It’s not vice-signaling because that’s only a tactic, same with ragebait. Nihilism is too broad and contradicts with the bible-thumpers that also engage in this. It’s like what Sartre describes in the “anti-Semites” excerpt. I really think there is a coherent phenomenon that encapsulates this. I think the best way I can describe it personally is ‘bloodsport politics’ but words are kinda failing me here. I might already know it even and could just be having a brain blip
The thing is that it feels so consistent and coherent as a social phenomenon that I’m surprised that I’m not equipped to describe it with a specific turn of phrase. It might be because it’s something that really only manifests properly with the depersonalization and disassociation that the internet affords so it might be more of a burgeoning analysis?
Yeah it’s like some sort of venomous denial. There’s an aspect of self-hate and almost suicidal selfishness that is hard to describe.