Comment on Nihilistic online networks groom minors to commit harm. Her son was one of them

• rikudou@lemmings.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  Nihilism is not about making life harder, or sowing chaos, it’s about accepting that there’s no meaning to anything. Sowing chaos does not fit with that. It’s not that nihilism would forbid you from that (it’s a philosophy, not religion), but there’s nothing nihilistic about sowing chaos and destruction of society, so the naming is very wrong.

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  • Havatra@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    I interpret it more as “since nothing matters, might as well have fun”, and “fun” is subjective and can be interpretted as enjoying watching things burn in unpredictable ways (chaos & destruction). Human nature can be a bit messed up in that regard.

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    • whotookkarl@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      That can sometimes be an outcome of a moral choice after accepting nihilism (what are ethics beyond our without objective meanings?), but there’s nothing necessarily relating desires for chaos and destruction to subjectivism and nihilism. Some nihilists are all about order and building so the reason they gave is bogus. They just feel the word has negative connotations so they used it without understanding what it means. It would be like saying they are jaywalkers who just want to watch the world burn. Some of them may be jaywalkers, but it’s not the motivation for them being there or necessary for them being there in those spaces.

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      • Havatra@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

        Fair point. Though that’s why I think the term is composed with “violence”. The desire for chaos and destruction comes from the human in question, while the nihilism is what removes the barriers of committing to the desire. Nihilism goes both ways, and there’s nothing inherently good nor bad about it.

        I wonder what other term would be accurate for these groups though?

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    • rikudou@lemmings.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      The best equivalent I can think of is as describing bicycling as vegan. Sure, some vegans do ride a bicycle, but it has jack shit to do with them being a vegan. And non-vegans ride them too.

      So imagine someone telling you they ride a bicycle because they’re vegan and that’s how stupid the association with nihilism sounds.

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      • Havatra@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

        Nihilism means there is no meaning. Whether that pertains to existence (existential nihilism) or morals (moral nihilism). Nihilism effectively works both ways: “Nothing matters, so I might as well kill myself”, and “nothing matters, so might as well make the most out of it” (constructive nihilism).

        This I believe falls under moral nihilism, where there is no right or wrong, only what feels good or bad. Which the article hints at by mentioning that the actors seem to have no ideological goals.
        So it’s not a completely irrelevant use of the term, imho.

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  • socsa@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    Nihilism isn't really a philosophy as much as it's an absence of philosophy. The idea of that creating a kind of random deviant behavior isn't really that unusual. There's lots of different kinds of nihilism as well. You can say someone is linguistic nihilist if they twist words to mean whatever suits their other interests. You can say someone is a meta-ethical nihilist if they reject the idea of global moral truth but still adhere to a localized moral behavior. You can call someone a metaphysical nihilist if they are unconcerned with the nature of their own being but still don't want to get hit in the face.

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    • rikudou@lemmings.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      It’s not an absence of philosophy, it is a philosophical belief. Absence of philosophy is not thinking about it.

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