"Oh, joy ..." Cynicism and me ...
Mar. 16th, 2004 10:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fiat_knoxThe other day, I discovered the delights of the BBC's website, and all of the wonderful things you can do there. Remember this?
The reply the quiz returned to me was enlightening. You may recall it stated: "You're a top grade cynic - in fact you've turned cynicism into an art form. You greet almost every piece of news with sneering contempt. Loosen up a bit."
I saved the piece onto my computer, and I'm now planning on incorporating it onto my Desktop Wallpaper as a mark of personal honour.
I'd like to add something to my prior posting. Cynicism, for me, is not about not having anything to believe in. Cynicism, for me, consists purely in not giving a stuff about the dismal efforts made by the mainstream to foist the same old, cookie cutter, tired cliches upon us in their news, comedies, quiz shows and other TV programmes.
"I have plenty of things to believe in," I might say: "I have a long list of things I believe in. I just don't include you on that list."
The reply the quiz returned to me was enlightening. You may recall it stated: "You're a top grade cynic - in fact you've turned cynicism into an art form. You greet almost every piece of news with sneering contempt. Loosen up a bit."
I saved the piece onto my computer, and I'm now planning on incorporating it onto my Desktop Wallpaper as a mark of personal honour.
I'd like to add something to my prior posting. Cynicism, for me, is not about not having anything to believe in. Cynicism, for me, consists purely in not giving a stuff about the dismal efforts made by the mainstream to foist the same old, cookie cutter, tired cliches upon us in their news, comedies, quiz shows and other TV programmes.
"I have plenty of things to believe in," I might say: "I have a long list of things I believe in. I just don't include you on that list."
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Addendum ...
Date: 2004-03-16 03:03 pm (UTC)In that article, a learned journalist attempted to quantify why there is such a strong undercurrent of cynicism within modern society, apparently stronger than even during the anti - Establishment backlash during the late 1960s and 1970s.
What made this article so interesting was the fact that, in the time honoured tradition of the Beeb's site, the article came with an interactive feature, as all their articles do, allowing you to drop feedback regarding the article and a critisue of the author's findings.
I can only imagine the sort of responses a feedback form on a news article innocently asking why we are all so cynical would produce ... but what is telling is that, within 24 hours of setting out that article, the BBC withdrew it completely ...