Do good things and talk about them. And if good things are done to you, for you, around you, also talk about then.
Because knowing may inspire others. Because folks feel lonely and caught in endless doom. Because we sometimes need a push to do something: it's easier if we know there is someone else, even of they are just a voice on the little screen in our pockets. Because we need to combat the negativity bias.
@vicgrinberg
You're right, but I'm so old and so tired.
Too tired to do anything, good or bad.
I just want to sit here and watch the clouds.
🤷🏻♂️
Aug 9, 2026, 1:25 PMwhich is fine
the real problem is people who insist on speaking up and shortcircuiting effective action by voicing cynicism
you're not doing that. nobody has a problem with someone being tired
@benroyce
Well, that sounds too good to be true to me. Actually, I’m an old cynic; I’ve spent half my life tilting at windmills and realized far too late that we humans are simply incapable and unwilling to think for ourselves and learn from the past and the findings of reputable science.
And now it’s too late for me to do any good.
Honestly? I don’t like people in real life anymore.
🤷🏻♂️
😉
@vicgrinberg
Part of life is getting tired, and being tired of all things that happen can turn one into a cynic. It's very natural.
Years ago, I felt I didn't like humans anymore. Too much had happened and it was difficult to trust anyone.
End of 2022, I joined Mastodon.
And VERY slowly, I changed.
This year really showed me how kind people can be, how generous, and fun. I never experienced this in all my life, it sounds bizar, maybe IS bizar, but my life was not a very happy one in general.
I too feel overwhelmed at times, and that is okay. Staring at clouds is okay. Just sitting in the garden watching bumblebees is okay.
And maybe one day, sharing views of the clouds, bumblebees, is okay. And this may touch someone and make them feel better. That is how you do good.
@benroyce don't feed the troll please.
@vicgrinberg @benroyce Right.
Just today. A young man in his 20' s entering with a special ticket to enter our local public cultural spot for free. *) Ticket supplied through an agency dedicated to help people on the run for leaders in their home-country. In this case Mr. P. There is some history in our area with the regions there. Also colleagues with roots. Cheerful chat, he came on a bike , doing that every day in the region to explore.
Volunteering is nice.
*) near Amsterdam.
@calvato I think that's also part of life: to feel tired, overwhelmed, or to grief, to feel numb.
In such a situation, doing good can be what you want to do: just rest and watch the clouds.
Sharing it, you help other tired people with inspirations.
Staring at clouds, nature, listening to birds etc ... it's important for healing. It's good.
@NatureMC
Yes, it’s part of my life, but to be honest, “tired” might be the wrong word. I’m fed up with humanity as a whole. We’re digging our own grave, but I don’t care anymore. I no longer suffer from the lack of reason, the collective dumbing down, the ignorance.
I’m ignorant myself now.
I feel fine and I'm bad.
A wise man says: “May you live in interesting times.”
Or Cioran: “When nature created man, she made more than one mistake: an attempt on her own existence!”
😶🌫️
@vicgrinberg
@calvato I hope you can find a way to cope with yourself amid all this doom and gloom.
I enjoy devoting my energy to the wonderful people who apparently don’t feature in your worldview, but who are, quite practically, working toward a better world.
RE: https://mastodon.social/@vicgrinberg/117066002444800283
@NatureMC see my comment to the other person engaging with the above commenter
@vicgrinberg Thanks for the warning! I was out for a coffee ... already wanted to block him and see now these posts ... OMG!
@vicgrinberg This 100%. Contribute or volunteer, share your work and spread enthusiasm!
Aug 9, 2026, 12:39 PMeveryone experiences despair
it's when despair curdles into cynicism that you move to something different: acceptance of the unacceptable
cynicism is acceptance
and when you give voice to cynicism, you drag down everyone else around you
you help the thing that put you into despair
if you can't stop being cynical, at least stop fighting those who still have hope: shut up
but even more useful, is give a positive voice to things. make that effort
Well said. The cynic sees only pointless optimism. They think people who try to be positive just sit on their arses claiming that just "thinking positive thoughts" would make the world better. Of course it won't. But what cynics don't get is that there are people who realise that being positive not just involves thoughts but also actions. The world can become a better place if we put the effort in and don't let disappointments along the way stop us from trying.
Aug 9, 2026, 12:57 PMa cynic is someone who sees abuse, and rationalizes it instead of fighting it
in this way they aid malice
@benroyce @vicgrinberg Maybe that's why you can't get through to them.
Their worldview is: "the world is shit. There is nothing I can do about it so I will just sit here and wallow"
Then when you tell them they should vote they think you're telling them to interrupt their precious wallowing time with a biennial trek to a voting boot and go home to wallow for the next two years. They don't realise you're telling them that the voting is an interruption to the main job: working on a better world.
Aug 9, 2026, 1:12 PMit's a common psychological trap, and explains a lot of problems in the world. from individual relationships, all the way up to national politics
some sort of suffering puts them in the state of cynicism
the cynicism is a salve: it rationalizes their suffering and relieves their pain. at the expense of escaping the suffering
then someone comes and says "we don't have to suffer"
and the cynic attacks them
because this person is a threat to their psychological salve
Aug 9, 2026, 1:39 PMOn a similar note, I hate when someone uses "life isn't fair" to excuse their shitty behavior.
Yes, sure, life isn't fair but that's a reason to make it fairer, not worse.
@rozeboosje @benroyce @vicgrinberg they're such Debby Downers man. Like, they can easily look into history and see how, when things turned to shit, people rose up to clean up said shit.
Aug 9, 2026, 1:21 PM@macacator @rozeboosje @vicgrinberg
it's also a psyop method
take a roomful of people, and have some agent provocateurs amplify the despair and cynicism, and you successfully shortcircuit effective action
et voila: social media
@benroyce @macacator @rozeboosje @vicgrinberg It’s just that the scope of social media is so much greater...
More people, more provocateurs... and ultimately more followers who spread even more venom.
And META, X, Truthßßß Social are delighted: more reach, more advertising, more profit 😡
@greynerd65 @benroyce @rozeboosje @vicgrinberg social media made a lot of things easier: manipulation, great mongering, sharing of misinformation. It's incredible how many people are so gullible.
@macacator @benroyce @rozeboosje @vicgrinberg
I think that many of those who follow these modern Pied Pipers do so simply because they believe they are finally being heard and understood...
Which will ultimately turn out to be a fallacy.
Here in Germany, we call these followers ‘useful idiots’.
And in the end, that’s all they are...
@greynerd65 @benroyce @rozeboosje @vicgrinberg "useful idiots." Unless they mean a cannon fodder, I cannot think of a way to use a "useful idiot. "
@macacator @benroyce @rozeboosje @vicgrinberg
The term ‘useful idiots’ is used here to refer to Germans who, for example, set up ‘information stands’ in public places and both demand and ‘explain’ that Russia is in no way to blame for the war of aggression against Ukraine, and that the German government should IMMEDIATELY cease all support for Ukraine and no longer maintain any sanctions against Russia.
The Sahrah Wagenknecht Alliance, for example, the AfD, etc.
Aug 9, 2026, 1:39 PM@greynerd65 @macacator @rozeboosje @vicgrinberg
command and control
1. you reach into the right via the amygdala, you amplify fear. you addict them to an endless stream of fearmongering. suitably captured, you program them like robots, you feed them their actions
2. you reach into the left via the prefrontal cortex, you amplify worry. you overwhelm concern and care with cynicism and perfectionism. you isolate, debilitate, and immobilize. as long as the left is helpless
this is social media
Aug 9, 2026, 1:43 PMAnd throw in a little FUD.
(Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt.)
An old method, but still in use.
I see it fairly often (yes, in social media).
Aug 9, 2026, 1:44 PM
@macacator I'm a skeptic, cynic, and I don't think anyone would describe me as an optimist. But I believe we can make change, and it's my duty to.
Aug 9, 2026, 1:41 PM@dnkboston @macacator @rozeboosje @vicgrinberg
that's a word definition problem
there are two meanings to the word cynic:
1. the traditional philosophical form as you are using the word, nothing wrong with that
2. and the casual usage of the word: a resigned defeatist whiner. lots wrong with that
@benroyce @dnkboston @macacator @rozeboosje @vicgrinberg Diogenes felt that the ideal Cynic was not someone who had withdrawn themselves from society but rather someone who stayed and noisily sat in judgement of it. "The watchdog of humanity" I believe was the term he used to describe them, with a duty to hound people about the error of their ways and expose them.
Aug 9, 2026, 1:56 PM@monkeyninja @dnkboston @macacator @rozeboosje @vicgrinberg
exactly
and then this casual meaning of cynic
someone who just whines whines whines in defeatism
you can sort of see how one morphed into another
the traditional cynic will take nonconformist views. something different
the contemporary cynic will take "nonconformist" views, but really it's the most dreary and easy conformism: "everything sucks and then you die, waah waah"
very different things, one word. a language problem
@benroyce @monkeyninja @dnkboston @macacator @rozeboosje @vicgrinberg
Life is what you make of it YOURSELF.
And supporting other people who might not be able to do so themselves.
Yes, life does have a rather strange sense of humour at times, but if you laugh along with it, it can even be fun...🙂
@greynerd65 @benroyce @monkeyninja @dnkboston @rozeboosje @vicgrinberg this. You want certain change in the world, you need to make it for yourself. Once that happens, you'll attract like minded people and the change grows.
@benroyce @monkeyninja @dnkboston @macacator @rozeboosje @vicgrinberg - Absolutely
@monkeyninja @benroyce @dnkboston @macacator @vicgrinberg Remember, Diogenes also masturbated in public ...
Aug 9, 2026, 2:12 PM@rozeboosje @monkeyninja @dnkboston @macacator @vicgrinberg
traditional cynic: masturbates in public
contemporary cynic: "but why masturbate? everything sucks and you're just going to die anyway"
😆
@benroyce @rozeboosje @monkeyninja @dnkboston @vicgrinberg they watched him coming and going and still went about their business.
Aug 9, 2026, 10:33 PM@benroyce @rozeboosje @monkeyninja @dnkboston @vicgrinberg they must have been Murikkkan
@benroyce Heh. You called it.
What's the difference between a cynic and a skeptic?
A skeptic will believe anything you tell them as long as you can prove it to them.
A cynic laughs at a skeptic.
@benroyce This@vicgrinberg@mastodon.social
@vicgrinberg part of my jobs (nature based/environmental) involves working with volunteers. It is a joy.
They are turning up and putting in effort to to make the world a better place.
We get so much done and everyone is choosing to be there & happy to be there. There are community benefits for the volunteers too, meeting people they wouldn’t otherwise.
@Hellybootwader I can tell the same as a volunteer. The best medicine against isolation. @vicgrinberg
@vicgrinberg
Today, I am thankful to the taxi driver who saw me arriving limping to his car and opened the door for me so I can get in easily.
@vicgrinberg
While I was waiting outside for my taxi to go back home from the ER, a nurse and a physiotherapist brought out one patient who has been in bed for weeks to do the physiotherapy session while letting her enjoy the fresh air and a better view.
@vicgrinberg :BlobhajHeart:
@vicgrinberg Just want to say that this method has helped me hugely this year. I had an epiphany where I realized all the negativity is curated and intentional. My IG feed is people fighting in public, war, racism, angry and cynical podcasters and influencers. And yet I know this isn’t the sum total of reality.
Here and outside I see gardening, activism, tech projects, people being kind to animals and each other, volunteering and endless creative outlets. And there are more of them, much more.
Aug 9, 2026, 1:48 PM@vicgrinberg I wish I could…
https://mstdn.party/@asm/116395085424864814
@vicgrinberg "And if good things are done to you, for you, around you, also talk about them."
Two weeks ago, I almost drowned in a community pool at 2 meters of water. I was dog paddling towards the end and just before I got there I went down and swallowed some water. When I tried to get my head out of the water, I couldn't and began to panic. A man right at that end put out his hand and I put mine out and he grabbed it. He saved my life, the lifeguards weren't looking.
1/2
This is not dissimilar to the old 'rule' about customer service... If you do it 'right', the customer will tell three other people. If you do it 'wrong', they'll tell ten other people.
@bytebro yeah, it's all part of the negativity bias we do have.
@vicgrinberg I'm sure the best good things are done to strangers, that you've never seen before, and you'll never see thereafter.
You won't live expecting gratitude (which in itself may poison the good intentions) and you help building a society where good things can come from anyone, with no need to ask.
Does it work? Really I don't care, as don't expect answers from strangers.
@vicgrinberg s miller hatemonger
@vicgrinberg @wikipedia is a shining example of this. I couldn't do anything close to it myself, but being a part of something like it where everyone is passionate about making a greater whole reminds me that the promise of the Internet is still there if it is sought out. There is a sense of personal achievement in it as well and I feel more of a connection to my local area through my research on local topics.
Aug 9, 2026, 2:58 PM@vicgrinberg I donated here again https://mas.to/@Saltssaltgirl/117045155422114403
@vicgrinberg I am volunteering with a Dutch reading club at our local library - now I am on holiday in a Spanish environment (hablas un poco poco Espanol) I am reminded how HARD it is to move in a culture you don't understand and with a language you don't really speak.
I am grateful for all the Spanish people I encounter willing to struggle with me