I can tell you’re not a nihilist because for a nihilist there could be no qualitative distinction between passive and active suicide, in the cases of Kurt Cobain and Aaron Bushnell for example. It takes a political worldview to categorise one of these deaths as ‘meaningful’ and the other as ‘meaningless’. Death as the artistic climax of life can be imbued with whatever meaning we attach to it.
Thanks for saying I’m not. I hope I’m not, though sometimes I fall into that kind of thinking. And good catch on that distinction, i think it’s meaningful
I’m not qualified enough in 90’s American culture (haven’t seen twin peaks, idk why I’m even on this platform) but I can piece together other stuff from the decade in these categories. I would put oasis and those other ‘hell-yeah’ reactions against grunge in the last catagory. Liam and Noel Gallagher are the embodiment of >:) nihilism imo:
“The future’s mine and it’s no disgrace
Cause in the end your life means nothing”
Noel actually wrote ‘live forever’ after hearing Kurt’s ‘I hate myself and want to die’
That’s enough intrusion of my personal obsessions now.
you have that pegged perfectly yeah, oasis is definitely >:) nihilism, and you have to watch twin peaks!! it’s fantastic classic tv (but also there’s too much to watch already so like it is what it is).
and no worries, loving all the pop culture examples
it's like you opened the doors to an overstuffed library and let all the books tumble out at once and we try to read the pages of each of them as they fall
Great piece, enjoyed reading that. The nihilist caricatures capture a lot of the zeitgeist of the present sociological make up pretty well. Was just thinking how Sam Hyde fits perfectly into both the >:( nothing matters and :( nothing matters camps.
Was also only just reading Vanegeim’s ‘Revolution of Everyday life’ last month and I think its discussion of alienation is much more relevant to the 21st century man than Marx’s capital. The oppression that Marx identified as existing in the base and mega structure is quite outdated, oppression is everywhere now and also more fragmented into people’s everyday lives with technology.
I like Raoul’s bold, assertive tone in the Revolution of everyday life, it brings personal autonomy & action into the equation, and shakes the reader out of the ‘selfish’ kind of nihilism we sometimes find ourselves in. But also importantly, he rejects a lot of societal norms and emphasises creativity, beauty and liberation.
agreed fully on every point—even having not read capital yet—and i think Raoul is quite a bit more approachable than Debord or Marx and the takeaways are quite a bit more manageable like you say. Also, it might have been the first book I’ve read where I underlined a sentence in every paragraph (maybe McLuhan’s Understanding Media was close to that, though).
The digits in a bank account have more meaning & significance than the characters on this screen. Allegedly.
NIHILISM: buyer beware
Camus found meaning searching for the absurd, & found absurdity looking for meaning.
Have a significant day anyway.
I can tell you’re not a nihilist because for a nihilist there could be no qualitative distinction between passive and active suicide, in the cases of Kurt Cobain and Aaron Bushnell for example. It takes a political worldview to categorise one of these deaths as ‘meaningful’ and the other as ‘meaningless’. Death as the artistic climax of life can be imbued with whatever meaning we attach to it.
Great article btw.
Thanks for saying I’m not. I hope I’m not, though sometimes I fall into that kind of thinking. And good catch on that distinction, i think it’s meaningful
I’m not qualified enough in 90’s American culture (haven’t seen twin peaks, idk why I’m even on this platform) but I can piece together other stuff from the decade in these categories. I would put oasis and those other ‘hell-yeah’ reactions against grunge in the last catagory. Liam and Noel Gallagher are the embodiment of >:) nihilism imo:
“The future’s mine and it’s no disgrace
Cause in the end your life means nothing”
Noel actually wrote ‘live forever’ after hearing Kurt’s ‘I hate myself and want to die’
That’s enough intrusion of my personal obsessions now.
you have that pegged perfectly yeah, oasis is definitely >:) nihilism, and you have to watch twin peaks!! it’s fantastic classic tv (but also there’s too much to watch already so like it is what it is).
and no worries, loving all the pop culture examples
I feel like if substack was a nation, watching twin peaks would get me citizenship
it's like you opened the doors to an overstuffed library and let all the books tumble out at once and we try to read the pages of each of them as they fall
yeah that was kind of the feeling trying to write it too hmm
Great piece, enjoyed reading that. The nihilist caricatures capture a lot of the zeitgeist of the present sociological make up pretty well. Was just thinking how Sam Hyde fits perfectly into both the >:( nothing matters and :( nothing matters camps.
Was also only just reading Vanegeim’s ‘Revolution of Everyday life’ last month and I think its discussion of alienation is much more relevant to the 21st century man than Marx’s capital. The oppression that Marx identified as existing in the base and mega structure is quite outdated, oppression is everywhere now and also more fragmented into people’s everyday lives with technology.
I like Raoul’s bold, assertive tone in the Revolution of everyday life, it brings personal autonomy & action into the equation, and shakes the reader out of the ‘selfish’ kind of nihilism we sometimes find ourselves in. But also importantly, he rejects a lot of societal norms and emphasises creativity, beauty and liberation.
agreed fully on every point—even having not read capital yet—and i think Raoul is quite a bit more approachable than Debord or Marx and the takeaways are quite a bit more manageable like you say. Also, it might have been the first book I’ve read where I underlined a sentence in every paragraph (maybe McLuhan’s Understanding Media was close to that, though).
oh my god i can’t believe i didn’t think of this. might see if i can add one today
oh i want this too!!!!