nihilism n.
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Metaphysics: A doctrine holding that nothing exists, is knowable,
or can be communicated.
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Ethics: Rejection of all distinctions in moral value, constituting
a willingness to refute all previous theories of morality.
 What
is there to like about this word? Particularly that metaphysical sense
there. Nothing exists? Come on! Might as well assert that everything
exists, as in...
"Anything you can imagine is real."
-- Pablo Picasso
Hard for me to decide which is worse (see art).
How do people come up with things like this? More to the point, why?
Now, that ethical sense of the word, like a verbal reflux
disorder, comes up all the time,
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"All politicians lie."
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"You can prove anything with statistics."
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"Everybody does it."
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"Talk is cheap but not worth the price."
Cynicism in the extreme, seems to me. I want no part
of it. As for the people who do, they deserve the worst punishment
of which I am capable. They are not welcome in my home for dinner. |