Other uses of the term "Cultural Nihilism"

". . .and I saw sadness come over mankind. The best turned weary of their works."

-Nietzsche

"Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity."

-Yeats

For some time now, I've been grasping for a better description for the phenomenon that I call "cultural nihilism." I recently discovered that I'm not the only one toying with this strange term. I think there are some common threads here:

China Study Group: http://www.chinastudygroup.org/index.php?action=trans&type=edit_block&id=527

Mao's efforts to open those cultural categories [linian] to bridge the gap between concept and reality, as result, opened up an even larger fissure: the fissure between the deficient orthodox [kuifa zhengtong] ideology and the mass ideology with its fierce antagonism toward culture [dui wenhua baoyou qianglie diyi] and [its principle of] "never again believe anything but cash and flesh [shenti]". In the end, Mao's efforts to establish establish a more flexible, more valid, more revolutionary and active cultural framework for interpreting reality led in fact to "the generalized cultural nihilism caused by the Cultural Revolution". If we were to say that this is a tragedy, then how heart-rending a tragedy it is, this tragedy should make every person with a conscience, before discussing it lightly today, ask him or herself: How have I failed to resist, and moreover in what ways have I participated, participated all along [yirujiwang], in the creation of this "cultural nihilism"? How have I refused
all along to reflect honestly [on my own complicity]?

Reviews or discussions of Lu Tonglin's Misogyny, Cultural Nihilism, and Oppositional Politics:

• http://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/yingwang/AS248Syllabus.html
• http://www-scd.univ-lyon3.fr/externe/lee/lee_lu.htm
• http://www.sup.org/book.cgi?book_id=2463%202464
• http://web.uvic.ca/pacificasia/courses/CHIN306.html

Civic culture and modern philosophy: http://www.civsoc.com/cltphil/cltphil6.html

Politics: http://www.melaniephillips.com/diary/archives/000068.html

But with socialism destroyed as a global threat, and with everyone now a Thatcherite free marketeer, they lost any idea of a distinctive agenda to believe in. There is indeed such an agenda waiting to be promoted. It's a moral one, because it's moral issues on which our culture is now split asunder, on which real choices need to be made, and on which the present government has taken the country in a ruinous direction virtually every single time. The cause is nothing less than to reverse the tide of cultural nihilism and social disintegration.

Cultural Nihilism in the Academy: http://www.achieveonline.com.au/article/articleview/255/1/1/

Neopsychoanalysis and Cultural Nihilism (in Passive Nihilism): http://www.frontlist.com/detail/0312227477

Cultural Nihilism in extreme Islamist movements, hatred towards the arts: http://www.logosjournal.com/issue_3.3/akinwumi_baker.htm

Cultural Nihilism and uncritical skepticism in the arts: http://www.calarts.edu/newspaper/nihilism.html

Being at CalArts for an exceptionally long period of time (BFA - MFA) I have seen a decline in the mentality of the artist community here that frankly scares the hell out of me. That decline may be traced to a certain fashionable attitude. I like to call it Pathological Nihilism. It's pathological in the sense that, while you think that you are using it, it actually uses you. To quote an instructor in the Art school
"Write down your fantasies.....because just saying you just want to, after school, work in your studio for a couple years, and then go and shop your slides to galleries..get maybe one or two shows and go back to your studio.....YOU MIGHT AS WELL KILL YOURSELF."
In fact, this last portion of the quote has been my impression from the recent curriculum at CalArts... specifically in the more theoretical and philosophical areas, such as film, art, and critical studies. "You might as well kill your self." I think the faculty is underestimating exactly how disheartening they have the capability of being. I am convinced it is impossible to go into the real world with any enthusiasm after going to CalArts. They can either convince you life is pointless or there is something great about physical pleasure, but you will not see a class any time soon that has anything to do with A REASON TO EXIST AT ALL, let alone as an artist...

If we are going to continue to be conscious of our surroundings as artists, we need to see mass cultural nihilism such as American Beauty and even Gummo as dangerous as well as interesting. We need to actually be skeptical of the skeptic and keep moving beyond. I mean, there is already a class called "Skeptical Beliefs," and at the rate things are going, there will be a Hollywood movie with that title soon as well. I feel the new nihilism invading our world in so many ways, and it seems like it is there to slow us down. I am sure that getting artists drunk every Thursday night on the top of an isolated hill is just what the conservatives want.

Google Search on Cultural Nihilism: http://www.google.com/search?biw=742&hl=en&q=%22cultural+nihilism%22