in response to the Cynic’s Hall of Fame

While I disagree with most of the entries on the list, and could think of some much more worthy individuals to be included (Penn and Teller or James Randi anyone?) – some of them seem to be truly absurd, anti-cynics even.

Nixon? Oscar Wilde? Machiavelli?

Did the author who created this list even read any of Oscar Wilde’s works? Read the “The Picture of Dorian Gray” for a book in which all of his philosophies are succinctly summarized. Wilde’s virtues are promiscuity, decadence, deception, dishonesty, excess consumption, impulsiveness, intrigue and materialism. These virtues are antithetical to anything considered Cynic or Socratic.

Machiavelli idealized a man who panders to the lowest common denominator in people in order to control and fleece them. Most alarmingly for the sake of this discussion, Machiavelli also argued that the Prince should always try to APPEAR virtuous and religious but need not be in reality, and that he should use the vices as needed to propel himself and his regime forward. Machiavelli did not strive toward the virtues: he lived as thing are, not as they ought to be. Since the pursuit of virtue is the foundation of Cynicism, I’m not sure how Machiavelli could be considered a “great cynic.”

Machiavelli also promoted the use of fear as a tool to control society, arguing that its better to be feared than loved, and this backward modern thought is what has fostered an extremely dysfunctional western society, as the government is not of the people, but rather, seeks to control and fleece the people. This idea of government comes straight out of Machiavelli. Strangely the founding fathers were proponents of civic virtue and duty, having been influenced greatly by the Hellenic philosophies, yet somewhere along the line we have lost that noble heritage and degenerated back to Machiavellian ideals.

The core of Cynicism is extreme, uncompromising honesty wrapped inside an austere, temperate, fortified, prudent, just character. Few people other than the original Cynic philosophers on the list could match that definition.

I don’t think Cynic philosophy should be confused with the modern definition of cynic, as the former is a noble tradition and the latter is for buffoons.