I enjoy this weird HN approach of taking ordinary life, applying weirdass labels to everything, and then trying to somehow "optimize" all of the various little categories.

This is about treating other people like their grievances are legitimate, and accepting that your own perspective on the world is not the only one that exists. "Social Engineering"? really?

Viewing the world through cynicism-colored glasses.

OK, I object to the misuse of the term "cynic."

http://mikecane2008.wordpress.com/2008/01/25/in-praise-of-th...

Cynics would point to the very things Scalzi does.

For better or worse, the word "cynic" has changed meaning over time. My usage matches definition #1 here:

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/cynic?r=75&src=re...

That matters not to Cynics and is only proof of the very corruption we mock.

There's something ironic about a cynic, in the classic sense of "question everything and undermine assertions", protesting the corruption of his own self-declared title. ;-)

The Ironics are a different school of thought.