Why cynicism is bad for you

The Gray Area with Sean Illing

Vox Media Podcast Network

Society & Culture, News, Politics, News Commentary, Philosophy

4.6 • 10.8K Ratings

🗓️ 9 September 2024

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

There’s a certain glamor to cynicism. As a culture, we’ve turned cynicism into a symbol of hard-earned wisdom, assuming that those who are cynical are the only ones with the courage to tell us the truth and prepare us for an uncertain future. Psychologist Jamil Zaki challenges that assumption. In part one of The Gray Area’s new three-part series, “Reasons to be Cheerful,” Sean Illing asks Jamil Zaki about why cynicism is everywhere, especially if it makes no sense to be this way — and what we, as individuals, can do to challenge our own cynical tendencies. Host: Sean Illing (@seanilling) Guest: Jamil Zaki (@zakijam) psychologist at Stanford University and author of Hope for Cynics: The Surprising Science of Human Goodness Support The Gray Area by becoming a Vox Member: https://www.vox.com/support-now Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for the gray area comes from Mint Mobile.
0:03.6	Phones can be expensive, but with Mint Mobile you can save a ton on wireless service.
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0:14.0	To get this new customer offer and your new three month premium wireless plan
0:18.0	for just 15 bucks a month, you can go to mintmobile.com slash gray area.
0:23.2	That's Mint Mobile.com slash gray area.
0:26.2	$45 up front payment required,
0:28.3	equivalent to $15 per month.
0:30.6	New customers on first three-month plan only.
0:33.0	Speed slower above 40 gigabytes on unlimited plan, additional taxes, fees, and
0:37.8	restrictions apply. See Mint Mobile for details.
0:40.3	We all know someone. details.
0:43.3	We all know someone, maybe it's a friend, a coworker, a family member, who always manages to be the voice
0:51.0	of doom. The person who always knows that something is
0:59.7	pointless or won't succeed or can't happen.
1:04.0	If no one immediately springs to mind, I regret to inform you that it's possible that you're this person in someone else's life.
1:14.0	And if that's the case, what I want to say to you is,
1:20.0	stop it.
1:32.0	being so damn cynical. It's annoying and it doesn't help you or anyone else.
1:38.4	That's what I want to say, but it's not so easy.
1:41.8	Synicism is everywhere. In fact, you can make the case that cynicism is becoming a default
1:46.0	setting for people in our society. But why? Why are so many of a cynical?
	...

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