On Rhetoric, Civic life, Gender, and Cynicism

Olivia’s Best Posts

• Of Land, Water, and Sky: Each week, Olivia’s short stories center on a different mythological creature or event. In this specific story, the nymph of the woods is illustrated. I particularly enjoyed this because of the allegory I find in the nymph, whether this is intentional or not. The nymph lives in trees, and when the forests are destroyed, the their homes subsequently are destroyed. This story seems to have an agenda: to illustrate forest destruction negatively. What is commendable about these short stories is that such underlining meanings are illustrated through interesting stories.
• Religious Freedom and Rights in the Military: Olivia’s civic issues posts analyze how current event issues are affecting religious freedom, mostly in America but abroad as well. Her posts seems to come to the conclusion that many of our religious freedoms are being infringed. Her first post suggests that the United State military is doing just this by forcing military pastors to perform ceremonies they may religiously disagree with and that the dress requirements may effect those who wear their hair and beards a particular way or cover their heads because of religious protocol. Religious freedom and its status is relevant to everyone. Religious individuals should be able to practice freely, and atheist individuals should be able to not practice if that’s what they desire. Indeed, this blog was relevant to all its readers and thus was very enjoyable.

Rachel’s Best Posts

• Is That You? Rachel’s passion posts are usually light and humorous, being incredibly enjoyable to read. One of her earlier posts begins with stating she has a twin many years her younger and follows with a humorous reaction meme. Each of Rachel’s posts illustrates a significant event in her life and relates it some moral, such as family or friendship. These posts are easily enjoyed and easily relatable. In this post, she talks about her cousin to whom she’s very close, and of course many of us have close relatives with whom we share a close relationship.
• Consult an Expert Rachel’s civic issues blog considers the usefulness and current situation of standardized testing. She alludes to the No Child Left Behind legislation frequently, and in this post she talks about how one of the big advocates for the legislation in the Bush administration no longer supports it or standardized testing. Rachel’s blog is incredibly relevant and perfectly aimed at her target audience. As students, her audience are very familiar with and effected by standardized testing, and her posts allow them to better consider if they are agreeable.

Neel’s Best Posts

• Graphene Neel’s posts are always educational, but I found this one to be the most interesting. He discusses the carbon compound that is as thin as an atom itself, but stronger than diamonds. My knowledge of both chemistry and The Bing Band Theory, which he alludes to in each post, are very minimal, but I don’t have any problem understanding his posts. I know that when I watch the show in the future, I will always remember Neel’s posts and think of the science that is probably more important than the actual show itself. Sparking interest in something that many people are turned off by (chemistry, for example) is a very important and impressive skill that Neel’s blog achieves.
• Are We There Yet Neel’s civic issues blog focuses on how we are coping or should cope with decreasing reserves of energy. His first post outlines government policy surrounding the issue, as President Obama is an obvious supporter of developing and investing in new methods of energy. His compiled research and concise prose allow the reader to become more informed on the issue with each post, and each post offers more closer consideration of various methods of alternative energy.

My Best Posts

• The Romantic Cynic In this post I consider how a cynic maneuvers him or herself in a relationship. Relationships tend to be hard for the cynic, and I have rather pessimistic predictions for most relationships (they either end in marriage or a breakup anyways, right?). I tried really hard to interact with my audience as much as possible in my passion posts, and this post epitomized this, as I referred back to their more optimistic and encouraging comments in later posts, particularly my last post.
• Ambiguity My first post alludes to Caster Semenya, who has a sex determination disorder. I first learned about her in a biology course in high school and became interested in sex determination disorders consequently. I tried to analyze how such disorders lead to confusion about how communities determine the effected persons’ gender. If the sex is unclear, classifying gender is certainly a complex issue.

I must begin with a disclaimer: I’m not a very personal person, but I’ve thought much about this topic lately, so I decided to write about it regardless of my emotional conservatism. I will change names to protect both the subject’s privacy and my own impersonal reputation.

“There can be no peace for us, only misery, and the greatest [un]happiness.”

–Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina 

I don’t think many cynics are romantics. It’s naturally hard for cynics to trust another person as much as a romantic relationship requires, and limited trust is usually disappointing to the other person. I’m not an exception to this norm; I don’t consider myself a romantic. I usually find one person in a relationship to be naive for giving too much of him or herself to the other person. Of course, I’m not immune to the romantic emotions that plague humans however, but I can’t help but find, in retrospect, that these relations often feed my cynicism further.

A good few months ago I met A (as in asshole), and everything was great. And then after a few months things were not so great, mostly because another man interfered in our relationship. And so a few months after my relationship with A ended, I met X (as in the variable because I’m still not entirely certain about this one, you see) about whom I’ve heard rumors of a history of infidelity. These are two prime examples of why the cynic exists: people are generally bad, and if you commit yourself to someone, it’s likely that they’ll do that bad thing to you and you’ll be sad about it. With A, I had no predictions it would end in such a way. Once the indiscretions were revealed, though, I couldn’t help but become incredibly cautious of other people, so much so that I might possibly believe rumors from unreliable sources preventing myself from considering another romantic interest.

Cynicism and bitterness are often called the love’s poison, as it ruins relationships. I can’t seem to believe that my own cynicism and distrust was the cause of the relationship’s end and my misery. Was I cheated on because my lack of trust was so dissatisfying to A? I don’t hate myself enough to settle on that conclusion. I thus can’t help but come to the conclusion that, quite simply, other people are assholes who can’t be trusted.

I don’t think my cynicism will cause me to find myself in thirty years with thirty cats. Rather, it’s the general realization that people aren’t trusting that will likely leave me alone in a rocking chair on my porch, yelling at the darn kids on my lawn. Romance either ends with a breakup or with marriage, and so many marriages end in divorce. Being alone isn’t biologically natural, and I’m not sure that it’s psychologically helpful. However, I can’t help but think I must be better off alone and cautious of all the assholes (and trust me, there’s a lot of them out there) than committing myself to someone only to breakup or be married and then divorced. I’m cynical for reason: to avoid misery and the greatest of unhappiness. If Anna Karenina was a little more skeptical at the beginning, maybe she would’ve kept her son, her money, and her life.

“Cynicism is humor in ill health”

–H.G. Wells

The Psychology Today article I discussed last week mentions that cynics are more likely to suffer form depression, which I find too personal a topic to provide any verification, as well as to engage in more dangerous activities, such as drinking and smoking, which are obviously harmful to one’s health. Upon further research, it seems that there is a strong correlation between heart disease and cynicism. A Mail Online article claims that scientists have found that cynics (defined as “those who have a natural skepticism about life) “have chemicals in their blood which causes inflammation,” ultimately causing high blood pressure and heart disease.

The three chemicals IL-6, C-reactive protein, and fibronigen indicate inflammation that may lead to atherosclerosis, the cardiovascular disease that occurs when fat builds up on the walls of blood vessels. Blood was sampled from a group of people, and two of three of these indicator chemicals were present in blood with those who were classified as cynical, whereas one chemical was present in those with depression disorders.

Now, I take heart disease very seriously, as three close family members have died from heart attacks at young ages, but of course, I’m skeptical of the research and its implications. A WedMD article discussing the relationship between heart disease and cynicism states, “Optimism appears to protect against heart disease and death.” It continues, “And women with the highest degree of hostility and cynicism were also more likely to die than those with the sunniest disposition.” Such claims may be the result of bad writing, but I can’t find myself to trust anyone who claims optimism will grant immortality. Are pessimists more likely to die than optimists? No, we’re all equally likely to die.

I’ve always strived to eat relatively well and exercise regularly, doing my best to avoid health problems. We’re all going to die eventually of course, whether it be in a matter of hours or decades, but obviously we, even the most cynical and melancholic of us, want to prolong death. When I read about the relationship between cynicism and depression, I couldn’t help but wonder if there was research on “treating” cynicism with medication. Many mental disorders are related to neurological chemical imbalances, and apparently so is cynicism. Apparently among polled people, young people in the western U.S. with a high education background and high income and who attend church tend to be more optimistic (Am I a cynic because I was born on the east coast?). Otherwise, I didn’t find anything legitimate, and I’m still convinced I was born a cynic, so I guess I’ll stick to concurrently exercising and viewing my water bottle as half empty. Maybe I’ll develop heart disease in my mid-40s, or maybe I’ll be hit by a CATA bus on my way to English class. Either way, I’m going to die at some point, so there’s that.