Comic Relief:

       One thing I have learned in being a Social Science major, having always been concerned with inclusion and progressive causes (depending on how one defines progressive), and coming from a religious and somewhat conservative background is that sometimes socially conscious people (or "do-gooders" as many cynics tend to put it) tend to take themselves way too seriously. When I say socially conscious people I include both "progressives" and "religious right" traditionalists. I'm using a lot of quotation marks here because I don't want to come off as holier-than-thou. I've been there myself and I try to be fair and recognize the good in all sides.
       Have you ever found that it's getting difficult to sit through any mainstream comedy show without being morally outraged by something that is offensive, obscene, politically incorrect, cliche, promoting stereotypes (gasp), promoting bad habits, insensitive, irreverent, inappropriate, unhealthy, biased toward the left or right and so on... Not to say that sometimes people do say things that are damaging and need to be corrected but still, I think one of the side effects of being educated, well-informed, and socially conscious is to over-analyze everything. People then take things out of context, make mountains out of molehills, misunderstanding each other, failing to put things in proper perspective, coming off as sanctimonious, and in the long run hurting our cause. There certainly is negativity in the world that needs intervention, but a light-hearted sense of humor can go a long way in helping us deal with it all without burnout. It also helps to save righteous indignation for when we really need it and even then to leave the ego out of it.
       I think this is partly why cynical comedy shows such as "South Park", "Dennis Miller", and "The Colbert Report" have been so popular in the past decade or so. One example of this (at least on the "progressive" side) is Sheila Broflovski on "South Park": http://southpark.wikia.com/wiki/Sheila_Broflovski To be balanced I'll throw in Ned Flanders from "The Simpsons" as an example of the "religious right" side. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ned_Flanders Not to worry, both these examples I used are more or less likable characters. I'm also not implying that centrists, Autism and other public "awareness" campaigns, non-partisan movements and other "groups" are perfect either as they are all run by human beings. It's not that I don't want to see people stand up for good causes or become cynical to anyone who does; it's quite the opposite. I just think if people took life just a little less seriously there would probably be less to be cynical about.
       Speaking of over-analyzing things, the Social/Behavioral Sciences major in me can't help but to post this excellent and very relevant link as I believe there is at least a touch of OCPD in almost everybody: http://www.ocdonline.com/articlephillipson6.php