Latest news with #nihilism
New York Times
25-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
A Fringe Movement
The attack on a Palm Springs, Calif., fertility clinic last week surfaced some unsettling ideas. Guy Edward Bartkus, the 25-year-old suspect, had posted an audio clip explaining why he wanted to blow up a place that makes babies. 'I would be considered a pro-mortalist,' he said before detonating his Ford Fusion, killing himself and injuring four others. 'Let's make the death thing happen sooner rather than later in life.' Investigators called it 'terrorism' and 'nihilistic ideation.' Trump administration officials called it 'anti-pro-life.' Bartkus was indeed espousing an extreme ideology. But it belongs to a larger intellectual movement, still fringe for now, that is slowly gaining adherents. My colleagues Jill Cowan, Aric Toler, Jesus Jiménez and I have spent the past week reporting on what experts call 'anti-natalism.' Hundreds of thousands follow accounts and podcasts about it. It holds that procreation is immoral because the inevitability of death and suffering outweighs the odds of happiness. Today's newsletter explains. The idea The calculus is ancient — to be or not to be? A South African philosopher's 2006 treatise, 'Better Never to Have Been: The Harm of Coming Into Existence,' popularized the idea in its modern form. 'You're stuck between having been born, which was a harm, but also not being able to end the harm by taking your own life, because that is another kind of harm,' the author, David Benatar, told us. This perspective draws partly on utilitarianism, a discipline of philosophy that asks how to achieve the most good for the greatest number. But even there, anti-natalism is seen as marginal. Besides Benatar, 'I don't know any other philosophers who share it,' said Peter Singer, an influential utilitarian. Online, however, anxieties including climate change and artificial intelligence have given it traction — as has the yearning for connection, even among people with antisocial tendencies. Scores of anti-natalist discussion boards, influencers and podcasts now debate whether all creatures should stop reproducing, or just humans. The concepts have bled into pop culture. Thanos, the supervillain in two films from Marvel's 'Avengers' franchise, wants to eradicate half of the universe's living beings because there are 'too many mouths to feed.' The number of Americans who don't want kids is rising, with many young people saying they don't want to hurt the environment. A few variants are even more extreme. An offshoot known as 'efilists' — that's 'life' spelled backward — argues that DNA should also be destroyed. Pro-mortalism, the position Bartkus staked out, is less well defined. But it suggests that birth should be followed as soon as possible by a quick, consensual death. Bartkus was a vegan from a small town in the California desert whose estranged father called him 'a follower, not a leader.' As a child, the father said, he loved rockets and once nearly burned the house down. As an adult, he set off explosions in the barren wilderness. Online, he had grown close to a woman who died last month in an apparent assisted suicide. Taking action That woman, Sophie Tinney, 27, was shot three times in the head on Easter Sunday near Seattle, according to court records. Officials have charged her roommate with second-degree murder. But Bartkus's manifesto says she was a suicidal anti-natalist — and may have persuaded the roommate, an Eagle Scout who liked to play Dungeons & Dragons, to shoot her in her sleep. (He has pleaded not guilty.) Bartkus said online that Tinney's death might have prompted the clinic bombing. 'I don't think I really knew how much it was going to affect me,' said a manifesto posted with the audio on a pro-mortalism website. Social media posts tied to him indicate that he had attempted suicide at least twice since she died. Then he videotaped a dry run for the bombing, mixing chemicals in the desert that could blow up his car. An F.A.Q. appended to his manifesto includes a list of pro-mortalist and efilist figures; at least two of them have killed themselves in recent years. This week, the moderator of an anti-natalism Reddit forum with nearly a quarter-million members called the bombing 'unjustifiable, incoherent, immoral and disgusting.' Benatar, the author, said that his philosophy explicitly abhors violence, the restriction of reproductive rights and, in almost all cases, suicide. But ideas have a way of twisting and transforming online. One such adaptation seems to have found a young man who loved pyrotechnics and hated life. War in Ukraine Democrats Trump Administration Five Years Since Floyd Other Big Stories Republicans want to add work requirements to Medicaid. Is that a good idea? No. Work requirements bury eligible people under paperwork to prove that they meet the new requirements. 'The most vulnerable will be made worse off, all to fund a tax cut that most benefits the rich,' Pamela Herd and Donald Moynihan write for The Times. Yes. Work requirements improved the economy in the Clinton years, when people left welfare and went back to work. 'More workers in the economy will mean more people paying into Social Security and Medicare, preserving those programs for years to come,' Stewart Whitson writes for U.S. News & World Report. Zombie apocalypses are appealing because there's no better distraction from whatever currently ails you than something worse, Rachel Feintzeig writes. Here are columns by Maureen Dowd on Trump's crypto gala and Lydia Polgreen on the Oval Office meeting with South Africa's president. Believing: After childbirth put a woman into a coma, she forgot her husband and her faith. Read how she recovered. Wrecked: With an underwater drone, archaeologists are capturing images of sunken vessels in the Great Lakes. Roommate tales: Stories of New Yorkers living alongside slobs, witches and eventual lifelong friends. Summer vacation: Staffing cuts could make national parks a mess this summer. Here are five great state parks to visit instead. Divorcing? There's a coach for that. The Gecko Gallery: A tiny Brooklyn zoo is host to dozens of species from across the globe. See inside. Vows: Their friend rigged the gala seating chart. It worked. Your pick: The most-clicked story in The Morning yesterday showed 15 looks from the Cannes red carpet. Trending: The soccer team Real Madrid. The coach Carlo Ancelotti is leaving the club this weekend to become head coach of Brazil, the BBC reports. Lives Lived: Susan Brownmiller was a feminist author and activist who helped define the modern view of rape, debunking it as an act of passion and reframing it as a crime of power and violence. She died at 90. Read this week's magazine. Try a soul-nourishing Filipino chicken soup. Workout in 20 minutes. Watch these comedy specials over the long weekend. Know your charcoal before you start grilling this summer. In this week's Five Weeknight Dishes newsletter, Emily Weinstein suggests making a recipe she will have on repeat this spring: Melissa Clark's miso-chile asparagus with tofu. She also recommends lemon-pepper chicken breasts, a Somali coconut fish curry, and salmon and couscous salad. Here is today's Spelling Bee. Yesterday's pangram was expunging. Can you put eight historical events — including the creation of the laser, Mickey Mouse and Godzilla — in chronological order? Take this week's Flashback quiz. And here are today's Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your weekend with The Times. P.S. The Interview is off this weekend. It will be back next weekend. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Fertility clinic bombing in Palm Springs sheds light on nihilistic violence
The bombing of a fertility clinic in Palm Springs last weekend points toward a dark philosophical dead-end. The alleged perpetrator seemed to have a misanthropic, anti-life worldview. According to a report by the LA Times, a website that may be linked to the bomber advocated for 'sterilizing this planet of the disease of life.' A speaker there declared, 'I'm angry that I exist.' The fertility clinic was likely targeted as a symbol of birth, life and hope. The root problem here has been described as 'anti-life nihilism.' A more familiar term may be pessimism. The 19th Century pessimist, Arthur Schopenhauer, said life was an 'unprofitable episode disturbing the blessed calm of non-existence.' He suggested it would be a favor to the next generation to 'spare it the burden of existence.' It is easy to imagine this leading to violence. The Washington Post warns of a rash of nihilistic violence, claiming that 'nihilistic extremists are often motivated by a philosophy that seeks to hasten the world's downfall.' If you think existence is rotten, you may want to annihilate it all. Those who hate life may view life-affirming people with bitter animosity. But nihilism is not necessarily violent. If life stinks, indifference is as likely as hatred. Disillusionment and despair often give birth to apathy and listlessness. If nothing matters, then why bother with anything? Various solutions to nihilism have been proposed. Religion is an obvious one. The loving God of Christianity gives meaning and purpose to life despite suffering, sadness and death. In Buddhism, salvation is found in the insight that suffering is caused by attachment to the ever-changing world of experience. A different approach can be found in art, science and humanism, rooted in ancient Greek philosophy. Greek philosophers argued that human virtue and wisdom were intrinsically valuable, despite the indifference of nature and the gods. Modernity builds upon this. Scientific knowledge has value in itself. It is amazing to understand the immensity of the cosmos, the history of humanity or the inner workings of cells and atoms. The quest for knowledge makes life worth living. There is always something new to discover and more wisdom to be gleaned. The nihilist gives up on knowledge. One cure is to rediscover the joy of curiosity. Art also has intrinsic value. We can delight in the music of Mozart, the lyrics of Bob Dylan or the architectural wonders of the world. We can also actively create art. The fun of drawing, singing or writing is freely available. A nihilist might complain that nothing human lasts. But the energy of the creative imagination is an antidote to that complaint. We can also find value in friendship and love, as well as in natural beauty, physical pleasure or athletic achievement. Social life and purposeful activity provide deep wells of meaning. When nihilists reject life, they reject these basic goods. This indicates a broken spirit lacking in vision, compassion and ambition. The great American philosopher William James offered a cure for pessimism in an essay entitled 'Is Life Worth Living?' He said that pessimism results from too much thinking and not enough active responsibility. The gloomy, world-weary nihilist suffers from what James called 'speculative melancholy.' The solution is to stop whining, get out in the world and get to work. We have a choice in the matter of meaning. If life seems meaningless, remember that you are free to create something better. As James said, 'Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact.' As we celebrate Memorial Day, we discover another remedy for nihilism. We can learn from the commitment of those who sacrifice their lives in service to others. We all die. But this gloomy fact need not undermine the will to live. Rather, faith in life is renewed by observing that the best lives are lived in uplifting others. Pessimism and nihilism are perennial problems. They indicate a deep challenge for the human spirit. We are the only beings in the universe — as far as we know — who wonder whether life is worth living. If we understand our unique capacity to ask this question, we may also realize how wonderful it is to exist as beings who think, question and create. Andrew Fiala is the interim department chair of Fresno State University's Department of Philosophy.
Times
21-05-2025
- Health
- Times
Antinatalist philosopher: The Palm Springs bomber proves my point
A philosopher whose beliefs on procreation are thought to have inspired the suspected bomber of a fertility clinic in Palm Springs told The Times the attack only 'underscored his point' that suffering is inevitable. David Benatar, a South African academic and author of one of the so-called antinatalist movement's most influential books, claimed suffering like that caused by Saturday's blast was a natural consequence of humans being born into 'misery'. Authorities in California are working to learn more about Guy Edward Bartkus's motives for the bombing, but have said the 25-year-old left behind nihilistic writings that suggested he held antinatalist views. In a manifesto published on his now-deleted website, Bartkus said he was going to bomb an in-vitro fertilisation clinic because he was angry
The Guardian
21-05-2025
- The Guardian
‘A rabbit hole of paranoia': what an IVF clinic bombing tells us about young men and online extremism
Experts say an online ecosystem that allows lone actors to latch on to fringe viewpoints is bolstering violent extremism in the US, following an attack over the weekend on a fertility clinic in Palm Springs, California. Investigators are combing through the writings of a 25-year-old man killed in a large explosion outside the American Reproductive Centers, an IVF facility, that was heavily damaged in what they've described as an 'intentional act of terrorism'. The suspect in the bombing, Guy Edward Bartkus, left behind writings that appear to hold fringe theories of 'antinatalism' and nihilism, ideologies that oppose procreation and have a general sense of the meaninglessness of life. Officials are still looking into the beliefs behind the attack and if Bartkus can be linked to a website bolstering those viewpoints. But in the meantime, experts say the nihilistic worldview the suspect possibly adhered to is part of a growing trend of people finding smaller, niche ideologies rather than movements linked to jihadist violence that have drawn followers for decades. Brian Levin, the founding director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism and a professor emeritus at Cal State San Bernardino, described antinatalism as one of the more obscure theories he's tracked. The concept generally circles around the notion that reproduction is cruel and that more children should not be brought into a harsh world. A manifesto published online before the bombing included a hope to sterilize the planet 'of the disease of life', although it has not yet been linked to Bartkus. But rather than the motivations behind antinatalism specifically, Levin said online spaces now allow those with lone wolf mentalities to use 'what they find in the online space as kind of a hand in glove for their own idiosyncratic perspectives'. 'I think that there are a couple of things that are often left out, the role that psychological distress plays, as well as how the internet can aid and abet antisocial, aggressive or suicidal behaviors,' Levin said. 'When one's grievances, paranoia, despair are amplified and then twisted into an anger that is part of a continuum, this rabbit hole particularly for these unstable folks is very easy for people to go down.' The extremely online nature of modern life, Levin said, has only exacerbated the ability of lone actors to find motivation and validation, when in the past those ideas may have existed in their own silo, without an on-ramp to violence. '[Now] the anger and grievance can find a philosophical home in an online community, with a skill acquisition component, which can make people even more violent than they were before,' Levin said. 'When psychological self-destruction has its own community, online space, and identification of legitimate targets for this aggression, that's what you get.' Javed Ali, an associate professor at the University of Michigan and a former senior counterterrorism official for the US government, agreed. He said attacks like the one in Palm Springs are part of a growing pattern of lone wolf tactics, and that investigators are now faced with the difficult task of homing in on obscure individual motivations. Ali, who spent decades working for the FBI and Department of Homeland Security, among other agencies, said there is no single profile or dominant ideology investigators can look to in hopes of stopping violent attacks. That can be difficult for officials, who in the past were more accustomed to looking at links to trends in jihadist ideologies and now have to wrangle 'this whole diverse spectrum of extremist beliefs out there'. Often, that can mean a potential attacker isn't on law enforcement's radar – until they are. He pointed to an attempted car bombing in Times Square in 2010. The wannabe attacker, Faisal Shahzad, built a homemade explosive device, placed it inside his SUV and drove the bomb to New York City, where it failed to detonate. 'He put a car bomb together in his garage, completely not drawing the attention of anybody and drove 30 or 40 miles to New York,' Ali said, adding he was often shocked people like Shahzad were able to put together 'really sophisticated' devices by themselves. 'A lot of times those people are previously not subjects of FBI investigations, they move pretty seamlessly in this world from radicalization to mobilization and they're able to conceal or not reveal those steps that probably would get you on the radar screen,' he said. 'It's so hard to stop them,' Ali added. 'It's so hard to identify them in the first place because things are very fuzzy.' Levin went on to say while Americans are largely afforded great freedoms under the first amendment – with even sociopathic viewpoints largely protected – the state of the internet and social media had left a vacuum into which those in psychological distress can fall into. Safeguards like notifications on search browsers alerting people to help and support could be a vehicle to help counter that black hole. 'You're not going to be able to eliminate this,' he said. 'But what we can do is offer off-ramps and help that can hopefully be a choice for people who are otherwise careening without any speed bumps towards a violent or suicidal demise.'
CNN
19-05-2025
- CNN
What we know about the man police believe bombed a Palm Springs fertility clinic
Federal agencies Maternal healthFacebookTweetLink Follow Before the man police believe detonated a large explosive that blasted through a fertility clinic in the California desert community of Palm Springs on Saturday, people who knew Guy Edward Bartkus should have alerted authorities about his warning signs, the city's police chief said. 'There were people in chat rooms, there were people who were connected to him, who had to have known, in my opinion, that he was up to nefarious deeds,' Palm Springs Police Chief Andy Mills told CNN, adding, 'That should have been brought forward.' Mills said the investigation has determined Bartkus, 25, 'was chatting with people in online groups, in online forums, as well as posting stuff on YouTube where he was experimenting with different types of explosive materials. That should have been reported.' With Bartkus having been killed in the bombing, sources say authorities are trying to determine a possible motive based on his prolific online presence and through a search of his residence about an hour northeast of Palm Springs. 'The subject had nihilistic ideations,' Akil Davis, the FBI's assistant director in charge of the Los Angeles field office, said at a Sunday news conference. According to FBI research of past violent actors, nihilistic ideation refers to a 'preoccupation with themes of violence, hopelessness, despair, pessimism, hatred, isolation, loneliness, or an 'end-of-the-world' philosophy,' said retired senior FBI profiler Dr. Mary Ellen O'Toole. 'Nihilistic ideation is a very pessimistic view of the world.' The FBI's insight into Bartkus' views comes from their discovery of his writings, including a suspected manifesto, sources said. One law enforcement source said authorities are also aware of a rambling audio recording posted online that could be associated with the incident, in which a man describes his intention to attack an in vitro fertilization clinic. In the oftentimes incoherent audio message, the speaker discusses various grievances about his life and criticizes IVF while referring to himself as 'anti-life.' He said the government should not restrict an individual's 'right to die,' and babies should not be permitted to be born without their prior consent. Experts are quick to point out that trying to attach logic to heinous acts of violence is often an unsatisfying endeavor. For example, O'Toole says the attacker's suspected view about consent by the unborn 'is not logical and has no basis in reality.' In addition to being nihilistic, she said grievances expressed by violent offenders can also be 'shallow, illogical and nonsensical, because they are a blending — a hodgepodge of different types of superficial information the offender found online or read about — in a very superficial way.' O'Toole says, 'most offenders who write manifestos do not conduct deep scientific dives into the information they use to create their personal themes or life-philosophies. They stitch together unrelated, unscientific, and often illogical ideas that simply appeal to them and bolster their justification for their lethal behavior.' In the FBI's latest public update on the Palm Springs bombing, Davis, who leads the bureau's Los Angeles division, said, 'This was a targeted attack against the IVF facility.' Davis said Bartkus also attempted to live stream the bombing, although it remains unclear whether he was successful in broadcasting the incident. Live streaming a suicidal act of violence is what the New York Police Department has referred to as 'dying live,' said John Miller, CNN Chief Law Enforcement and Intelligence Analyst who previously oversaw counterterrorism operations for the NYPD. Intelligence analysts see the public showcasing of an attack as a way for a perpetrator to not only gain attention, but to also control the narrative of their own life and its final moments. 'When people tell their life story, they never cast themselves as the villain, or the enemy or the failure,' he said. 'They cast themselves as the hero or at least the victim who is dying for a more meaningful purpose than simply suicide.' While investigators continue to dig into Bartkus' past, those who knew him said he previously took interest in flammable material. In an interview with The New York Times, the suspect's father, Richard Bartkus, said his son would tinker with model rockets, stink bombs, and smoke bombs, but not actual explosives. The elder Bartkus said his son accidentally burned down the family home in 2009 while playing with matches. Richard Bartkus, who said he had not seen his son in a decade, told the Times the suspect in the attack 'wasn't dumb,' adding, 'But he wasn't a leader. He was a follower. If somebody came along and said this was a good idea, he'd probably go along with it.' As authorities continue to dig into the suspected attacker's past, one major question for law enforcement remains: Did he have any outside help or inspiration to bomb the clinic? Mills, the Palm Springs police chief, told CNN Monday he was 'very confident' Guy Edward Bartkus acted alone at the scene of the explosion that rocked the fertility clinic, but added, 'we want to make sure that, through social media, that others did not help him in any way.'
