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Why is the quoted passage cynical and not simply prudent?
by andrewjl 5y ago
Why is the quoted passage cynical and not simply prudent?
- Sebb767 5y agoThat was actually referring to the rest of the paragraph: > You see the cynicism and manipulation behind so many things portrayed as being good for you or society. You become cynical, and you signal your intelligence through cynicism. Very smart people often communicate in purely cynical observations. I didn't want to include the whole quote since I mostly responded to the quoted part and the quote would get quite long overall.
- SamoyedFurFluff 5y agoSeeing all the bullshit and deciding to be cynical and do nothing is intellectually lazy and defeatist, which is the sort of short-sighted and lack of awareness a teenager would do instead of a more prudent adult.
- bruce343434 5y agoI'm asking this in good faith because I am that "edgy teenager": what would the more prudent adult do?
- SamoyedFurFluff 5y agoThat depends on how much time/energy/money/health/resources an adult has. Generally if Ike can spare some resource towards the collective effort into making the world a better place to live, the adult thing would be to contribute some resource. If one cannot, then focus on oneself until one is stable enough to begin contributing back. Part of the difficulty behind this is that it’s easy to become cynical and dismissive because its easier to say the world can’t be saved/isn’t worth saving than actually saving the world.