Rising Cynicism on this forum

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I would state, firmly, that there are MANY points of view on this Site.

Was that because of Ronald Reagan?

I think it's fine to assume that people act in their self-interest. The problem comes with taking a narrow view of that self-interest, particularly when people assume that their opponents only want to destroy them. 

Black and white thinking applied to philosophical disagreements?

Cold war anyone? I was a kid during the 80's and even though the idea of nuclear war could break out any second was a possibility I still remember the 80's as a good time. Perhaps that was because I was a naive child largely unaware of worldly events. Perhaps people are more cynical today because the doomsday clock is closer to midnight than it has been since the 80's.

I was a young adult in the 1980s.

There was lots of cynicism in a US context after Watergate. Watergate was the thing that really told us that the idealistic 1960's were OVER.

In young people, especially those of high school age, I saw a pronounced tendency towards viewpoints and clothes which were called "punk" then, then became Goth later on. Most of these people had an extremely grim view of the world. They probably would have been called "Exis" (Existentialists) in the 1950s. I think nowadays, some of these people would be called "Emos."

But what dominated, really, after Watergate (1972-1974) was materialism. Disco music exemplified that. The advent of "yuppies" and the proliferation of "corporate" values confirmed that the acquisition of wealth was uppermost on the minds of many.

The Cold War wasn't in as much "full swing" as it was in the 50's and early 60's. It was there, though. We still had the Soviet Union---though, after about 1984, the Soviet Union liberalized under Gorbachev, who espoused "perestroika" and "glasnost." Both these terms represented a concession to "Western" values.

Reagan represented a "new conservatism." I don't think it was necessarily cynical---but I believe it was reactionary.

In general, I found people in the late 70's through the 80's to be much more cynical than those in the 1960s, even though lots of crap actually happened in the 1960s.

Are you talking about political cynicism? Because there's a reason for that.

Or, do you mean personal cynicism, like Eeyore?

I would say Punk's were anarchists.

Some of them were. Some of them just dressed "punk."

Many times, when put to the test, I find that most "punks" really weren't anarchists at all. They were merely skeptical of our system. All they wanted was changed. They didn't want a "reconstruction," to "destroy" the system, or to have "no system at all."

Before Punk Rock, punks were usually bullies who tried to put on a "tough" act, but were really cowards underneath it all. Or rebellious teenagers (or younger kids) in general.

So you are saying they were future libertarians. Just a joke!!

Hey, I was/am a punk! I do agree though, most got anarchism confused with chaos... just like most people in fact.

The 80s did suck though. Thatcherism, Reaganomics, the poll tax, the miner's strikes, the castration of the unions, selling off our industries, selling off our social housing, the rise of the yuppie and the greed is good culture, new romantics, Orville the Duck

Were you a safety-pin, Mohawk type of punk?

Actually.....some of them happen to be nice people. Some can be jerks.

Just like some preppies can be jerks.

In the years before I went into areas on WP where politics were being discussed, I never understood threads like these.

I've been trying recently to be less angry about not getting the fantasy life I've always wanted, and instead asking myself, "What can I do?" So maybe my wildest fantasy dream life won't ever materialize. Maybe that ex-girlfriend I wanted is never coming back. Maybe that dream career won't come together. But there is still a lot I can do, and there are still great things I can accomplish. I'm tying to focus on the options that are available to me and make the most of them, rather than being angry about the options that are not available to me.

Young people often want to rebel against the generation before them. Those of us that were teens in the '70's lived in the shadow of the 60's youth. Rock music, especially by the end of the decade did not seem to measure up. 60's identified acts such as the Beatles, The Doors, and The Grateful Dead were among the most popular among my peers even though two of the aforementioned groups had long since broken up but they were a hell of a lot better than Journey and Styx. If you wanted to rebel against the post counterculture hubris the punks and early new wavers provided the cynicism and anger that seemed to be the needed opposite of the faded 60's idealism that was being thrown in our faces.

On this board there are always going to people who have been misunderstood to abused by most people they had to and have to interact with because they are different at what society cares about most, social interaction. While there is always going to be negativity because the consistency and intensity of it tends to come in cycles. Now we are going into to a negative cycle. It gets frustrating but I am cynical (pun intended) that much can be or should be done about it.

They were horrible. People were making sweeping stereotypes of each gender. All of those threads were locked. The threads were very cynical.