With regard to despair, it is for the same reason that all traps work – the person trapped can’t find a way out. It isn’t always easy, and it can be very hard without support. There is no such thing as “modern” cynicism, any more that there is modern anger or grief. You are seeing things that aren’t there, playing games with semantics. People can feel despair and express it in many ways, cynicism being just one. You don’t get trapped in cynicism. I trust very little in modern society on a “general” level, but I am not in any way trapped I am simply reacting in a logical manner to observation and experience.