The Reluctant Cynic

For someone who so strongly decries cynicism, I fear I give in to it far more often than I care to admit. Of course, I prefer to think of myself as being more jaded than cynical, but realize it's a "toe-may-toe/toe-mah-toe" distinction Be that as it may, no matter how hard I try, I can’t escape the fact that I am so often utterly disillusioned with the state of the world and with the underbelly of humanity that I truly despair.

You’ve undoubtedly noticed that one of the strongest recurring themes in these blogs is my utter inability to understand the world, or, far too often, other nominal members of the species to which I belong. How can anyone with an iota of awareness possibly understand, let alone justify, what lies behind and beneath the incomprehensible stupidity, cruelty, bigotry, and ignorance that constantly assail us all and that we ourselves too often display?

How can any intelligent person cling to hope for the future of mankind when nearly every TV commercial seems very deliberately designed to mislead us; when every computer’s “In” box is awash daily in "offers" so egregiously insulting to the most basic concept of intelligence? How can anyone capable of communicating thought not only produce such utter garbage but expect anyone capable of reading to respond to it? What motivates them to do so is simple: 99.5 percent of all the steaming elephant dung plopped into our computers' Spam folder--into which I regularly dumpster-dive for blog material--has one reason for being there: greed. Those who respond to it are eagerly seeking something for nothing (a Ph.D. in brain surgery by mail? Earn $10,000 a day at home typing envelopes? It is to weep!).

Our national media is increasingly being taken over by predatory sociopaths without conscience, compassion, remorse, or regret (Fox News, anyone?). Their link to humanity is largely genetic, and they apparently derive a sense of superiority in pouring gasoline on any potentially volatile issue.

Of course, the saddest, most discouraging and "abandon-all-hope-ye-who-enter-here" aspect of the internet is that it is, indeed, a net which trolls a rich feeding ground for predators. If there weren't huge numbers of people unwilling to use, or incapable of using, common logic, the predators would starve. And while that prospect is unlikely in the extreme, there is some small comfort to be taken from the fact that from what I can gather---the exact same message being received from several sources, for example--that major spammers franchise out their crud to lesser spammers. It appears to be some sort of a pyramid scheme and a perfect example of feeding on one's own foot. Secondary spammers are conned by the primaries into thinking they're going to get rich. All of which proves that those who send out spam are just as prone to being suckered as the people to whom the messages are sent. However, in their case, I have no sympathy for them whatever.

That after several thousand years of struggle and sacrifice to establish a civilization we, as a race, have produced a society which seems to thrive on taking advantage of others finds us back at the first sentence of this blog.

Quick! Someone bring me a basket of kittens!

New entries are posted by 10 a.m. Central time every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Please come back...and bring a friend. Your comments are always welcome. And you're invited to stop by my website at http://www.doriengrey.com, or drop me a note at doriengrey@att.net.