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Misanthropy and nihilism do not belong in politics (self.general_discussion)

submitted 1 year ago by VoidCrow to c/[email protected]

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If you don't care about or hate humanity, or just overall genuinely don't believe in any chance at making a better future/life for others, and talk down anyone having any hope or progress in this world, you should not have an influence over how society should function. All this does is at best demotivate us and make us capitulate to harmful groups that are motivated to enact change for their own gain, and at worst cause a lot of harm that wouldn't exist if you just cared about others. Do note that I have almost fallen down the nihilism pipeline and so I can be sympathetic towards people that find themselves going through it too (depends on some other factors ofc) but I am just not sympathetic towards either stance

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[–] GhostsAreShitty 1 points 1 year ago (3 children)

The thing is that in a functioning democracy, everyone should have an equal say in politics regardless of their beliefs. I think there's also a lot more harm in "caring" about others in the sense that you're damaging everyone else. Caring about the rich, or a specific race or religion, for example. I don't see nihilists doing that.

[–] VoidCrow 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Oh no I specifically clarified it's not about the person (and I can be sympathetic towards them) it's just that stances that fundamentally hinge on hating the very thing it's being applied to (in this case society) will only damage that subject (generally, there may be caveats I'm not thinking about idk). And I'm not referring to people selectively caring about certain things either, I'm talking like genuinely not understanding why we should support each other or help each other. For example, I had an irl discussion with someone that just devolved into "why should everyone have a home? Why should we care for others? Why can't we just decide who gets a home or not?"

Essentially, imagine if there was a food bank run by a group of people. Now imagine if at least one of those people just doesn't care about the safety of their food, doesn't understand why people should have access to food, looks down on everyone, or believes there's no point in having a food bank, and these beliefs have major effects on the way the food bank is run. Is this productive or will this just harm the cause?

Idk I'm just sick of trying to find solutions to problems in society, only to run in circles with someone just for them to drop "oh I just don't care about people lol"

[–] GhostsAreShitty 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Oh oh oh, I misunderstood your initial post. Fully agree in that case. I was conflating misanthropy and nihilism with pessimism, since that's how I usually see those used. But yes, government should exist to help people, and the idea of "rugged individuality" to the extent of wanting others to suffer is messed up.

[–] VoidCrow 3 points 1 year ago

No worries I'm shit at phrasing lol, and yea fully agree