George Carlin got it right [again] when he commented on environmentalists [and I paraphrase]...environmentalists are white liberal folks only interested in a clean habitat for themselves [and their Volvo's (now Tesla's)] and could care less about the environment [or anybody else, for that matter]. Unenlightened self interest... Sounds about right. Although it is critically important to determine and satisfy what one's needs are, if you are unable to transcend the superficial, then you can never achieve any form of realization [actual self interest], that is, compassionately acting in the interest of others [seeing the truth of the matter]. IOW, if you seek only to feather your own nest, expect trouble.
Cynicism is an attitude characterized by a general distrust of the motives of others. A cynic may have a general lack of faith or hope in people motivated by ambition, desire, greed, gratification, materialism, goals, and opinions that a cynic perceives as vain, unobtainable, or ultimately meaningless.
If you examine the causes to which people attach their wagon, they are issues which essentially nothing [significant] can be done about on a personal level. OTOH, the things that people can do on a personal level [like take complete personal responsibility for their actions] are of no interest, e.g., taking care of their health, the most basic of all personal obligations. The next time you see people demonstrating about this, that, or the other thing, take a look at the majority of these folks. Do they really believe they are going to change the world when their own survival is seriously in question?
