Idealism vs. Cynicism

Let’s talk more philosophy!

Life is all about balance, and lately this is something that I’ve been struggling with. I’ve drawn an idea of the importance of balance from Shakespeare’s Othello, which we recently studied at school. One of the things it deals with, as many tragedies do, are the extremes of binary opposites: white and black, good an evil, civility and savagery, reason and passion. Another of these binaries I’ve noticed among people is that of idealism and cynicism.

Idealism looks towards the infinite. Pure idealists are hopeful, spiritual and noble people who persevere through life with adamant optimism. Pure cynics, meanwhile, are centred in sound reality; that which they understand and know to be true. They know that sentimentality has little weighting in the true harshness of our world.

I find myself constantly caught between these two philosophical dispositions. When I speak of love and hopes and dreams, people think I’m too cheesy and gushy. When I question and criticise our traditional understanding of the world, I’m branded a pretentious left-winger. Life is full of contradiction, and if Othello taught me anything, it’s that a balance these perceived binaries is the way to avoid tragedy.

Such problems arise when an idealistic sceptic and a sentimental atheist decides to share his views. People frown and say he has “double standards” or that he is merely “stirring the pot to create controversy, when things are working well enough the way they are, thank you very much”. “The politicians are doing the best they can, so stop whinging”. “Who is going to listen to you, of all the smarter people in the world?”. By far one of the worst accusations is “evangelist”, as if some kind of new cult of radicalism is being started up.

My more drastic ideas, such as my opinion that gender roles should be discarded, do come into a bad press. But as an idealist, I cannot help but weep to see the devolution of Russia’s human rights or Australia’s xenophobic policies towards refugees. As a cynic, I see all the implications of my speaking out, and how it might put some people off.

But even if I am fighting a losing battle, at least I’m fighting the right one, or at least what I believe to be right (in a hundred years I might be considered completely immoral, but that’s called contextual morality, and it’s a story for another day). At least I am refusing, like all the great people I admire from Dr King to Joan of Arc, to accept the backwards world I live in. At least I am trying, in some small way, to do what I can to help and not sit idly by, even if nobody wants to listen.

And that is my rant for today. If you want to continue the discussion, please comment.

By the way, it gives me the greatest pleasure to announce that Ravenclaw has won the poll on “Which Hogwarts House appeals to you the most?” It seems I am read (or at least skimmed over) by kindred spirits.

I hope you all like this month’s question and I’ll be interested to see what you think!

Everyone stay calm and reduce harm. Assume nothing and question everything. But don’t afraid to stand up, be honest and reach for the ideal.

:)