by Rebecca Do
In the 20th century, the age of European conflict and crisis, philosophy found its new home in the hearts of the cynical—the souls of the morally void. German philosopher (and dad of this contemporary philosophy) Friedrich Nietzsche wrote of “master-slave mentalities” and rejecting your worldly existence. The ideology of Nietzsche can often be put under the bracket of “nihilism,” the new, not-so-new philosophy for losers with nothing to show for their lives.
Nihilism rejects all morals and religion; life is meaningless and nothing is certain. It can be characterized by overwhelming defeatism and belief that nothing matters.
So fundamentally depraved, with such a horrid outlook on life; there’s no wonder it attracted people who have nothing to look forward to.
I have no intention of bullying people out of depressing mindsets (though I would not be opposed to doing so. Only with their consent of course!) However, people who are self-proclaimed nihilists have this habit (personal observation) of projecting their perverse views onto other people.
I want to bring to light, a comic user @steviepxyz who posted on everyone’s favorite social media platform owned by everyone’s favorite apartheid baby and emerald mine beneficiary, Twitter.
To get the jist of it, the first four pages read “You are not special. There are billions of people like you. Many of them are smarter than you. More creative, too.”
If you’re unfamiliar with the self-deprecating nature, you would be asking yourself “…what?”
This person—this sad, sad person is someone I pity from the bottom of my heart. The mentality that there are so many people better than you and that nothing you do has meaning is damaging. Why are you so apathetic towards yourself!
The damage that nihilism has inflicted on our society is irreparable. Why is thinking that you suck such a normalized mindset to have? Why are we constantly putting down the efforts of not only other people, but ourselves?
Thanks, Nietzche. You’ve contributed lots to philosophy but now we have losers online parading their sad, nonsense outlook on life where impressionable people can view it.
It’s not like it lacks coherency, which is why it’s so scary when people post about their ethics (or lack thereof— nihilism!) online.
But a nihilistic outlook on life can also lead to depression. What a surprise. Yudi Wang, a BS of Psychology at the University of Manchester, states that “Existential depression is rooted in nihilism, both emotional and immature that can particularly occur in adolescents at a developmental stage who are seeking meaning in their lives.”
Pondering the meaning of life isn’t an obsolete concept; it’s only natural that people think about that at one point in their lives. Some people simply cannot stop thinking about it.
But this isn’t even a case of “just don’t” anymore; it has spiraled into a case of “why?”
Purposefully being awful under the guise of nihilism, introducing them to ideas that will become detrimental to their way of thinking and living life is awful. So yeah, nihilism is for losers— who are especially losers if they introduce them to impressionable people!
And I’m not one to preach to the choir. “Be grateful for your life because it could be so much worse!” is not a realistic mindset to have and won’t help. But imagine a life in which you didn’t have the life you have right now. Imagine a life in which you were born in the midst of a certain 1790s radical European uprising or a time in which you couldn’t vote unless you were a white man who owned property.
You could’ve endured so much worse than what you have right now. Even if there were obstacles here and there, you overcame them, and you’re here right now. You’re here and you should be proud of yourself for it.
I would argue that your life is worth more than what any philosophy could tell you.
