Thursday Post 4-23-09
Sinister
"When a sinister person means to be your enemy, they always start by trying to become your friend.
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William Blake (1757-1827) British poet and painter.
Bewes, Timothy. Cynicism and Postmodernity. Brooklyn: Verso, 1997.
Melancholic and introspective, ironical and apolitical, the urban cynic is a myth of our time. In a provocative study, Timothy Bewes charts the development of contemporary society's culture of cynicism. This is a book for all those fascinated by the state of politics, critical thinking, and the plight of the individual in the 21st century.
"Modern cynicism is a condition of disillusion, which can appear as a temperament of aestheticism, or even nihilism. Cynicism betrays an elevated and sublimated scale of values, therefore, for which the abstractions of truth and integrity are of far greater importance than the political virtues of action and imagination...The cynic is the typical 'postmodern' character, a figure both alienated from society and from his or her own subjectivity. 'Cynicism' is a concept mobilized by politicians, critics, and commentators as a synonym for postmodernism; this is a cultural relationship in which both terms function primarily as instruments of political rhetoric."
Though sinister is not exactly derived from cynicism, I believe the two are related as the dictionary defines sinister as: threatening or portending evil, harm, or trouble; bad, evil, base, or wicked; unfortunate; disastrous; and ironically enough of or on the left side; left: and defines cynicism as: An attitude of scornful or jaded negativity, especially a general distrust of the integrity or professed motives of others. The cynic may start out cynical but may easily become sinister. There is definitely something sinister about my work, and the blase in which I present these often terrifying situations implies a "an attitude of scornful or jaded negativity".
"When a sinister person means to be your enemy, they always start by trying to become your friend.
Send quote to a friend"
William Blake (1757-1827) British poet and painter.
Bewes, Timothy. Cynicism and Postmodernity. Brooklyn: Verso, 1997.
Melancholic and introspective, ironical and apolitical, the urban cynic is a myth of our time. In a provocative study, Timothy Bewes charts the development of contemporary society's culture of cynicism. This is a book for all those fascinated by the state of politics, critical thinking, and the plight of the individual in the 21st century.
"Modern cynicism is a condition of disillusion, which can appear as a temperament of aestheticism, or even nihilism. Cynicism betrays an elevated and sublimated scale of values, therefore, for which the abstractions of truth and integrity are of far greater importance than the political virtues of action and imagination...The cynic is the typical 'postmodern' character, a figure both alienated from society and from his or her own subjectivity. 'Cynicism' is a concept mobilized by politicians, critics, and commentators as a synonym for postmodernism; this is a cultural relationship in which both terms function primarily as instruments of political rhetoric."
Though sinister is not exactly derived from cynicism, I believe the two are related as the dictionary defines sinister as: threatening or portending evil, harm, or trouble; bad, evil, base, or wicked; unfortunate; disastrous; and ironically enough of or on the left side; left: and defines cynicism as: An attitude of scornful or jaded negativity, especially a general distrust of the integrity or professed motives of others. The cynic may start out cynical but may easily become sinister. There is definitely something sinister about my work, and the blase in which I present these often terrifying situations implies a "an attitude of scornful or jaded negativity".
posted by Megan Wagner at
2:37 PM
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