Yes, fuck cynicism^1. With a rusty spike bearing Clostridium tetani^2, dipped in toxic and radioactive waste.
This might be my last blog post ever. I feel like I don't have long left on Earth. And if I had one message I'd want to leave to the world, it would be this one.
Cynicism about the future is part of why the world is in the shape it is in today. Cynicism is what leads people to reflexively cede their power to oligarchy, or religious bodies, or whatever outside social forces you care to name, without questioning it or realizing that they have made a choice. "There's nothing I can do, so I may as well do whatever Johnny down the street is doing." And if you live under capitalism, Johnny is mindlessly consuming while paying no attention to the fact that he is enriching the very people who are burning the world. And at least here in the US, there is a one in three chance that Johnny didn't even bother to vote.
While cynicism has this chic veneer of counterculture "cool" unorthodoxy, it is the ultimate in conformism, sapping us of our inner strength by denying our free will. It is the handmaiden of surrender. No wonder corporate media has been pushing it for decades. News and advertising are its breeding grounds.
Sometimes, ceding one's power to outside social forces is a reasonable thing to do. Or at least a rational thing to do. But it should be done mindfully. You usually have choices, whether or not you like any of the options.
What is unacceptable is just silently acquiescing to the status quo in a spirit of "I'm so helpless" cynicism. Things keep getting worse and worse, cynicism grows, and there are fewer and fewer options. It's a vicious cycle. You can perhaps help break that cycle by believing in the future and making choices with care.
I'll end with a quote from the song Something for Nothing by the band Rush. It's from one of my favorite albums of all time, 2112. If you haven't heard the album, I highly recommend it. The first track, 2112, is about a society where everyone has surrendered their power to computers and the minders of said computers. Sound familiar? Elon Musk and the rest of the tech oligarchs want to take us there, with their LLMs and their Neuralink and such. Something for Nothing is the last track on the album, and it is an excellent complement to the first.
What you own is your own kingdom,
What you do is your own glory
What you love is your own power,
What you live is your own story.
In your head is the answer,
Let it guide you along
Let your heart be the anchor,
And the beat of your song.
You don't get something for nothing,
You can't have freedom for free.
[1]: I'm not talking about the Greek philosophical school. That was non-conformist and all about living outside of the system, not surrendering to it. What I mean is cynicism in the contemporary sense, somewhat tinged with apathy.
[2]: The bacterium that causes tetanus.