>>> Wojtek Sokolowski <sokol at jhu.edu> 05/21/99 12:23PM >>
Nihilism? Perhaps. But it is also an effective survival strategy in the
world dominated by spin, consumerism, decadent materialism, and political
machiavellianism.
(((((((((((
Charles: Wasn't Nietzsche a Nihilist ? ( I got deja vu of asking this question on this list and this exchange before).
I'm not defending Nihilism, (nor condoning nor celebrating the latest school tragedy) , but it seems Nietzschean Nihilism gets some praise from some post-modernist lines of thought. What's the difference between good and bad Nihilism ?
To me much of nihilism, including as reflected in Nietzche, Heidegger, and most rightwing existentialism , is unconscious petit bourgeois alienation in bourgeois society. (See _Existentialism and Alienation in American Literature_ by Sidney Finkelstein, International 1965). It is rebellion without a cause. Or in the case of Hitler, diversion of legitimate protest and rebellion against alienation into world historic gangsterism.
My dilemma is will anything but tragedy and sacrifice shake the great American masses out of their Rip Van Winklism with respect to the rapid decay of American morality, politics and socio-economic order ? Things are horribly wrong in this country , yet the vast majority are going along with it. Even the Oklahoma City bombing was not any kind of a wakeup call. The proto-fascist implications of it have been completely whitewashed. The same is true of the Littleton tragedy. Reaganite plausible denial of capitalist alienation, including denial of racism ,is a clear and present danger to the health, safety and welfare of the vast majority of the People of the country and the world.
Charles Brown