Confronting the Crisis of Identity and Nihilism

This chapter explores the significant societal changes in the West, focusing on attacks on core elements of identity like aesthetics, food, and education. It argues against the narrative that these changes benefit the oppressed and warns that the widening gap between rich and poor could harm everyone, culminating in a call to confront the rising nihilism in society.

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Why are people SHOCKED by the obvious consequences of their actions? We print money and act surprised at inflation. We pursue godless lives and wonder why we feel empty. I've spent years asking the most accomplished people I know—CEOs, politicians, artists—how to live happily as a young man, and received NO satisfying answers. This episode identifies the 12 toxic cultural assumptions driving our collective misery and offers the only path forward: shattering these illusions completely.

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RECOMMENDED PODCAST:

Check out Modern Relationships, where Erik Torenberg interviews tech power couples and leading thinkers to explore how ambitious people actually make partnerships work. Founders Fund's Delian Asparouhov and researcher Nadia Asparouhova kick off the series with an unfiltered conversation about their relationship evolution.

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1786227593

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5hJzs0gDg6lRT6r10mdpVg

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ModernRelationshipsPod

LINKS:

Link to HIstory 102: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0NCSdGglnmdWg-qHALhu1w

Link to my cancellation insurance: https://becomepluribus.com/creators/20

Link to my Twitter - https://x.com/whatifalthist

Link to my Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/rudyardwlynch/?hl=en

Bibliography:

Lost Connections by Johann Hari

A Secular Age by Charles Taylor

The Myth of Disenchantment by Storm