The Pleasure of Cynicism

What is the function of cynicism in dark academe? For some, it involves the ability of academics to voice their disagreement regarding anything in neoliberal academe that disturbs the independence of their will. These disagreements can range from disturbances to their academic freedom and job insecurity to changes regarding their teaching conditions, and diversity, equity, and inclusion practices. The function of cynicism here amounts to acts of free speech with the aim of subverting the authority at the source of these disturbances. Thus, because dark academe through the intensification of neoliberal educational practices and policies is a world where many such disturbances occur, cynicism of this form is the only recourse for those who refuse to be docile subjects. But for others, cynicism in dark academe is something quite different. It stems less from a deep-seated philosophical position on the independence of the will than from a loosely grounded psychological gesturalism. The function of this type of cynicism in dark academe is to debase the motives of others. The speech here is often aggressive and tends toward generating moral controversy. Yet for still others, as discussed earlier, cynicism functions in dark academe as low-level paranoia involving the unfounded fear that others in academe will be rejected.