difficult to change that. And illegal, immoral, fattening and wasteful is a product of cynicism.
We can look at Mexico and see the depths of where it can manifest, multiply and destroy.

Can't blame your confusion. But the good thing is that you at least asked, which means you are at least considering a possibility for an option. And yet it can mean, you are seeking permission to carry on until it just consumes you. As the Byz says, it is entirely up to you.

Open Eyes

I think Adolf Hitler reined with much power in cynicism he truely built up an imaginary
race that gave others a path to be overwhelmingly cynical of what existed and only to find ways to destroy and believe in something completely delusional.

My favorite person in history is Benjamin Franklin. He just embodied everything that presented the real power of NOT allowing cynicism to RULE. I find him so amazing and so unbelievably resourseful in so many ways. He truely had the capacity to make such a mokery of cynicism that he contributed so much to humanity by his existance. And he was not a handsome man at all, and yet he exuded such a presence of enlightenment that women found him facinating, and men were often left speachless. And whenever I find myself falling into the trap of cynicism, I begin to think of him and soon I find a chuckle and a sense of direction away from the lack of productivity that cynicism provides.

Benjamin Franklin did not talk about the rewards of martardom or how one can be only released from lifes toils by death. Franklin's life was all about life and shedding light onto life and the right to the pursuit of productive happiness. He lived a long life and I am sure was often very delighted with life as he found so many productive, positive ways to truely enjoy his life.

Benjamin's motto was "We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately."

Open Eyes

The concept of cynic is just that for myself, a concept/emotion/train of thought.
All humans will be cynics at some point in the're life's. I personally 'trust no one' in my real life (at the moment). The only reason I am able to open up here on PC is because its so far away. If I was to try to be a nice person where I live I would become the victim, and I'm sick of being a victim.
IRL I am surrounded I'm sure by 'nice people', but they are hidden away from sight (again just at the moment).
I am my own worst cynic, but at the same time I only wish nice things for people that I have never met in my own country, or are in a country starving for a piece of bread or in countries being slaughtered by their own governments. Things like that is fuel for a fire within. When I burn inside with cynical thoughts of those concepts I wish the planet consumed with fire.

But...I know that there are an equal measure of people on earth that do deserve unconditional love as those that do not.
Personally I love my cynical side as much as my 'optimisme' side.

A thing I love to do is listen to live 'Talking Heads gigs'. They give me what I want about cynical thoughts. 'The Big Country' is soooooo cynical but optimistic too.

Psycho Killer. That is myself.........I can't seem to face up to the facts, I'm tense and nervous, I can't relax. I can't sleep because my beds on fire, stay away I'm a 'real live wire'.

Me:

All human conduct is NOT motivated by self-interest.However its development and personal institution in many cases is a by-product of life experience and interpretation of life.Cynicism is toxic.An alternative is a degree of decided armor.Perhaps pragmatism to balance idealism.There is a level of predisposition involved,I would rule out depression,seek balance.Cynicism is influenced by past and present circumstance,and no one knows except the person,what brought them to the adoption of cynicism,or what drives its momentum to continue.I believe you experienced pain,and therefore want armor.But,my feeling is that all things require borders,boundaries,and balance.Not to appease the world,but to find a healthier middle ground.

Definition,

=: contemptuously distrustful of human nature and motives
=:based on or reflecting a belief that human conduct is motivated primarily by self-interest
Cynic=: a faultfinding captious critic; especially : one who believes that human conduct is motivated wholly by self-interest

Yale University cognitive psychologist Frank Keil

:found that children as young as 7 begin responding cynically to suspect statements as part of normal development.

But University of California-Irvine personality researcher Salvatore Maddi :

contends that many cynics are more like Bayan: They aren't so much born as made. provided By Elizabeth Svoboda Rick

Bayan:"The world belongs to people with IQs of 120. Anything much greater or less amounts to a liability,"

Rick Bayan muses on his bile-coated Web site The Cynic's Sanctuary, a home for "disgruntled idealists, subversive wits, professional misfits, skeptical jesters, curmudgeons, and misanthropes."

Donald Haas at New York's Mount Sinai Medical School

: a cynical outlook really can take years off of your life.Cynics also suffer and die from heart problems in disproportionate numbers. Cardiologist Donald Haas found that suspicious people who suffer from heart disease are more than twice as likely as their more optimistic counterparts to end up gravely ill or hospitalized for their condition.
Interestingly, cynicism leads to greater heart reactivity when it occurs along with being angry. That is, blood pressure fluctuates more. However, when a person is cynical but not angry, blood pressure fluctuations are actually less.Cynicism though, has been found to be associated with diseases of the muscle and bone in women, and diseases of the heart in men.

I guess my point is that in all things,there must be a balance. jmo

wolf, I do balance it with my idealism... I am a do-gooder. Maybe that is why I am cynical? I try my best, get frustrated with the non-profit sphere... so shall I cry? Shall I try to change it? But I am trying to make changes already and the means I am using are turning out to be just as corrupted as the rest of the world.

I want to the best for everybody. For the world and the people. But than I know that we live in world where you often have to do the wrong thing for the right reason....

maybe I can search on finding inner peace. Maybe I can find a way to come at peace with reality... or maybe I can just laugh it in its face.

For now... I don't know.

(((Venus))) You are aware,and you are looking within,and without.You are at this particular place in your development,and it may be the proper place for you, for now,as we all have a path and we learn from others and vice verse.....but always keep your mind open,as you are.Never forsake the views of others to a point that you become close minded.

Venus:"Shall I try to change it? But I am trying to make changes already and the means I am using are turning out to be just as corrupted as the rest of the world." Take inventory of yourself.What you deem corrupt,only you can change.Life isn't always so simple as ...."I did a corrupt thing,therefore I am corrupt".It is much more complicated,in that,so many factors effect our choices/behaviors,at any given time.

Change the means.Trying to make changes is the best course of action for us all.....and yes,in every life is the challenge of whether or not to do the 'wrong thing for the right reason',as well as the reverse of that.

Cynicism is not the definition of Miss Venus Halley.We are more complicated,and multi-faceted than that.I imagine there is a degree of reality that we must be at peace with.For sanity sake.And inner peace,and putting out similar energy to what you want to experience are two things worth pursuit.

Time has the power and ability to transform and direct for good or worse.But meantime....we can direct how we spend our time.You can choose where you expend your energies,and what function and outcome you want to draw to yourself.Life and progress....transformation,and development occur one second at a time.

Word History: A cynic may be pardoned for thinking that this is a dog's life. The Greek word kunikos, from which cynic comes, was originally an adjective meaning "doglike", from kuon, "dog"cause of the nickname kuon given to Diogenes of Sinope, the prototypical Cynic. He is said to have performed such actions as barking in public, urniating on the leg of the table, and masturbating on the street. The first use of the word recorded in English, in a work published from 1547 to 1564, is in the plural of members of this philosophical sect. And as I mentioned before it is not until 1596 that we find the first instance of cynic meaning "faultfinder".

Your first word in your above post Venus is touching on the origins that I speak of here.

I can honestly see your dilemma and why one would keep this word so close to their heart, and yet be someone repulsed by it and in a search for a way to discard it.

In today's world there is so much cynicism that the mere thought of any life without the need to feel one must truely keep a sence of cynicism for protection is understandable.

But though I realize that it is important to be cautious, I also know that it can truely stand in the way of progress on every level.

I know my whole life has been about this very realization. And every single attempt I made about finding a productive path, I was constantly met with cynicism. And I truely know that if I had succumbed to that cynicism, I would have never had anything at all. And I can say whole heartedly, it is hard Venus, so very hard.
And I did reach out to you with a deep sense of sympathy when you wrote your poem. And I tried with many words to whisper something in your ear, and yet tell you how sorry I was for you and your generation. Cynicism is such a powerful adversary that I am quickly reminded of just that for each attempt I make to try to whisper an option. And I even wanted to take my lengthy whispers away as I began to see that it might be an opportunity for cynicism to seek a grasp and toss whatever I had managed to capture of the stength I had once had against it.

Every part of my life has been all about that battle. And I can honestly say it was very hard. And most of my life I did search for sources that would provide me with some strength to not give into cynicism. And as always it was only provided in very subtle whispers. Even now in my current struggle, I have to try very hard to hear the slightest whisper and do my best to grab it in my efforts to find a strength I did have.

But I have seen the fortunes of my efforts to fight against constant cynicism. When I first thought about my business and was considering the idea, all I heard was cynical reasons for me to let that idea fall to the wayside. But I didn't listen and what I found was a tough journey, yes, but also a way to learn about the better side of humanity. And I grew from that, instead of sitting on the side lines of life, I was able to participate in it and even find a sense of myself and many positive experiences. However, I will admit that cynisism was always all around me. But what I had learned to do was let it somehow go over my head and focus on the productive meaningful part of my journey, and it was truely there. And as I made this journey I had been tapped in many ways to share my will against cynicism. And I had made a shell that was getting stronger and shared that with others as I worked around cynicism. It takes a lot of practice and it can gain a certain momemtum and way of life that keeps cynicism at bay. And I could see in my efforts to share my way of life with others, it was often difficult for these others to take their minds off the constant wind of cynicism and focus on the things that worked against it. Some did shake and show a great displeasure at working against cynicism and many would ask me how I could manage to do what I do. And it was not easy for me to get these people to focus their attentions away from cynicism.

I had invested in some horses that I could see potential in and it was quite a task to ignore all the cynical comments that were constantly presented. It was my contant tireless efforts to stay the course that finally put all that cynicism to mere dirt upon the ground to only be stepped upon and even hidden in shame.

I have to admit that I have truely been struggling to find my way back to living my life that way. And, everywhere I look, it is only cynicism that invites my soul to keep. And as I am struggling it is everywhere around me and I am only just capable of a whisper at the moment. And all my efforts here at PC is all about that slow journey and I am trying very hard to not give into cynicism. And I struggled with an event that took all my stength and efforts to put into perspective how I can be so alone and why I have to make sure that I stay away from invitations that will only feed me cynicism. And I can say, it has proven to be a very hard journey and I have been very weary, and even ill. But I do know that I have to keep looking back and yet forward and even beyond and often even alone to find my personal strength to avoid becoming a cyincal person who falls into a very unproductive path where I will lose all that remains of those days where I did so well at standing against cynicism.

Sanada? I understand how difficult it must be for you. I can't blame you for finding a need to think that cynicism is a comfort and brings a sense of safety. But, consider where you are in all that cynicism. And I do want to sincerely thank you for the whispers you did manage to place in my ear of the fruits that truely lead me in a better direction out of the pit of cynicism.

I honestly don't blame you for standing your ground in the grasp of cynicism. It is everywhere and it is very powerful. I can only offer whispers as I see a capacity of intellegence and a desire and words that say "SOMEONE HAS TO DO IT". Yes, that is so true, but I can tell you that there really is so little, if any hope of making changes for the better when all you can muster is CYNICISM.

Open Eyes

I totally agree with you. I don't see being cynical as a bad thing. I have a very dry humor and am very cynical; some people get it...some don't. I also throw a bit of nihilism into the mix.
oh, and at times I enjoy peeing on someone's leg just to get a reaction.

A bit over the top.

Not picked as the model American by most. That might make you cynical!

Or, many that don't consider him a good model, after all I would imagine most cynics don't like him, never mind, its a personal choice, always has been always will be.

Open Eyes

I do like how he wore that hat and gar to give the French the full effect of what they wanted to see.