Preliminary information is becoming to come out that the accused Tucson murderer is a nihilist. In my opinion, this is going to be a tough nugget for the public at large to digest. Nihilists come in all flavors and varieties, and they run the gamut in terms of behavior; but I believe it can be said that they cannot be fans of any of the popular political parties, or even 'left' or 'right' in that sense. A basic tenet of nihilism is that everything is baseless; there would be no advantage to a conservative or a liberal political philosophy because it just doesn't matter; politics are meaningless to a nihilist.
I believe that it is human nature to attempt to attach a reason to tragedies like this; something that lets us label and therefore 'understand' what has happened. People are not just crazy - there has to be a reason. People do not just murder, there is something or someone to blame. Without reasons that we can attach, we have to accept that some actions are utterly meaningless, and that is very hard for human beings to do.
If this person is a genuine nihilist and not just severely mentally ill, his actions to himself have no more significance than crossing the street or eating ice cream. All actions have the same moral value; none.
This may not be something we can put on a right-wing or left-wing radio talk-show host or a political figure or even highly-charged rhetoric.
Thoughts?
I believe that it is human nature to attempt to attach a reason to tragedies like this; something that lets us label and therefore 'understand' what has happened. People are not just crazy - there has to be a reason. People do not just murder, there is something or someone to blame. Without reasons that we can attach, we have to accept that some actions are utterly meaningless, and that is very hard for human beings to do.
If this person is a genuine nihilist and not just severely mentally ill, his actions to himself have no more significance than crossing the street or eating ice cream. All actions have the same moral value; none.
This may not be something we can put on a right-wing or left-wing radio talk-show host or a political figure or even highly-charged rhetoric.
Thoughts?