Tom’s Tidbits- Cynicism isn’t the path, even in today’s world. This is.

Greetings,

It’s easy to be cynical and it seems to get easier all the time. Look around, and on every level of human activity it seems like things are going downhill. Cynics aren’t surprised because they’ve always known that underneath a thin veneer of humanity lurks a thick core of treachery. Every person, every company, every country is out to get you/me/us, and no one ever does anything out of good motives. We certainly see this attitude here at the shop. Cynics know every auto shop is a scam so they view our service in that light too. No matter how open and honest we are, they’re still looking for the hook in the lure.

The opposite of cynicism is naivety, Polyannas with rose-colored glasses skipping through the world expecting the best from everyone, making themselves targets for cruel reality and paying the price when they’re wrong. Given the choice, it sounds like cynicism is the way to go. “If you expect the worst, you’ll never be disappointed” and cynics are smart enough to be ahead of the curve. Who wouldn’t want to be on the ‘smart people’ team?

But cynics aren’t the smartest people in the room. In studies of over 200,000 individuals across thirty nations, cynics scored less well on tasks that measure cognitive ability, problem-solving, and mathematical skill. In a study asking whether cynics or non-cynics would perform better on a set of cognitive tasks, 70% thought cynics would do better but the results showed they actually performed worse. Cynics are provably wrong because we know that some acts are selfless, trustworthy, or at least fair, but they’re absolutely confident about their wrong conclusions. Confidence can often be confused with correctness, but in reality both the cynic and the naive stopped thinking at inaccurate stereotypes.

It turns out that cynicism and naivety aren’t the only choices, and skepticism is a much better alternative to either. Skeptics don’t leap to conclusions about anything. They reserve judgement until there’s at least evidence, preferably strong evidence, and only then reach a conclusion which can itself always be changed by more information. Skepticism doesn’t involve an end to thinking, it demands constant thought and re-evaluation. It’s much harder than either cynicism or naivety but it leads to a more accurate view of reality.

Philosopher Hannah Arendt pointed out that “The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction (the reality of experience) and the distinction between true and false (the standards of thought) no longer exists.” If the reality of experience shows people intend both good and bad then it’s critically important to know the difference. Skepticism constantly uses the standards of thought to avoid lumping the good with the bad. It lets us fight real threats instead of phantoms, make real friends instead of opportunistic acquaintances. And it may be the best way to a world where every level of human activity doesn’t seem like it’s going downhill.

Make a great day,