Lazy (me)

[hazeii]

"Cynicism is much easier than trust - and a lot of people are intellectually lazy. Intelligent and successful people often seem to be a lot less cynical about the world."

Nick

[Comment seen to BBC news story on cynicism 16-Feb-2004 ]

Comments

[orddu]

>Intelligent and successful people often seem to be a lot less cynical about the world.

In fairness, I would - on balance - have to say the exact opposite. Most of those people I know well and would deem "intelligent" are also cynical, but this is just an extreme version of having a questioning outlook in many ways. Similarly, those who are more trusting, open and maybe gullible are perhaps those who haven't necessarily been as "successful", to use Nick's terminology.

The *one* exception to this is my MD, who is completely trusting and gullible and has a favourite phrase: "You have to ultimately believe that good will triumph over evil." (not in any religious way, just in general). How he's been in business 25 years and NOT been completely screwed at least once is a mystery to us both.

[hazeii]

Possibly therein lies a distinction between 'cynical' and 'sceptical' - I guess a cynic would tend to disbelieve things a priori, whereas a sceptic would look at the evidence and base their judgement on the facts.

[Of course, a sceptic who discovers they're usually being lied to could well become a cynic :) ]

I'd say your MD sounds like someone who's smart enough to only trust the right people.

[orddu]

Well, the MD appointed me as GOD, so he must have *impeccable* judgment!! ;-)

[hazeii]

If he appointed you as God, what does that make him? ;)

[mattydesade]

Yeah, but they would say that wouldn't they? ;-)

[hazeii]

Indeed....but can you believe them? ;>

[aeia]

Cynical comment of the day..

Just remember...if the world didn't suck, we'd all fall off.

:)

[hazeii]

Mmm...you know, if you wrote that idea up using long words, there's a future for you in post-modernism.

"Equivalence principle leads to hermeneutic knowledge of gravity through deconstructed assertion of negative belief by the population at large".

Or something :)