What is nihilism? A teen charged in a mass shooting plot and a car bomber subscribed to the same ideology, authorities say

By Rebekah Riess, CNN

(CNN) — An Oregon teen arrested last month in connection with an alleged mass shooting plot targeting a mall in southwestern Washington subscribed to a “nihilistic violent extremist ideology,” according to officials.

Similarly, FBI officials said Guy Edward Bartkus, the man accused of bombing a Palm Springs, California, fertility clinic last month, “had nihilistic ideations.”

It’s this “preoccupation with themes of violence, hopelessness, despair, pessimism, hatred, isolation, loneliness, or an ‘end-of-the-world’ philosophy” – as the FBI defines nihilistic ideation – that allegedly drives these individuals to violence.

Here’s how experts and authorities describe nihilism.

What is nihilism?

Nihilism, which is usually defined as a philosophical concept rather than a set of actions, is the belief that “all values are baseless and that nothing can be known or communicated,” according to Alan Pratt, professor emeritus at Embry-Riddle University.

Nihilism is “associated with extreme pessimism and a radical skepticism that condemns existence,” Pratt wrote in a philosophical definition. “A true nihilist would believe in nothing, have no loyalties, and no purpose other than, perhaps, an impulse to destroy.”

Nihilism is also often connected to German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, who argued that “its corrosive effects would eventually destroy all moral, religious, and metaphysical convictions,” according to Pratt.

Retired senior FBI profiler Mary Ellen O’Toole, who has researched past violent actors to provide the FBI with its initial definition of nihilistic ideation, describes nihilism as “something on a continuum.”

“A person’s outlook on life is never black or white,” O’Toole told CNN. “Over the years, there have been some people that have planned mass violence, where their nihilistic thinking, or view of the world, was very extreme, and then you have some where it’s less extreme.”

FBI defines ‘Nihilistic Violent Extremists’

Both FBI investigators and Justice Department prosecutors have recently deployed a new specialized term to describe those radicalized by nihilism – Nihilistic Violent Extremists, or NVEs.

In court records on a separate case, the FBI defines NVEs as “individuals who engage in criminal conduct within the United States and abroad, in furtherance of political, social, or religious goals that derive primarily from a hatred of society at large and a desire to bring about its collapse by sowing indiscriminate chaos, destruction, and social instability.”

“NVEs work individually or as part of a network with these goals of destroying civilized society through the corruption and exploitation of vulnerable populations, which often include minors,” the definition continues.

Investigators have found these types of extremists often use social media platforms to “connect with individuals and desensitize them to violence … corrupting and grooming those individuals towards committing future acts of violence … for the purpose of accelerating the downfall of society.”

Nihilism and the ‘black pill’ concept

CNN’s Elle Reeve, in her book “Black Pill: How I Witnessed the Darkest Corners of the Internet Come to Life, Poison Society, and Capture American Politics,” describes the way individuals on social media platforms like 4chan deal in explicit nihilism – with the “black pill” concept.

“The black pill is a dark but gleeful nihilism: the system is corrupt, and its collapse is inevitable. There is no hope. Times are bad and they’re going to get worse. You swallow the black pill and accept the end is coming,” Reeve described.

“You start searching for evidence to prove to yourself that you’re correct, and it’s easy enough to find … The hardships and heartbreak you’ve faced can now be explained as the inevitability of a sweeping historical force,” she wrote.

“You spend more time in blackpilled online forums, where the darker the commentary, the more attention it gets, so you compete to write the most creative description of the depravity,” Reeve continued.

“Incels traffic in explicit nihilism too, with the ‘(black pill)’ concept providing an ideological veneer to cover their self-loathing and isolation,” a Just Security article explains.

“Incel,” short for “involuntary celibate,” describes someone, usually a male, who is frustrated by their lack of sexual experiences.

“Many school shooters and incels display and act upon the same suicidality that also characterizes much nihilist activity. For instance, incels have adopted a phrase, ‘going ER,’ to describe the phenomenon of taking one’s own life in a bloody murder-suicide plot against society,” according to the article.

The phrase refers to Elliot Rodger, a 22-year-old who in May 2014 killed six people in Isla Vista, California, before fatally shooting himself.

O’Toole says decades ago, the concept of nihilism and holding nihilistic ideations was a phenomenon – but added the “black pill” terminology first popularized over the last 15 years shows how normalized the nihilistic worldview has become.

“Twenty-five years ago, the shooters that we looked at … didn’t have social media, so they couldn’t compare notes, and so that didn’t give them the opportunity to say, ‘Hey, do you feel the same way I do? Yeah, I feel the same way you do,’” O’Toole said.

“Behaviors that were really anecdotal 25 years ago are now being normalized because other people share them.”

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