Nihilism (pron.: /ˈnaɪ.ɨlɪzəm/ or /ˈniː.ɨlɪzəm/; from the Latin nihil, nothing) is the philosophical doctrine suggesting the negation of one or more putatively meaningfulaspects of life. Most commonly, nihilism is presented in the form of existential nihilism, which argues that life is without objective meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value.[1] Moral nihilists assert that morality does not inherently exist, and that any established moral values are abstractly contrived. Nihilism can also takeepistemological or metaphysical/ontological forms, meaning respectively that, in some aspect, knowledge is not possible, or that reality does not actually exist.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nihilism

The German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900), is most often associated with nihilism. In Will to Power [notes 1883-1888], he writes, “Every belief, every considering something true, is necessarily false because there is simply no true world.” For Nietzsche, there is no objective order or structure in the world except what we give it. The objective of nihilism manifests itself in several perspectives:

ttp://www.allaboutphilosophy.org/nihilism.htm

A GLUT OF GENIUSES

Nor are we turning away foreign students, or forcing them to leave once they’ve graduated. According to the Congressional Research Service, the number of full-time foreign graduate students in science, engineering and health fields has grown by more than 50 percent, from 91,150 in 1990 to 148,900 in 2009. And over the 2000s, the United States granted permanent residence to almost 300,000 high-tech workers, in addition to granting temporary work permits (for up to six years) to hundreds of thousands more.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/08/opinion/americas-genius-glut.html

It’s not just people in Newtown, Conn., who are being harassed by conspiracy theorists. In Aurora, Colo., things have gotten so bad that prosecutors this week requested that the names of victims’ families be redacted from future court documents to spare them from “relentless contacts by proponents of purported ‘conspiracies.’”

In a document filed with the Arapahoe County District Court Tuesday, Deputy District Attorney George Brauchler wrote that conspiracy theorists “have contacted victims in this case, some of whom have even gone so far as to recruit other members of the public to contact the victims and to publicly post maps with the home addresses and phone numbers of the victims on various social media sites.”...

Still, he tries to take all in stride. “This is what makes America great, in a way. You can express your opinion. But, shit, there are some crazy opinions out there.”

Alex Seitz-Wald

http://www.salon.com/2013/02/08/aurora_victims_harassed_by_conspiracy_theorists/?source=newsletter

 

The official accounts of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting are disputed by a number of conspiracy theories.[1] Proponents of these conspiracy theories question the circumstances of the shooting with Adam Lanza as the sole perpetrator and are using early media reports that included inconsistencies about the identity of the shooter, wrong photos, incorrect location of victims,[2] weapons used[3] and other misinformation[4][5] as evidence for their claims. Others have suggested the shooting was orchestrated by government officials for political reasons,[6] similar to some9/11 conspiracy theories. The theories alleging government involvement in the attack claim that it was set up to push stricter gun control laws.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_Hook_Elementary_School_shooting_conspiracy_theories

The fever-pitch surrounding Sandy Hook Trutherism is simmering, however a small, yet vocal movement is still feverishly working to convince the greater society that the event either didn’t happen — or that key details are being hidden from the public. We already brought you a point-by-point debunk of the Sandy Hook conspiracy, tackling some of the most talked-about claims. ButTheBlaze article was published on Jan. 23, and, since that time, Truthers have come out with new ideas and theories aimed at poking holes in the official narrative.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/02/04/we-take-you-inside-the-mind-of-a-sandy-hook-truther-cia-conspiracy-7-shooters-an-attempt-to-disarm-people-and-attack-the-2nd-amendment/

ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — Georgia Rep. Paul Broun said in videotaped remarks that evolution, embryology and the Big Bang theory are "lies straight from the pit of hell" meant to convince people that they do not need a savior...

 

Broun also said that he believes the Earth is about 9,000 years old and that it was made in six days. Those beliefs are held by fundamentalist Christians who believe the creation accounts in the Bible to be literally true.

http://news.yahoo.com/congressman-calls-evolution-lie-pit-hell-175514039.html

And this genius is running for the Senate!

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/02/06/georgia-rep-paul-broun-to-run-for-senate/comment-page-1/

Other conspiracies

http://dagblog.com/reader-blogs/conspiracies-urine-jars-15593

I am afraid that I have fallen into a nihilistic frame of mind.

As I write this, I am watching Family Feud.

It is the 21^st century version without that poor drunk acting as MC and without my favorite Minnesotan pretending that he liked the show.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_Feud

The new Master of Ceremonies is a funny Black comedian. One Steve Harvey.

I mean this guy is funny and the show is funny.

We asked a hundred people, what would you wipe yourself with in the event you find yourself in the bathroom without toilet tissue?

If your underwear could talk, what would it say?

I admit that this is one of the worst questions I have ever witnessed posed on any TV program.

But it is the answers that get to me the most.

Q: Name an animal that can swallow a person whole.

A: A whale.

Well anyone who viewed Disney's Pinocchio or has read the Old Testament would agree.

But a bear? Unless you are about six pounds and one day old.....

And even then the bear would bite a bit and turn the tot into bits before swallowing.

How about a lion?

Same result.

Who are these hundred people who thought a bit and answered these questions?

Well that is enough of that.

You see, I am beginning to understand what senility is!

How in the hell anyone could be entertained by Family Feud and still eat with a fork and knife...

The point of all of this?

First there is the drama.

I mean people are congregating in groups, libeling and slandering the victims of the most heinous of crimes.

And these people (and I use the term loosely) claim that our government somehow killed all these children and adults in an attempt to push through new gun laws.

All without any care for the emotional losses of the victims.

The 9/11 attacks brought out the worst in these groups.

But all of the conspiracy theories that I have presented here leave me with only despair.

We do not have a glut of geniuses in this country.

That is for sure.

Karl Rove believes in nothing but his own monetary gain.

Dick Cheney believes in nothing but his own monetary gain.

Rush Limbaugh believes in nothing but his own monetary gain.

Mike Savage and beckerhead and a host of other radio giants believe in nothing but their own personal monetary gain.

Marco Rubio believes in nothing but his own monetary and power grabs.

Steve King believes in nothing but his own monetary and power grabs (except Stevie really does believe that immigrants are animals, of course)

Oren Hatch does not believe in anything!

Cantor does not believe in anything.

Boehner could not possibly believe in anything.

McCain has not believed in anything for decades.

Lindsey is still hiding in the closet and only believes that his SC constituents are idiots and that is about the extent of anything he believes in.

Sessions believes that he must spend his life kicking liberals in the balls, otherwise he certainly believes in nothing.

Perry could never even form an ideology. He has not the intelligence nor the inclination to actually read anything except when written by his pollsters.

Ramona has certainly demonstrated to me that the current and duly elected Michigan legislators believe in nothing.

The Wisconsin governor certainly believes in nothing.

Believe it or not I do feel that the current Arizona governor believes in some things, I just note her vetoes that seem to have some semblance of rationality.

Chuck Grassley gave up on rationality a long time ago.

Michael Steele still thinks he believes in something; but when you attempt to pin him down?

George W. Bush never believed in anything.

I can go on and on as I already have.

Oh if Q and Moat and a number of other folks who used to read me might chime in:

Well the Dems do not believe in anything either.

Maybe I am a sucker.

Maybe I assume too too much.

But we have people in the Democratic Party (it is the Democratic Party and not the Democrat Party for chrissakes) who continue to fight for civil rights, for a more pacifist universe, for justice that aids the poor amongst us, for voting rights, for health rights, for equality in the employment areas, for a clean environment for...

Oh but where are the environmental proposals?

And where are the civil rights proposals?

And where are the measures to abolish the recent version of the Alien & Sedition acts?

I don't know.

I do think that McDonnell and Boehner and McCain and Cantor and a host of others are responsible for all of this.

So sometimes, I just come to the conclusion that all is lost.

Our nation suffers not from a glut of geniuses but a glut of morons.

People seem to purchase political arguments like they do tooth paste and limp dick enhancers.

Really evil people make billions upon billions of dollars selling hate and distrust and terror to the masses.

Anyway, I am more concerned about the fact that Family Feud is making more sense to me!