It seems the hip thing to do these days is to be a complete cynic. It’s gotten to the point whenever anything new comes out the camps are instantly divided; half the people in the world hate it and half of them like it. Generally, if logic dictates it’s friggen terrible (such as the ‘Movie Movies’ like ‘Epic Movie’), the arguments for why it is so blisteringly awful fall on the deaf ears of people that for some reason or another like it. However, much more often, something very well made comes out (‘District 9’) and people whine and bitch about how it is the worst movie ever made.
Take a moment to think of any scene from a terrible movie. From Ed Wood to Uwe Boll. You can just TELL it’s awful from the picture in your head, can’t you? It reeks of poor talent.
Take a moment to think of any scene from a terrific movie. From Cameron to Scorsese. Every moment in the film is finely crafted to lead into another moment or draw you into the film. Everything is meticulously crafted. Some films are, for lack of a better word, perfect.
But what’s that to stop 13 year olds from endlessly whining about it on imdb? All this talk about movies is just for sake of example, this cynicism has managed to saturate every aspect of life, from entertainment to everyday living.
It’s not uncommon to hear people complain about something unchangeable like it’s insulting something hasn’t been done about it… like… oh I don’t know, the sun. “Yeah the sun sucks, man, why can’t it always be night? F!@$ the sun!”
How have we fallen so far into ignorance and cynical attitudes? What happened to logic and work ethic? Imagine if this happened a 100 years ago. Imagine if people of this generation were working on the nuclear bomb in 1940. It would NEVER have been completed (especially since it was privately funded by the government and thus there was no reward for finishing the project but plenty of paychecks for as long as development continued.) You see this kind of work ethic all the time. The only reason people stick with jobs these days is because they know they can’t get fired and have a meal ticket. There’s no pride in a hard day’s work.
What are your thoughts? How did this all start, why is it so ingrained in society, and where will it all lead us?
