Cornell West on "Nihilism"

After reading Cornell West's groundbreaking book, Race Matters, I realized that I still have a lot to learn about race issues in America but also that I have more to learn about myself as a politically conscious human being and American citizen. While I do consider myself to be more informed than a vast majority of Americans, I still fall into the same pitfalls that many liberal thinkers fall into. In the first chapter of this book entitled, "nihilism in black america", West addresses liberal structurists and conservative behaviorists ignorance in regards to nihilism.

I would like to start this post by defing nihilism for those who are unsure of the exact meaning or just plain do not know what it means at all (i was a part of the latter prior to reading the chapter, but thats why i read and why everybody should read). Nihilism, according to dictionary.com

1. total rejection of established laws and institutions.

2. anarchy, terrorism, or other revolutionary activity.

3. total and absolute destructiveness, esp. toward the world at large and including oneself: the power-mad nihilism that marked Hitler's last years.

4. Philosophy.
a. an extreme form of skepticism: the denial of all real existence or the possibility of an objective basis for truth.
b. nothingness or nonexistence.

5. (sometimes initial capital letter) the principles of a Russian revolutionary group, active in the latter half of the 19th century, holding that existing social and political institutions must be destroyed in order to clear the way for a new state of society and employing extreme measures, including terrorism and assassination.

6. annihilation of the self, or the individual consciousness, esp. as an aspect of mystical experience.

Of these I think the most applicable would be early part of 3, both a and b of 4 and 6 to describe what Cornell West is referring to. In fact, West defines it as, "Nihilism is to be understood here not as a philosophical doctrine that there are no rational grounds for legitimate standards or authority; it is, far more, the lived experience of coping with a life of horrifying meaningless, hopelessness, and (most important) lovelessness."

The first thing that struck me about this chapter was that West calls out liberal thinkers. He says that, "They hesitate to talk honestly about culture..." What West means by this is that he believes that liberals are afraid to be honest about the meanings and values of black culture, because they think that this plays right into conservatives hands.

On the other side of the same coin, he talks about conservative behavioralists refusal to admit that there are political and economic structures that hold black people back in life and have since the formation of these United States. His specifically says, "They rarely, if ever, examine the innumerable cases in which black people do act on the Protestant ethic and still remain at the bottom of the social ladder. Instead, they highlight the few instances in which blacks ascend to the top, as if such success is available to all blacks, regardless of circumstances." (21)

This excerpt was especially clear to me because I read it a night after arguing with a former colleague of mine. We were having that really stupid conservative liberal debate and I was trying to explain to him that people in an urban setting, particularly black people have it harder than someone like me maybe does/did. He then said that he came from a single mother family and that he paid for everything and earned everything he got. A) This is, as West says just one example of a success story and B) he had white privilege on his side.

In the remainder of the chapter, West talks about how black people do not walk around looking for white handouts, or "wallowing in self-pity" they have been victimized. He also mentions that many conservatives are simply unwilling to look at history and acknowledge that it still has lingering effects. And he says that this ahitorical viewpoint contributes to right wing justification of cutbacks for poor people struggling for decent housing, child care, health care, and education.

Where I really feel that West is strongest in this chapter is when he says, "Life without meaning, hope and love breeds a coldhearted, mean-spirited outlook that destroys both the individual and others." This is the idea of the nihilistic threat.

Where I disagree with West is that he is a pastor and theoligist and I feel that religion is a major crutch in black america. Because many people have a lack of meaning, hope and love in life, they turn to the belief that heaven will be glorious and they will have eternal life, and I think most rational people know that this is not the case.