In his Inaugural Address last week President Barack Obama had something to say about cynicism: "What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them - that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply." Later in the speech, he spoke the following very un-cynical words: "Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends - honesty and hard work, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism - these things are old. These things are true."
With those few words Obama banished the cynics who believe that there is no truth, that all things are relative and that there is no firm ground on which to stand. In response, the cynic has little to offer. His only refuge is his narcissism - the gratification received from self-admiration and delight in sneers and sarcasm. Cynics confuse scorn with sophistication and derision with knowledge. They believe that the gibe or contemptuous remark demonstrates their genius. It doesn't.