"Cynics regarded everybody as equally corrupt... Idealists regarded everybody as equally corrupt, except themselves"

Robert Anton Wilson draws a sharp distinction between cynicism and idealism, two perspectives that at first glance might seem opposed but, as he points out, can form a subtle continuum shaped by human self-perception. A cynic is typically someone who assumes the worst of others, believing that all people act mainly out of self-interest, that integrity is an illusion, and that everyone is, at heart, motivated by ulterior motives or personal gain. The cynic’s world is one where corruption is universal, a constant level playing field of moral compromise. Yet within that viewpoint, there is at least a grudging acceptance that no one is above the fray, there is no hypocrisy in the cynic’s admission of universal corruption, only resignation.

Idealists, meanwhile, are often cast as hopeful reformers or dreamers, committed to higher principles and eager for change. Wilson’s insight is that the core difference between the cynic and idealist is not their assessment of society’s morality but their own place within it. While idealists may denounce the corrupt nature of organizations, governments, or society, they carve out an exception for themselves. They are the clean hands in a dirty world, the bearers of genuine virtue, the implied “good guys” who see clearly through the delusions or corruption ensnaring others. This self-exemption from the universal corruption they ascribe to others becomes a kind of moral blind spot.

Wilson’s aphorism has a wry humor, suggesting that neither cynicism nor idealism is immune to self-deception. Whereas cynics admit their own flaws as part of the universal human condition, idealists are often blind to the ways in which they, too, may fall prey to vanity, self-interest, or complicity. In both cases, Wilson subtly suggests, universal judgments about human nature are always compromised by the observer’s own projection, bias, and unwillingness to interrogate their own complicity.