Cutting The Crap.
Like some people's jaundiced perception of marketing, I am often accused of being cynical. Guilty as charged. But I don't plead guilty to nihilism because that's not what cynicism is. I plead guilty to despising mediocrity and looking for ways to improve the world.
People assume they know what marketing is. They also assume they know what cynicism is. But, in both cases, they're making assumptions based on popular misconceptions.
Diogenes latter day brand manager of cyncism, in fact, said
The sun, too, shines into cesspools and is not polluted.
Now there's a sentence that lays itself open to mockery and misinterpretation. But to do so would be just a little bit cynical, wouldn't it?