Comment on Nihilistic online networks groom minors to commit harm. Her son was one of them
Havatra@lemmy.zip 1 day agoI 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.
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.
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.
Yes, in the same sense that vegans are bicyclers.
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.
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?
whotookkarl@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 day ago
Disaffected, alienated, hostile come to mind
wikipedia.org/wiki/764_(organization)
It’s cult tactics cynical manipulators in those unmoderated spaces use to indoctrinate young adults and kids to exploit and groom. They target kids who don’t have defenses to their tactics yet, either their education didn’t yet include how to critically evaluate evidence & propositions or they just weren’t mentally ready for that responsibility before engaging with predators. They want to seem edgy and offer truths on topics the kids’ parents or teachers may not be willing to engage with to draw them in to appear like they have some knowledge or power to offer other than just hate and anger.