Man, sure is nihilistic/misanthropistic/generic-vaguely-hipster-outlook in here.

[lwm3398]

... how we're one of the only ones who see the world for what it is.

Which is a giant steaming pile of flaming poo, according to the internet.

 

[Internet Kraken]

I loathe XCD but it sometimes make a good, concise point. This here really is the perfect summary of the Escapist.

To be fair, at least we go to a classy webcomicfor our analogous images. Not like 4Chan, which can be summed up by the first page of 'The Art of Trolling' at any given time

A point swiftly forgotten when you remember that like 4chan, many people here spam dumb reaction images from MLP in embarrassing quantities. For as much as Escapists put 4chan down they sure due wallow in much of the same filth as them.

Ooh this baseless claim again. I haven't seen an MLP reaction image outside of a pony thread since our last argument. Got anything to back up your claim this time?

Then I really doubt you're paying much attention. And no, I don't document every single post that is pony related. Why would I? I hate it and don't want to keep an active log of everytime it comes up. I don't need to prove this to you. Why should I care what you think? I know it's true, and that's all that really matters in this particular instance. If you want to pretend it's not true than go ahead.

It's irrelevant in this case anyways, since my main point was just that both 4chan and this site have a large cult of pony. I didn't actually say anything about ti appearing outside pony threads.

 

[Gralian]

For example, the liberalism here is so extreme that some members genuinely feel there is nothing wrong with incest[1], given the right conditions. ...
I guess that's why people tend to have an air of superiority here. The more left wing liberal you are, the more 'superior' you are to others; and you don't even have to mean it. As long as you say you're fine with everything, you are above those who say they are not, because they are considered "backward" in their thinking.

Seriously? You're going to make this a political issue? How does wanting to rob the rich to help the poor equate to "incest is okay"? You're thinking of libertinism (moral theory), which has no alignment with politics, and at best is aligned with far-right libertarianism (Rand, Friedman, Rothbard, all those small government types that conservatives love to misquote) who would allow but not condone such acts.
Don't make an a-political issue political, and don't get it wrong if you choose to do so. Sweet Jesus.

Apologies. I'm not entirely well versed in the proper terminology, but here at least people tend to associate the "morally correct" thinking with liberal thinking - that people can essentially do as they want so long as it is not illegal or harmful to anyone else. I didn't mean to equate "incest is okay" with "political issues". I meant that a liberal might say "well sure let's legalise incest in certain cases", or more specifically, a liberal would be more open to the idea of something socially unacceptable purely because they are just that, liberal in their views of freedom and autonomy. Not that they support a political group.

I was never aware liberalism meant wanting to "rob the rich to help the poor", and if you believe this is what it means, i think you might be the one who's got it wrong. or perhaps the American definition of liberalism differs from the British one. Liberals here tend to be very "pro-something rights". All about the minority groups, whether it be racial, sexual, etc. You're thinking of Labour, if we're talking about politics, which is left-wing and an different group entirely to the Liberal Democratics.

(Unless i have it wrong and you're not American at all, in which case i really do apologise whole-heartedly)

Edit: To clarify. When i say "liberal" and "conservative" when talking in topics like these, i mean in terms of moral values. If you have liberal values, you tend to support the deconstruction of tradition and be more 'open' to things that combat the societal norm. Likewise, if you have conservative values, then you support the traditional and societal norms and resist change, like maintaining cultural heritage for example. Politics don't come into it at all.

 

[LaBarnes]

-snip-

I did use the American definition (and I am also an American). I went with that because your initial terminology (left wing) identifies the pro-egalitarian side of liberalism, which is American liberalism.
European liberalism is not egalitarian, and (as you state) is very very pro-rights.
Just to avoid future miscommunication- egalitarian refers to what some would call "socialist" equality of outcome, whereas European liberals are more about equal treatment under the law.

Since we're here, may as well clear up the error of grouping you seem to have made- "legalization" is not the same as "condoning as moral." For example, many people have moral issues with consumption of alcohol, the legal status thereof makes little difference to the individual's moral attitude towards it. Being pro-legalization simply means that you recognize that others should be able to do as they please so long as it harms no one.
The moral aspect (and I'm guilty of this one) is looking down on those who wish to regulate such behaviors, and the reasoning is not one of "incest is okay if it's consensual" but more of "no-one has the right to order around an adult who has not and is not harming anyone." Regulating behaviors that you personally dislike is what leads to authoritarianism, and it is wrong on principle, no matter how disgustingly some people may use that freedom. I hate it when people chew with their mouths open, but I don't try to get them thrown in jail for it, I just don't sit near those people.
That's all a liberal is, is someone who, despite personal feelings, is willing to let others do as they please so long as it harms no one. Moral condemnation (religious or otherwise) is outside of the sphere of liberalism, many liberals (such as John Locke) have fairly strong personal moral convictions that condemn the behaviors that they would legalize.

EDIT: Saw your edit after posting. That makes a lot more sense, although your attitude towards legalization is still a little wonky. IE: I am personally extremely morally conservative, but I want pretty much everything that isn't murder, arson, rape, theft, etc legalized.

 

[lSHaDoW-FoXl]

Hardly surprising. "Everyone is shit but me, and as long as they stay away from me, then more power to them." tends to be the mantra of this community. I can't help but wonder for how long this hyper-liberalism would last when certain things rubbed a bit too closely, though. For example, the liberalism here is so extreme that some members genuinely feel there is nothing wrong with incest[footnote]Please don't quote me expecting to get into a discussion on whether it is right or wrong. That is not the purpose of this post.[/footnote], given the right conditions. It's all very well they sit here saying "whatever man i'm cool with it" when they're safely behind their computer screens miles away from any such activity, but if it was brought to their attention in a much more personal way, i think their tone would change dramatically in a considerably short space of time.

I guess that's why people tend to have an air of superiority here. The more left wing liberal you are, the more 'superior' you are to others; and you don't even have to mean it. As long as you say you're fine with everything, you are above those who say they are not, because they are considered "backward" in their thinking. The problem is it's all too easy to say that (relatively) anonymously behind a computer screen on the internet. This leads to a lot of quaffing and people agreeing with each other that everyone else who does not explicitly agree with them is inferior, and because the majority of the general public (society at large outside of the internet) falls neatly into this line of thinking de facto, it also leads to a general "everyone sucks but me" misanthropy of the users here because of how the community fosters a very specific train of thought through social engineering.

And what in the world is a hipster?

"Hipster" is a hilariously generic term used to define people who used to like things "before they were cool". For example, say someone used to read the Harry Potter books before all the publicity that was attained through the movie adaptations. They enjoyed that particular, perhaps not well known, franchise before it got any major publicity. Then out come the movies and suddenly everyone knows all about the books and it's all they talk about. Suddenly you can't get away from the thing you enjoyed, making you inevitably come to loathe it. Then you say "Sigh. I used to like the Harry Potter books before they were cool". Then suddenly the new initiated turn around and say "Man, you're such a hipster!". The reason for the negative connotation is that people believe hipsters are like this purely for the attention of "oh look at this completely obscure niche no-one has ever heard of except for me", thus feeding into some sort of self-belief that they are superior in some way for not being part of the "sheeple" and following the mainstream. While i dislike the overuse of that label, i'll just say i think there are a fair few hipsters here, though not all of them fulfil the stereotype of being a hipster just to "be cool"; some people genuinely liked things before popularity ruined it. I'm like that with the Call of Duty franchise. I loved CoD 2, it's my favourite one to this day. However its popularity meant all of a sudden it's everywhere, it comes out every year, and it's attracted a certain demographic that make you ashamed to be associated with the franchise.

Uh . . . nice rant? Except your being just a tad ironic. Liberalism doesn't fit anywhere's in here yet you brung it up. Heck, Liberalism has nothing to deal with anything. The problem I think is self entitlement, and I think it's a flaw that everyone has and it's something everyone wants. And as a liberal the issues I face affect me on a very personal level. I'm a Gay Atheist so I put up with both descrimination basically over everything I do.So no, it's not because I can't 'personally understand the issues' that I have liberal ideals. And no, being left wing doesn't give anyone the message that they're 'superior'. Heck, the last misanthropic nihilist I met was in fact a conservative that hated me because I was 'too liberal'

Basically what your entire argument consisted of was using a topic to attack liberals with. Ever watch the show South Park? Well, remember that episode where Cartment drew the conclusion that Kyle bombed the two towers even though it was completely unrelated? Yeah, you brought your self down to his level.

As for the Hipster note I sort of was one, once.

I liked the Naruto manga but I hated the show. And I'd say that's justifiable, because I hated the shows voice acting with a passion. I liked Harry Potter before it was super uber famous and I still love Harry Potter <3, so I guess I know for certain it has nothing to deal with me 'just trying to be different'

 

[ChickenZombie]

It's natural. Everybody does it, including myself. It's just a matter of how obvious you are with it.

 

[lSHaDoW-FoXl]

So basically, the reasoning of a lot of people posting in this thread is "They think that they are better than everyone else, but they're actually idiots, unlike me."

Wait, what?

Technically from that statement you implied that you think you're better then other people.

 

[Hyper-space]

It reflects nothing but a very profound, chronic, global existential crisis. The western world becomes more dystopian every day. Realizing your life is functionally meaningless kinda sucks. Taking a position against the misanthropic position might seem clever, and by no means is Randall Munroe an idiot, but the reality is it's every bit as contrived and meaningless.

Dystopian? well gee, life back in the 50's sure seemed like a cake-walk, what with all the world-wars that were going on. Hell, how about something more recent, say the 80's, where the world was on the precipice of nuclear war.

But what about the the middle ages? or the renaissance? dunno if the black plague/spanish influenza/countless wars/religious persecution/invasions/poverty/terrible living conditions/terrible life in general is your cup of tea, but the world today seems a bit brighter than before, doesn't it?

Sure we may have our set of problems, but considering that we have achieved so much and will achieve so much more (seeing as we are more and more educated), a solution to our current predicament is not an unlikely one. It simply takes someone who cares enough to do something about it, so if everyone would start paying attention to the bigger picture (instead of wallowing in an existentialist stupor) we could easily manage.

 

[LaBarnes]

Ooh this baseless claim again. I haven't seen an MLP reaction image outside of a pony thread since our last argument. Got anything to back up your claim this time?

I just stumbled across this and remembered your post: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/jump/18.291183.11563655

I'll just leave this here.

 

[Bags159]

Ooh this baseless claim again. I haven't seen an MLP reaction image outside of a pony thread since our last argument. Got anything to back up your claim this time?

I just stumbled across this and remembered your post: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/jump/18.291183.11563655

I'll just leave this here.

Hey, finally someone found a thread with a MLP image in it. However, it can hardly be classified as spamming though and it is certainly not the epidemic other people claim it to be.

Good for you though.

 

[Fanta Grape]

I love how so many people's reasoning here is "because they think they're better than everyone else but really they're losers and I'm better than them."

Hahaha, you win the thread.

I think the nihilism comes from these people being more partial towards the sciences, meaning that they're very strongly attached to solid logic. They're misanthropists because there's a lot of stupid people, and the internet brings that out. But then again, the good people outweigh the bad. And the hipster thing is because a lot (but not necessarily all) of mainstream media is very poorly constructed.

Whether this makes the community better or worst, I'd argue, but, eh...

 

[thylasos]

I've not really noticed that, it's got to be said.

Possibly there are people on here who have a relatively pessimistic view of mankind as a whole, but I think that's fairly par for the course, as far as the population of the western world goes.

 

[OmniscientOstrich]

Seems like every few posters, there's the one that mentions his/her opinion that humanity/life in general is bad (despite how seemingly irrelevant this is to the actual topic). I don't get what it is about this 'community' that encourages this pseudo-philosophical perspective.

Am I the only one who finds it ironic that this guy has House as his avatar?

OT: I sometimes post some meandering misanthorpic/nihilstic musings although usually keeping within some correlation with the matter at hand. At any rate, these forums tend branch off into completely different directions the longer they go on, I swear there are some people arguing about MLP of all things on the second page.

 

[Nieroshai]

The internet's blood is made up of douche cells, and occsionally the internet cuts itself to relieve the humors. Otherwise, it would self-combust in a planetary flamewar.

 

[12GaugeLobotomy]

Nihilism only really entails whiny, humanistic pessimism in it's most rudimentary and ill-considered forms. It's a shortcut to a cheap sense of superiority, but hardly a rounded world view in the post-modern hipster sense. :/

 

[ZeZZZZevy]

pff. I'm cynical in real life as well. I don't really carry myself differently on the internet.

although I'm much more likely to think before I speak than think before I type. Sometimes that gets me into trouble :S

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

These things usually come in waves. Every now and then we get a new few hundred posters filled with people who want to make a name for themselves by being the morose "life sucks" guy. Too bad we've seen it all before.

This is one of the things I don't like about MM, actually. The inevitable awful new users that come from it.