This is a split off from the "Personalities you avoid" thread. Let's talk about cynicism and optimism. I'll make no pretense, I take a dim view of human nature. You can guess which side I'll be arguing. So, the primary topic here is "Are you a cynic, an optimist, or a pessimist and why?"

Cynicism is reviled in our modern rhetoric, as we see those who defraud others, who lie to get into public office, or who simply see the world as black and sit on the couch as cynical. And yet, all cynicism really is is a distrust of people's "charitable" motives. The Cynic expects that someone will attempt to defraud him under the guise of "kindness", the cynic listens to optimistic rhetoric about change and improvement and rather than accepting it at face value, asks "What does the speaker get out of this change?". The cynic hopes for the best and expects the worst, with an emphasis on the latter. Traditionally, Cynics derived their name from a Hellenic school of thought that defied convention and ideology in an attempt to see through to the truth of things. The Cynic school promoted asceticism, in the sense that belongings are essentially meaningless. Their defiance of convention could be taken a little too far, however. Diogenes, one of the founders of the school, is believed to have engaged in public mastvrbation. However, at it's core, the idea behind cynicism is that humans are basically selfishly motivated, and things like ideology and organizations are typically satisfying a need of the people who drive them. To put it in modern terms, if a candidate promises to put a chicken in every pot, the optimist sets the table, the pessimist doesn't think there are enough chickens, and the cynic is the one checking to see if this guy owns any stock in Perdue.

Optimistic. I find the simplest things to be pretty interesting so I guess that is why.

I flip flop. Sometimes I'm so cynical it depresses people around me, while other times I can be highly optimistic.

It all depends on what mood I'm in, the position of the moon, which constellation is directly above me, and how many ants I've stepped on that day.

Optimists are like people who turn up their music so they can't hear the gunshots.

Quoting this

Optimism is good. Humanity is a species of survival and endurance, and as such, it'd be foolish for us to just ignore all the beautiful things this world has to offer for the sake of eye-balling the negative. There is not a single successful person in history who didn't have some sort of optimism.

Being a little cynical is pretty healthy as well. It means you are aware that not everything will be toys and joys. if you're a fairly optimistic person with some logical cynicism, that means you are someone who can see a situation, and make the most of it.

Pessimism is mostly just a selfish thing, at least by me definition. You've had a rough time and end up lamenting about how sad and dark your life is, and how doomed and hopeless everyone else will be. You don't move on from your sorrows, but instead, you llet them build up inside and influence the person you are.

I've been in all of these situations at one point or another in my life. As one could probably tell by my choice of forum identity, I'm feeling back on the positive side of the spectrum after having dealt with all my inner conflicts and what not.

That's the thing about Optimism. it's full of opportunity.

My nature is to be pessimistic, but my bloody-mindedness seems to like being optimistic. As much as I hate to admit it, the latter usually wins.

Guess from my avatar. Your guess is most likely right.

Why? I guess it's a sort of self-defence system, really. If I don't have high expectations, I won't get disappointed.

Well, I'm definitely cynical, and I'm pessimistic about a lot of things. Humans need to shape up before I can be optimistic, we're headed down a bad road. You can't look at the larger picture and be optimistic.

I'm a realist which means that I can be a cynic, an optimist or a pessimist depending on the reality of the situation. I'm not really a "cynic" though, it's just that my trust is true and sacred to me and most people don't value truth as deeply as I do or are completely trustworthy...when your own mother steals from you and betrays your trust then it's hard to believe anyone.

I'm so glad that I'm a human and have things like music and art to distract myself from the real purpose of being alive. It's a brutal and sick design IMO. Other than that I'm somewhat of an optimist.

im just an all around [censored].

YES.

I am a cynical optimist. I am cynical in that I see things in a realistic nature that often times has a negative undertone. Yet I am also optimistic because I also see the good and beautiful in things and also hope for a positive conclusion to events.

I'm a little bit cynical I suppose, but generally optimistic by nature (not unrealistically so, I temper it with reason), and a bit pessimistic about the future of humanity.

<-- realist here.

Hope for the best...prepare for the worst. The way I see it, the world is chock full of fantastic and horrible things. I tend to try to assess my situation, do all I can to prepare for bad things happening, and try to have a positive outlook with the knowledge that I've done all I can to minimize the impact of the bad things if and when they come. I like to try to deal with things head-on so I can move past them. I'm not sure what that makes me...an optimist-pragmatist?

There are certainly lots of things that I have a negative opinion about, but I (like to) think those opinions are based on a realistic perspective. I gave up on being cynical long ago. It didn't do me any good.