Observations About the World, Part Thirty

Photograph of the Atlas globe

Cynicism |
Tuesday – April 28, 2026

Cynics and cynicism all over the place! Indeed, the world is full of it and it seems quite strange, at least from a material point of view, read "The Efficacy of Ideas". I mean, there are so many fat and addicted people all over the place, how come they are so cynical? Did people used to be this cynical in the past? First of all, yes it should be taken as an overall sign of our times that people are cynical, and of course cynicism and sentimentalism go hand in hand... But the entire assumption that only "bad" guys can win, read "Directing Films", is very salient today. Brutality, realism, or perhaps brutalism? Why not, why not another one of those isms? Well, there are of course plenty of those around so I should think that there is no problem for me to add another one. Movies are so full of themselves, and so full of this kind of lazy and truly evil and very much offensive and distasteful assumption that the lowest of men can carry virtue by merely clearing the lowest bar in history. Shameful! What a shameful state of culture indeed, read "Tradition". But what has brought this tendency to my attention is actually the talk of the importance of the "rule of law" and the liberal humanist order, and all that. But their problem is that people seem rather cynical these days, and the example underscoring this is poor countries ruled by strongmen, and that is largely true; in such countries cynicism if through the roof, while many materially rich countries in the imperial core have been able to hide behind economic growth and really the promise of the future, but in poorer countries there is no promise of the future, there is only the brutality of now, read "The End of History". So, it is quite understandable that the political establishment, the revolutionary elite, would prefer to avoid this fate, but without a center, the whole structure is doomed, and the hordes of Gog and Magog will simply break right through the wall and civilization will be ruined. Well, civilizations are always ruined and it is quite hard, unless you live under a rock, to not notice how the Satanic forces influence this through cynicism. But that is true, movies, books, papers, the internet, even radio programs are cynical. Just take a look at average men: they are rude, offensive, ugly, beastly, and above all cynical, and their politics is populist, and they have been taught to turn against each other, and indeed their nature is, read "Identity Politics" one of a kind of zero sum game, which is a prerequisite for Democracy. In comparison to Democracy, the hierarchical and corporative social structures of ancient societies brought order, sacred order, into the land, and every aspect of life had a meaning, a sacred and ordered meaning, something that has been almost completely erased in the contemporary world. So, again it would make sense that people without meaning, without a place in the world, would turn to cynicism and the forces of the dark, and really this is a story as old as time, or at least as old as recorded time, read "Hyperborea". I should add though, that there was a time far beyond recorded history in which there was almost no cynicism present at all, but more on that at another time. Also, you see this cynicism with most young people, and this is another reason, beyond the next generation, that it is so important to indoctrinate children and the young, and besides, while we are on the subject, most adults are so cynical because their lives are so empty, but this is expected; once you allow the substantive to almost completely push out the essential and the sacred in people's life nothing else should be expected. Verily, the modern man is a cynic, and really he has been taught to be this way from day one, and the only thing holding him back is that economic growth, but some day economic growth will reach its end too, read "Future series". So, really everything has almost been compressed into one single moment of some kind of anticipation, some kind of anticipation of the worst. When will your job be taken away from you, when will you lose your dignity and whatever place you have in the world? You just never know. So you have to be cynical; you have no choice, even though, from the sensible point of view, this makes no sense, but that is, again, because these people, the proponents of the most narrow point of view, fail to see anything beyond the immediate and corporeal.

    So, if you assume, which you probably do, that it is perfectly normal and healthy to be cynical about the world, you either turn into yourself, which will not help, or you turn to the promise of utopia, to the future, and this is what most people do: most people simply do not live, and for them it is almost quite impossible to live; these people have become almost completely solidified. Then there is also the fact that a lot of these people attempt to convince themselves that every flaw and every weakness has to be accepted, read "My Views on Tolerance", even disease is today being hailed as some kind of achievement, read "My Views on 'the Rights of Man'" and "Disability". Indeed, it is even considered something to boast about, to suffer from an illness and a deviation, almost as if these people liken themselves to some kind of superman, truly an inversion. But then again, inversion is the name of the game, and since I referred to rights above I should add that a lot of these people, some of them fat, claim special rights, part of positivism, but this is again outside the scope of the present study.

    Should you be cynical? Well, that depends, as a lot of things do, and really in this regard there is simply not enough room to talk of nuance, but then again life is hard and there are many moments in life where you may not have another choice, but instead of becoming cynical, try to understand that this is a call, a call to adventure, but more importantly a call to retire from the world. See, when you go out on adventures you are forced to confront your old self, and in that moment you must decide whether or not to leave your old self behind and to move on to new heights, new horizons, or to turn back and to your old self; only you may make this decision, but you should know that when you are looking at your old self – you are looking into the abyss, read "Disintegration". To answer the question: no, you may not be cynical, but you may also not fall for the lies and the temptations of "self-improvement" and individualism, and forget about all those empty platitudes of "preference"! Do not do this to yourself! Besides, in the end these things come together.

Reginald Drax – April 28, 2026.