Why does everything in the world seem to be so cynical???

Everything I read, see, experience, and/or otherwise absorb in the past two days seems to be so cynical. First, Goffman. Then, realism in international relations. The cynicism seems even to extend to one of my favorite tv shows, La Señora (http://www.rtve.es/mediateca/videos/20090622/senora-capitulo/530398.shtml). The world around me really is trying to tell me to let go of my perennial optimism. Is it really true that there is no place in the world for idealism and a little bit of hope? Even my ipod has decided to play every depressing song on its normally very chipper hardrive, but at least I can hit the next button.

Ok, I'm going to start with Goffman. Goffman asserts that all human action and interaction are performances. This is extremely disturbing in so many ways. First, I would hope that 99% of people do not go in to any situation thinking "How should I perform to give the correct impression? Well, I must not be myself or let any socially undesirable part of me be revealed?". This is what Goffman implies that everyone does. He does not suggest once in the entire 255 pages of his theory that human interaction could possibly be genuine. Although many of Goffman;s observations are insightful to one studying sociology, he reduces people to manipulative and selfish creatures. This is what is so cynical about Goffman; he views all of us as fake. Basically Goffman's view of the world is just cynical.

I think what really drove home the idea that the world was saying "Tonks, give up and be realistic" was my reading for world politics. As I read Morgenthau's "Six Principles of Political Realism", I was shocked how according to realism every state is motivated by power. To me this idea is just about as cynical as you can get. I'll admit that I am an idealist and that I hope that every state would be motivated not just by a desire for more power. I am not naive so I do recognize that a lot of what happen is in international relations is a result of the quest for more power, but I also think that there are other motives such as community, altruism, and a basic common part of human learning that tempers self interest with compassion and common sense. This reading was completely depressing and made me wonder if I actually wanted to be a diplomat. I recovered when I realized that all theories of IR are not realism. But it did really make me think about how cynical we are as a society.

Finally, La Señora just was the last thing that I needed to convince me that the world is quite cynical. The basic storyline is that a woman is married to the man that killed her father. It is set in 1920s in Spain. She is trapped in her marriage and is trying to escape through an annulment. The show is cynical because basically anyone who is a man with money no matter his motives can have anything done, even through the Catholic church. It was the perfect way to continue the cynicism of Goffman and realism.

And to end a completely random clip from one of my other favorite tv shows, Cuentame Como Paso, and it is not cynical at all
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DQm85m44hM