Virus of Nihilism Virus of Nihilism Virus of Nihilism Virus of Nihilism Losing hope will only cause more harm by Van Vanderwall illustrations by Kami Gould
There are two viral pandemics underway. The second of these to occur, and the more literal, is that of the coronavirus. At the time of writing, more Americans have died from this virus than during the nearly two decades of armed conflict in Vietnam. Many reliable news organizations (and some unreliable ones that need not be named) are providing better coverage of the coronavirus than I can hope to do. It is the second of these viruses, the figurative one, that concerns this article. I refer to the virus of nihilism. American society at all levels is beset by a sense of meaninglessness and futility; this pandemic has been building for some time and the coronavirus outbreak has only brought it into clearer focus. Let us begin by considering the recent protests in 32
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Michigan and elsewhere to “open up” or “liberate” these states. Although protestors interviewed aver that they are not what this country calls conservatives, the verbal and visual codes say otherwise. Note how terms like “liberate” and performance art stunts like coordinated traffic jams and layered theatrical irony, which were once the province of the radical left in the 1960s and 1970s (Abbie Hoffmann and Jerry Rubin are the unlikely forefathers of Joey Gibson, Joe Biggs, and their ilk), have been appropriated by the far right. Now consider what these protestors, when interviewed, have to say about their role in spreading the disease: to summarize for clarity and grammar, their argument is that the pandemic is a problem which requires serious attention, but that their rallies will have no
appreciable effect on hastening the spread of the coronavirus. The words belie the actions: beneath the hollow, ideologically impoverished exhibitionism, their claim is that their existence does not affect other people and that their actions have no repercussions. Ponder that for a moment. Large numbers of people rally, bandying about catchphrases and buzzwords that disguise their true aim, which is to fight the feeling of futility that pervades life. This is not to say that such rallies are good, because they are not. (If you are under the impression that coronavirus is no big deal and that the only person affected by your decisions is yourself, I implore you to read up on epidemiology, human biology, virology, the history of infectious disease, and many other
