• TotallynotJessica@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    6
    ·
    11 hours ago

    I think that’s a lazy way to understand them. They really believe they’re the good guys, as do fascists and tankies and right wing libertarians. Very few people are actually that nihilistic, and even those that kinda are end up believing the shit they say anyways.

    • TheDemonBuer@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      edit-2
      10 hours ago

      That’s just it, I don’t think they see themselves as “good guys” or “bad guys” because that implies some kind of moral dynamic, and they see themselves as above such things. They’re technocrats, I think they see themselves as scientists, in a way. I don’t think they care so much whether or not a course of action is “moral” only that it achieves the desired results.

      I think people misunderstand nihilism. It isn’t the total absence of belief, it’s a rejection of meaning and morality. It’s not that the liberals don’t believe in anything, they believe in free markets, they believe in the fully atomized, wholly self-interested, utility maximizing individual. They believe in those things, they just don’t care if that individual, or, god forbid, a group of people, hold any moral positions, unless or until those moral positions start interfering with the functioning of "free markets.’

      • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        9 hours ago

        I think people misunderstand nihilism. It isn’t the total absence of belief, it’s a rejection of meaning and morality.

        Nihilism does not, necessarily, reject morality.

        Moral nihilism does, but that’s just one sub category. Also, that’s specifically about the rejection of objective morality.

      • TotallynotJessica@lemmy.blahaj.zone
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        10 hours ago

        And I’m telling you, as someone who grew up around and has paid a lot of attention to liberals, they believe their own bullshit. They’re not special; every such group is like this.