“The philosophical, ethical, and intellectual crisis of nihilism that has tormented modern philosophers for over a century has given way to mild annoyance or, more interestingly, an upbeat acceptance of meaninglessness.” (1)
I’m not an intellectual. The last thing you need is another person’s opinion on the state of things. We have everything at our disposal. With a few clicks of the mouse you can find support and corroboration for any idea you might have. The days of crouching in the doorway of the cave wondering if there’s anyone else like you out there are over. And that’s wonderful, right? Globalization of knowledge. One love. Everything is everything.
It didn’t turn out that way, did it?
It’s awful out here. No one can spell. What was supposed to make us better made us worse. We don’t have to try, we have Wikipedia, we have Cliff notes, we have celebrity news anchor’s opinions. If you possess even an ounce of sense you’re tormented by it all. You’re tormented by the accolades people receive only for prominence on social media. You’re tormented by the absolute corruption of government. You’re tormented by the gross imbalance and hypocrisy rampant in the mess we’ve made of everything. Who could blame you?
You could drink. You could rage, rage against the dying of the light. You could give up.
But really, those aren’t very appealing solutions, are they? Wouldn’t it be wonderful to find the sweet spot, the spot where you could shake your head and laugh and try to spin gold out of straw? In the end, the only thing we really have control over is our own mind and the frontiers of our own thoughts. I think we should enjoy those things. Some of us have forgotten how.
Why bother with satire, or humor or elitism? It’s hubris, isn’t it, for me to think you might want to read this, to think that I might have something to say. It’s quite the contradiction to throw around the term nihilism, and care enough to publish a blog. No arguments here. The thing is, I’m finally getting to that sweet spot of acceptance, and I’m finding that it’s often a funny place to be. Sometimes, I even enjoy it. It’s my hope that you might as well, even if it’s only here and there.
1. Alan Pratt, IEP
The Nile High Club 