https://images.app.goo.gl/gBTrUA5hknbpihmU7
Most rational people have a way of putting things into some sort of perspective -- historical, philosophical, etc. that helps us to make sense of the world around us and the events that shape it. Up until the 1960s when Cultural Marxism began to take hold of our institutions we had a fairly rational system -- political, cultural… Then with the rise of Marxism in the counterculture -- which was in reality just a product of the Marxist invasion of the educational system in the 1930s -- a collective nihilism took root. Out of this cultural chaos, the rejection of values that had made America what it was, groups such as the Weather Underground and Black Panthers emerged.
These groups had a plan to destroy America and replace it with a Marxist utopia and like utopias of its sort meant merely replacing one elite with another more to their liking. This short video interview with FBI “plant” Larry Grathwohl conveys a part of their plan.
What we are witnessing with Antifa/Blm is the next generation of nihilists, the children and sometimes grandchildren of the 60s radicals. Bill Ayers, for example, raised San Francisco District Atty. Chesa Boudin, the son of other Weather Underground radicals imprisoned for murder. Ayers, Obama friend and confidante, went into education as did many of the other counterculture radicals. It is they who are now influencing educational policy and using their influence to mold young nihilists… this is Antifa/BLM’s “philosophical” roots.
Groupthink vs. Rational Thought
Rational self-interest, the driving force of societies before the 1960s counterculture, is predicated on the notion that as an individual it is one’s best interest to get along in society -- abiding by laws and cultural norms -- because the survival of the individual is dependent on the survival of society. However, the collective nihilist believes in breaking society down into aggrieved subgroups that splinter and divide, thus destroying the larger society. This is the basis of intersectionality.
America has transitioned from the individualism that made America competitive and strong into interest groups -- each a cult unto itself where free (individual) thought has been replaced by ideological orthodoxy and dissent is punished. In the intersectionality sweepstakes, power and recognition are relegated to the groups that complain the loudest. Recently this collective whining has been replaced with violence in which Antifa and BLM have been catapulted to the forefront with the other aggrieved groups attaching themselves to the winners.
Black Lives Matters, the latest cause celebre, differs from most of these aggrieved groups because it really isn’t a group or movement per se as much as a catch phrase -- a slogan. Five out of six of BLM’s membership is white and they push the Marxist/leftist agenda more than speaking for civil rights for all black people. Essentially, BLM is just the public face of Antifa who claims no centralized organization or leadership, whereas BLM has a webpage citing their goals and philosophy.
BLM does not represent “downtrodden” blacks, their interests, or their world view. They are composed for the most part of privileged white kids from affluent families and good colleges, people most mainstream blacks and whites alike do not identify with. The few blacks in the group are Obama’s army of AmeriCorps “soldiers.”
The Ubermensch and Narcissistic Nihilism
“Nihilism is now a pervasive feature of Western society. Friedrich Nietzsche gave us the formulation of nihilism that is now commonly accepted: a sentiment that nothing really matters, and that there is no point in life. In the most extreme manifestations, life itself is considered worthless.”
“Passive nihilism consists of simply withdrawing from life-affirming activities (this was Nietzsche’s verdict on Schopenhauer’s pessimistic philosophy). It is demonstrated in the hopelessness and despair of those seemingly condemned to a life constrained by adverse circumstances or their own lack of imagination or resourcefulness. Some go further than resignation -- for example, the slow suicide of opioid addicts attests to the life-denying motivations of passive nihilism.”
“Active nihilism – Nietzsche’s own contribution to the philosophy of nihilism – consists of seeking the destruction of what is viewed as being worthless. Contested values -- and their expression -- are marked for abolition and destruction. The idea of value itself may be replaced by the goal of getting one’s own way, which does not qualify as a value in itself because it could involve the destruction of the world and everything in it -- the ultimate expression of active nihilism.”
These descriptions by Wen Wryte in this excellent article fail to identify another sort of nihilism -- narcissistic nihilism, the product of laziness and a sense of entitlement. “The political activism of the radical progressive liberal-Left is actively nihilistic in that they are intent on destroying all that stands in the way of imposing their worldview on others. They do not seem concerned that their dismantling of Western culture and civilization will result in the collapse of the West. All that matters is getting what they want: political power.” It is also actively narcissistic in that unlike Nietzsche’s nihilism that had a purpose -- a renewal of Western culture through the arts -- what we are witnessing in America are groups of spoiled brats used to getting their own way, destroying statues and any remnants of American culture they dislike and replacing it with a political order they have no understanding of whatsoever.
Moreover, there are infinitely more ways to break all of this down -- philosophical vs. practical nihilism, esoteric nihilism (Hitler’s occult nihilism), the possibilities are endless, for every possible convention, there is a nihilistic anti-convention of the flip-side.
“The Übermensch can be understood as a conceptual exercise in methodological individualism -- the idea that values and ideas originate with the individual and then impact on others in society to form a culture. And the evaluative context -- of personal choice, and even creation, of values -- does not do away with the concept of value, as some have claimed, it just abolishes the idea that value is something that can be imposed by others.”
“All animals are created equal, but some are more equal than others.” Nietzsche’s concept of the Ubermensch compared to the ascendancy of the Ubermensch in the Antifa/BLM crowd is vastly different, resembling more the ascendancy of the pigs in Orwell’s Animal Farm. Nietzsche’s Ubermensch was a naturally occurring phenomenon based on innate characteristics, unlike the new version based on dishonesty, thuggery, and yelling the loudest.
The destruction of statues and the assault on history is part and parcel right out of the communist handbook. History shows that every communist/socialist takeover consists of destroying cultural icons and rewriting history, from the USSR, to Hitler’s Germany and Mao in China. This is ultimately the age-old war of good vs. evil, in this case a war against America and the Judeo-Christian values that made it strong.
Like all of the other communist assaults, it’s an educated elite -- in this case the Ayers/ Obama/Soros globalists directing the uneducated useful idiots. Being indoctrinated in an “institution of higher learning” doesn’t make one educated, only useful to the elites. This is the “everybody gets a trophy” generation, programmed for narcissism. They are the result of getting everything they want and never having any consequences for bad behavior… most of these people have never been parented in any meaningful way. They’ve never had to work for anything, and they’ve been raised to believe that no matter what they do they’re “still good people.” In short, they have no moral character.
“This is highly relevant to our situation today, because instruction about, and the development of, moral character has been slowly removed from the public education system and even from the realm of public discourse. The demands of moral character -- taking personal responsibility for the conduct of one’s life, living according to one’s own values, striving for excellence, setting a good example to others, and independence of thought and opinion in defense of one’s own value-system -- all these have almost disappeared from public view as the collectivist ideology of radical progressivism has come to dominate in the West.”
“An individual lacking in moral character has no defense against either passive or active nihilism. Such an individual will easily succumb to hopelessness and despair. And the availability of an outlet for the more destructive motivations is provided by radical progressivism, which demands only ideological conformity and suppresses independence of thought and opinion.”
The educational system has turned these people into parasites with a sense of entitlement. Like infants they believe if they scream loud enough they’ll get their way. Wooed with promises of “free shit,” they’re easy targets for the conmen (and women) that have been pulling their strings since kindergarten. Success and genuine self-esteem require hard work and failure. These people come from a worldview in which failure doesn’t exist. They find the siren song of power and free shit too strong to resist -- especially when the possibility of failure exists on the other side.
Nietzsche’s nihilism was a result of Enlightenment thinking, the idea that God could be replaced by some perfect secular order. Had he read Smith and Reid instead of Hume and the secularist crackpots he might have had room for the real solution for the world’s problems.
“He also argued that the Christian moral conscience had become an intellectual conscience under the secularizing influence of the Enlightenment, thus bringing about the “death of God.” Nietzsche was looking for a way forward without Christianity.”
Perhaps he should have read Voltaire: “If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.” Nietzsche fell into the same trap as all other secularist/humanist thinkers… if you want to replace an existing set of moral doctrines, you have to first come up with something better. What we are now witnessing is that nihilism isn’t it.
“But now the Enlightenment too has failed (which Nietzsche also predicted) and been replaced by the pathological irrationality of radical progressivism and its anti-Western postmodernist philosophy. With no sign of a Nietzschean “perfect moral being,” or anything close to it, the time is ripe for a renewal of Christian moral teachings.”
“Western culture and civilization are rooted in Christianity. Remove Christianity and the foundations crumble to dust. Which is exactly what we are seeing today as nihilism pervades our culture and society.”
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2020/06/nihilism_nietzsche_and_our_cultural_crisis.html
interesting thoughts. i actually live close to Nietzsches Birthplace in East Germany.
"God is dead. We have killed him you and I." (His father actually had been a pastor.)
for this posts i would love to establish the hashtag #godpill
#godpill I like it! It seems that America is turning into East Germany... The PC Stasi are attempting to take over. I had a neighbor that escaped from there, a gay guy. He used to tell me stories about what it was like. He said: "I don't know what gays are complaining about here, try being gay in East Germany."
I think people misinterpret Nietzsche, especially the God is dead statement. I always looked at it more as a lament.
awesome work ! keep it up.
I enjoy your insights Rich, the Communist takeover has come to America. Who would have thought it would get here, after all the anti-Russia, anti-China sentiment? And the rot is internal, which is usually how societies crumble, from within. The infiltration by the NWO grand plan, the same Bolshevik, Zionist plan the has been unfolding for a century or more, seems to be in its final stages of total takedown of the entire west, including capitalism and religion and the family and morality, as you say.