Define: Social Cynicism: Society's potenital for Change.

"To live a creative life, we must lose the fear of being wrong."

-Joseph Chilton Pearce

We are told everyday that as a society we are progressing, breakthrough here, new technology there. But are we really progressing? In 2011, 23% of California was lacking basic literacy skills... 23% doesn't sound like much so let me put it this way, by May 2012 California residency should be approximately 38 million, 23% of 38 Million is 8,740,000, that's 8,740,000 people walking around California lacking basic literacy skills... Hello progression! I guess we can thank the Internet for that but shhh, we don't want Big Brother to think we don't appreciate the Internet, they may try to, I don't know, censor it or something.

Anyway, I'm not a pessimist, I like to think I am a "social cynic." Let me break this down for the 23% percent ;) Cynicism is, briefly, when you think the world is solely selfish people looking out for themselves, there is no such thing as a random act of kindness and no selfless act, basically you're doing it for you're own benefit. Now social cynicism is a little different, I don't totally believe in a cynics outlook, I believe there are, in fact, generally kind people out there. Social cynicism is when, essentially, you've lost all hope that society itself has any chance in hell for change.

We all want to change the world, when we're 15 years old and are on the High School Debate team. But what happens when you start paying taxes and you realize what's really going on? You're just angry, you sit on your couch and yell at the commercials with the little kids in Zimbabwe starving, there's homeless, starving people all over the United States and we waste time and money on people in other countries. I'm not giving 50 cents to the little girl on the TV screen, why doesn't Alyssa Milano donate some of her hefty salary to the starving kids overseas, I'll worry about the little girl down the road from me. We can't be every one's hero, clearly we can't even fix own own problems so why do we go meddling in everyone else's? Oh, there's an outbreak of malaria in Africa? Let's go take care of that and let the average 18,000 people that die from AIDS each year hang out for a bit.

The other day I saw a teenage boy hold the door open for his girlfriend, and then continue to hold it open for the slowly moving old lady behind her. I believe in random acts of kindness, I am not a cynic. I have also watched the Presidential Debates as the candidates slam each other and do nothing but put each other down as well as point out each others flaws. I don't believe in our government, I am a social cynic.

"The life which is not examined is not worth living."

-Plato