W. Kandinsky: "There are no 'musts' in art." T.S. Eliot: "There is no freedom in art." Dostoievski character, after the ancient Middle East epigram: "Everything is permitted." (R-rated weblog. Since one has been advised there is no Literature anymore, or even literature, only writing, one proceeds on the premise that this weblog qualifies as not-meaningless, since it is, or appears to be, a form of "writing." Image: Banksy.)
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Thursday, February 28, 2008
Cynicism & Evil
Cynicism is the inability to believe in altruism and benevolence, which is to say a cynical person believes that people in general, if not all people, are self-centered and selfish and self-serving to the point that they are in fact evil, incapable of compassion or cooperation or self-denial in the interest of the common good. Cynical people believe that essentially all people are evil, including themselves, if they are rigorous in their thinking. Is cynicism a good or an evil trait? A rigorous cynic will call for social institutions that are repressive because repression would be essential to control a population that is intrinsically evil. So it's no laughing matter when a person says s/he is "cynical about politics." Cynicism leads to totalitarian repression. It is an evil character trait. A cynical mind is a defective mind. A cynical person is a defective person.
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