“There’s so much I should say, so many things I should tell him, but in the end, I tell him nothing.
I cut a line and my losses, and I light a cigarette.”
― Clint Catalyst, Cottonmouth Kisses
Doomers are frequently accused of “giving up” being apathetic or becoming nihilistic.
It’s rather curious because the people making those accusations very rarely have any insight into what doomers are or what doomers do.
It is primarily a function of what they are doing or feeling or believing and using those activities to define what not being apathetic or nihilistic is.
Let’s use what I do as an example.
I am learning to play the Maple Leaf Rag on the piano.
Is that apathetic or nihilistic?
I help out on an organic farm one day each week.
Is that apathetic or nihilistic?
I help out at a food bank each week.
Is that apathetic or nihilistic?
I take walks in a park near my house and appreciate the beauty of the wildflowers and the wildlife.
Is that apathetic or nihilistic?
I have a daughter that I love and I go to see her as much as I can.
Is that apathetic or nihilistic?
I enjoy the company of the friends that I have here in town.
Is that apathetic or nihilistic?
I write every day.
Is that apathetic or nihilistic?
I always walk rather than drive if I can.
Is that apathetic or nihilistic?
I exercise every day.
Is that apathetic or nihilistic?
I spend a fair amount of time reading and researching things that I find interesting.
Is that apathetic or nihilistic?
I’m getting my yard ready for a garden this year.
Is that apathetic or nihilistic?
I don’t go to protests, sign petitions, or push my beliefs on anyone.
Is that apathetic or nihilistic?
I don’t drive an electric car, believe in the flawed concept of “renewable energy” or embrace any particular diet.
Is that apathetic or nihilistic?
I don’t pretend to have answers or solutions.
Is that apathetic or nihilistic?
I don’t believe we have all that much time left.
Is that apathetic or nihilistic?
It seems that the primary motivation behind attacking doomers is that you desperately want them to be wrong and your desperation manifests itself by attacking them. You have a vested interest in them being wrong.
I have never, even once, been asked by any of the people who are attacking how I feel about being a doomer. It has never occurred to these people that maybe doomers want to be wrong. Maybe doomers are like anyone else faced with an existential crisis. Maybe, and you’ll never hear this from them, the doomers are not that excited about the end of this set of living arrangements.
The difference is, and always has been, that doomers do pay more attention to what is happening. Doomers read and study and research and then open their eyes to the reality of our predicament and come to the only logical conclusion.
We disagree with people who have either a monetary or personal interest in maintaining the current status quo. Because those interests often interfere with seeing things as they are.
Lashing out at people who don’t believe as you do is becoming a national pastime. So necessary is the need to have someone to attack or blame that it has poisoned the well for everyone.
This doomer believes that you should do what you do for the benefit of the people and places you love.
This doomer believes that there is a lot of work to be done on acceptance.
This doomer believes that appreciating what you have right now in this moment is much more important than convincing yourself that some fantastical future may or may not happen.
This doomer believes that pie on the plate is valid and pie in the sky is not.
This doomer will play the hand he has been dealt and not waste valuable time hoping for a royal flush.
This doomer loves his daughter, dogs, tasty pastries, wildflowers, the sound of the water rushing over the rocks in a river after a rainstorm, an awe-inspiring display of nature’s magnificence, fresh-picked tomatoes, Scott Joplin, Chopin, Bach, Albert Ammons, the Cramps, James Lee Burke, poetry, X Files, Person of Interest, Fringe, and a comfortable well-lit place to read.
Is that apathetic or nihilistic?
