The Institute for Strategic Dialog (ISD) reports:

[https://www.isdglobal.org/digital_dispatches/terror-without-ideology-the-rise-of-nihilistic-violence-an-isd-investigation/]

A violent aesthetic: What makes nihilistic violence different 

ISD defines nihilistic violence as violent acts lacking an ideological motivation and driven by a misanthropic worldview.[1] [2] Our research has linked the two most prominent contemporary subcultures of nihilistic violence, the True Crime Community (TCC) and the pseudo-Satanic No Lives Matter (NLM), to at least four school shooters and five disrupted school shooting plots and two Swedish stabbing sprees in 2024 alone. While these acts of violence outwardly appear similar to extremist violence, they lack the political or ideological dimension that drives typical extremist attacks. Nihilistic violence is an expressive, misanthropic act that seeks to fulfill an inward-facing emotional need and/or garner notoriety or acceptance in nihilistic communities. 

Is it any wonder that nihilism [Relentless negativity or cynicism suggesting an absence of values or beliefs] is on the rise?

Ideologies such as Communism and National Socialism are no longer as popular as they were and the abyss beckons.

Some misguided folks probably do think this reflects a transition from purpose to pointlessness and are determined to prevent this happening - like the far-right in Ukraine for example.

Yes, religion is making a comeback but God doesn't have the same power he/she used to although the afterlife still attracts many.

And then there's a few other reasons to be cheerful:

  • Governments that don't listen (e.g. [your country name] here)
  • Elites getting richer (e.g. as we approach the first trillionaires)
  • Out of control militaries rampaging wherever they like (e.g. Israel)
  • A focus on irrelevancies (e.g Wokery-Pokery)
  • Heads in the sand (e.g. the immigration crisis)
  • Crackdowns - but only for your own good (e.g. COVID)
  • Threats everywhere (e.g. Russia, China, Trump, Maduro)
  • The weaponisation of lawfare
  • Sanctions as the promotion of global bullying
  • Regime change mania and intervention fever (e.g. the list is endless)
  • The Fake News MSM (e.g. the BBC)
  • The Ukraine war bankrupting European economies
  • A cost of living crisis and the rise of food banks
  • Under-the-covers climate change subsidies skewing everything
  • Care costs bankrupting families - no need to worry about inheritance tax anymore! 
  • The US deficit - a black hole that sucks everyone in
  • Trans trampling on hard-won women's rights like horses on suffragettes
  • People living in social media bubbles that simply polarise them (e.g. X marks the spot)
  • An internet awash in porn and vacuous influencers
  • The many own nothing and be happy while the few will own everything and be rich
  • Billions being spent to get off this failing planet and start again on Mars
  • People can't even choose how they die, something everyone does
  • The end of history proved to be an illusion from snake-oil salesmen
  • The nagging feeling that we all live in a Truman Show

No wonder some people are feeling misanthropic and tempted to become violent. It can hardly be a surprise.

That's a natural outcome of systemic problems that are essentially insolvable and then there's the looming armageddon of AI that is all set to undermine our humanity and put us on the primrose path to the everlasting bonfire as we skip along with The Pied Piper of ChatGPT.

As Lou Mannheim wisely said:

Man looks in the abyss, there's nothing staring back at him. At that moment, man finds his character. And that is what keeps him out of the abyss.

It seems people just don't get it: Nihilism is an ideology and the way things are going it's gonna gain more converts.