exhortations to reject cynicism and embrace hope & trust are mostly not from monsters who want to burn your hope & trust like cordwood to build their power base they're from extremely nice people whose hope & trust are being burned like cordwood to build monsters' power base
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Replying to @chaosprime
the opposite of cynicism isn't hope and trust, and cynicism is a powerful tool in the arsenal of monsters.
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Replying to @atroyn @chaosprime
cynicism is the belief that the world and your place in it are fixed. That's fake bullshit. The opposite is clear eyed understanding.
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Replying to @atroyn
except that's... not even approximately what cynicism is. possibly you're thinking of pessimism? the main actual idea is skepticism about people's supposed motivations for their actions which, like... is just a modicum of goddamn sense honestly
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Replying to @chaosprime @atroyn
i mean, i can see how people can confuse the cynic who says "that leader figure is a posturing liar" and the pessimist who says "nothing will ever get better" because they're both being ~negative~ in the febrile pop-psych usage but it's an extremely hazardous confusion
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Replying to @chaosprime
This is complex, but not about 'negativity'. Cynicism is a philosophy that necessarily reinforces the prior that _leaders must be posturing liars_, which is often 1.) not practical knowledge and 2.) paralyzing.
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it'll reinforce that prior if you have it, sure, but it's kinda your own responsibility to not be a sucker for confirmation bias and work through to the more nuanced position that power attracts and rewards those who use it in violation of the terms under which we wish it granted
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