Nihilism refers to nothingness. The
doubt in a sense of meaning. Eugene Thacker could be categorized as a nihilist for
this belief that “There might not be a purpose to things, or to your life, or
to our existence, or to the cosmos.” The word originates from Latin where it simply
means “nothing”.
Eugene Thacker’s book, “In The Dust
of this Planet”, Eugene deconstructs everything from new and old movies to
music. He finds this common theme of nihilism with in our culture. This negative
view of the world is shared among the raising generation. They predict the
world and society will only get worse and that there is no point in trying. They
are not only nihilist but also pessimists. They complain about it but are unlikely
to do anything about the issue. Nihilism has become more popular through pop
culture. Giving a “bad ass” characteristic to the persona of not caring and
facing immortality. The spread of the idea constitutes to a lazier generation. With
the belief that nothing matters and that everything you do is for nothing, you lose
any sense of motivation. True nihilist have no goals and do not contribute to
society. Nihilism has become indeed relevant to contemporary society.
I totally agree with Rebecca because we are getting lazier. Nihilism pertains to our culture a lot more than before through music, our attitude towards life and just how our social life is evolving and changing. In the radio lab discussion they seemed to have mention certain statistics. Quoted from the "Wall Street Journal, 76 percent of people 18 and over believe that the future will not be as bright as the past." We have evolved into a society that is more care-free. Think about the words or sayings that we use now, I know that it is a habit in daily life to say the words "you do you" as translated into it meaning, no judgement, I don't care what you do, it is your life. We see Jay-z and Beyonce, two big iconic stars of this generation, rebelling with the words in their music or saying it's up to us and how we don't care anymore. Those powerful words "In the Dust of The Planet" symbolized them being a bad ass couple to the point where they could just ride off into the desert and not give a care in the world as to who knew or what they were doing. So yes, nihilism is relevant in todays pop culture and society.
ReplyDeleteNihilism is the belief that nothing matters and that everything that has happened so far is a mistake. It sounds so serious that it must be the cause of so many problems in society, but it’s not. The idea of Nihilism actually having an impact on society is just a fancy, like the moon being made of cheese. The only thing that comes to mind if someone says, “it’s all a dream” or “ Humans are a mistake”, is who cares? I certainly don’t. Nihilism doesn’t relate to actual society because people are never collapsing to the ground moaning about the lack of meaning in life. “ I mean is that where we’re headed?”, Jad asked after listening to Matthew McConaughey go on about his pessimistic views, and the answer is, no it’s not. True Detective is a TV show that needs to capture an audience, using nihilism as bait works well because people have had the same thoughts before, but they don’t live by them, which is why nihilism will never hold the hearts of people.
ReplyDeleteI do not agree for many reasons. First of all in the podcast Brooke says, " ... is this unique to this moment? And to that i would say NO.'' She then goes on to say that she believes there are cycles where, "the sense of meaninglessness comes out in sharper relief." Also that they can be recognized over and over again throughout history. Then it switches to another interview where a new person Simon. He says that nihilism is, "its sexy its interesting." Also that nihilism is the basis of cool, this doesn't necessarily mean its something that we actually believe. However, it does make for some badass topics in a classroom. That it was hitting something really deep with his students, because it satisfies those needs of walking away. I doubt they were really going to go walk out and live in caves in the desert. They are useful tactics in society to make you really want to watch these movies, tv shows, books, etc. only because it is aimed at youth who just want to feel like they are rebelling against older generations. When they are doing just what those movies and music want them to do, which is buy and watch like crazy. These nihilists will never really do all these so called, meaningless tasks we do everyday. If so many people believe in nihilism why hasn't the world crumbled already?
ReplyDeleteYou stated that the theme of nihilism is very common in our society, and that there is no point in trying to stop the inevitable from happening. Nihilism refers to nothingness. I agree with you for the majority of what you said in your blog post however, I do not agree with you when you state that the spread of nihilism is constituting for a much lazier generation, as we have no reason to put forth any effort, because in all reality we are nothing. I believe that if everybody was convinced that nothing existed then it would cause them to be the opposite of lazy so that they could prove that the nothingness did in fact exist. And if proven would prove that something existed. It is hard to try and picture that nothing exists, or that everything does exist. It’s a very thought provoking question, and really makes you question everything around you.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with when you say people are getting lazier. And it's true even in today younger population, you see kids with iPads and all these things that sooner or later the stuff that really means in this world won't matter like nature. I can also say that our culture will fade and all the social media stuff will become boring and meanness sooner or later. It just how humans are we find the next biggest thing and it becomes meaning less over time . But you can also say everything you own can have meaning and we are just getting smarter on things not bored. Just depends how you look at stuff. But I total agree with you.
ReplyDeleteI agree that nihilism has had an impact on society. Let's go back to the early ages of America. People were inventing things. Medical outbreaks were happening. People were creating things to make the world a better place to live in. Nowadays, people are less capable of creating their own ideas. Less creative people just go with the ideas of the more creative people. People are simply becoming lazier. No one really cares anymore.
ReplyDeleteNihilism, the rejection of all religious and moral principles; often in belief that life is meaningless. With that being said, I agree with you Rebecca, it has a big impact on society today. “There might not be a purpose to things and or to your life" We have become very lazy over time, with the new idea of the hoverboard. This little gadget is for one to get around everywhere, I even see them used in the gym to get around. How can one be so lazy to just walk to places, we are becoming nothing/meaningless and many people haven't realized it yet and we neglect how nihilism is important in our world.
ReplyDeleteNihilism is much more than not caring. In fact, I would not classify nihilism or pessimism in this manner at all. Nihilism to me is simply life generally without meaning which, at first glance, may sound similar. This in my eyes, however, is a very common misconception. While I do not consider myself a nihilist or pessimist, many of those who do consider themselves to be either of those are largely misunderstood. For example, (as briefly described in the podcast) the punk movement was often considered to be a nihilistic or pessimistic movement. Punk was not created to emulate some sort of “badass” persona, or to convey that nobody cares. Punk was created to make a bold statement without fear. Any given punk band may not have preached the word of God in their songs, and their songs may have gone against common moral and societal principles—this is why punk is often confused with nihilism. The point of punk, however, is to say that it’s ok to think that perhaps not everything in the world has some greater meaning, or that the status quo is the most crucial aspect of a healthy society. To me, punk tells a story and conveys bravery, much like how June Ambrose (JAY Z’s costume designer) described the jacket that JAY Z wore in his video. In this way, a healthy level of both nihilism and pessimism are good for society.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that nihilism is more relevant in today's society. In "Is America Falling Apart?", Burgess says "there seemed to be no spark; no daring, no madness, no readiness to engage the individual child's mind". I think this is saying that teachers are only there to teach the material and frankly don't care if the student learns it or not, and are not willing to put forth effort to engage the students and make them want to go to school and learn. While I don't necessarily agree with the quote, I think it paints a good picture of how nihilism is becoming more and more common in society.
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