optimistic nihilism, pessimistic nihilism, live and let live, nothing matters why bother, no meaning make your own meaning, it's all the same goddamn drivel that ultimately leads to people subconsciously believing they will be forever atomized and alone so why bother trying?

nihilism is the ultimate apex of individualism, so much so that it masks itself from being this apex of individualism as this grand cosmological outlook. it's using the stars as a justification for not caring about the social fabric and power relations that govern society, it's this insidious capitalist rot that turns us into hedonists or husks.

why?

because the ultimate conclusion of nihilism, no matter how you spin it or what tendency you attach to it, is that nothing matters. and because nothing matters, why bother? live free, die in a blaze, who gives a shit how many are killed in the explosion! it's the most hyperprivileged stance one can take! you think the family struggling to make ends meet on the edge of poverty thinks nothing matters? no shot. they're too busy worrying about what matters to them, for good reason, because it dictates survival!

in an ideology that so loves its masks, its grand cosmological existentialist framework is its very own, and it truly masks a philosophy of self-aggrandizing, hedonistic, solipsistic drivel! it's so disconnected from material reality it finds itself starsearching for proof nothing has meaning! and it's fucking everywhere! it's in shows, it's in books, it's in games, it's in the fucking leftist discourse! every time i see a privileged motherfucker justify the existence of reactionaries due to a nebulous freedom of speech and the "live and let live" bit i want to gouge my fucking eyes out of my skull and take them down with me. it's soul-rotting! it's legitimately soul-rotting! i'm sick of handling it with any ounce of legitimacy! even conversationally!

if you can't do anything on a macro scale, do something on a micro scale. it doesn't have to be grand, but the micro matters. just as the macro matters. things matter. life matters. survival matters. if we dictate our own meaning as the optimistic nihilists say, I'm pretty sure we can all agree that we'd like to keep living, if guaranteed comfort and stability for our lives, so fuck off with the excuse for sitting around and doing mental masturbation about this reverse nirvana of pure hedonism and solipsistic posturing you've been granted by the masters on high and question why they dictate the framework in which you see reality. then get the fuck up, and start making an effort, at any scale, to subvert it. what 'an effort' may be, that is something to examine within the current conditions. if you can't tell, ask those around for advice. even then, agitation is a swiss-army knife if all advice comes up short. i understand how bleak it is, but it is a disservice and mockery to yourself, others, and the future not to try.

the last bit is generally directed to the entirety of touters of nihilism, cringelords and also leftists, but if it hits you, it's something to examine at the very least. there's a reason hitler heavily reinforced nietzschian thought, beyond the whole "sister did it" bit, and there's a reason capitalist media does it as well. i implore you to further examine the reasons why an inherently unstable widely destructive arrangement specifically designed to benefit a specific group of people would have those people pushing a philosophy that discourages commitment to any grander cause or future-building project.

  • WhyEssEff [she/her]
    ·
    2 years ago

    Nietzsche is [...]very compatible with leftism

    I would definitely recommend you check out Nietszche, the Aristocratic Rebel (though quite long) by the late Italian historian and Marxist Domenico Losurdo. Personally, I think Nietszche's work is explicitly formed as an antithesis to liberatory thought, and it's much more insidious than his conscious masking ('Every profound spirit needs a mask. Even more, around every profound spirit a mask is continually growing.') of his rhetoric and philosophy in his more mundane, more frequently shared bits. Sure, elements of Nietszchian thought may be somewhat profound, and if they help enrich you, I can't stop you from using it as self-motivation, but the larger body of his work is one that is insidiously reactionary.

    Perhaps no philosopher is more of a conundrum than Nietzsche, the solitary rebel, poet, wayfarer, anti-revolutionary Aufklärer and theorist of aristocratic radicalism. His accusers identify in his 'superman' the origins of Nazism, and thus issue an irrevocable condemnation; his defenders pursue a hermeneutics of innocence founded ultimately in allegory.

    In a work widely regarded as the most important contribution to Nietzschean studies in recent decades, Domenico Losurdo instead pursues a less reductive strategy. Taking literally the ruthless implications of Nietzsche's anti-democratic thinking—his celebration of slavery, of war and colonial expansion, and eugenics—he nevertheless refuses to treat these from the perspective of the mid-twentieth century. In doing so, he restores Nietzsche's works to their complex nineteenth-century context, and presents a more compelling account of the importance of Nietzsche as philosopher than can be expected from his many contemporary apologists.

    The wall of direct quotes from Nietszche's body of work at the start should be enough to prove the point, so I'll paste them here, but do check it out if this is not enough.

    "Annihilation of Greek culture by the Jewish world."

    "Was Socrates Greek at all? Often enough, ugliness is a sign of crossbreeding, of arrested development due to crossbreeding."

    "When Socrates and Plato took the side of virtue and justice, they were Jews and nothing but."

    "Is music drama really dead, dead for good? [...] This is the most serious question of our art, and who, as a German, does not understand the seriousness of this question has fallen victim to the Socratism of our days. [...] This Socratism is the Jewish press: I say nothing more."

    As well as one unincluded, but fundamentally incompatible with post-Marx socialist movements.

    “It is above all the defeat of a nobler taste; with dialectics the rabble gets on top.”

    • Nama [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      I mean I also read Bakunin, despite him being an anti-semite. A lot of great people had some really shitty opinions (I belive he was also still anti-antisemetic and anti-nationalist), but that is besides the point in this case. I fully agree he was a really messed up person, and perhaps that is why he had a lot of rather unique insights. Most philosophers are just remembered for their greatest works, not really the giant pile of crap they also put out. I don't care about 90% of what Marx had to say for example., and I treat about every other thinker that way. And while of course not as important as Marx, there is defenitely something to learn here.

      If you look at Nietzsches life for example, you can't help but say it fucking sucked. Massively. The man was rarely without crippling pain and illness, and yet he carried on. Because of the life-embracing aspect of his philosophy.

      But that isn't all I find interesting in Nietzsche. The Master-Slave morality Nietzsche described also does hold some historic value to it. What are the effects of histories slavery based societies on the psyche and morals of people? It also helps understanding Religion as a reactionary force. His works should be read as a critique of morality as a whole, not as an embrace of "master morality". Though I guess everyone reads it their way. In my case, the abolishing of all masters in order to create a classlesss world is already the goal. That world would have no room for either slave or master morality, but it would instead require a new way of thinking.

      These are two examples of Nietzsches philosophy that I find extremely useful for furthering a leftist mindset, if coupled with Anarchy.

      Nietzsche helped me personally to get some stones rolling in my head, to piece together a more comprehensive view of humanity as a whole. I don't think it made me a bad person either. And most importantly for me personally, it helped me enjoy life again.

      • WhyEssEff [she/her]
        ·
        2 years ago

        yeah like i've said previously, I don't fault those who, ironically, find their own meaning in these texts. I think a lot of Nietzsche's ideas, unfortunately, stem from his reactionary attitudes, but that's just my analysis and I'm not gonna exile mfs from leftism for disagreeing. My gripe is the specific way in which capital pushes Nietszche through hegemonic pipelines, which ultimately serves to reinforce a social rot of hedonist solipsism. If you're able to find personal meaning/tactical inspiration in parts of the philosophy despite reaction, and it's help you in life, that's fine. I'm targeting capital and it's objectively insidious reasons for reinforcing it.

        • Nama [he/him]
          ·
          2 years ago

          I get that. It's just I don't really know who else peddled another effective anti-nihilist philosophy in the way Nitzsche did.

          The problem with nihilism is the mindset. If someone thinks nothing matters and still does their best to help, that is just as good as anyone else offering that help.

          And at the same time, becoming a nihilist can be rather radicalizing in an ideologigical sense. I doubt nihilists would fall for great-man theory crap for example.

          When people aren't invested in reality as much anymore, they are also much more open to change their view. For better or worse. Usually worse in this hellish society, which is one reason why nihilism is usually very harmful.

          But when you meet and talk to a nihilist, that fact can also be used and abused. Nihilists love talking, and if you don't come with the usual "choose your own purpose" crap, they are open to listen.

          Maybe I wont mention I got the ideas I'm selling from Nietzsche in the future.