Neonihilism
摘要
The second part of the book looks at the sociopolitical conditions that amplify social inequities mixed with the hyperawareness of the internet age, which create an atmosphere of meaninglessness that is pervasive on social media and in internet culture. Most notably, the realization of our polarized sociopolitical conditions and the feeling of hopelessness to create change is captured in the sentiment I am calling neonihilism, a new nihilism. As a neoliberal phenomenon, neonihilism is how we confront meaninglessness through irony, which may hold the intrinsic condition for overcoming this new nihilism. I provide a novel definition of neonihilism and fashionable nihilism with a theoretical groundwork, highlight their lineage in a history of Western nihilism, and look at solutions for overcoming nihilism. Neonihilism is related to the neoliberal social context in which the meaning and mental health crises arise, the development of the neoliberal self, and solutions are proposed to both neonihilism and the neoliberal self through the art of nihilation (ars nihil).