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Another Perspective
A Necessary Wisdom
A defense of cynicism in the age of false hope.
As a confirmed and committed cynic, I must be high on President Barack Obama’s enemies’ list. Certainly well ahead of the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. One of Mr. Obama’s first official acts was to launch an undeclared war on cynics. The president has demanded we shed our cynicism — which he calls “a sorry kind of wisdom” — or suffer the consequences.
It’s easy to see why. “A cynic,” wrote Ambrose Bierce — another damned cynic — “is a blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be.” Mr. Obama wants us to close our eyes and imagine how things might be in some glorious future, after he and Hillary have sat down to tea with Chavez and Ahmadinejad and Kim Jong-Il. After his Merry Bureaucrats have robbed the rich and given what little is left — after administrative costs — to the poor.
We cynics are in for four long years. Possibly more. Throughout the long campaign season Mr. Obama castigated us mercilessly. We weren’t just any old bad guys — we gave Osama bin Laden a run for his money. “The biggest enemy I think we have in this whole process…the reason I think it’s so important, is because one of the enemies we have to fight — it’s not just terrorists, it’s not just Hezbollah, it’s not just Hamas — it’s also cynicism,” Obama told an audience in March 2007. And month earlier he had warned, “And in this mission, our rivals won’t be one another, and I would assert it won’t even be the other party. It’s going to be cynicism that we’re fighting against.” Sounds like the whole might and power of the U.S. government and military apparatus will be amassed against us cynics.
Obama’s abhorrence of cynics hasn’t mellowed even as his power has swelled. Last week in his Inaugural Address he again lashed out: “What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them — that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply.”
We are not just an enemy, we are a thick-headed, pea-brained enemy. We cannot grasp the simple arc of history, which has left conservatism and libertarianism and other false doctrines behind. One has the image of Mr. Obama expertly gauging the direction of the Winds of Change with his electronic anemometer, while we cynics stubbornly insist on tossing a few blades of grass into the still air.
DESPITE ITS ILL-REPUTE, cynicism has a long and illustrious history. The Greek cynic philosophers, epitomized by that eminent street person and dog impersonator Diogenes of Sinope, were ill-tempered ascetics who believed in living a virtuous life in harmony with nature. Diogenes lived in a barrel and roamed the daylight streets of Athens holding aloft a lamp and informing amused and disgusted passersby that he was “looking for an honest man.” One story, doubtless like all the best stories apocryphal, tells how he was visited — uninvited, it seems — by Alexander the Great. Asked by the Emperor if he might grant him a favor, Diogenes snapped, “Yes, stop blocking my sun.”
Cynics were also anti-authoritarian egalitarians who thought Greeks should reject possessions, fame and wealth and chastised those who wouldn’t go along. Obama’s supporters would have liked the cynics as they were a blend of crazy homeless person and virtuous scold. But what made the early cynic different from today’s Blue State voter was his indifference toward his health, and his belief that most suffering was caused by bad judgment, and not by the policies of the Bush Administration.
Cynicism didn’t really get a bad name until the term took on its opposite meaning. This happens more than one might think. “Awful” and “terrific” are examples of words that mean the opposite of what they once meant, i.e., full of awe and causing terror. Anyway, by the late Renaissance, anyone who merely ridiculed human conduct was a cynic. David Mazella, in The Making of Modern Cynicism, says modern cynics inspire fear and loathing because they envision a future without hope of meaningful change. And nobody is more into meaningful change than Mr. Obama and his Stepford followers. It doesn’t matter if that change never comes about, as long as one remains eternally hopeful.
It’s easy for rich and powerful people like the Obamas to avoid cynicism. Bertrand Russell, a cynic with a foot in both classical and modern schools, once wrote that the holders of power are not cynical since they are able to enforce their ideals. Likewise, the oppressed are not cynical, but filled with rage. It is rather the modern intellectual who is cynical because he alone sees things as they are and insists on telling the truth, consequences be damned.
You see now why President Obama hates cynics. They distrust politicians and are suspicious of big government. They don’t share the mania for empty platitudes, clichéd sermons, and repetitive chants about hope and change. (Prophetically, Lord Russell noted that “modern cynicism cannot be cured merely by preaching.”) What’s more, cynics have studied the dark history of the human beast. All of which evidently makes cynics a greater threat to modern society than terrorists.
Like the early cynics I am anti-authoritarian and pro-equality (of opportunity, not of outcome). I don’t necessarily reject possessions, fame and wealth, though I can see how one might get that impression looking at me. I likewise believe most suffering is caused by wrong-headed decisions. Most trusting Americans would be angered and outraged if the president of the United States compared them to terrorists. Not we cynics. There isn’t anything this adminstration can say that will bother us.
All we ask is that Mr. Obama doesn’t stand in our light.
About the Author
Christopher Orlet writes from St. Louis.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (32) | Leave a comment
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Rocco| 1.27.09 @ 7:06AM
Christopher, not only will our savior incarnate stand in our light, but once he mobilizes his civilian militia, a la Chavista Bolivarian brigades, it will get a lot worse.
BTW, I like your comment about his "Stepford followers." Very appropriate and descriptive!
Rob Barbee| 1.27.09 @ 7:31AM
Christopher,
An absolutely superb piece of writing.
TennesseeVolunteer| 1.27.09 @ 7:48AM
In Atlas shrugged, John Galt and Hank Reardon and all of 'The Traders' made the fatal mistake that while they produced, they let the political leaders take the reins of power.
As much as I would like to go to galts Gulch and let the country crash down on these socialist idiots, I can't do that. I have two boys who are close to starting families. I have friends and family who have beautiful young children, teens and young adults, who deserve a better world, or opportunity, and freedom.
It is our job to overcome these socialists now, before they completely ruin this United States. we have to win the battle of ideas, just like reagan did. For us Baby boomers, this is our time, to do what is right, to passionately argue, convince and overcome these crazy folks.
We can't give up, we can't go to Galts Gulch....because we have kids.
Alan Brooks| 1.27.09 @ 8:34AM
good piece.
but tell it to Dinesh Dsouza, and his 'The End Of Racism' (conservative toffler-twaddle). thou shalt speak ill of fellow Republicans?
you're going to have to someday..
Alan Brook| 1.27.09 @ 8:39AM
... you should start by being cynical concerning Newt and other chirpy techno-babblers.
thou shalt speak ill of chirpy pangloss-conservatives.
Alan Brooks| 1.27.09 @ 10:14AM
LOOK, does it have to be spelled out?
its not 'false hope', it's real; dont you get it?:
biotech is real; genetic engineering is real.
ame| 1.27.09 @ 10:54AM
Obamameister's class-warfare politics, his Big Bad Business, Michelle's "mean-spirited" rotten capitalism (except when she gets her salary doubled through Obama pork barrel spending of tax payer money and a Rezko mansion), Obama's victim hood politics, his obnoxious rich people (except when they contribute to his campaign and pay for what he wants - Soros as a rich person is wonderful), zerO's socialism and his "I won" dictatorship mentality -
Obama's a true cynic who deflated all the HOPEful aspirations of our Constitution, our democratic-republic, and our capitalist economic system and ignorant voters who can't even spell cynic voted for Obamablahma - all blind lemmings lost in the "dream" of Utopia in the kingdom of "the One."
Obama himself is a Stepford Soros puppet.
FOUR YEARS OF THIS!!!! and then add the supercilious media and we have a Kool-aid cocktail of fools.
bill glass| 1.27.09 @ 11:14AM
if cynicism can be seen as recognizing a politician as saying one thing and doing another , then we're guilty as charged.
John | 1.27.09 @ 11:33AM
When Pope Benedict called the new president to offer diplomatic congratulations and to suggest, ever so gently, that the leader of a great nation should consider becoming a defender of innocent human life against the depredations of abortion, the 47-year-old Obama replied to the 81-year-old distinguished theologian and spiritual leader of a billion people in the standard weasel-talk of the consummate lefty politician: "We'll have to agree to disagree."
Now, THAT's cynicism.
Robert Rosencrans| 1.27.09 @ 11:44AM
Cynicism is bred when government officials launch central economic planning which always fails, then asks the public to stand quietly by while they create another disaster in response to the last disaster.
The public is then party to a never ending merry-go-round of failed policies, followed by more failed policies whilst government officials tell you they have everything under control.
In the meantime, no stone lays unturned as the government issues a plethora of regulations which add costs to everything you buy all the while telling you it's for your own good.
Government officials practice forms of secular religion based on false premises and theories, in particular climate change. While those same government officials reach into your pockets and take your wealth to fund government programs based on those false premises, they smile and tell you once again, it's for the future, whatever that means.
After reading this if you are not cynical, get back to me and I'll try again. It's your only chance.
Pat| 1.27.09 @ 11:58AM
A true cynic would warn readers to be suspicious of this essay, cynics are neither powerful politically nor often welcomed into polite company. A despised minority, cynics have a weak political lobby, a $35,000 a year guy working out of a rent-a-cube at Kinko's. On the other hand, the Irrationals, the overwhelming majority of Americans, are zealously represented by the prestigious firm of Rich, Powers & Wulthy - one of Washington's most effective lobbying groups.
And reason isn't all it's cracked up to be; we're irrational most of the time and usually by personal choice. Americans prefer to immerse their rational individuality in groups, sharing emotional closeness with others and entering into that dream state where anything is possible if only you will wish upon a politically correct star. We seem to happily exist in kind of a national Disney fantasy where the Wicked Witch is easy to spot, she's powerful but ultimately vulnerable to the weak and the good guys always win in the end if only they will truly believe.
Particularly adept at this group immersion are black urban churchgoers - so Obama has an historic sensitivty to cynics and their disruptive effects. Cynics aren't good at saying "Amen" at the right time and don't enjoy swaying in time with others, plus they tend to tell off color jokes to the choir ladies at the church breakfast. Left unchecked, a cynic can break the mood everyone is working so hard to achieve - and once the mood is broken, it's very hard to re-establish.
To a dedicated Mood Swayer, like President Obama, cynics, left to work their evil, can easily destroy the national mood and affect his chances for re-election. With our immense wealth, Americans can live within the dream state quite easily, only rarely surfacing and only if harsh reality forcibly intrudes. For our president, keeping Americans living the dream is ultimately the key to his political success.
Sotheros| 1.27.09 @ 12:28PM
Thank you Mr Orlet for your expressive picture of Obama Administration. Now, WE CAN only say: Cynicism save all of us.
JoshFranklin| 1.27.09 @ 3:33PM
"I won", says the One. Whenever I hear Obama say the words "come together", I reflexively substitute the word "surrender". We should all know by now that hope in the Obama context is not optimism, it is blind submission.
bill carson| 1.27.09 @ 3:56PM
Say what you will, but the public apparently decided to see how well socialism will work for them. Republicans can do what they did in the 1930s which for the most part was to offer the public about 70% of what FDR did. They got beaten to a pulp for that. The only sensible strategy for Republican is to clearly differentiate ourselves by opposing almost all the little messiah's proposal. We can't stop them but we can be on record as offering an alternative. Playing ball with Obama is a death sentence but some of our guys in Congress will learn this the hard way.
megapotamus| 1.27.09 @ 3:58PM
Especially today, one must keep the Crap/Truth translator going at all times. For instance, when someone says (more likely, yells) Power to the People! What they really mean is MORE power to MY people. Nearly anything you could call a speech will produce similar results.
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Jim Woodward| 1.27.09 @ 5:18PM
Mr. Orlet,
Interesting comments. At age 61 I have become a confirmed cynic.
I have watched so many things I value go away in the last decade or so, never to return.
The Constitution, gone.
Love of Country, gone.
Knowledge, gone.
God, gone.
Critical thought, gone.
History, rewritten.
I could go on. The above replaced by:
Abject ignorance, our most expensive commodity.
A political ruling class, not of competincy, but of venality. Twain, or was it Mencken, reffered to Congress as a " criminal class".
Public schools that indoctrinate rather than educate.
A media. the only private business cited in our Consititusion that has abjectly failed its mission.
God rejected from the public square even though the First Amendment declares otherwise.
Our elected Representatives declaring themseveles rulers over subjects, through their actions, rather than servants of the people.
A Goverment that takes and continues to take everthing good from the American people and relpace it with everthing that has proved to be an abject failure any where in the history of the world.
I could continue.
Hope and Change. Peace and Love. Spread the wealth around. Let us talk. Send a check out. Yes we can! BS on steroids!
bernardo| 1.27.09 @ 10:54PM
Of course the president decries cynicism. Good cynics make bad acolytes, and acolytes seem to be what he wants. Where the government is concerned, I hope enough of my fellow citizens never lose their cynicism, mistrust, disgust, and irascible hostility. It is getting tough out there. The suckers are buying the pitch. The true believers and panicky fools are on the march. The propaganda organs of the traditional media are demanding action and crying out for salvation through leadership while the opposition party is cowering in a corner. We are going to need all the cynics we can find before this mess is over.
Alan Brooks| 1.28.09 @ 12:42AM
nothing wrong with Obama himself. he's not a monster. he's not even a Jimmuh.
opposition grows the economy.
Michele San Pietro| 1.28.09 @ 3:33PM
I disagree. Cynicism is always wrong and to be avoided.
hgjg| 11.19.09 @ 10:17PM
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