Teenagers: I'm sad because nothing matters
Nihilists: why are you sad? Why do you care? Nothing matters! Come have some pizza.
this post was submitted on 26 Feb 2026
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Nothing matters :(
vs.
Nothing matters >:D
I find solace in the latter.
Nothing objectively matters, but humans aren't objective beings. Lots of things subjectively matter!
Ah yes, good ol' absurdism.
Yup. The idea that there is a a meaning to life is repulsive to me. It implies that there is a correct state of affairs, and introduces the possibility that you've done something wrong, and failed to fulfill some purpose. That's nonsense, there are no wrong choices. You didn't fuck up by not taking that promotion, your ex wasn't your soulmate, there is no fate but what we make
I like, nothing matters, because everything is made up anyway.
It's a variation of the old joke where the teacher points to a kid and asks to give two examples of pronouns. The frightened kid asks "who? me?" and the teacher continues, saying "perfect!"
That's depression, not nihilism. Nihilism is related to existentialism, and is about believing in nothing but what you experience or can prove. Unfortunately it's very close to some forms of scientism, whereby someone makes "Science" their religious faith. The idea of nihilism is to be faithless and to view the world through the lens of the material.
I feel like this isn't a great explanation of nihilism, someone might think it functionally is materialism, or some sort of skepticism.
Nihilism is the rejection of meaning, ethics, or knowledge as things that actually exist objectively. An existentialist accepts some form of nihilism, and grapples with its consequences. One key idea across existentialist thinkers is that Existence precedes Essence, that existing is always shaping who you become, rather than some kind of intrinsic being that nihilism would reject.
I'll admit that a lot of my understanding of nihilism came from existentialist thinkers, and from Turgenev's Bazarov.
Nihilism is related to existentialism, and is about believing in nothing but what you experience or can prove.
Oh, so I am a nihilist? 🤔
As another commenter pointed out, this is a bad description of nihilism. That sentence describes empiricism.
You are probably an empiricist.
As that other commenter pointed out:
Nihilism is the rejection of meaning, ethics, or knowledge as things that actually exist objectively.
Isn't that just depression?
A nihilistic outlook can be a response to, or defense mechanism caused by depression. But it's also a philosophy that is, ironically, well studied and developed. Not that that matters.
As long as you have an amphibic rodent, everyzing is fein, Lebowski.
You nailed it, Kevin.
Well, that was pointless.
A double positive can never be negative.
Yeah, riiiight..
Everything is true.
Nothing is permitted.
Found the OTO member pretending to be the opposite.
"No you haven't!" does Jedi mind-trick hand motion
(but actually I do, read Pattern Recognition by William Gibson, you will not be disappointed)
My freshman biology class was 1st period, and I would always put my head down and snooze for a bit. I was never fully asleep, though.
Every time, the teacher would ask me a question about what she just said, and I'd pick my head up, answer, and put it back down.
But she was a really good teacher. After a bit it basically became a game with us, and she's one of the only ones that stood up for me when I was expelled for a BS reason.
There's no point in the grand scheme of things, so I get to decide what's important for me in the here and now