The Nihilism of the State

"God is dead." - Nietzsche

"Man would rather will nothingness than not will at all." - Nietzsche

These are two quotes which could not be more applicable to our current state of affairs. Nietzsche saw Christianity, and the rise of the "good vs. evil" paradigm as a shift that would lead to nihilism, and, from my humble point of view, he could not have been more correct.

In my search to understand exactly why the State is allowed to get away with so many things that go against our every human intuition, I have often placed blame on religion, the media, the sheepish public, etc. But deep down inside I feel that there is something else, something more fundamental.

One conclusion I have come to is that the State, by its very nature, is about dehumanization. The federal government wants to pass blanket laws so that everything can be the same. They loathe variety and diversity. They want to punish anyone who challenges the precedent set that makes them the ultimate and final authority on all matters relating to society. They despise anyone who challenges the status quo. They plant Pentagon flunkies in the media to constantly espouse the virtues of murder. They constantly harp on the "racial fault lines" (whatever that means) which apparently divide us. They pick out the easiest members of society to target and plaster images all over the TV of them being kidnapped, arrested, and harassed. They show paramilitary raids on drug users, tax evaders, and other victimless "criminals" that the State deems "evil." They show us images of Arabs in the street shouting and protesting, and tell us that we must kill them before they kill us. They somehow convince us that locking people up in cages and exposing them to horrible violence won't create or perpetuate crime. They want to make us carry our papers, and identify us as nine digit numbers to be manipulated. They would love for us to wear dog bracelets. They want everything to be the same, controlled, regulated, dominated. They want us to see images of our kind being degraded and humiliated so that we can come to accept ridiculous notions such as genocide and torture. They want us to think that everyone is a terrorist, or potential terrorist, so that they can further propagate and reinforce their practice of constant dehumanization. They use every conceivable means of propaganda to make us view ourselves as dogs, underlings, slaves, mere constituents of a greater whole.

In short, the State believes that every person must sacrifice themselves and their human intuitions for the greater glory of the ends that the State is trying to achieve. Power is what they are after and power means dominance and dehumanization of subjects. The State is dehumanization, and their sick fantasies only become reality so far as the populace is willing to accept them. And just look what happens when the "visions" of the State come to fruition. The more we accept human beings as worthless bags of chemicals, the further down the rabbit hole we will continue.

But what about Christianity? Jesus taught, "Love thy neighbor as I have loved you." Surely, Christianity is working against the State, reinforcing compassion and humility. Why then are so many Christians in favor of meaningless war? Maybe they are the most gullible when it comes to the State's lies?

I think it has a lot to do with the rise of science. Just as Christians refused to believe that the world is round, today they will go to any lengths to deny evolution. Go to any forum dealing with these matters and you will see them hopelessly clinging to creationism, as if evolution will break the foundations of their entire worldview. It all boils down to one thing, and one thing only: the search for meaning. Man knows he will die, and so he desperately searches for "something more" so that when death comes he will not just "fade out." Why else, in the face of such great evidence, would someone be compelled to defend creationism? I've even seen people try to use science to defend creationism! How can they use science, the very type of thinking they want to defeat, to defend age old stories which have no bearing on reality?

It really comes down to doublethink. The creationist is in denial. He has attached himself emotionally to a set of arbitrary beliefs, and then he clings to them even in the face of direct contradiction. Certainly, there is much doubt deep in his heart, but it is ignored, suppressed, sacrificed so that he can continue on willfully ignoring his intuition and comforting his deep dissatisfaction with life. Eventually he is forced to be a nihilist in denial.

But is the scientist any better? He, too, wants to find meaning in the universe. He searches endlessly for the "god particle" or a theory of everything which will contain absolute truth. He has a mindset that reduces everything to a final end particle or permanent substance which composes the whole of the universe. He rejects spirituality as a leftover notion from earlier superstitious societies. He believes that humanity can be reduced to minute interactions which can be fully explained, and which contain some ultimate nature or truth. The final theory he so desperately wants to find is no different than the God that the Christians search for. It is an affirmation of meaning which, from their perspective, has yet to be affirmed. The scientist and the Christian are just different human expressions of the same thirst. Both are equally susceptible to nihilism.

But what does all this have to do with my original purpose for creating this post? How does this relate to the State getting away with anything? The State reinforces the dehumanization and nihilism that has been manifested by the clash of western religions and science. The nihilism, however, is really only a catalyst, a vehicle through which people can justify the State. But going deeper than that, the State's ultimate legitimacy rests on two things. Firstly, until our lives are directly interrupted, we will literally search for and find ways to justify the State's lies so that we do not have to admit to the insanity of the world that we live in. The nihilism helps us to suppress our intuitions which are desperately trying to signal us that something is wrong. Secondly, what monkey sees, monkey does. So much of our self-scrutiny relies upon looking at others and comparing ourselves to them. Hey, if so many believe that preemptive war makes sense, why shouldn't I? If everyone thinks all government is benevolent, they all can't be wrong...If a bunch of people aren't stupefied and outraged by taxes, why should I be? If people aren't protesting on account of the police state, why should I be alarmed? The media does a great job of presenting the absurdity of the world as being sensible, and even normal. They do a great job of cheapening our culture, our traditions, and our basic human experience so that we are forced to view the world through the lens of a nihilist.

But one thing people fail to realize is that the State is a stagnating and deteriorating force which attempts to make everyone the same. Given a world without governments, I can't imagine any possible status quo. A truly free market media would dissolve people's habit of sounding off the same token opinions over and over again. We would not be forced to justify the world we live in through doublethink and lies. Ideas and development in all fields would not be tainted by political or governmental influence. Unfettered technological development would flourish unlike anything we have ever seen. Bankrupt ideologies such as social moralism, socialism, jingoism, imperialism, national divinity, etc., would be abandoned. People's thinking would not be confined to the box that the State builds around them. No more political correctness, no more two-sided arguments, no more distraction with trivialities. No more ideal "aim" for society which could never replace that which we have the potential to become. No more rigid institutions to prevent us from finding better ways to deal with our problems. No more intentional perpetuation of mass confusion, ignorance, delusion, and dehumanization. Our psyches would be free of this artificial burden called government and all the lies and baggage that comes along with it. In the end, I cannot truly say exactly what we would become, or how the world would look (isn't that the beauty of freedom?). I don't know whether it is the nihilism of western culture that begets the nihilism of the State, or whether it is the State's nihilism that infects culture. But, I can certainly speculate that with the cessation of government, human affairs would be manifested in an environment of free association and respect for property rights. Without dehumanization and the cheapening of the human experience, people might actually learn to enjoy simply being. And hey, you never know, we might even witness the rebirth of God....

"Believe nothing on the faith of traditions, even though they have been held in honor for many generations and in diverse places. Do not believe a thing because many people speak of it. Do not believe on the faith of the sages of the past. Do not believe what you yourself have imagined, persuading yourself that a God inspires you.Believe nothing on the sole authority of your masters and priests. After examination, believe what you yourself have tested and found to be reasonable, and conform your conduct thereto." - Buddha