History PlayingWith / SillyRabbitCynicismIsForLosers

* '''Double Subverted''': But this doesn't stop Tom from calling him out for using it as an excuse to do nothing.

** "If the world really is this fucked-up place where everyone is a snake, then the shitty things you regularly do to people and use that to justify are actively helping make it that way. YOU are the common denominator here, Chris."

** In an art competition, Chris enters the last place because [[TrueArtIsAngsty his art is so dark and depressing when he thought it was actually an artful, detailed masterpiece that can be relatable with human struggles.]] Meanwhile, Tom's art is beautiful, but more simplistic and hopeful. He won 1st place. When Chris complains, the jury gave their reason: TooBleakStoppedCaring.

>"That's exactly how I used to think and say in the few years past, Chris. And you know what I think from my experience? Those are the worst days of my life where I achieved nothing and felt so miserable all day long. I'm only here today because I do not discard my childish idealism, I use them to temper my cynicism to create a balance and awareness, allowing me to act and achieve something. Looking back, [[OldShame I feel that the old cynical edgelord me wasn't wise or enlightened at all, but overly cringe and childish, a naive try-hard in attempting to look mature and wise without acting like it.]] If that's how you wish to be forever, then be my guest."

** 1.) Tom tries to convince Chris out of his cynicism and Chris says he might have a point. After all a true cynic is cynical about their own cynicism.

** 5.) Tom then strives to balance between idealism and cynicism in his life from that point on. He admits that Chris has a point about keeping cynicism, but he still disagrees with going overly cynic. As a result, he ends up bouncing back from the tragedy and ending up as an even better, stronger man because he never abandoned his idealism as he grows up.

* '''Discussed''': "Not gonna lie, Chris, that's a pretty lame edgelordy take on the matter. Having some bad experiences with people and some rough breaks isn't a justification for being a selfish asshole who keeps screwing other people over and doing lots of short-sighted douchey things that aren't going to end well, but if you're looking to reinforce your own childish perceptions of the world, you're a man in the know."
* '''Conversed''':

* '''Invoked''': [[AllLovingHero Bob]] tells Tom to get Chris into realizing that he is ruining his own life with his cynicism.

'''Tom''': (pick one).

>"That's exactly how I used to think and say in the few years past, Chris. And you know what I think from my experience? Those are the worst days of my life where I achieved nothing and felt so miserable all day long. I'm only here today because I do not discard my childish idealism, I use them to temper my cynicism to create a balance and awareness, allowing me to act and achieve something. Looking back, [[OldShame I feel that the old cynical edgelord me wasn't wise or enlightened at all, but overly cringe and childish, a try-hard in attempting to look mature and wise without acting like it.]] If that's how you wish to be forever, then be my guest."

* '''Conversed''': "Dude, you know what, fuck it. You can try doing things the 'right' way and get bit yet again by another snake in the grass while they slither off with everything and leave you with nothing, or you can stop caring, shed your skin, and become another snake in the den of serpents and get yours, fuck everyone else." "Okay doomer." "Whatever bro, have fun getting through life being that naive." "Actually, Chris, I get through life just fine because I don't hyper-fixate on all the worst and most unpleasant aspects of it just to have a convenient justification for being the kind of person who allegedly made you this way. Most of the things that you cite as evidence that you're correct are the consequences of the choices that you made in furtherance of this worldview, and/or the result of associating with the company you keep. If it smells like shit everywhere you go, you really oughta check your shoes."

** Tom tries to convince Chris out of his cynicism and Chris says he might have a point. After all a true cynic is cynical about their own cynicism.
** Tom putting down Chris' cynicism and Chris ignoring Tom's advice to end his cynical attitude further puts a strain to their friendship and eventually destroys it.
** Tom, for continuing to call out Chris for his beliefs, eventually winds up being [[WhatTheHellHero royally chewed out]] in turn for pushing his beliefs on Chris.
** Tom realizes that offensive tactics and anger are worst ways to disprove cynicism, because cynicism is, after all, anger and hatred manifested as a form of philosophy, and any insult directed at it will simply be assimilated.

** Tom accepts that not everyone accepts idealism like he does, but he can still be idealistic in repairing his friendship with Chris. ThePowerOfFriendship can transcend these disagreements.
** Chris admits that his cynicism led him to failure and while he doesn't want to drop cynicism entirely, he decides to hear Tom out and realizes he has a point too.
** Tom resolves that in order to justify that cynicism is for losers, he needs to prove it realistically too.

** Chris is cynical, but decides to keep it to himself so that he doesn't end up getting singled out by the people close to him that disagree. Could very easily lead into a [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstruction]] or [[PlayedForDrama]].

** Chris constantly uses "nothing matters anyways" and "the world is a fucked-up place and everyone's a snake" as catch-all excuses for his laziness, unreliability, and frequent selfish acts, [[RageBreakingPoint and Tom finally has enough]] [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech and rips into him about how much of a shitty person he is and how the problems that he chalks up to the world being a terrible place are really of his own making.]]

* '''Discussed''': "It's hard to be friends with you with your pointlessly negative attitude, Chris."
* '''Conversed''': "Does it seem that the writer is making Chris a jerkass since all of the idealists act like a bunch of shameless douchebags by mocking him for his cynicism?"

** Chris constantly uses "nothing matters anyways" and "the world is a fucked-up place and everyone's a snake" as catch-all excuses for his laziness, unreliability, and frequent selfish acts, and Tom finally has enough and rips into him about how much of a shitty person he is and how the problems that he chalks up to the world being a terrible place are really of his own making.

* '''Justified''': Tom finds Chris' cynicism to be pointless and annoying and so he tells him to cheer up.

** Tom is a cynical KnightInSourArmor, but he also chews out StrawNihilist Chris for "not even trying".

** Tom is a KnightInSour, and pretty cynical compared to most people, but he also chews out StrawNihilist Chris for "not even trying".

* '''Exaggerated''': [[StrawNihilist Chris]] endlessly mocks people for their idealistic attitudes and worldviews. This is an instant BerserkButton to Tom and the rest of the idealists.

** Chris's cynicism once got the better of him. He hasn't changed much except he now has the drive to push his potential to its limit.

** Chris is convinced that idealism is the only way to solve problems, but is met with hostile responses from cynics.

** It seems like Chris was going to get chewed out for his cynicism, but they seem to understand that [[StrawmanHasAPoint his cynicism has a point.]]

* '''Double Subverted''': But this didn't stop the idealists from calling him out for using it as an excuse to do nothing.

** Chris lives in a idealist world where the punishment for being a cynic is to [[CoolAndUnusualPunishment watch The Care Bears]].
** Chris is asked about his opinion on the world; he simply responds in a deadpan tone "the world sucks". Cue to a scene where Chris is chased out by an [[TorchesAndPitchforks angry mob of optimists]].
* '''Zig Zagged''': Chris' cynicism is frowned upon by some people, laughed at by others but some don't care and others agree with him. It depends on the episode.

** There are no cynics or idealists. Everyone in the cast is a realist.

** "You're a cynic and you admit life sucks and you're a loser. Why haven't you killed yourself yet?"

* '''Exploited''': ???

** Chris is cynical, but decides to keep it to himself so that he doesn't end up getting singled out by the realists or idealists for disagreeing with them. Even secretly praying that said idealists and realists end up on the short ends of the stick first.

* '''Discussed''': "What is it going to take to make Chris accept that being idealistic or realistic is the right path to life?"

** Tom putting down Chris' cynicism and Chris ignoring Tom's advice to end his cynical attitude further puts a strain to their friendship.
** The idealists, for continuing to call out cynics like Chris for their beliefs, eventually wind up being [[WhatTheHellHero royally chewed out]] in turn for pushing their beliefs on Chris by Chris. He finds it annoying and pointless like everything else.

** The idealists realize that offensive tactics and anger are worst ways to disprove cynicism, because cynicism is, after all, anger and hatred manifested as a form of philosophy, and any insult directed at it will simply be assimilated. In order to justify that cynicism is for losers, they have to prove it realistically.

** Chris admits that his cynicism led him to failure and [[{{Dismotivation}} he's content with that]], much to the disgust of others, not that he cares what they think.
* '''Played For Drama''':
** Chris' cynicism got so bad that he ultimately ends up crossing the MoralEventHorizon, screwing over one of Tom and the other's plans and getting [[TheCutie Alice]] killed, all for his own gain. He tells them they were wasting their time with pointless ideals when confronted and he saw an opportunity to actually gain from the situation. That's all. Enraged, Tom and the rest of the idealists strand him, leaving him to fend for himself out in the wild [[LaserGuidedKarma without any of the laws and courtesy of society]] that Chris held in such contempt. However, this leads to Chris being more justified than ever in his conviction that the world is a CrapsackWorld, thanks to the betrayal and the experiences in the world that is the wild. Having to fend for himself, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero he is physically stronger now as well, and hungry for revenge...]]
** Chris, whenever he is called out on his cynicism, does admit that he's a complete loser, that he should have killed himself if he thinks the world sucks, and other such the insults flung to him by idealists, and [[NiceJobBreakingItHero that is the exact reason why he's so pessimistic about himself]]. Turns out, there's no way to convince cynics out of their depression, because [[XanatosGambit every win is a reinforcement to their philosophy proving their cynicism, but every loss leads to self-hatred proving their cynicism even further]], trapping him in a vicious cycle of never-ending self-proving self-hatred [[DespairEventHorizon to the point that the cynics cannot even bring themselves to commit suicide in the first place]].

%%* '''Played For Laughs''': ???

* '''Subverted''': It seems like Chris was going to get chewed out for his cynicism, but they seem to understand that [[StrawmanHasAPoint his cynicism has a point.]]

* '''Discussed''': "What is it going to make Chris to accept that being idealistic or realistic is the right path to life?"

** The idealists learn that not everyone accepts idealism like they do and they shouldn't condemn other people's beliefs.

** "I don't want to hear it. Heaven help me, Chris, '''I don't want to hear it!!!''' If you can waste time and breath wanting to say it, you can make better use of that time and breath ''proving it's wrong''!"

* '''Defied''': Chris is cynical, but decides to keep it to himself so that he doesn't end up getting singled out by the realists or idealists for disagreeing with them. Even secretly praying that said idealists and realists end up on the short ends of the stick first.

** "You're a cynic and you admit life sucks and you're a loser. Why haven't you kill yourself yet?"

** "You're a cynic and you admit life sucks and you're a loser. Why haven't you kill yourself yet?" "[[ShutUpKirk Because I want to watch you idiots]] [[RootingForTheEmpire get slaughtered by Evulz and friends, first.]]"
** "Don't you see that your cynicism makes you lazy and apathetic?" "[[ShutUpKirk And you starry-eyed idiots]] [[NotSoDifferent are any better?]] [[TheFundamentalist Pushing your crap down other people's throats?]]"

** Realizing that the idealists are [[NotSoDifferent no better than Chris]], for all the insults they directed at the latter, [[JadeColoredGlasses Stan ditches the starry-eyed idiots]].