Thinking out loud

How do we counter the cynicism that sees the worst in everything, views Western democratic societies as monstrous oppressors, allies with all who oppose them regardless of their ideology, and that ultimately morphs seamlessly into the malign paranoia of conspiracy theory and anti-Semitism?

Do we assert the opposite and, in the manner of Leibniz, claim with certainty that we live in "the best of all possible worlds", or do we still dream?

"A map of the world that does not include Utopia is not worth even glancing at, for it leaves out the one country at which Humanity is always landing. And when Humanity lands there, it looks out, and seeing a better country, sets sail. Progress is the realisations of Utopias."

(Oscar Wilde, The Soul of Man Under Socialism)

I reckon that I am with Oscar.