Nihilism

No. 2,576

Nihilism is the belief that all values are baseless and that nothing can be known or communicated. It is often associated with extreme pessimism and a radical skepticism that condemns existence. A true nihilist would believe in nothing, have no loyalties, and no purpose other than, perhaps, an impulse to destroy.

I emphasize, an impulse to destroy, because it reflects the actions of Antifa and BLM, and of the Dems in the House of Representatives. They want to “cancel”  the Declaration of Independence and our rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Cancel culture is, essentially, when people who have said or done problematic things, either now or in the past, are decidedly “canceled,” and people no longer support them or their endeavors. In this day and age, examples are everywhere. Celebritiesgetting called out for problematic behavior. See my column, "New Harvard Math,'

Cancel culture is a program of dedicated nihilhism. Antifa and BLM are active, violent practitioners of nihilism.  

Most commonly, nihilism refers to existential nihilism, according to which life is believed to be without objective meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value. Moral nihilism asserts that nothing is morally right or wrong. Existential nihilism is the philosophical theory that our life has no intrinsic meaning or value. With respect to the universe, existential nihilism suggests that a single human or even the entire human species is insignificant, without purpose and unlikely to change in the totality of existence. According to the theory, each individual is an isolated being born into the universe, barred from knowing 'why'. The inherent meaninglessness of life is largely explored in the philosophical school of existentialism, where one can potentially create their own subjective 'meaning' or 'purpose'. Of all types of nihilism, existential nihilism has received the most literary and philosophical attention. See my column, "New Harvard Math."

The critical race theory being taught in federal agencies  “educational” programs is nihilistic in that it seeks to brainwash employees about the “white supremacist” nature of America. It has been ended by President Trump.  He has also threatened to defund schools that propagandize students about the origin and purpose of the American Revolution, which it claims was to perpetuate slavery. This claim is taught in The New York Times’ 1619 project.  

Critical race theory (CRT) is a theoretical framework in the social sciences that examines society and culture as they relate to categorizations of race, law, and power. Developed out of Marxism and postmodern philosophy, it is based on critical theory, a social philosophy that argues that social problems are influenced and created more by societal structures and cultural assumptions than by individual and psychological factors. It began as a theoretical movement within American law schools in the mid- to late 1980s as a reworking of critical legal studies on race issues,^[and is loosely unified by two common themes. Firstly, CRT proposes that white supremacy and racial power are maintained over time, and in particular, that the law may play a role in this process. Secondly, CRT work has investigated the possibility of transforming the relationship between law and racial power, as well as pursuing a project of achieving racial emancipation and anti-subordination more broadly.

If anything, CRT has exacerbated and perpetuated racial divisions and tensions.  CRT is a spawn of nihilism.   It seeks to inculcate collective guilt in white individuals for committing actions they had or have no knowledge of committing, but who are automatically guilty by means of association with others who have the same skin color.  Thus, their consciousness is deliberately negated or “cancelled..”. It is a form of nihilism.

The original promoter and grandfather of nihilism is Immanuel Kant, whose convoluted philosophy on how men know made it impossible for man to know anything.

Kant’s purpose, according to Ayn Rand, was to save religion from reason and the Enlightenment…

Kant’s expressly stated purpose was to save the morality of self-abnegation and self-sacrifice. He knew that it could not survive without a mystic base—and what it had to be saved from was reason.

While few philosophers would claim to be nihilists, nihilism is most often associated with Friedrich Nietzsche who argued that its corrosive effects would eventually destroy all moral, religious, and metaphysical convictions and precipitate the greatest crisis in human history. In the 20th century, nihilistic themes–epistemological failure, value destruction, and cosmic purposelessness–have preoccupied artists, social critics, and philosophers. In Mid-century, for example, the existentialists helped popularize tenets of nihilism in their attempts to blunt its destructive potential. By the end of the century, existential despair as a response to nihilism gave way to an attitude of indifference, often associated with antifoundationalism.

”Antifoundationalism” is another term for anti-civilization. The Dems, Antifa and BLM intend to destroy civilization and “cancel” its roots, replacing it with socialism or commnunism and a lock-step society, leaving the individual nowhere to turn for guidance and relief from such a culture’s commitment to anti-reason. Such a society could only offer self-abnegation and self-sacrifice as the sole means to survive and a measure of “self- worth.” In such a world, the individual would be “cancelled.”