• TotallynotJessica@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    12 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
      0
      ·
      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.’