Thinking Out Loud v. 5.0: Cynicism
By Megan Wilson
Opinion Editor
People have become desensitized. There aren’t any idealists, hopeless romantics, or humanitarians anymore; you know, without being considered one of those “tree-huggin’ dangerously left-wing thinkin’” kind of people. Anything mildly charitable is deemed liberal, and therefore quasi-evil (in what has become a Conservative majority), and dismissed.
But face it, cynicism is fashionable, almost trendy. There are 11-year-olds shopping at Hot Topic, laughing at “Happy Bunny” merchandise without understanding what the funny is about. There are these young children who express the woes of the world, along with other infinite knowledge of how terrible life is, via listening to Linkin Park, and cynically write off the world - as if they had lived long enough to really have something to be jaded about.
How many times have you caught yourself flipping channels to find some horribly depressed third-world country on the screen, encompassed in this seemingly parallel world, there is a child looking into the camera with a messy face and deep brown eyes.
“That’s so sad,” you mutter to yourself, at best, and flip the channel to something that requires no empathetic emotions or deep thoughts, such as Ed Edd and Eddy, and you move on with your life.
Being cynical is drilled into our heads from childhood. Watching the atypical “modern hero” who has had some psychological trauma, early in life, and becomes a renegade based upon his emotional stunting and lack of trust for people; the modern hero, by sheer repetition, becomes a scapegoat to our minor problems. In an unconscious way, we mold our sense of the world through this vision, and hope to become martyrs in our own little narcissistic Utopia.
But in the long run, no one cares about you. You’re a tiny speck in the world. Unless you become some sort of Bill Gates, or Paris Hilton, or something, no one will ever give a damn. And say you do become some sort of famous -- celebrity is fleeting. It is practically human nature to put a person up on a pedestal, only to watch the person they made immortal fall back down to their level. Take any “one hit” celebrity, for example, everybody loved them for a period of time. Now, they’re nothing. Just like you and me.
What I’m trying to say, in my harsh Fight Club-esque way, is that we are our own hopeless products of society. Doing charity work seems absurd, contained in our selfish sense of being; however, we expect it to get done, notwithstanding.
Chances are, the worst example of poverty you’ve ever seen are the homeless people in downtown Sacramento. Granted, they’ve got some severe problems, but take into consideration that one-in-nine people in South Africa is living with AIDS.
If the same were true here, that would mean that about four people in every one of your classes would be infected with the HIV virus. Then think about how many people you know. Imagine friends and family dying. High school drama can’t even begin to compare. The latter is just one small example of why some things aren’t as brutal as they seem.
Cynicism, by all means, is not bad. It simply has its time and place, as does everything else. Emotions and hearts being trampled over, feelings being hurt, parents being divorced, whatever; its all a part of life. It’s all just practice.
Jon Bon Jovi said that “every man is an island.” In today’s world, anyone very well could be. Anyone could be his or her own Starbucks Resort island, completely independent and self-existant. But where does that get you?
Opinion Editor
People have become desensitized. There aren’t any idealists, hopeless romantics, or humanitarians anymore; you know, without being considered one of those “tree-huggin’ dangerously left-wing thinkin’” kind of people. Anything mildly charitable is deemed liberal, and therefore quasi-evil (in what has become a Conservative majority), and dismissed.
But face it, cynicism is fashionable, almost trendy. There are 11-year-olds shopping at Hot Topic, laughing at “Happy Bunny” merchandise without understanding what the funny is about. There are these young children who express the woes of the world, along with other infinite knowledge of how terrible life is, via listening to Linkin Park, and cynically write off the world - as if they had lived long enough to really have something to be jaded about.
How many times have you caught yourself flipping channels to find some horribly depressed third-world country on the screen, encompassed in this seemingly parallel world, there is a child looking into the camera with a messy face and deep brown eyes.
“That’s so sad,” you mutter to yourself, at best, and flip the channel to something that requires no empathetic emotions or deep thoughts, such as Ed Edd and Eddy, and you move on with your life.
Being cynical is drilled into our heads from childhood. Watching the atypical “modern hero” who has had some psychological trauma, early in life, and becomes a renegade based upon his emotional stunting and lack of trust for people; the modern hero, by sheer repetition, becomes a scapegoat to our minor problems. In an unconscious way, we mold our sense of the world through this vision, and hope to become martyrs in our own little narcissistic Utopia.
But in the long run, no one cares about you. You’re a tiny speck in the world. Unless you become some sort of Bill Gates, or Paris Hilton, or something, no one will ever give a damn. And say you do become some sort of famous -- celebrity is fleeting. It is practically human nature to put a person up on a pedestal, only to watch the person they made immortal fall back down to their level. Take any “one hit” celebrity, for example, everybody loved them for a period of time. Now, they’re nothing. Just like you and me.
What I’m trying to say, in my harsh Fight Club-esque way, is that we are our own hopeless products of society. Doing charity work seems absurd, contained in our selfish sense of being; however, we expect it to get done, notwithstanding.
Chances are, the worst example of poverty you’ve ever seen are the homeless people in downtown Sacramento. Granted, they’ve got some severe problems, but take into consideration that one-in-nine people in South Africa is living with AIDS.
If the same were true here, that would mean that about four people in every one of your classes would be infected with the HIV virus. Then think about how many people you know. Imagine friends and family dying. High school drama can’t even begin to compare. The latter is just one small example of why some things aren’t as brutal as they seem.
Cynicism, by all means, is not bad. It simply has its time and place, as does everything else. Emotions and hearts being trampled over, feelings being hurt, parents being divorced, whatever; its all a part of life. It’s all just practice.
Jon Bon Jovi said that “every man is an island.” In today’s world, anyone very well could be. Anyone could be his or her own Starbucks Resort island, completely independent and self-existant. But where does that get you?