Nihilism vs Optimism

I have been thinking a lot about the culture battles that are raging around the world.  The recent failed car bomb attacks in the UK are but the latest reminder that we are truly in a global conflict with a variety of enemies spread around the world, who are organized into small groups and integrated into the civilian populations of their countries.  It is hard to comprehend why anyone would use tactics designed to inflict as much damage as possible to innocent civilians, whether in London, Baghdad or Tel-Aviv, unless one appreciates that what these terrorists - criminals - truly want is to destroy the way of life of those they are attacking in order to impose their own.

Not long ago I read a New York Times op-ed by Tom Friedman, - "œThe Quiet Americans," - which I found personally useful in thinking about these culture wars.  Having just recently participated in three different college graduation commencements, including that of his own daughter, Tom was reflecting on the young people who were now going out into the world, and how "quietly determined [they are] not to let this age of terrorism curtail their lives, take away their hopes or steal the America they are about to inherit." 

Tom very nicely captured what might be the essence of these culture battles when he said: "If the dominant clash of my generation was between communism and capitalism, the dominant clash of this generation is between nihilism - as” represented by suicide bombers who try to blow up hope from New York to Baghdad -” and optimism that a better social and political order can be created."

You need hope and optimism, not only to go out there and plan the next steps in your life and work, but to help address some of the really tough problems facing us in society.  Especially when you are young, it is good to be somewhat naive and idealistic, to have the feeling that the world is your oyster and that there is little you cannot accomplish if you just try hard enough.  Even as we get older and have been chastened by encounters with real life, it is very important to retain some measures of hope and optimism in the future as the energy that keeps us going.

By contrast, all those individuals that think nothing of killing young people in Baghdad outdoor markets and Tel-Aviv and London nightclubs seem to have discarded all hope in the world.  Human existence to them no longer has any meaning or purpose beyond killing those they hate because they live different kinds of lives, as well as wrecking havoc in a society from which they feel alienated.

Closer to home, we have our own culture wars.  Thankfully, they are quite different in nature, - with loud, angry words as the weapons of choice, - but they are playing out on many fronts with surprising ferocity. 

Immigration is among the most prominent such battles, as we saw in the recent vote in which the Senate killed a comprehensive immigration bill that enjoyed bipartisan and administration support.  The opponents of the bill mounted a massive attack against it on television and talk radio shows that many believe contributed greatly to its defeat.

I am not sure if nihilism is quite the word I would use to characterize those who take such extreme positions against immigration reform and similar initiatives in the US, but they surely seem to lack any optimism that a better future can be achieved. Their stock-in-trade is their negativity.  They are characterized by all the things they are against, not what they are for. 

What they seem to have aplenty is anger bordering on rage.  When you hear them on TV or radio, their anger is what comes through loudest.  And that is likely their key appeal to those kindred spirits out there with similar feelings of rage.

One could be cynical and say that this is all an act for the greater purpose of achieving high ratings and a comfortable livelihood.  I honestly don't think so.  I think their rage is real - it is what makes them so good at what they do.  It is what helps them focus sharply on just one aspect of a complex issue - defining a comprehensive immigration bill as just an amnesty program for illegal immigrants, for example - and lets them ignore all the shades of gray, other points of view, and the need to come up with a solution to a very real societal problem.

In the end, in order to truly achieve a better society, - both in our individual nations and in the world at large, - we need to take on problems as they are.  Perhaps counter-intuitively, one of the hallmarks of an optimistic world view is the ability to accept and tackle complexities and shades of gray.  We need to get past ideology and rage and work on solutions that reasonable people can agree on and that have a good chance of success.

That is, I hope, the attitude of the majority of our young people.  We all need their optimism, as well as their creativity, energy, hard work and faith that a better social and political order can be created.

Comments

[Michael Hickins]

Irving,
Immigration reform is just one of many apparently contentious issues that we need to deal with more dispassionately than we do, and to see more than one side of complex issues. Ironically, it seems that technology, from radio to the Internet, has abetted passionate, one-sided argument rather than supporting balanced discourse. Beyond better leadership, do you have ideas for using technology to help achieve a more "optimistic" outcome?

[Well Wisher]

A very profound thought! - Nihilism V/s Optimism. When I read the blog I was very impressed with the characterization. But then whenI started reflecting on it I realized that this conflict had raged since pandora opened the forbidden box. Nihilism sponsors can take many forms.The impact of Nihilism on the world and society at large increases when the sponsors grow from individual to groups and so on .. to nation states and groups of nation states.

At an individual level you have Virginia Tech; At a group level many terrorist outfits operating many parts of the world; At a nation state level, we had Serbia and Germany playing the sponsor during the World War times.

You may notice a pattern between these sponsors - they are obsessed with the opinion they have; they are obsessed with their interests alone; they believe that force can help them meet their ends. Bin Laden and people who tried to plant bombs in Car in london recently were exactly like this.

Now, lets look at Iraq war indulgence...unilateral entry (No UN), false premise (WMD), Situation that led to mass killing of civilian iraqis...continued feeling that force will help serve the cause...Sounds familiar...Nihilism ???

[Irving Wladawsky-Berger]

I think technology is only a means to an end, that can be used by the "nihilists" as well as the "optimists" or serious problem solvers. The key, without a doubt is better leadership.

Perhaps the big change is that in today's global world the leadership has to be both local and global in nature at the same time, which perhaps makes it harder.

The "nihilist" side only has to appeal to their narrow partisans. Perhaps the challenge for the "optimist" side is to appeal to the best of human nature - again, much easier said than done.

Wise governments are critical. As we are seeing with Iraq, one sided actions in today's world can have very unfortunate consequences.

[daniel]

Very good thought. It is disappointing to see that there was so much scientific/technological development over the last century, and yet hatred and conflicts among us humans just kept growing.

We should keep in mind that these cold-blooded people who bomb innocent civilians are actually human beings - What have driven these people to act like these? What are the root causes?

I'm not trying to give any "nihilist" excuses. It's just that people tend to look at the current cultural clashes in a way that divide people, and I don't think this is the solution to the situation. We need to find solutions that do not label people and create more hatred, but change people mindset and hearts from within.

[David Locke]

Guerilla wars do work. They work because of the reaction of the goverment. The goverment clamps down on all citizens. Thus, the citizens come to support the guerillas.

As such, terrorism is just a lower intensity conflict with the same purpose. Our goverment has taken away civil liberties for certain classes of people, not just terrorists. And, the laws will apply to others, not jut terrorists once terrorism has disappeared from the scene. This is a historical pattern within the U.S. Terrorism has worked in the U.S. It is working. It is destroying the American way of life.

The police describe drive-by shootings as random shootings. They are not random. They are orchistrated to get citizens off the streets, so a gang can come in and own those very streets. Yes, the victim is random, but the shooting is not.

The difference between killing a civilian or a soldier is clear. The death of a civilian outweighs that of the death of a soldier.

911 demonstrates this. Less than 3000 civilian deaths has given rise to quite a few more than 3000 soldier deaths.

So who better to kill than civilians.

If this were Judo, it would be clear that you have to minimize the energies you direct towards your enemies.

I don't know that hopelessness motivates the guerilla or the terrorist. There is the hope of bringing an empire to its knees in the David vs. Goliath scenario.

Unfortunately, because of the reactions of Goliath, Goliath is falling. Goliath won't see it until they look back.

Given Vietnam and the lessons we were supposed to learn their, and those lessons not being consistent with the decisionmakers preferences, the lessons were forgotten.

We have never won a Guerilla war. Until we do, we have no hope of winning a Terrorist war.