Hi, my name isn’t really Malcolm, but I’m going to call myself that for the purposes of this blog.
So, what do I mean by a Cynic? I’ll tell you. A long time ago I read some post somewhere (I don’t remember by who or from where) explaining that a Cynic isn’t a pessimist. A pessimist has given up. He thinks “What’s the point? It’s too late anyway.” In a limited sense of the word, the pessimist is nihilistic.
Cynics are far more annoying. Cynics complain-all the time. And I mean ALL THE TIME. We’re opinionated. We’re obnoxious. We offend people (I mean, I don’t directly seek it out, but…no, yeah, I offend people).
But the reason we do this is precisely because we HAVEN’T given up. We want people to turn back, to fix things, to save themselves! Don’t you see you’re destroying society! Don’t you see what harm you’re doing! Stop! Do this instead! This is the Cynic.
The first Cynic was the philosopher Diogenes. Diogenes is awesome. He used to stand in the streets and beg for food. He’d drink out of his hands, pee in public, and insult people who were acting like idiots. I actually don’t agree with a lot of things Diogenes said and did. But I agree with his principles-there are some things the world needs to hear, and as long as there’s even the slightest chance of making the world a better place, we need to tell them.
In a way, we are following in the footsteps of John the Baptist-in fact, I think I’ll make him the patron Saint of this blog. “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Prepare ye the way of the Lord’.” We must heed his words. One day, the Lord will be here-and it’s up to us, with God’s help, to make sure the world is prepared.
Malcolm the Cynic 