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Comment by andrewmutz | Hacker News Reader

> Four studies showed that laypeople tend to believe in cynical individuals’ cognitive superiority.

Consistent with my experience on social media (including this website): cynical perspectives always get the most upvotes

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twic's eyeball twitches as he tries to decide whether he should upvote this comment or not

This seems to be highly dependent on rhetoric, not the fundamental viewpoint. Just my observation. For instance, most people don't like the attitude that voting is not a very effective form of political action. However, they are likely to agree with the idea that voting rarely leads to adequate representation. (This is an observation of the liberals and conservatives re national electoral politics.) Merely centering the personal experience is likely to resonate with people more than dry observation.

> For instance, most people don't like the attitude that voting is not a very effective form of political action.

To me, this stance seems to be very US-centric. In Germany, this is an actually quite socially acceptable opinion (even though, of course, the "system press"/"lie press" (Systempresse, Lügenpresse; derogatory terms for the mainstream of newspapers and magazines, which are considered to be too attached to political parties) does not like such a stance). In the 60s and 70s, this attitude actually lead to the formation of the Außerparlamentarische Opposition (extra-parliamentary opposition) in West Germany:

> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Au%C3%9Ferparlamentarische_Opp...

It depends on the topic or place. Cynical views on family or children are generally met with negativity for example.

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