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# The danger of modern cynicism
- URL: https://www.aliciamckay.co.nz/cynicism/
- Published: 2026-09-01T18:45:38.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-01T20:09:16.000Z
- Description: Let's do less eye-rolling - and more pissing in the public square
- Author: Alicia McKay
- Tags: Power, Change, #wednesday-wisdom, McKayPedia

Diogenes was a real one. One of the founders of Cynicism, Diogenes lived in a ceramic jar in the town square. He threw away all his stuff except for a coat, a stick, and a cup - until he saw a kid drinking from his hands, and threw his cup away too. 

Diogenes didn't project a minimalist vibe on his Instagram to sell you pantry storage. Exiled from Sinope, his home town, on charges of defacing currency, he made this idea - *paracharattein to nomisma* (deface the currency) - into his worldview. In Greek, *nomisma* means coin, but it also shares a root with *nomos*, meaning custom. Diogenes lived and breathed his belief that [most social trappings were contrived nonsense.](https://www.aliciamckay.co.nz/from-custom-to-conscience/)

Diogenes was a public shit-stirrer, spending his days wandering the streets with a lamp, claiming to be "looking for an honest man." He pissed in the agora just to shock people. He rebuffed Alexander the Great and criticised Plato, running into a public lecture with a plucked chicken (long story). In short: Diogenes walked the talk.

Modern cynicism is a different beast. Modern cynicism is a sneering, jaded affectation - everything and everyone sucks, and there's nothing you can do, so... meh. Philosopher Peter Sloterdijk described modern cynicism as *enlightened false consciousness* \- people who know how things work and participate anyway. 

Through the Sloterdijk lens, we're not ignorant. We get it, but we play along. It's a bleak outlook, and it's different from the ancient *practice* of cynicism. It's a *posture.* A defence mechanism. An infectious, corrosive vibe-killer. 

Modern cynics throw their hands up in the air, convinced they [can't change anything.](https://www.aliciamckay.co.nz/for-when-it-feels-like-you-cant-change/) It's a cheap and easy out. Diogenes' beliefs cost him everything he had, but modern cynicism costs us nothing but a scornful huff and an eye-roll. 

I reckon we need to be careful of buying into the idea that anything is [inevitable,](https://www.aliciamckay.co.nz/the-ambition-vacuum-inevitability-and-cultural-malaise/) unstoppable, or unchangeable. It's tempting - reassuring, even - to feel smart but do nothing. It's also bullshit.

There are plenty of people who'd prefer you to believe there's nothing you can do. They want to keep things exactly as they are. They want you to reorganise your pantry, [scroll your phone](https://www.aliciamckay.co.nz/scrolling-is-the-new-smoking/), and buy things you don't need, while they hoard power, fuck the environment, and treat your thoughts, hopes and dreams as profitable datapoints for an enshittified algorithm.

Screw that. 

Til next week,

A x

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🎵 Pairs well with: Know Your Enemy - Rage Against The Machine