Cynicism is a very post-post-modern virtue. Contemporary humor is soaked in cynicism as any episode of The Daily Show or The Colbert Report will show you. Often, it is the cynical approach which is deemed the most realistic and the most reliable. The “Keep on the Sunny Side” people of our day are looked on with suspicion, as if an ulterior motive lurks behind all that gratuitous positive-ness.

I am certainly guilty myself of adding a large dollop of cynicism to what life serves me on a daily basis. I am very cynical about politics, celebrities and our celebrity culture, professional sports; I am very cynical about the human race as a whole, to tell you the truth. I find this all a bit shocking as I am generally a person with a bright view of life. But it is hard to maintain, especially as you slip away from the glow…