These are nothing more than supplements written by staff members of SDM in whole, part, or individually. They all fit in well with what it's all about here. Just feel free to read them but remember the copyright belongs to the respective author(s). No need in us getting ripped off.

There seems to be a contingent of people out there who seem to believe that we here at SDM are nothing more than complainers with nothing else to do other than that. This essay will hopefully prove those people wrong. In other words, we don't complain, we alert people to the truth you don't want to hear, or even know exists. If that in some odd, twisted, seemingly perverted way makes us out to be complainers, then so be it. That's just life, now isn't it?

the importance of cynicism
by paul b. whitley

First off, it's hard to be a cynic alone. There are other traits one must exhibit. You know, sarcasm and pessimism. Without such traits, one is unable to take cynicism to the highest level. Sure, this sounds like some form of Zen training. In a way, it is. It's very difficult to describe, and is often only understood by those who have been there. With that said and done, let me proceed.

For every day, there must be a night. For every good, an evil. That's the way the world works. In order for something to be able to act, there must be something that will counteract. That counteraction is cynicism. For every ray of hope or seemingly good intention, there must be a cynic there to probe its reason for existing. Some may wonder why, and here is why: nothing should be able to wallow in the beauty of the moment. If this were the case, then the world would be full of unaware idealists. What's wrong with that? How would you like to go through your entire life full of the premise that you live the perfect existence? You would probably like it. Who wouldn't? Well, suppose one day your world comes crashing down over a breakup. You'd probably feel like shit. Well, cynicism exists so that your perfect existence will end long before the captain of the football team or cheerleading squad can break your unbreakable heart. How? The desecration of such sacred topics of everything from your hair to your perfect smile to how your father's job will probably end with a layoff anytime now. These are the things you wouldn't want to examine, but as long as you can hear, and if need be, read, a "true" cynic would put all of that in your face, and possibly more.

Just about everybody's a cynic, that's why it's so easy to hate them. That is why they already know what they don't want to hear, because the possibility has already existed in the back of their minds. Of course, there are those truly innocent people who don't have a cynical thought in their body. For a true cynic, this produces a challenge. In fact, you can't really know how much of a cynic you are until you've faced one. In my lifetime, I've been known to face a couple of those kind of people. It's difficult, because this is where cynics get their bad reputation from. The sole purpose of being a cynic isn't to put people down, but push the truth through their face at such a velocity that only empty thought can come from it. Let me offer you an example.

In my struggle to bring the world the truth, I came across an innocent. For the purposes here, I'll call her Atsirhc. She was the textbook example of "innocent in thought." No matter what she did, she saw no wrong in it, because she actually believed that all of her intentions were good intentions. Not only was she a challenge, but she had resisted my earlier attempts to open her eyes. In fact, one of my most thought out attempts ended with her saying, "I'll pray for you." You can imagine the challenge. How did I defeat the demon standing before me? Honestly, I didn't really, but I got her to think about how her life really was and what would fuck it all up. How? By simply telling her that her life was too perfect in her mind to be as stable as she thought. No, that line of bullshit didn't do it. What did was me telling her that being raped would be the best thing for her to realize what life really was like. Before regaining speech and closing that gaped open mouth, surrounding people felt their duty to yell at me (See what I mean about bad reputation?). Eventually she stopped looking at me in disbelief and acknowledged that I was right. Had I apologized, what I had just said would mean nothing to anybody accept that I was an asshole. Secretly, everyone there knew that I was right, and were probably praying that that fate didn't befall them.

That didn't involve complaining, it called for a (seemingly) forced negative enlightenment. That is the purpose of extreme cynicism. To paint a picture of reality so horrendous that those who should look at it won't. If that can be done, then the job is done and you know they were affected, be it good or bad. Just hope it doesn't drive them to suicide. Just look at the Great Depression. If those people had examined the possibility that the stock market wasn't this great almighty entity above reproach, not only would there have not been a depression, but the suicide rate wouldn't have been so high.

In closing, let me just point out for one last time that cynics aren't necessarily complainer. Some may be, but that's not what it's all about. Forget what Merriam-Webster has to say, cynicism just doesn't lie in exposing the human nature of greed, but it more than anything, it involves laying down the truth as other don't want to see it. Sometimes, people don't want it, but it has to be done. Not for some personal gain, but so that the world doesn't get so wrapped up in some so-called perfect fabrication of existence that everything crumbles from.