Everyone mocks nihilism, but when you actually think about it, nihilists are the only people who are actually aware of the weakness of humanity’s “moral code”. Morals are fabricated and designed to suit individual people. Some think murder is wrong, others don’t. Ethical beliefs are just personal preferences, not rules set down by the King of the Universe – unless you’re religious, in which case I suppose this post is just for atheists. 

While you’re reading this, you’re probably thinking, “That’s ridiculous. Of course murder is wrong.” but who told you to believe that? Just the society you live in. Animals don’t generally murder others of their own species because it’s counterproductive, not because their “morals” tell them not to.

True, some “morals” help us to create a better world, but who are we to determine what is “right” and what is “wrong”?
Who are you to tell me what I believe is wrong when both your morals and mine are simply personal preferences? You think murder is wrong because society told you, I think the solution to Earth’s problems is the mass extinction of humanity because I can’t see any other way. What makes my views wrong and yours right? Nothing. 

Nihilism is above the petty squabbles of “who’s right and who’s wrong?” because nihilists have acknowledged the fact that morals are simply personal views, while the rest of society insists that their morals are the correct ones to have and that everyone else is wrong. 

For this reason, despite nihilism’s negative connotations, it is actually a more informed view on the world. Most people don’t know that “right” and “wrong” aren’t real things.

The Daily Caller is a trash publication that conservatives should be ashamed of. I wish that I had something more positive to say about young conservatives, but judging from the young conservatives that work in the media, the young conservative activists I read about, and the young conservatives on Tumblr, I’m feeling pretty cynical about the future of conservatism. 

I made some meme

fishyfellow:

snorlaxatives:

the-little-engine-that-couldnt:

snorlaxatives:

good morning cruel world

Don’t you mean goodbye?

no i meant good morning. this world may be cruel but i’m still kickin’

This really cheered me up

A mind made for murder.

The Iceman is a film by Ariel Vromen. I have never heard of him before this, but he does a decent job creating a film with a lot of potential, but with a lack of direction on its story and its characters’ developments, which ultimately makes this film a lackluster portrayal of a ruthless killer.

Richard Kukliniski was dubbed the “Iceman” after his victims were found to be frozen in order to hide their time of death from the coroners. He rose from low level illegal pornographic distributor for the mafia to favored hitman for the New Jersey and New York crime families; over the span of his illustrious 30+ years as a contract killer he has claimed to have killed over 100 people. During that time span he also raised a family, of whom knew nothing of his troubled career. This film is based on a true story of an inherently evil being who has claimed to have no emotions towards the killings of others.

A lot of the problems in this film revolve around its own timespan. Because Kuklinski is a sociopath and exactly when he started killing are left to our own interpretation the film suffers, for it begins to develop a plot and then goes off track just as quickly. The focus becomes less and less about the psychological nature of what makes Kukliniski so fascinating and more about the betrayal that comes with the territory of being a criminal. There wasn’t enough method in the film to his killings, this was a big “no-no” for me considering a lot of these details are already readily available via the HBO’s documentary/interview with the real Richard Kukliniski.

However, The Iceman is enriched with excellent performances, from all of its actors as they are introduced into the film almost like the ghosts that inhabited Scrooge’s dreams in Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Each significant visitor being played out in short segments of pure brilliance. It is in these short moments do we get to see where the film shines for it is after each of these interactions do we as an audience get to see Kukliniski’s character lose his way, more and more.

Specific moments that stood out for this film were his interactions with his brother played by Stephen Dorff as he visits him in jail, as well as his interactions with his own wife played by Winona Ryder, and lastly his brief “divine intervention” with James Franco.

These actor’s performances really stood out for me for they are the driving force towards Kuklinski’s actions. His brother revealing that they are cold-blooded killers and unfit for society, his wife anchors what little humanity may or may not exist within Kuklinski, and lastly with James Franco’s character we realize Kuklinski is truly crazy for he questions God’s inability to stop himself from killing others, he even pauses his execution to give God an opportunity to stop him.

I am glad this was made, for Vromen is a talented director. He was able to make sense of a screenplay that should have otherwise been a movie that almost hit the 3 hour mark, but is abridged into just under 2hrs, presenting a lot of beautiful detail but failing to elaborate on a lot of it as they are short handed with cliche story telling to keep the film with a duration that can appeal to many. He just has to be careful on his next projects for I am sure this film will garner him attention in Hollywood.

Michael Shannon delivers a chilling performance as his burly disposition slowly turns from nihilism to pure evil. If this film wasn’t enough to prove his talent, I don’t know what will.

¾

-DK

One of the things the ASOUE series does particularly well is that it subverts the narrative that is all too often perpetrated in children’s literature (and adult literature, let’s be honest), that karma is a real operating force in the world and that we all are fated to have good or bad things happen to us depending on how well we act in the world. ASOUE shows that that is not at all true. Sometimes good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people - but it’s all random happenstance, and not some cosmic destiny for good people to be rewarded and bad people to be punished.

At the beginning of the series we get these three lovely, perfect children who as far as we know have done nothing wrong and are incredibly polite and kind even in the face of evil. Even though Snicket warns the audience that nothing good will happen to the orphans, kids know that good people always have happy endings so it’s brushed off as a depressing narrator who is simply describing the trials and tribulations that the Baudelaire orphans will face throughout the book. But when we get to the end and the orphans have solved the mystery, escaped from their captor and have proven themselves worthy of respect and a happy ending, they are defeated again through random happenstance and left more or less where they started. They have done nothing to deserve evil, but evil has been forced on them anyways.

One of the problems with perpetuating the idea that karma is an active force in the world is that if good people are always rewarded and bad people are always punished, then good people who consistently do good thing with no payoff are left feeling like they’re bad people because apparently if they were actually good they would receive some kind of retribution. But the world doesn’t work that way. Sometimes bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people and that’s just the way the world is.

A Series of Unfortunate Events does an incredibly good job of explaining the concept of a random universe - where things just happen and nothing really matters in the long run because everything will just turn out how it turns out regardless. It’s an absurdist (like happier nihilism) take on the world, and I find it interesting that such an obscure and defeatist philosophy is able to be introduced so easily to children as young as I was when I read the series. But then again, one of the things ASOUE does best is not being condescending to children and engaging with them about the real world - recognizing that they are smart, functioning beings capable of understanding the world - and teaching them such a hard lesson about life so early on without making it overly depressing is something that I rarely see talked about in praise of ASOUE, and something that I think is worthy of commendation.

God is dead. All hail nature.