Cynicism vs. Cynical actions

Whether you are “scornfully negative” of another’s motives or acknowledge “that positive outcomes” (for the other involved) will “rule the day” simply because the other party will do whatever they can to achieve the most positive results for themselves, you automatically discredit your own battle and battle techniques. Therefore, you become a defeatist and a cynic. You assume you have no control; so why even try?

Meanwhile the other party (according to the second definition) is going to do just the opposite: try anything to achieve the results they want. But, is trying to achieve your goal cynicism? No. However, if you use illegal or unethical tactics to achieve that goal, you are, in a round-about way, being cynical. First, you are cynical because you assume that without doing everything you can--even breaking laws--you would not “rule the day.” In this situation you automatically assume the worst would occur. Therefore, I'd like to argue that using tactics themselves, as the second definition argues, no matter how unethical or illegal those tactics are, is not cynicism. Rather, being "scornfully negative about the motives of others," as written in the first definition, can convince a person that he or she must do anything and everything, to succeed. Consequently doing anything to achieve positive results is merely a symptom of a cynic--not cynicism itself.

Looking at Craig’s voicemail in light of these definitions of cynicism, it appears he may have followed an impulse and assumed the worst of others (first definition). However, when Specter, a prominent Republican senator, said he would support Craig, Craig, because he is a cynic as defined in the former definition, decided to think positively about the potential outcomes of his situation. After gaining the support of one senator, Craig decided to do whatever it took (going back on his signed statement of guilt, inserting vague language into his comments for a press conference, and trying to thwart the legal process he, as a United States Senator, promised to preserve and protect) to achieve positive results. Thus, he follows the thought processes of a cynic, and his actions are those of a cynic; but, the voicemail only reveals a symptom of his cynicism.