Sometimes we call some people cynical, without really understanding what this word means. But the behavior of cynics can be easily distinguished by ridicule and evil mockery. In some people, cynicism manifests itself from time to time, while in others it is an accompanying character trait.
But there is not only emotional, but also professional cynicism. Although those around him treat him with understanding (sometimes), this character trait does not cause delight.
So, let's figure out who cynical people are and why they become like this?
What is cynicism and how does it manifest itself?
In essence, cynicism is a negative character trait that neglects spiritual and moral foundations.
Cynics behave provocatively and demonstratively disregard generally accepted norms and values.
Cynicism denies and ridicules such feelings as love, selflessness, devotion, fidelity and sacrifice. Often, cynics are convinced that love is something illusory, invented by those who find it convenient to believe in this feeling. For them, love is just a set of chemical reactions that lead to attraction.
Cynics also do not understand other universal human feelings. If a person does not feel kindness, pity, mercy and compassion for someone in his soul, then he naturally will not be able to understand the full range of good human feelings.
Cynicism makes such people ridicule all these high feelings. Cynics believe that all these “tenderness” are fiction, they serve people in order to achieve their goal.
It is worth knowing that a child or teenager cannot be called a cynic. A person who is not fully formed is still at the stage of development and formation, and therefore cannot be a cynic a priori. Children and teenagers can be greedy, aggressive, pessimistic, and they rarely express cynicism, and this is still easy to correct.
Are young wives of millionaires cynical?
Undoubtedly. And even if such a person says that she loves “her baby” with great and pure love, do not believe her. She's lying and she knows it. The thing is that the wives of elderly or completely infirm millionaires rely on their bodies to ensure a comfortable existence not only for the near future, but for the rest of their lives. And sometimes (though often in Hollywood TV series) young wives want to quickly become young widows. They hope to seize all financial flows into their own hands, but the old men are not born to be fools either. In a word, such unions are filled with intense invisible struggle between spouses. And sometimes, unfortunately, the old guys lose. How many such cases did Lieutenant Colombo investigate? The tragedy of reality is that there is no such honest policeman in it. However, let's move on to the millionaires themselves.
Cynic behavior
Most often, cynicism is a conscious choice of a person. In this case, the cynic is guided by the principles:
- trust no one;
- any person can be replaced;
- there is nothing and no one to value;
- communicate only with those with whom it is beneficial and comfortable;
- love does not exist (romance, falling in love, sympathy - too);
- compassion and empathy are for weak people.
If you have a cynic around you, you have probably encountered this situation many times when you talk about something about your achievement, and this person darkens your joy with his caustic remarks.
Housewives vs cynic girls
What do potential housewives want? They want to give birth and raise children, keep order, meet their husbands from work and cook lunch, dinner and breakfast for him. At the same time, housewives do not want to work in social space. They rightly believe that they have enough work in the family.
A cynical girl is one who sees in the role of a housewife only the desire for an idle existence (although how idle it is is a moot point), an escape from responsibility and a desire to live at the expense of another person (even her husband, it doesn’t matter).
She herself is an emancipated person in the best sense of the word: she earns well or is getting there, uses guys for her sexual needs and does not yet want to get married.
Are cynics unhappy people? And where does cynicism come from?
After reading the above text, many may get the feeling that cynics are terrible people who value nothing, love no one, and value nothing. But this is not true at all. More precisely, this is not entirely true.
Under the mask of cynicism, a person can hide his emotionality so as not to become vulnerable in front of others. Most often, this behavior comes from childhood, when the child was subjected to domestic violence, his feelings and thoughts were not taken into account, and were not perceived as an individual. The consequence of cynicism can also be constant conflicts between the child and his father or mother.
But the two most common reasons for the appearance of such a character trait as cynicism are the loss of a loved one or professional deformation.
Cynicism
Main article: Cynics
Cynicism takes its name from the ancient Greek philosophy of Cynicism (cynics were called cynics by the Latins), some elements of which, in a simplified and crude form, it reproduces. However, in comparison with cynicism, cynicism is a degenerate form of philosophizing.
Cynicism, as a philosophical school, was founded by Antisthenes in the 4th century BC. e. The Cynics strove for naturalness, for getting rid of conventions, and, moreover, they saw virtue in contempt for conventions, in the extreme simplification of life, everyday life, along with the extreme limitation of their needs, in adherence to following their own nature. Getting rid of conventions among the Cynics included detachment from society (state, family), liberation from the dogmas of religion and culture, even to the point of presenting ignorance, bad manners and illiteracy as a blessing. At the same time, loyalty and gratitude were revered as blessings. Cynic ethics demanded “unlearning from evil,” that is, a break with established moral norms.
The ideas of Cynicism had a great influence on many currents of European thought, from Stoicism to existentialism.
Types of Cynics
Let's consider the categories of cynics stated above.
When a person is overtaken by great grief, he loses faith in himself, in people, in everything good. All those feelings that were previously familiar are now unknown to the newly-made cynic. He is devastated mentally and physically.
In the second case, a person becomes so accustomed to scenes of horror - blood, death, bullying - that he simply stops perceiving it as something scary and terrible. And from a certain point of view, such people can be shown great respect: they are strong in spirit and morally stable. At least in front of everyone. People in the following professions are most susceptible to professional cynicism:
- Doctors.
- Rescuers.
- Policemen.
- Military.
People of these professions can make professional jokes and calmly look at bloody people and horror scenes. But then, alone with themselves, they silently choke on tears, drink a lot and cannot sleep... Of course, not everyone reacts this way to passing death, but it’s still worth thinking about - could you calmly and calmly save dozens of lives, watch how Do you kill a comrade in battle, or when trying to save a person, you understand that you can’t help him?
Therefore, professional cynicism is a kind of shield from external problems and irritants, an emotional barrier that helps not to go crazy and remain human.
There is also healthy cynicism when a person does not believe in luck and the sincerity of people, but has a good heart. Such a person will not buy lottery tickets in the hope of winning, will not help a beggar, not believing that he sincerely needs help, but considers it natural to help an old woman cross the road or carry heavy bags. If a healthy cynic helps someone, it is of his own free will, without pressure from outside.
The rich cry too
And laughter and sin. Sometimes, when wealthy people want love, sincere feelings, they hide their money. True, physiologically they can no longer wear cheap things, so even in order to pretend to be poor, millionaires choose jeans for $2,000. This is their obvious weakness. “Hunters,” specializing in rich men, unmistakably recognize the victim and thrust their charms right into her heart. And rich, but at the same time poor people live their whole lives with the one who was able to lasso them.
Someone will ask, is a cynical girl a “predator”? She's like that, right? There are all sorts of cynics, pessimists, and optimists. Cynicism is only a characteristic of a worldview. A cynic can be a wonderful and sympathetic person, while a “pink” optimist can be a bad person and an egoist.
Unfortunately, nothing is guaranteed here. Cynics try to preach common sense, but the complexity and diversity of reality is sacrificed.
Cynicism: pros and cons
People are used to idealizing everything. There are many dogmas and moral principles that we are all accustomed to consider normal. We think “A woman should...” and “A man should...” and further ascribe those responsibilities that we are accustomed to consider the norm. The cynic looks at these behavior patterns with sarcasm, and believes that no one owes anyone anything.
Cynicism allows you not to idealize people and relationships, but to perceive everything exactly as it is. For example, if a person at work is asked to stay late and do something, then the boss will veil his request in such a way that there will be a clear sense of responsibility placed on the shoulders of the subordinate. For extracurricular hours, a small bonus may be issued, or a simple “Thank you” may be said, nothing more. A cynic will perceive this request as “Work for the boss’s wallet in your free time, so that you can feel like a responsible person and a good employee.”
And it turns out that a cynic will not sacrifice his interests for the sake of other people. Of course, there is a fine line between cynicism and selfishness here, but cynics still think less about themselves, and more about not allowing others to take advantage of them.
In family relationships, cynics will not tolerate an ultimatum and will not fall for female tricks or manipulations. A healthy view of everything that surrounds them is always a priority for cynics. Therefore, it would be nice for all people to be a little cynical sometimes, which would save us from many troubles and failures in our personal lives and work relationships.
Are the cynical girls right?
There is no clear answer here. Of course, among these girls there are also those who, hiding behind children, use a man as a UPS (uninterruptible power supply), but from the fact of the existence of such “mothers” one cannot conclude that all housewives are the same.
Let's ask ourselves: what is a cynical woman like? Why does she have a consumeristic attitude towards men? Why doesn't she strive for love? After all, her desire to be independent and self-sufficient can also be reduced to complexes and intrapersonal conflicts or, for example, a phobia.
In other words, if there is something bad in the world, this does not mean that the whole world is evil incarnate.
Notes
- Cynicism - Ushakov’s Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language
- Cynicism - Small Academic Dictionary
- Cynicism - Modern explanatory dictionary of the Russian language by Efremova
- Cynicism (inaccessible link) - Romanova N. N., Filippov A. V. Dictionary. Culture of verbal communication: ethics, pragmatics, psychology, 2010.
- Cynicism - Encyclopedia of Sociology, 2009
- Cynicism - article from “Political Science: Dictionary-Reference Book”, 2010.
- Cynicism (inaccessible link) - Antsupov A. Ya., Shipilov A. I. Dictionary of conflict specialist, 2009.
- 1 2 The cynicism of an “intransitional” society L. D. Gudkov Bulletin of public opinion: Data. Analysis. Discussions. 2005. No. 2 (76). pp. 43-62
- 1 2 3 Rebirth of the “Soviet man”. L. D. Gudkov // Odysseus: a man in history. 2007.
- 1 2 V. A. Kanke. Philosophy: Textbook. Ch. "Hellenistic Philosophy"
- On Youthful Cynicism B. Russell (1929)
- A sublime object of ideology. Ch. "Cynicism as an Ideology." S. Zizek (1989) // M., “Art Magazine”, 1999, 238 pp., p.18-19.
- Abraham Maslow “Motivation and Personality” // NY: Harper & Row, 1970; St. Petersburg: Eurasia, 1999. Ch. "Theory of Human Motivation"
- Hooliganism. Commentary on article 213 Archived copy of November 9, 2011 on the Wayback Machine - A. V. Brilliantov. COMMENTARY ON THE CRIMINAL CODE OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION, 2011
- Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Belarus dated March 24, 2005 No. 1 “On judicial practice in criminal cases of hooliganism”
- Article 296. Hooliganism. - Karmazin Yu. A., Streltsov E. L. and others. CRIMINAL CODE OF UKRAINE. A COMMENT. (2001)
Modern understanding of cynicism
By the 19th century, the expressed negative aspects of the philosophy of cynicism formed the basis of a new, very different understanding of cynicism. In the new understanding, cynicism is a personal position or behavior that questions ethical and social values and the motives of other people’s behavior.
In the words of Bertrand Russell, “cynics are not only incapable of believing what they are told, they are incapable of believing anything at all.”
Modern cynicism, as a product of mass society, is disappointment in social mechanisms and authorities, utopian, idealized expectations of the people. Cynicism can express itself through dissatisfaction, disappointment and distrust of organizations, authorities and other aspects of socialization, and be the result of accumulated negative experiences, the expression of negative feelings.
At the same time, cynicism is not a form of criticism; it cannot act as a weapon against power, since in modern societies, democratic or totalitarian, the dominant ideology does not imply a truly literal attitude towards oneself; cynical distance and irony are part of the accepted rules of the game.
The spread of mass cynicism appears as a reaction to drastic changes in society, to their negative aspects and to disappointment in new ideals, to the gap between the ideals declared as a new value and reality. Cynicism acts as a mechanism of adaptation to social life, which makes inconsistent demands. In this case, negativism is directed not at the current state of affairs and its shortcomings, but at the very possibility of some more perfect social relations, at denying the value of previous goals. At the same time, the content, the specific direction of public cynicism depends on which particular sphere of society was affected by sudden changes and was loaded with new values. In an ideologized society, cynicism can become a reaction to an obvious lie, a discrepancy between the official doctrine and reality, and in this case, negativism also extends to moral principles, ideals, and values in general.
In Russia, public cynicism can be seen as a reaction to ideological utopias and illusions associated with changes in power relations, with the idea of a legal organization of collective existence supported without violence and abuse. Russian cynicism, as a reaction to the discrepancy between hopes for the state and dissatisfaction with the results of its activities, is characterized by: nihilistic assessments of the actions of the authorities and state institutions, influential groups in society; preemptive hostility towards any authority figures; disbelief in the good motives of people in general, a negative attitude towards mass enthusiasm in the social and political sphere. At the same time, cynicism is characteristic of a variety of groups in society, including power groups.
Psychology
People who ridicule social norms are perceived as aggressors. But from a psychological point of view, cynicism is not always a way of demonstrating dominant behavior.
Often this is a kind of defensive reaction of a person who tries to hide his own experiences behind a mask of indifference.
In such cases, the cynic turns out to be a soft and vulnerable individual who similarly builds a wall between himself and other people.
This allows him to protect his inner world from gross interference from the outside and to protect himself from possible suffering.
Thus, a man who has experienced betrayal may subsequently demonstrate disdain for all representatives of the fair sex for fear of being betrayed again.
If there is no internal psychological trauma behind such a life attitude, then we can talk about a conscious choice of this style of behavior.
Individuals with a rebellious character choose it to express a negative attitude towards the existing order of things in society.
