PSA: training you that "cynicism" means "pessimism" is a tool that smarmy manipulative fucks use to invalidate questioning their motivespic.twitter.com/vi1LfDZiWS
-
-
Replying to @chaosprime
and also both cynicism and pessimism have been inculcated in us because they encourage passive consumption
1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes -
Replying to @wirehead2501
oh this is the other usage of cynicism that i'm mad about though (this one being at least a degenerate case of validity)
1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes -
Replying to @chaosprime @wirehead2501
the posture that everybody's motives are shit so one may as well not even try, or act with the worst motives oneself
1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes -
Replying to @chaosprime @wirehead2501
you can get there through self-indulgent Holden-Caulfield-esque cynical analysis sure but it's not at all required
1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes -
Replying to @chaosprime @wirehead2501
my claim is that questioning people's motives, including one's own, is essential for understanding and improving them
1 reply 1 retweet 0 likes -
Replying to @chaosprime @wirehead2501
and that's what the noble tradition of philosophical cynicism really stands for, despite the tarnishing of its name
1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes -
Replying to @chaosprime @wirehead2501
in its absence the idea that we should just believe really hard in the right things and right people visibly flourishes
1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes -
Replying to @chaosprime @wirehead2501
and it's really hard to overstate how ripe for abuse that posture is
1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes -
Replying to @chaosprime
also: collapsing the distinction between critical analysis and censorship. failure of systems-level thinking
1 reply 2 retweets 1 like
yeah absolutely, the idea that questioning something is the same as condemning it is part and parcel of that usage
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.