“What in philosophy is
often referred to as nihilism or pessimism. That there might not be a purpose
to things or to your life or to our existence or to the cosmos. And this all
might be purely arbitrary, an accident.” Nihilism is skepticism
about if anything in the world has a real existence. Nihilism is very relevant
in the present time, with how many movies and books and other forms of media are
displaying dystopian societies. It’s like the different media outlets are
saying that we’re here but really there’s no point because everything is just
going to fall apart. People have also become numb to the idea of everything
falling apart and so they just become pessimists. Society has become used to
the idea that nothing has purpose and dystopian aspects of society are already
present and with the continuation of all the dystopian societies being pushes
through different media outlets, people will soon become completely oblivious to
life and what is going on around them. News channels also have become very
pessimistic, mostly just broadcasting the terrible things that are going on
around the world and spending little to no time discussing things that are good
that has happened. People nowadays seem to focus on the negative aspects of
life and everything that is going wrong, people have a much more pessimistic
view of the world and of the people who live on this planet. This is all
because of what the media is producing for us.
I agree with this definition of nihilism saying in all actuality that there might not be a purpose to anything at all. The reason being is that everything eventually will crash and we are used to anything and everything happening the way it does, so we do not seem to be bothered by it. Moreover in the podcast an interviewee said “We are not supposed to spend our life in fear of the end, but however we are supposed to spend our life getting ready for it” that is why Jay Z’s costume designer June Ambrose gave him the jacket with the words “In the Dust of This Planet” with a gun pointing at the sun. That symbolizes that it is not that he does not care about the word ending but he is not afraid because he has already accepted it and now all he has to do is prepare himself
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ReplyDeleteNihilism has become a trend in today's society and I would agree that it mostly does have to do with the spread of mass media or clothing. Also, people have become very pessimistic thinking, what's the point in doing anything positive if the world is going to fall apart one day. In the podcast when they were talking about the world's climate changes and say,"Nihilists are mopey and are less likely to do anything about it," people just think about the era they are living in and don't think about what they can do for the future. They mention people watch nihilistic media because it gives them a sense of bravery or it saves them from feeling the struggles of others. I guess the reason there is so much negativity in movies and T.V. shows is because people want a thrill of something exciting and to imagine a different world from the one they live in.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on what is being said about nihilism in the podcast. For example, Eugene who wrote books that may never be read and soon the cover of his book was appearing in people’s wardrobe. He was positive that the books he would write would never be read or be paid attention to. It would just add to the books in this world. Eugene was a philosopher and an author, which gave him more reason to think that nihilism is found in this world. The world these days does focus on useless news instead of informing us about what we can do to make this world a better place. I agree with you, there is nothing on the news that talks about the accomplishments in the scientific world, just social media and how an artist did this and that. Maybe that is why Eugene thought that his book would not be a hit, since people only focus on others’ lives instead of what is going on right in front of them.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what was said about Nihilism. As mentioned, “People have also become numb to the idea of everything falling apart and so they just become pessimists,” which means people expect the worst out of everything because of their idea that nothing ever works out in the end. Nihilism is in fact a lot like being pessimistic. For example, in the Radiolab podcast, “A Pessimist is like a nihilist; agree that there’s no meaning. They are just a little more mopey about it; less likely to do something.” Pessimism resembles nihilism in the fact that they both talk about meaningless futures and bad outcomes. Pessimists expect the worst out of everything and everyone, and similarly nihilism is people believing we have no purpose in life. They are both alike in many ways and reflect what Caroline mentioned above, “People nowadays seem to focus on the negative aspects of life and everything that is going wrong…” Nihilism is alive and thriving and is controlling many people’s ways of thinking.
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