Cynical? Me? - You Would Say That, Wouldn't You?

Noam Chomsky Addresses Occupy Boston, Dewey Square, 2011, (Photographer: Unknown)

Not so long ago I had a slightly perplexing day when three different people accused me of cynicism on separate occasions.  Perhaps I was just having a bad day but it did make me reflect on how easy it can be to fall into the habit of world-weary disappointment at the shortcomings of human behavior and thus, to automatically expect the worst.  I guess we all label each other based on superficial impressions so I shouldn’t be surprised if what one hopes is finely honed satire, heartfelt concern or justifiable anger just looks like bleak negativity to others.  In reality, it’s mostly a defence mechanism for the vulnerable, I suspect.  I thought about the issues of optimism versus pessimism and irony versus sincerity again recently in two different contexts, both reminding me that where there’s life, and creative intent, there’s always hope.  This post is about the first.

I’ve just finished reading Noam Chomsky’s little book ‘Occupy’ [1.].  Chomsky’s championing of the Anti-Capitalist Occupy Movement should come as no surprise given his well-established left wing credentials, and the book is a clear attempt both to document the progress of Occupy’s recent organized challenges to the status quo, (in The West at least), and to provide encouragement to those seeking to take its initial idealistic impetus onto the next level of political engagement.  Of course, from one ideological perspective, the cynic’s view of such demands for social or economic change is to dismiss them as just the same old songs from a bunch of naïve urban campers.  Even from those more likely to be sympathetic, it might just seem like something one might hope for in one’s heart is inevitably overruled by the more realistic, if disappointed, head.  One consequence of this may be a general sense of powerlessness in the face of ever-greater degrees of hardship and injustice.  Another may be weary acceptance of that what Mark Fisher has highlighted as the ‘Capitalist Realism’ orthodoxy [2.], (i.e. ‘just the way things are’).  Either way, inertia is the likely result.

Occupy Protesters At Vietnam Memorial, Lower Manhattan, 2012.
Photo: Anthony Lanzilote/New York Daily News

Where I find Chomsky’s book most encouraging is in highlighting that it is in multiple small, anonymous acts of positivity or engagement that real hope for an alternative future may be found and that progress may be incremental and relative rather than necessarily revolutionary or Utopian, (even though they may be the initial impulses).  Using the examples of Feminism, Anti-Vietnam War protest and The Civil Rights Movement he argues that, whilst there are still plenty of causes for complaint, some progress was made.  More importantly still, he insists that it’s through consistent voicing of discontent and ongoing consciousness-raising, that the overall assumptions and agendas of power can be gradually shifted.  No one would pretend Capitalism is about to cave in just yet, at least before it has caused a lot more more harm.  Nonetheless, the fact that many now recognise it is in no way predicated on the greater good of the majority, and indeed the self identification of the '99%', must surely begin to compromise its long-term integrity as a sustainable system.

Howard Zinn, 1922 - 2010

Perhaps, the most moving section of ‘Occupy’, and the crux of its message, is contained in the short chapter memorialising his old friend and noted Civil Rights campaigner Howard Zinn.  It includes the following quotation by Zinn:

“TO BE HOPEFUL in bad times is not just foolishly romantic.  It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.

“What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives.  If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something.  If we remember those times and places – and there are so many – where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.

“And if we do act, in however a small way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future.  The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory” [3.].

Occupy Protester, Zuccotti Park, Manhattan, 2012.  Photographer Unknown

This may all sound like the spent idealism of a previous generation but for those of us with a tendency toward despair with each news bulletin, it is at least some kind of testament of hope.  I also think the idea of living now, in a infinite succession of presents, as we think humans should, could be extended to a range of human activities and certainly to the field of creativity in general.  Regardless of the degree of direct political engagement one might incorporate into one’s artwork, there is some validity in the old idea that any artistic activity is an intrinsically political act.  It is, at source, an attempt to shape a better world, (however personal).  Furthermore, the creative, entertaining and inclusive aspect of many Occupy gestures, demonstrate that the desire to shape the world expressively and the impulse to bring about social, economic or political change are often very closely linked.

[1.]:  Noam Chomsky, ‘Occupy’, London, Penguin Books, 2012.

[2.]:  Mark Fisher, ‘Capitalist Realism:  Is There No Alternative?’,  Ropley, Hants., Zer0 Books, 2012.

[3.]:  Howard Zinn, ‘You Can’t Be Neutral On a Moving Train: A Personal History Of Our Times’, Boston, MA., Beacon Press, 1994.  Quoted in: Noam Chomsky, ‘Occupy’, London, Penguin Books, 2012.