When did you lose your last large chunk of Idealism?

@ Usht: That quote had the exact same effect on me. I was actually considering posting it in this thread.

With cannon shot and gun blast smash the alien. With laser beam and searing plasma scatter the alien to the stars.

Make it work. If your idealism is so weak to rely on the world bending to your whims, then it hardly deserves to be called an ideal.

Black Lagoon made me much more tolerant to evil and villainy. Enders Game and Code Geass also had quite an impact. On the other hand, Gurren Lagann helped me build it up a lot, and so did Bokurano.

As for Real Life events... no effect. When I found out my father cheated on my mom, or that my uncle had been on a Dio-ish campaign ever since I was a small childfreaking born to grind my self-esteem to the ground and discredit me before my father, I was very pissed off... but I wasn't shocked or disappointed. All the plots and cheats I have met in Real Life... all of them, I found disappointing, cheap, and just plain petty ad stupid, compared to the sort of stuff I get in fiction.

Yeah, I have trouble relating to real life. It lacks drama, deception, adventure, love, camaraderie, and solid characterizations.

I was told you could find that sorta stuff in NG Os, the military, or journalism...

edited 22nd Mar '11 4:28:37 AM by Ardiente

"Sweets are good. Sweets are justice."

: And what if your ideal does not involve forcing everyone to behave?
Making something work != Idealism, at the least in my dictionary. \\ Idealism is to me the idea that if you propose a good solution, that works, it will work.
If you give me the chance, I will let the world burn for my ideal. But that is not idealism.

A guy called dvorak is tired. Tired of humanity not wanting to change to improve itself. Quite the sad tale.

Uh, I'm not following you. What does being an unfettered extremist have to do with being an idealist?

"Sweets are good. Sweets are justice."

The last three years of unmedicated cognitive OCD which I spent cursing a god I no longer believe in probably count

I've got new mythological machinery, and very handsome supernatural scenery. Goodfae: a mafia web serial

Ardiente: An idealist is a extremeist who has not realized that is it a ba idea yet :P

A guy called dvorak is tired. Tired of humanity not wanting to change to improve itself. Quite the sad tale.

The other definition for idealism, besides being a trust oriented optimism, it also has to do with ideas.

Basically, if you have an idea, you can make it reality. Leaders and inventors have proven this over and over again. Therefore, if you see an easy solution or a path to a better world, that's your idea, and you can make it work, not anyone else. Can't sit back on your butt and wait for people to do the home improvement for you.

edited 22nd Mar '11 5:28:22 AM by Usht

The thing about making witty signature lines is that it first needs to actually be witty.

That's exactly why I became a designer engineer: to turn the devices I dreamed up into reality. Turns out you also need to know how to use humans, and gather allies. So much that lately I've been spending much mroe time bettering social skills over mechanical ones.

"Sweets are good. Sweets are justice."

Short answer: 9/11

Did a good job in ending any 'Fin de Siècle' Optimism I was taking with me into the new millenium.

When I was younger I wanted to join the Peace Corps, until some fuckers decided to fly a plane into my city, then I found out there was an organization like the Peace Corps; except they have guns.

edited 22nd Mar '11 5:56:36 AM by Kino

I'm a lost idealist but my idealism has never been lost.

All that happen was I realized sometimes for a better world You need to force your own will onto the herd.

edited 22nd Mar '11 7:13:37 AM by Vyctorian

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I don't understand how so many of you can be so cynical. The world can be very unforgiving, but it isn't actively out to get you. People can be stupid and/or cruel (believe me, I know), but you should have more faith in them. There are so many good people out there. Yes, third-world countries are in a sad, sad state, but I still have hope that one day, they can recover.

We may have done several horrible things to each other throughout history, but I still believe that we have achieved so much more. We are still capable of doing great things today. Don't be a misanthrope.

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Wait, isn't that rather cynical though that you have to force your ideals upon the world to make them work?

The thing about making witty signature lines is that it first needs to actually be witty.

The period in my statement is blue texted to.

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Spot check failed, move on people, nothing to see.

The thing about making witty signature lines is that it first needs to actually be witty.

You don't ever really lose idealism. It just goes dormant.

Mine went dormant when I was a teenager, but it was brought back largely through the discovery of Michael Crichton novels and Penn and Teller: Bullshit. Largely it was because as a teen, you get tricked (by the media and by internet tards) into thinking you live in a Crapsack World, but those two afformentioned sources supplied additional info and, more importantly, alternative PO Vs that showed me why cynicism was its own kind of bullshit.

Short version: I never lost my idealism.

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The natural idealist, the selfless visionary, grows into the Knight in Sour Armour. The natural selfish mistrustful miserly asshole learns to be a Magnificent Bastard at best. Everyone works with what they get, some make better stuff out of it than others.

"Sweets are good. Sweets are justice."

Why is mistrust associated with cynicism? Heh, if mistrust is an indication, this one should be deep-end cynical.

If we disagree, that much, at least, we have in common

People don't always have a hidden agenda, you know. :(

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Most of the time they do.

Calling bull on that. You need mind reading powers and the ability to survey a lot of freaking people to know that.

@Beholderess

Usage evolution, compare the original Greek definition:

To Dictionary.com's definition:

And then you've got sites like this (which I still can't figure out is a parody or not):

The Cynic's Sanctuary, just look at their banner.

edited 22nd Mar '11 10:44:47 AM by Usht

The thing about making witty signature lines is that it first needs to actually be witty.

Of course they aren't! But this one is not sure in her own ability to discern who does and who doesn't. Not all mushrooms are poisonous, but it's still not advisable to eat them if you know that your poor eyesight and lack of appropriate knowledge would not allow you to identify which are edible.

edited 22nd Mar '11 10:44:20 AM by Beholderess

If we disagree, that much, at least, we have in common

Altruism isn't as uncommon as you think. I'm not saying that one shouldn't be wary of others. I'm not naive. I'm just saying: there's caution, and then there's paranoia. Don't let the latter consume you.

Well, I can understand that. :) Actually, some people have said that I trust a bit too easily. I should work on that.

edited 22nd Mar '11 10:50:53 AM by Nimitz

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