If we ask ourselves what psychologically enables certain individuals to shamelessly exercise abusive power over everything around them, we almost always encounter established forms of cynicism that serve as a smokescreen for those individuals. Whether it is the power of money or the power that a politician or even a simple mafia boss seeks to seize, cynicism quickly becomes a defense mechanism that masks mediocre behavior and the corruption of the mind that inevitably accompanies it. Very few of the individuals concerned are in fact capable of accepting themselves as garbage and therefore feel the need to construct a veil of justification that allows them to continue on their destructive path while maintaining the illusion of a vestige of conscience. The range of roles that give rise to this illusion is quite broad. First and foremost are reasons of State, religion, family, uninhibited individualism focused on social success, and resentment that has become a way of life. It should be noted that these different elements can be combined in various ways to provide the best cover and allow the cynical to feel more at ease, so to speak.
The reason of State, generally associated with nationalism or the homeland, allows those who lend themselves to it to do many things, most of them despicable. In the name of an abstract totality that is supposed to fictitiously represent the common interest within a national framework, the most criminal actions are suddenly justified. It is not without cynicism that the decision-makers and executors of these misdeeds seem to find in this framework a form of absolution for their misdeeds and even claim, later on, to derive a kind of glory from them, which will, however, only be recognized by their peers or in pseudo-history books specially designed for them. It must also be acknowledged that every era, up to the present day, has had its share of scoundrels willing to slip into these roles.
Religion is not only the opium of the people. It is also the fig leaf of many powerful people, who seem to believe it gives them license to commit all manner of infamies. It has long been known that religion, whatever form it takes, is very often associated with the greatest hypocrisy, covering up the most distressing and reprehensible behavior with a veneer of moralism. A few decades ago, we thought we had finally got rid of it. Clearly we were wrong, because it has made a comeback, especially in the various circles of power, which have decided that they cannot do without it after all and that the religious bogeyman is useful in providing them with a kind of ethics that they sorely lack. And then there are the wars of religion, or wars waged in the name of religion, which are very convenient for justifying the unjustifiable.
The family, because of its self-centered nature, subjectively justifies many despicable activities. Its defense and protection seem to authorize all kinds of abuses in some people and allow them to escape, at least in appearance, from any sense of guilt. From cartel leaders to business executives, from politicians to senior civil servants with misused power, we see them all sitting enthroned in the midst of their families as if in the best of all possible worlds, oblivious to the devastation they can wreak in the public sphere. In an even more mundane way, we observe that what is considered completely reprehensible outside the family, among “others,” is quickly absolved within the family circle.
Individualism, associated with social success, now appears to be a particularly active breeding ground for the spread of uninhibited cynicism. A total lack of scruples is seen as a virtue that can only be rewarded. “People climb up as if crawling,” as an encyclopedist once put it. Greed and the desire to “get ahead” are the main driving forces. It cannot be ignored that the ideology of capitalism in its contemporary form, by throwing all the moralistic pretensions that previously sought to justify it into the gutter, is the ideal breeding ground for the particularly harmful proliferation of this invasive species.
Resentment also flourishes, quite logically, in this type of society. The majority can only feel, more or less confusedly, that they have been cheated, victims of an injustice that they believe is aimed specifically at them. Unable to recognize the system in all its dimensions, resentment seeks out culprits to punish. This is where resentment also takes on a cynical form: fearing the powerful, the resentful turn their anger toward the weakest, whom they believe to be a threat to their own survival. Cynicism then works in packs.
Rebounds: