Is Skepticism Good OR Bad?

 

Is SKEPTICISMGood OR Bad?  From our old school of thought, you and me will be dissuaded by our mentors and coaches to be skeptical.  Sadly, WHAT I've observed from my limited vantage point is that SKEPTICISM seems to carry that stigma of negativism, defeatism, pessimism, that gloomy outlook that leads one to hopelessness.  Alas, the handful of upsides of SKEPTICISM seem to have been grossly overlooked [OR should I say, ignored]💚💛💜

To a fault, with social media lording it all over us, the stark reality is that misinformation will always persist.  Sometime in the past, in an exchange of views with our small coterie of colleagues, WHEN SKEPTICISM became the main thread, someone blurted out, like 'HOW CAN I BE A GOOD SKEPTIC?'  Immediately, I thought that question was spot on, hitting the nail right on its nail.  And to start the ball rolling, I asked everyone?  As we know live and breath with tons and tons of information, are all those information trustworthy enough???

From a neutral ground, I take it that SKEPTICISM may really be necessary and beneficial in the context WHERE there is a valid concern about potential misinformation, such as social media.  Having said this, social media SKEPTICISM still may NOT always lead to pristine outcomes.  WHILE being SKEPTICAL towards social media misinformation could be a sign of having digital media literacy, people can vastly overestimate the prevalence of social media misinformation and be SKEPTICAL of information that is in fact true.  SKEPTICISM may also be cast through an identity lens and used for personal ends❌❌❌

Mapping SKEPTICISM with CYNICISM should help us and lead us to a clearer picture that, WHEN we compare things apples-to-apples, being SKEPTICAL is way too good to be true versus CYNICISM.  That huge divide should ease things up, for us to embrace the very obvious reasoning as to WHY SKEPTICISM can still be on the good side as long as good faith is manifested therein😡😡😡

Our takeaway:  Despite the UPSIDES arising from SKEPTICISM, I'll counsel that we be careful and cautious to ensure that that SKEPTICISM does NOT evolve into a habit formation for it to be embedded within one's persona because, knock on wood, IF that evolves farther, it is NOT far fetched to speculate that, at some point, that SKEPTICISM will likely turn its ugly head leading towards CYNICISM.  Much as there are UPSIDEs to be SKEPTICAL, let us manifest it in good faith dude😋😋😋