Turning Up
"Revelry and rebellion in the form of cigarettes, martinis" - DALL·E x radar
Absence isn’t the only way to soothe apathy. For those for whom nothingness isn’t enough, YOLO has made a comeback — and brought its grown-up goth cousin Memento Mori alongside it. Revelry and rebellion in the form of cigarettes, martinis, and cocaine aesthetics are markers of the moment. The New Yorker’s Rachel Syme captured it in a Tweet: “You can always chart hedonistic spikes in pop culture with a sense of general hopelessness everywhere else.”
Ok Doomer (We Get It)
"join the chorus before their volume can compete" - DALL·E x radar
Even for those of us who aspire to retain a sense of optimism, the struggle is real — as doomerism from the loudest voices often drowns out notes of hope. Existential dread makes for excellent memes, we admit. But accompanied by our always-dire 24-hour news cycle, we’re left with a media diet dominated by anxiety. It’s difficult to avoid without disconnecting entirely. While movements like OK Doomer and appeals like Packy McCormick’s On Optimism make an effort to reclaim the narrative, many more voices will need to join the chorus before their volume can compete.
Turning Off
"Circumstances change at a macro level"
- DALL·E x radar
In a rejection of those who might fight nihilism with traditional aspirations of wellness or productivity, we find Goblin Mode. More deliberate than your standard depressive trope, Goblin Mode, in the words of Venkatesh Rao, comes about “when circumstances change at a macro level, throwing off everybody’s calibration on the effort/reward equation of life.” It’s “an unapologetic unleashing of the creature within, and a complete lack of aesthetic.” From dirtbags to feral girls, there’s a certain freedom to this embrace that’s clearly compelling. But in this Goblin Mode free-fall, we’re wondering where we bottom out.
Tuning Out
"aesthetic mode of nothingness has been ascendant" - DALL·E x radar
Apathy is the mood of the hour, with dissociation trending in everything from music to selfies. As Kyle Chayka wrote for The New York Times, this “aesthetic mode of nothingness has been ascendant” even before the pandemic — and our obsession with absence has only accelerated since. When we’re turning to work as a numbing agent and looking at ‘upbeat nihilism’ as a psychological gift, you start to wonder whether we can ever truly tune back into meaning.
