I love South Park very much. Although there are lots of dirty things in every episode, it always talks about meaninful topics. If you are not comfortable to watch the episode, I wil tell you the plot and theme on Wednsday. Therefore, you don't have to watch it.
If you have watched it and feeling disgusted, I give you my sincere apology.
http://45gsp.blogspot.tw/2012/05/south-park-s15e07-youre-getting-old.html
Otherwise you can see the article below. It contains the contents that I want to discuss with you.
source: http://lifehacker.com/how-to-stop-being-a-cynical-asshole-1537302138
How to Stop Being a Cynical Asshole
Over the years, people have often accused me of being a cynical asshole. Whether it's a disgruntled view on a popular trend or just a grumpy disposition, I almost always gravitate toward a negative outlook before a positive one. Thankfully, I found my way out of this without resorting to Disney-esque positive thinking.
My cynicism was so obvious at one point in high school that when a drama teacher cast me as the Grinch in the Christmas play my classmates praised it as the perfect choice. The countless articles on positivity I've read have little effect on me. But at some point recently, things began to click in my head and I stopped being the cynic I once was. Here's what I've learned.
Why We Become Cynical
A cynical asshole is a special breed of person. You likely know the type if you're not one yourself. A true cynic distrusts everything new they see or hear, they're intolerant to new ideas, and they're pessimistic about everything. They're not skeptics. That's a positive trait. They're the downers of the group whose self-righteousness tends to bring everyone else down, too.
Cynicism comes from a variety of places, but it most often happens when we're emotionally vulnerable. Psychology Today explains:
Cynicism is part of a defensive posture we take to protect ourselves. It's typically triggered when we feel hurt by or angry at something, and instead of dealing with those emotions directly, we allow them to fester and skew our outlook. When we grow cynical toward one thing in our lives, we may slowly start to turn on everything. During a visit with her family over the holidays, a friend of mine found herself getting increasingly frustrated with her husband. What started as small irritations at him forgetting their camera and not being ready on time, soon grew into a hostile attitude toward almost everything he did. This critical and guarded point of view shaped her vacation and left her grouchy and irritable toward her family and friends. It wasn't until she got home that she asked herself, "What was my problem? How did I let that feeling of cynicism take over?"
Another cause of cynicism is pretty simple: our brains are hard-wired to pay more attention to negative experiences. The more negativity we see in the world, the more likely we are to share that disposition with others. Over time, that tends to make us more cynical. In severe cases, you'll find yourself hating on pretty much everything without giving it much thought.
Cynicism Isn't All Bad
The line between being a cynic and having a critical sense is a close one. The more we look at things critically with an emotional detachment, the more likely we'll be cynical about it. That's not always a bad thing, though. As Psychology Today points out, it's positive in small doses:
Though cynicism may not be healthy in the long run, it can serve as an emotional coat of armor that blunts life's everyday indignities. Philip Mirvis, a cynicism researcher at Boston College, says cynics' caustic, detached outlook on life, also known as defensive pessimism, helps "protect them from what they imagine to be the slings and arrows of hustlers and higher-ups." If they assume from the outset that a client can't be trusted, or that a new mother-in-law will be a witch, they'll be well prepared in the event these fears come true.
Casting a cynical eye on situations you can't control reduces your emotionalattachment to a particular outcome, says Yapko, and actually lowers your vulnerability to depression.
Cynics' propensity to spot setups and snow jobs before the rest of us also makes them socially valuable. Infamous cynic Maureen Dowd, for instance, did a Pulitzer-winning job of highlighting tragic flaws in the Clinton administration. "Cynics deserve more respect than they get," Bayan says. "You need naysayers who will shout down ideas that are extreme or just plain foolish."
Remember, always-on optimism isn't healthy either. Like most things in life, it's about balance. When you find yourself being cynical about everything, then it's time to take a closer look at how you're interacting with the world.
Q1. Would you feel that the things in your age is the coolest, and think the things that kids are crazy for are weird?
Q2. Have you ever found that you are cynical? If not, how you keep yourself in positive attitude?
留言列表
