Did I say "necessarily"? Or are you concluding that I'm an idiot because you over-interpreted an anecdotal observation to be a statement of absolute necessity? Get over yourself
When speaking of societal trends it literally doesn't matter what I think. Common interpretations, be they misconceptions or perversions of an academic philosophy, are what actually matter.
>I grew up identifying as an atheist and an anarchist. I'm dismayed by, essentially, widespread adoption of my base philosophy. It seems that a culture of nihilism is on the rise.
The intent behind the above statements is clearly to imply, through the chain of inference presented, that the source of the "culture of nihilism" is the "widespread adoption of (your) base philosophy" which was "atheism and anarchy.", and that, therefore atheism and anarchy (as opposed to the Constitution and Bible) have led, at a widespread (cultural) scale, to nihilism.
>Or are you concluding that I'm an idiot because you over-interpreted an anecdotal observation to be a statement of absolute necessity?
I'm not calling you an idiot, and my interpretation was straightforward. However your comment does make it seem that you aren't aware neither anarchy nor atheism are nihilistic in nature, and that your "observation" about their effect in producing a culture of nihilism, however anecdotal, is likely based on commonly held misconceptions about both. Namely that atheism is nihilistic because meaning and morality can only be found relative to a belief in a higher power, and that anarchy equates to chaos.
If that's not the case, then by all means let's have an intelligent conversation about the nature of morality and ethics in a post-religious and post-statist society. Otherwise, I'm going to assume you're a troll and just ignore you from this point forward. Good day.
When speaking of societal trends it literally doesn't matter what I think. Common interpretations, be they misconceptions or perversions of an academic philosophy, are what actually matter.