Affirmative Nihilism in The Digital Age
Many years ago, German philosopher Nietzsche wrote, "God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers?" In the face of a world devoid of meaning, or a world where god has died, Nietzsche asks us what we intend to do next. Well, fear no more, because modern capitalism has the answer: purchase!
We live in a meaningless world - there is no inherent value. This is not to say that we cannot create value on an individual level, though. Yes, god has died, but that does not mean that all hope died with him. Nietzsche would contend that, paradoxically, value comes from the lack thereof - or, in other words, we can create meaning as individuals despite the fact that there is no inherent meaning in the world. However, conflict arises when we attempt to impose a universal meaning onto others. For example, the crusades, which were lead by Christians who believed that their vision of the world was the only true one, resulted in mass violence in the name of imposing that vision onto others. Hitler, who had a vision of perfection, justified genocide in the name of preserving it. This, Nietzsche would contend, is the natural endpoint of the drive to impose certainty and order onto the world. This seems like a pretty basic, non-controversial understanding of the world, right?
In America in 2017, this is an abundantly controversial opinion to hold. Media, specifically advertising, is premised on a vision of perfection for consumers. Everywhere we turn, we are told how we should be living our lives; maybe we should be sexually active, or be a good family man, or maybe we should care about x issue more than anything else in the world. The vision itself is wholly unimportant - I contend that what matters is that we, as consumers, learn to understand that advertising imposes a violent and universal conception of our incredibly complex lives onto us.
We should refuse this - each time we are told how to live our lives, we should reject the sort of profit-driven essentialism which feeds into modern capitalism in favor of individualized forms of value-creation that allow us to understand the radical singularity that each person contains. Oh, and it wouldn't hurt to stop buying so much stuff.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh30qzdiV538MKgOsTuE3ifkTH1wLkRNBpy59vChTOxHjzLPECkaKrF5ebL_aw5kjTDF9ofoX2-V6Px4tmKP4eOT1snqVMzAe0GbUrew4KcsQJhp7Kg0zQsyjJ7d5ZYbHZMpyaqiO_miY/s1600/hqdefault.jpg
We live in a meaningless world - there is no inherent value. This is not to say that we cannot create value on an individual level, though. Yes, god has died, but that does not mean that all hope died with him. Nietzsche would contend that, paradoxically, value comes from the lack thereof - or, in other words, we can create meaning as individuals despite the fact that there is no inherent meaning in the world. However, conflict arises when we attempt to impose a universal meaning onto others. For example, the crusades, which were lead by Christians who believed that their vision of the world was the only true one, resulted in mass violence in the name of imposing that vision onto others. Hitler, who had a vision of perfection, justified genocide in the name of preserving it. This, Nietzsche would contend, is the natural endpoint of the drive to impose certainty and order onto the world. This seems like a pretty basic, non-controversial understanding of the world, right?
In America in 2017, this is an abundantly controversial opinion to hold. Media, specifically advertising, is premised on a vision of perfection for consumers. Everywhere we turn, we are told how we should be living our lives; maybe we should be sexually active, or be a good family man, or maybe we should care about x issue more than anything else in the world. The vision itself is wholly unimportant - I contend that what matters is that we, as consumers, learn to understand that advertising imposes a violent and universal conception of our incredibly complex lives onto us.
We should refuse this - each time we are told how to live our lives, we should reject the sort of profit-driven essentialism which feeds into modern capitalism in favor of individualized forms of value-creation that allow us to understand the radical singularity that each person contains. Oh, and it wouldn't hurt to stop buying so much stuff.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh30qzdiV538MKgOsTuE3ifkTH1wLkRNBpy59vChTOxHjzLPECkaKrF5ebL_aw5kjTDF9ofoX2-V6Px4tmKP4eOT1snqVMzAe0GbUrew4KcsQJhp7Kg0zQsyjJ7d5ZYbHZMpyaqiO_miY/s1600/hqdefault.jpg
So the problem with perfection is believing that perfection is possible, when in fact the strive for perfection is infectious enough to lead to violence and extreme discontent with ourselves and our achievements. I agree, that this is what advertisers prey upon, as every time we see this image we strive for the only solution now visible is consumerism to fill the trash can that is our lives. Why don't all ads follow this though, as seeing a farmersonly.com ad does not make me lust for hay and dusty plaid. Does it depend on the companies values?
ReplyDeleteCompany's* sorry that bugged me
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