In writing Anticynical, I want to build a psychological and philosophical operating system for this rapidly changing world. A framework to thrive in such a world while also developing psychological resilience and adaptability.
You're right that these examples are pessimistic. For me, cynicism is when you distrust someone's (including your own) motivations or intentions. In these examples, there is an implicit mistrust of "people who advocate working out a lot" or "people who advocate saving money." I've written more clearly about how I think about cynicism in another essay I wrote: https://www.anticynical.com/p/anticynical-10-cynicism-to-skepticism. Thanks for engaging and sorry about such a late reply!
These quotes feel more illustrative of pessimism than of cynicism.
“I’m too old to start working out; that’s for younger and fitter people.”
“Ha! I can’t even save $5 from my paycheck… I’m going to live in a cardboard box when I retire!“
Can you explain to me why they are cynical?
You're right that these examples are pessimistic. For me, cynicism is when you distrust someone's (including your own) motivations or intentions. In these examples, there is an implicit mistrust of "people who advocate working out a lot" or "people who advocate saving money." I've written more clearly about how I think about cynicism in another essay I wrote: https://www.anticynical.com/p/anticynical-10-cynicism-to-skepticism. Thanks for engaging and sorry about such a late reply!
Good luck with Synthesis Aayush. You have a lot going on here. Keen to see how this evolves :)
Thanks for the support, Ishan!