Cynicism Is Not Realism
I encounter cynicism so frequently in the fields I work in – conflict resolution, humanitarian response, geopolitical analysis – that I have begun to treat it as a diagnostic indicator. Not of the situation being analyzed, but of the analyst.
Cynicism presents itself as sophistication. The cynic claims to see the world as it really is, stripped of illusion, clear-eyed about human nature and the limits of intervention. They speak with the authority of experience and the tone of resigned wisdom.