Article: Cynicism, Our Social Crisis
Its hard to not be cynical in this day and age. Every genuine and sincere expression has been co-opted and stolen by a voracious marketing machine - turned around on us, used against us- preying on our need to belong in order to sell us things that we don’t need. Every message aimed at us reinforces that concept – that we must be good consumers. Did you ever notice how we're no longer referred to as ‘citizens’ but as ‘consumers’? We have been instructed since birth to buy. Raised on television, each of us is subjected to tens of thousands of hours, billions of dollars of advertising throughout our formative years. We live in a world where skepticism has become a survival instinct and cynicism a celebrated virtue.
In Decline?
We no longer discuss the great philosophical works, rather we have been relegated to quoting pop-culture references. Those of us who profess to be mentally ‘free’ revel in ridiculous conspiracy theories that extinguish honest, thoughtful debate and further dilute our legitimacy and relevance. Our attention is diverted from the serious issues of our time to trifles and trivia. And we spend a great deal of our time in search of the next diversion. Karl Marx in the 19th century said that religion was the ‘opiate of the masses’. I would say that religion has been supplanted. Sports and entertainment have become the new opiate. Our entertainments include dramatizations of the last generation’s attempt at obtaining a sense of purpose as cynically re-framed accounts of well-meaning but naïve baby-boomers that ultimately sold out and became the core of the 80’s ‘Me generation’. The message: “Idealism is childish. Grow up and get a job…(and buy stuff).”
Unfortunately, this sense of "realism" often serve to undermine our natural desires to rise above the frailties of our heritage, turning our natural skepticism against us – making us cynical toward our own altruistic impulses. As a result we often betray our own inner voices. This should be no surprise as we have been trained since youth to ignore them; to focus our attentions on material accumulation with the promise that somehow this will satisfy that emptiness we feel in our hearts. Think about it, we are the generation that has indulged itself to the point of having redefined the term, yet we are certainly not any more empirically ‘happier’ than any generation before us. In fact, pharmaceutical sales statistics would indicate that we're more nervous, less secure and much more fearful than ever before. Would it not be reasonable to consider that we have let ourselves be deceived? That we have been diverted from the reality of what the true human condition?
“…to defend the ‘American Way of Life’.”
Consider this: Ask yourself what is the definition of the ‘American Dream’? Think about it for a while. What was the first thing that came into your thoughts? A list of stuff, right? Houses, white picket fences, new cars, etc, etc... These are just things. They’re not the foundations of America’s virtues. They’re just things. Deep down we know this is true, yet we have hundreds of billions of dollars worth of advertising that we’ve been exposed to throughout our lives to disrupt this intuition.
The ‘American Way of Life’ has nothing to do with shopping…has nothing to do with possessions. This country was founded on the concept of free will for human beings. Our traditional values have nothing to do with material goods, comfort or even safety. These are concepts that have been sold to us. America’s historical heroes chose not material possessions, comfort and safety. In most cases they chose the antithesis of those things. Our heroes followed their impulses toward freedom, adventure and passion.
Our generation suffers from a pandemic of cynicism that threatens to paralyzed our aspirations of a better world. We have grown up witnessing our political process exploited by corporate interest. We have been made to distrust our natural instincts – to discount them as clichés. We’ve witnessed everything genuine, everything original and pure that resonates with us, be twisted and devaluated into a sales pitch. The half-life of a truly inspirational, original thought or idea has becoming haltingly short - hunted down, captured and enslaved in the latest clever ad campaign. True, creative expression is an endangered species. In many cases, our humanity itself has been corrupted - our emotions manipulated to traumatize us into compliance. One has only to turn on the evening news for a quick lesson in fear-based economics.
Is it any wonder its so hard to believe in anything when everything worthy of believing in has eventually been used to sell us more things we do not need?
Consent of the Governed
The real tragedy is how this "educated" cynicism works against us. For instance, we don’t vote anymore because we all ‘know’ that politics is a game for the very rich and powerful. We have been taught to take that fact for granted. It has apparently worked! Voter turnout rates in ‘Generation X’ are eclipsed in their utter dismalness only by those of ‘Generation Y’. We no longer have thoughtful, healthy discussions about the issues that affect our daily lives…they have been replaced with conspiracy theories and cynical rhetoric – the devices of the powerless. We have taught ourselves to give up on the idea of assuming what was (and still is) our birthright – self-determination; electing leadership that represents the desires of the people.
Perhaps all of this was simply an unintentional, yet ill-fated side-effect of the free-market, industrial economy unleashed on an unsuspecting, previously-agrarian society. And to attempt to blame our own personal attitudes and collective behaviors on the deliberate machinations of a secretive, elite and malevolent ruling class is useless and unhealthy as it serves only to further disempower us - to relegate us all to the role of mere sheep or worse, informed but complacent sheep.(tbc)...
In Decline?
We no longer discuss the great philosophical works, rather we have been relegated to quoting pop-culture references. Those of us who profess to be mentally ‘free’ revel in ridiculous conspiracy theories that extinguish honest, thoughtful debate and further dilute our legitimacy and relevance. Our attention is diverted from the serious issues of our time to trifles and trivia. And we spend a great deal of our time in search of the next diversion. Karl Marx in the 19th century said that religion was the ‘opiate of the masses’. I would say that religion has been supplanted. Sports and entertainment have become the new opiate. Our entertainments include dramatizations of the last generation’s attempt at obtaining a sense of purpose as cynically re-framed accounts of well-meaning but naïve baby-boomers that ultimately sold out and became the core of the 80’s ‘Me generation’. The message: “Idealism is childish. Grow up and get a job…(and buy stuff).”
Unfortunately, this sense of "realism" often serve to undermine our natural desires to rise above the frailties of our heritage, turning our natural skepticism against us – making us cynical toward our own altruistic impulses. As a result we often betray our own inner voices. This should be no surprise as we have been trained since youth to ignore them; to focus our attentions on material accumulation with the promise that somehow this will satisfy that emptiness we feel in our hearts. Think about it, we are the generation that has indulged itself to the point of having redefined the term, yet we are certainly not any more empirically ‘happier’ than any generation before us. In fact, pharmaceutical sales statistics would indicate that we're more nervous, less secure and much more fearful than ever before. Would it not be reasonable to consider that we have let ourselves be deceived? That we have been diverted from the reality of what the true human condition?
“…to defend the ‘American Way of Life’.”
Consider this: Ask yourself what is the definition of the ‘American Dream’? Think about it for a while. What was the first thing that came into your thoughts? A list of stuff, right? Houses, white picket fences, new cars, etc, etc... These are just things. They’re not the foundations of America’s virtues. They’re just things. Deep down we know this is true, yet we have hundreds of billions of dollars worth of advertising that we’ve been exposed to throughout our lives to disrupt this intuition.
The ‘American Way of Life’ has nothing to do with shopping…has nothing to do with possessions. This country was founded on the concept of free will for human beings. Our traditional values have nothing to do with material goods, comfort or even safety. These are concepts that have been sold to us. America’s historical heroes chose not material possessions, comfort and safety. In most cases they chose the antithesis of those things. Our heroes followed their impulses toward freedom, adventure and passion.
Our generation suffers from a pandemic of cynicism that threatens to paralyzed our aspirations of a better world. We have grown up witnessing our political process exploited by corporate interest. We have been made to distrust our natural instincts – to discount them as clichés. We’ve witnessed everything genuine, everything original and pure that resonates with us, be twisted and devaluated into a sales pitch. The half-life of a truly inspirational, original thought or idea has becoming haltingly short - hunted down, captured and enslaved in the latest clever ad campaign. True, creative expression is an endangered species. In many cases, our humanity itself has been corrupted - our emotions manipulated to traumatize us into compliance. One has only to turn on the evening news for a quick lesson in fear-based economics.
Is it any wonder its so hard to believe in anything when everything worthy of believing in has eventually been used to sell us more things we do not need?
Consent of the Governed
The real tragedy is how this "educated" cynicism works against us. For instance, we don’t vote anymore because we all ‘know’ that politics is a game for the very rich and powerful. We have been taught to take that fact for granted. It has apparently worked! Voter turnout rates in ‘Generation X’ are eclipsed in their utter dismalness only by those of ‘Generation Y’. We no longer have thoughtful, healthy discussions about the issues that affect our daily lives…they have been replaced with conspiracy theories and cynical rhetoric – the devices of the powerless. We have taught ourselves to give up on the idea of assuming what was (and still is) our birthright – self-determination; electing leadership that represents the desires of the people.
Perhaps all of this was simply an unintentional, yet ill-fated side-effect of the free-market, industrial economy unleashed on an unsuspecting, previously-agrarian society. And to attempt to blame our own personal attitudes and collective behaviors on the deliberate machinations of a secretive, elite and malevolent ruling class is useless and unhealthy as it serves only to further disempower us - to relegate us all to the role of mere sheep or worse, informed but complacent sheep.(tbc)...
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