History Main / SillyRabbitCynicismisforLosers

Here come {{The Cynic}}s, sporting a nice pair of JadeColoredGlasses, and when average people, especially the {{Wide Eyed Idealist}}s, call them out on it, they are quick to claim that IDidWhatIHadToDo, or SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids They are strongly convinced their attitude is inherently more [[StrawVulcan logical]] and realistic, and that those without it are supposedly too childish to accomplish anything. As far as they're concerned, altruism, kindness, compassion, and selflessness are only for fools and will only hinder you and get you taken advantage of, and open displays of those are, at best, hopelessly naive, and at worst are hollow and performative, attention-seeking displays. According to these cynics, we live in a Dog-Eat-Dog world where everyone either has a hidden dagger or is too naive and deluded to realize it, and the only way to succeed is to carry a bigger dagger and have a faster hand.

** Bruce Wayne in ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'' isn't exactly a sunny optimist himself, but he never loses faith that cynical, hardbitten thief Selina Kyle can be a better person than she is -- even after she betrays him, much to her incredulity. He's eventually proven right. In the previous film ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', Bruce is also confident that the Joker's scheme to prove that deep down everyone is as ugly as him will fail. The people of Gotham prove him right in the end. And in the film before that ''Film/BatmanBegins'', he rejects Ra's Al Ghul's belief that Gotham is beyond saving. By the end of the trilogy, Bruce is vindicated.
** The message had also existed in the earlier ''Batman'' films. Joel Schumacher's Batman convinced Dick Grayson to let go of his anger in ''Film/BatmanForever'' and [[spoiler: convinced Mr. Freeze to help him save Alfred]] in ''Film/BatmanAndRobin''. Even the Burton films, which usually proposed the opposite trope, occasionally challenged cynicism, if more subtly. In the [[Film/Batman1989 1989 film]], both Alfred and (much more tactfully) Vicki Vale try to tell Bruce that being Batman is a waste of time ("I have no wish to spend my few remaining years grieving for the loss of old friends -- or their sons" / "It doesn't have to be a perfect world"); Bruce doesn't listen in either case, and Gotham City is so much the better for it. And ''Film/BatmanReturns'' contains this little gem:

** This is one of the main messages of ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'', Zorii Bliss tells Poe that the forces of darkness are actually depending on people's fear and cynicism, reminding him that the forces of good and decent people greatly outnumber those of the dark. [[spoiler: She is proven correct, during the climax of the Film]].

* ''Podcast/TheAdventureZoneBalance'': Merle's interactions with [[spoiler:John]] in ''The Stolen Century'' are built on this trope.

%%* One of the core themes of ''Webcomic/InvinceaAndTheWarriorsFromHell''

* One of the core themes of ''Webcomic/InvinceaAndTheWarriorsFromHell''

* ''WebAnimation/OverlySarcasticProductions''
** Red is a firm believer in this. While discussing [[DarkerAndEdgier grimdark]] as a trope on "Trope Talk", Red openly states that she finds the whole prospect of grimdark to be inherently boring, and she doesn't see the appeal, along with [[SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids this trope's counterpart]]. She thinks that the idealists ultimately have it better. The world can get dark, yes, but one look at history will tell you that it has gotten immensely better over time, usually thanks to idealists. For this reason, Red also bashes the NinetiesAntiHero in a video about the AntiHero subtypes, saying that being such a hero means being a JerkSue, that she really dislikes the character type, and further hates how it brought about the idea that being cool means being a cynical self-righteous asshole.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_50968MO0PU "Satirizing Superman"]] is an analysis of Franchise/{{Superman}} by Red and Blue. The video examines Superman's origins as a character, what makes him tick, and his role both inside his stories and as part of the greater superhero ecosystem, along with the best examples of Superman at his finest. Two of the examples are from Creator/AlanMoore, who Red and Blue note fundamentally understands Superman, and lament that Moore's work is [[MisaimedFandom so chronically misunderstood by less-skilled writers]] who tend to only see the surface-level cynical aspects. They end the diatribe with a KirkSummation that caring is a genuinely good thing and the world isn't and shouldn't just be bad and miserable, and we always should be striving for a better world and to hold bad actors accountable. Red and Blue close the video by saying that to give into cynicism and not do anything about the darkness in the world will cause a SelfFulfillingProphecy.

--> '''Manchester Black''': So long as a heart beats in my chest, I'll come after you, you poncy twit! If you think this is over, you're living in a bloody dream world!
--> '''Superman''': You know what, Black? I wouldn't have it any other way. Dreams save us. Dreams lift us up and transform us into something better. And on my soul, I swear... that until my dream of a world where dignity, honor and justice are the reality we all share, I'll never stop fighting. Ever.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}'', Matt encounters a female protégé of the Punisher (who lost her fiancé) and tries to sympathize with her by bringing up heroes who also lost loved ones. However, when she says that nobody can be as driven as her and Matt without a tragedy, he ultimately throws his billy club at her face, and gives a speech stating that the idea that you need a tragic event to fight for justice is ludicrous.

These cynics, however, are wrong. Their pessimistic and negligent attitude ironically made them turn lazy, cruel and selfish themselves, wasting their entire philosophical intellect and strength of character in their lamentations. In their sheer apathy, they have often actively allowed otherwise manageable problems to ferment and fester into full-blown crises and {{Crapsack World}}s, all while missing several golden opportunities to make the world a better place due to constantly thinking about themselves alone in the DespairEventHorizon [[YouCantFightFate for all eternity]]. And in some cases, these misanthropes have even actively made the world a worse place by falsely assuming that everyone was out to screw them and thus opting to screw over and exploit everyone else first. They thus prove themselves to be just as dogmatic, narrow-minded, and damaging as they ''think'' the overtly idealistic characters are, all while soothing their egos with an unearned sense of superiority, claiming they're being "realistic" for wallowing in defeatism, rather than taking a risk to change the situation they claim to despise so much. These characters are often summarily called out for their {{wangst}} precisely because of this. Fittingly, it tends to be done by the very people that the cynic had regarded as fools. It can also happen when an old-fashioned or young character tries too hard to be what they think an adult is, like a PerpetualFrowner.

* While ''WebVideo/SomeJerkWithACamera'' tends to mock the Creator/{{Disney}} corporation and [[Ride/DisneyThemeParks their theme parks]], the Jerk tries to do it [[AffectionateParody lightheartedly]], since he's really a fan of Disney. This means that he also comes down hard on works like ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'' and ''Film/EscapeFromTomorrow'', which attack Disney as kids' stuff, or say that escapism is for losers who can't grow up.

* Eeyore from ''Literature/WinnieThePooh'' is on the receiving end of this in the penultimate chapter of ''The House at Pooh Corner''. He's bitterly complaining about being alone all the time until Rabbit essentially tells him that it’s because he's not trying. Instead of constantly feeling sorry for himself, he has to make an effort and visit his friends instead of expecting them to come to him.

* In the ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' series, the people who subvert or use the law as a means to an end tend to get what they want in the short term, but lose out in the long run when their cynical way of thinking slams into a metaphorical brick wall. The last case of ''Apollo Justice'' exemplifies this with its BigBad, who says that "the law is absolute" and professes the cynical belief that humanity is a collection of "ignorant swine" who will do nothing but make the world worse. [[ShutUpHannibal The Big Bad gets called out on this behavior by everyone in court]], with the Judge in particular saying that the law is constantly changing based on what humanity thinks is good, and that the question of ToBeLawfulOrGood should always be answered with "be good", because humans are inherently good people.

In the stage adaptation of ''Theatre/AnAmericanInParis'', composer Adam, a World War II veteran, holds to the belief that TrueArtIsAngsty, while his friend Henri maintains that art should be inspiring and uplifting. After Adam learns that Henri fought in the French Resistance during the war, he slowly comes to the decision that, if Henri can still believe in the idea of beauty after witnessing the ugliness of the war, then maybe he has the right idea all along. Although he can't resist one last bit of snark:
-->''"I hate it when French people are right!"''

In the stage adaptation of ''Theatre/AnAmericanInParis'', composer Adam, a World War II veteran, holds to the belief that TrueArtIsAngsty, while his friend Henri maintains that art should be inspiring and uplifting. After Adam learns that Henri fought in the French Resistance during the war, he slowly comes to the decision that Henri had the right idea all along. Although he can't resist one last bit of snark:

In the stage adaptation of ''Theatre/AnAmericanInParis'', composer Adam, a World War II veteran, holds to the belief that TrueArtIsAngsty, while his friend Henri maintains that art should be inspiring and uplifting. After Adam learns that Henri fought in the French Resistance during the war, he slowly comes to the decision that Henri had the right idea all along. Although he can't resist one last bit of {{Snark}}:

Here come {{The Cynic}}s, sporting a nice pair of JadeColoredGlasses, and when average people, especially the {{Wide Eyed Idealist}}s, call them out on it, they are quick to claim that IDidWhatIHadToDo, or SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids They are strongly convinced their attitude is inherently more [[StrawVulcan logical]] and realistic, and that those without it are supposedly too childish to accomplish anything. As far as they're concerned, altruism kindness, compassion, and selflessness are only for fools and will only hinder you and get you taken advantage of, and open displays of it are, at best, hopelessly naive, and at worst are hollow and performative, attention-seeking displays. According to these cynics, we live in a Dog-Eat-Dog world where everyone either has a hidden dagger or is too naive and deluded to realize it, and the only way to succeed is to carry a bigger dagger and have a faster hand.

These cynics, however, are wrong. Their pessimistic and negligent attitude ironically made them turn lazy, cruel and selfish themselves. They're wasting their entire philosophical intellect and strength of character in their lamentations. In their sheer apathy, they have often actively allowed otherwise manageable problems to ferment and fester into full blown crises and {{Crapsack World}}s, all while missing several golden opportunities to make the world a better place due to constantly thinking about themselves alone in the DespairEventHorizon [[YouCantFightFate for all eternity]]. And in some cases, these misanthropes have even actively made the world a worse place by falsely assuming that everyone was out to screw them and thus opting to screw over and exploit everyone else first. They thus prove themselves to be just as dogmatic, narrow-minded, and damaging as they ''think'' the overtly idealistic characters are. All while soothing their egos with an unearned sense of superiority, claiming they're being "realistic" for wallowing in defeatism rather than taking a risk to change the situation they claim to despise so much. These characters are often summarily called out for their {{wangst}} precisely because of this. Fittingly, it tends to be done by the very people that the cynic had regarded as fools. It can also happen when an old-fashioned or young character tries too hard to be what they think an adult is, like a PerpetualFrowner.

The argument ''can'' however be abused if it's used to stifle legitimate protest, such as when someone justifiably complaining about some social ill is told to [[NoSympathy shut up and stop ruining everyone's fun]] -- or, worse yet, ''[[BlameGame blamed]]'' for the misfortune, or it can also be used to demonstrate a character's naivety. It can also meet somewhere in the middle, as the character doing the calling-out may be overly idealistic and may be oversimplifying the situation but still has a good point, while the cynic may be doing the same about the idealist having an overly sunny view of a truly bad situation. The general consensus however is that the trope is justified to be applied if, after understandably complaining about a legitimate and serious problem, the cynic then uses the same argument as an excuse to either do absolutely nothing about the situation, or to do something horribly selfish and cruel that makes the problem even worse.

See also SourSupporter for character types that can fall into this. May invoke GoodIsNotDumb. A subtrope of TheComplainerIsAlwaysWrong if this means that characters who don't agree with idealists are frowned upon. Often overlaps with {{Wangst}}, typically when the character is using it as an excuse for inaction, or when they are immature and conflate extreme pessimism and nihilism with maturity.

* ''Anime/SailorMoon'': Sailors Uranus and Neptune can't seem to get through their heads that choosing the more cynical options will only make the end results worse. At the end of the story, the selfish actions of Uranus and Neptune have amounted to [[AllForNothing absolutely nothing]], whereas the optimistic characters like Moon and Chibi-Moon are the ones who end up prevailing over the forces of darkness.
** Usagi became one of the targets of the Death Busters halfway through the third season, which meant Uranus and Neptune may have had to kill her if her pure heart held one of the talismans. After learning of her real identity, Haruka and Michiru haven't yet grasped that they were willing to kill the girl whom they're trying to ensure will live long enough to become Queen. And once the threat of Death Busters is gone, they attempt to kill Usagi anyway because they were angry at her for ''not being cynical enough''.

* ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'': Kakeru Kamisato calls Touma Kamijou naive for wanting to save everybody. He says the smart thing is to concentrate on saving one or a few and leave the rest to die, because if you waste time trying to save everybody, you won't save anybody. However, Touma consistently manages to save everybody by never giving up and using methods Kakeru never thought of, causing Kakeru to admit he was wrong.

* Franchise/{{Superman}}'s ArchEnemy ComicBook/LexLuthor frequently laments that Superman has caused mankind to become lazy and kept people from progressing. Luthor claims that without Superman, scientists (especially Lex himself) could have time and motivation to make world-changing inventions to end the suffering of millions. Superman retorts that he isn't stopping anyone from doing such things; the reason Lex doesn't use his genius to benefit mankind is [[JerkWithAHeartOfJerk because Lex doesn't want to]], with or without Superman in the picture. Superman once said as much, point-blank, to Luthor in ''ComicBook/AllStarSuperman'', where Superman is dying and Luthor is trying to get in one final parting shot. During a VillainousBreakdown, Luthor ends up saying that he could have saved the world if it wasn't for Superman's interference. Superman's response is "You could have saved the world years ago if it mattered to you, Luthor." This actually makes Luthor drop the MaskOfSanity and admit as much.

** Nobody embodies this trope better than the BigBadDuumvirate. [[spoiler:Madara and Obito Uchiha; both have completely given up on the world and plan to use [[LotusEaterMachine Infinite Tsukuyomi]] to trap everyone in a "perfect" dream-world with them. Obito is clearly shown doing this because his life experiences have turned him into a nihilist that doesn't care about anything but leaving behind the reality he's come to hate so much, while Madara, the biggest cynic in the series, talks about their "accursed world" and how people are always destined to be losers as long as winners exist anywhere--similarly, though not as widely detailed, it is a result of living a brutal life of war during the infamous Warring States era.]]

* In ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'', the {{Eldritch Abomination}}s called the Grimm are attracted to negative emotions. In short, the worse you ''expect'' the world to be, the worse it actually ''will'' be, both figuratively and literally. [[spoiler: As Roman Torchwick demonstrated by going on a SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids rant while Grimm were swarming around him, getting himself eaten by a giant Nevermore.]] There's a reason for the "victory is a [[IncorruptiblePurePureness simple soul]]" motif, and why the show is {{Anvilicious}} in its portrayal of how pointless cynicism can be.

* In ''Literature/TheCatcherInTheRye'', both Phoebe and Mr. Antolini try to get Holden Caulfield to see that [[ItsAllAboutMe he's just as narcissistic]] as the "phony" people he claims to hate, and that much of his unhappiness is self-inflicted. In the end, Holden at least concludes that he has to let Phoebe grow up and be her own person. Holden also tries to prevent kids from seeing a giant graffiti spray of the word "FUCK" on a wall during the final chapter, implying they at least partially got through to him.
* In ''Literature/PrideAndPrejudice'', Elizabeth's cynical outlook on life allows Wickham to completely dupe her about Darcy's true nature. The irony is that Elizabeth acted this way in order to avoid being played for a fool; she was still played, but it just happened in a different way.
* In the ''Literature/GreenSkyTrilogy'', the cynical Neric tells Raamo that Genaa cannot be trusted and is too steeped in Ol-Zhaan privilege to be sympathetic to their plans. Not only does Neric turn out to be wrong, but Genaa turns out to be [[TheSmartGuy the one with the tactical savvy]] to pull off their scheme.

* Somewhat common in ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'', especially with Rincewind. The guy would be so obviously right in his cynicism... but Twoflower would come out fine anyway, leaving Rincewind looking like an idiot.
* This is part of the point of Jean-Paul Sartre's ''Theatre/NoExit''. At the end of the story, it's implied that the main characters could leave at any time they wished to, but their own character flaws and lack of empathy with each other prevent them from doing so.
* In ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'', the team cynic Marco notes this to Rachel while Jake is out of commission. They need a fast, straightforward [[ThePlan plan]] for a high-risk rescue, and he explains that that's not his territory -- his cynicism makes him too cautious to address that situation, [[TheLeader so she needs to lead.]]
* Creator/OscarWilde called a cynic 'a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing'.

* ''Literature/SixteenThirtyTwo'': In the [[WordOfGod Author's Notes]] of the first novel, this trope is all but named as the driving source for the tone of the series, as a response to the cynicism that had flooded the Sci-Fi genre at the time. Eric Flint specifically calls Cynicism weak and narrow-minded as a philosophy.
* In ''[[Literature/{{Asunder}} Dragon Age: Asunder]]'', the Divine Justinia V gives a retort to the [[SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids cynicism]] of [[KnightTemplar Lord Seeker Lambert]]:
-->'''Justinia''': Idealism is our stock in trade, Lambert. A religion without ideals is tyranny.
* One of the main themes of ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' and Franchise/TolkiensLegendarium in general is the evils of cynicism and despair. Evil triumphs because people believe it can't be fought and give up (Denethor and initially Théoden) or join it (Saruman). The only way for good to triumph is fight against despair, even if things look hopeless. And it's the acts of good by the smallest of people that end up saving Middle-Earth.
* The fifth book in the ''Literature/WingsOfFire'' series focuses on Sunny, and spends a good deal of time showing why idealism is so important to her. Her friends have a tendency to [[SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids dismiss her idealism]]... which has naturally been less than psychologically helpful to her. However, she makes it a ''very'' clear point that she believes in making the world better, because that ''is'' how the world gets better--and if nobody tries to improve things, then nothing will improve. Her actions make her friends start to see her in a new light.
* This is a major theme in Brandon Sanderson's ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive''. In Alethkar the nobility are very suspicious of each other to the point where any sense of honor is a façade at best and true friendships impossible. Normally an alliance results in a GambitPileup as the allies work against each other from the outset. However, the series looks like its making the argument that in such a cynical system, no matter how sensible mistrust would be, is ultimately unsustainable and self-defeating.
* ''Literature/BekaCooper'': In ''Terrier'', the first book, Beka's Dog (police) mentors, Tunstall and Goodwin, don't search for the Shadow Snake (a comfort/profit [[SerialKiller serial child killer]] who's terrorized the Lower City for three years), or the person who was mining fire opals and killing the people who dug them out to keep it secret (eight or nine at a time), because, as they explain to Beka, idealism just doesn't work in the [[WretchedHive Lower City]]. There's just too much crime, and they advise Beka to forget about that before she commits suicide in despair over not being able to help everyone. Beka nonetheless continues her search, enlisting the help of the [[LovableRogue lovable rogues]] who share her house, and in the end is able to catch both the one responsible for the Opal Murders (as they have been dubbed by the time of the next book) ''and'' the Shadow Snake. Now you know why they call her [[RedBaron Terrier]]...
* ''Literature/AnimalFarm'': ZigZaggingTrope with Benjamin the Donkey. His cynicism makes him one of the only characters to see past the pigs' lies, but at the same time, he's too jaded to ''do'' anything about their oppression, which makes him somewhat complicit in their crimes.