Cynicism is the tool of evil. It is the pathway to apathy and depoliticization. There is nothing that autocrats and would-be tyrants want more than for people to through up their hands and say: “Democracy? Dictatorship? What difference does it make?” In fact, this is the goal of the political propaganda of tyrants. It’s why regimes like Putin’s sells cynicism — “we’re not worse than America. Look at what they’ve done.” Too many people in these conversations are playing along.
Discussion
Easy to make up fake shit
My cynicism doesn’t really fall into those categories. I very much know what difference democracy and dictatorship makes and I also don’t think we’re resigned to a terrible future outcome. It’s more about the present state of affairs and most of the present voters and most of the present leadership.
Even if Trump loses, Trump is gonna get like 40% of the vote. In a sane world, he wouldn’t be the nominee and he wouldn’t get more than 5% of the vote if he did. I think not being honest about that reality is just naive. And I think not being cynical about it is just unrealistic.