we are convinced by modern propaganda that we need to
live by various isms and ideologies… patriotism, nationalism,
racial purity, American exceptionalism…and that we should
live our lives within these “truths”… we should be patriots
and live our lives within the banner of patriotism…
a truth by which we can live out our lives…
the problem (one of many) is that the ism of patriotism is that
it is a mass production ism…we individual human beings, small
and puny, are suppose to find greater glory and a higher purpose
in life by living via patriotism… America first… MAGA…
that makes my life, my individual life subject to being negated
and dehumanized by forces outside of myself… I am negated,
denied for love of country… if country comes first, I come last…….
that is nihilism…and if I fully embrace the idea of patriotism,
then I negate people who are not Americans… only Americans
have value… all others are negated and dehumanized…
by practicing patriotism, I practice nihilism……
any ism or ideology also promotes this idea of those that embrace
the ism and ideology come first and all others come second…
thus they are negated and dehumanized… any ism or ideology
practices with truth and conviction practices nihilism…the
negation of human beings and their values……
upon what values and beliefs can I rest knowing I
am not practicing nihilism?
all men are created equal…nope, how about…….
“all human beings are created equal”
upon that viewpoint, can I truly say, I am not practicing nihilism…
but I am negating and denying all other life, thus even accepting all human
beings as equal, I still practice nihilism by not including all life…
thus the equation goes like this…
“all life is create equal”
Now, I am not practicing nihilism… only by including, not excluding,
but by inclusion can I say, I am not practicing nihilism………
“so stages upon a life’s way”
we practice nihilism every time we exclude… it is only until we
accept all life do we not practice nihilism…….
thus we are born and we see only ourselves
and as we grow older, we see our parents
and as we grow even older, we see our siblings
and then we see aunts and uncles and nephews and nieces
and we see grandparents…
and then as we grow older, we begin to see other children
and we see other adults and we see that our world is large
and varied……
we learn to accept other human beings and then we begin to accept
animals as equal… until we don’t see animals as our equals…
the path of being human takes us from one to few to many and with luck,
finally all… we learn to accept all as equal…
and that is the road we must take as human beings……
to accept only some as equal, we practice nihilism…
it is only until we accept all as equal is when we no longer
practice nihilism…
so, do you practice nihilism by only accepting some as equal
and not all as equal?
Kropotkin