.-') _ .-') _ | |
( OO ) ) ( OO ) ) | |
.-----. ,--./ ,--,' ,--./ ,--,' | |
' .--./ | \ | |\ | \ | |\ | |
| |('-. | \| | )| \| | ) | |
/_) |OO )| . |/ | . |/ | |
|| |`-'| | |\ | | |\ | | |
(_' '--'\ | | \ | | | \ | | |
`-----' `--' `--' `--' `--' | |
lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
What is nihilism? A teen charged in a mass shooting plot and a car | |
bomber subscribed to the same ideology, authorities say | |
By Rebekah Riess, CNN | |
Updated: | |
7:00 AM EDT, Sun June 8, 2025 | |
Source: CNN | |
An last month in connection with an alleged mass shooting plot | |
targeting a mall in southwestern Washington subscribed to a | |
“nihilistic violent extremist ideology,” according to officials. | |
Similarly, FBI officials said , the man accused of bombing a Palm | |
Springs, California, fertility clinic last month, “had nihilistic | |
ideations.” | |
It’s this “preoccupation with themes of violence, hopelessness, | |
despair, pessimism, hatred, isolation, loneliness, or an | |
‘end-of-the-world’ philosophy” – as the FBI defines nihilistic | |
ideation – that allegedly drives these individuals to violence. | |
Here’s how experts and authorities describe nihilism. | |
What is nihilism? | |
Nihilism, which is usually defined as a philosophical concept rather | |
than a set of actions, is the belief that “all values are baseless | |
and that nothing can be known or communicated,” according to Alan | |
Pratt, professor emeritus at Embry-Riddle University. | |
Nihilism is “associated with extreme pessimism and a radical | |
skepticism that condemns existence,” Pratt wrote in a . “A true | |
nihilist would believe in nothing, have no loyalties, and no purpose | |
other than, perhaps, an impulse to destroy.” | |
Nihilism is also often connected to German philosopher Friedrich | |
Nietzsche, who argued that “its corrosive effects would eventually | |
destroy all moral, religious, and metaphysical convictions,” | |
according to Pratt. | |
Retired senior FBI profiler Mary Ellen O’Toole, who has researched | |
past violent actors to provide the FBI with its initial definition of | |
nihilistic ideation, describes nihilism as “something on a | |
continuum.” | |
“A person’s outlook on life is never black or white,” O’Toole | |
told CNN. “Over the years, there have been some people that have | |
planned mass violence, where their nihilistic thinking, or view of the | |
world, was very extreme, and then you have some where it’s less | |
extreme.” | |
FBI defines ‘Nihilistic Violent Extremists’ | |
Both FBI investigators and Justice Department prosecutors have recently | |
deployed a new specialized term to describe those radicalized by | |
nihilism – Nihilistic Violent Extremists, or NVEs. | |
In on a separate case, the FBI defines NVEs as “individuals who | |
engage in criminal conduct within the United States and abroad, in | |
furtherance of political, social, or religious goals that derive | |
primarily from a hatred of society at large and a desire to bring about | |
its collapse by sowing indiscriminate chaos, destruction, and social | |
instability.” | |
“NVEs work individually or as part of a network with these goals of | |
destroying civilized society through the corruption and exploitation of | |
vulnerable populations, which often include minors,” the definition | |
continues. | |
Investigators have found these types of extremists often use social | |
media platforms to “connect with individuals and desensitize them to | |
violence … corrupting and grooming those individuals towards | |
committing future acts of violence … for the purpose of accelerating | |
the downfall of society.” | |
Nihilism and the ‘black pill’ concept | |
CNN’s , in her book “ How I Witnessed the Darkest Corners of the | |
Internet Come to Life, Poison Society, and Capture American | |
Politics,” describes the way individuals on social media platforms | |
like 4chan deal in explicit nihilism – with the “black pill” | |
concept. | |
“The black pill is a dark but gleeful nihilism: the system is | |
corrupt, and its collapse is inevitable. There is no hope. Times are | |
bad and they’re going to get worse. You swallow the black pill and | |
accept the end is coming,” Reeve described. | |
“You start searching for evidence to prove to yourself that you’re | |
correct, and it’s easy enough to find … The hardships and | |
heartbreak you’ve faced can now be explained as the inevitability of | |
a sweeping historical force,” she wrote. | |
“You spend more time in blackpilled online forums, where the darker | |
the commentary, the more attention it gets, so you compete to write the | |
most creative description of the depravity,” Reeve continued. | |
“Incels traffic in explicit nihilism too, with the ‘(black pill)’ | |
concept providing an ideological veneer to cover their self-loathing | |
and isolation,” a article explains. | |
“,” short for “involuntary celibate,” describes someone, | |
usually a male, who is frustrated by their lack of sexual experiences. | |
“Many school shooters and incels display and act upon the same | |
suicidality that also characterizes much nihilist activity. For | |
instance, incels have adopted a phrase, ‘going ER,’ to describe the | |
phenomenon of taking one’s own life in a bloody murder-suicide plot | |
against society,” according to the article. | |
The phrase refers to , a 22-year-old who in May 2014 killed six people | |
in Isla Vista, California, before fatally shooting himself. | |
O’Toole says decades ago, the concept of nihilism and holding | |
nihilistic ideations was a phenomenon – but added the “black | |
pill” terminology over the last 15 years shows how normalized the | |
nihilistic worldview has become. | |
“Twenty-five years ago, the shooters that we looked at … didn’t | |
have social media, so they couldn’t compare notes, and so that | |
didn’t give them the opportunity to say, ‘Hey, do you feel the same | |
way I do? Yeah, I feel the same way you do,’” O’Toole said. | |
“Behaviors that were really anecdotal 25 years ago are now being | |
normalized because other people share them.” | |
<- back to index |