Welcome to the MHB Podcast. This is Michael Baun. And welcome to my ninth episode. Tonight is going to be part two of our discussion on the nihilism curve and the malevolent outlier. I didn’t intend on making that discussion into a two-part series but I’m not yet satisfied with the development of the idea. This episode is going to gloss over the topics detailed in part one and focus primarily on developing the representations that are within the theoretical diagram. At the end of this episode I will provide an abstract (or summary) of the theory as well as a brief idea on how to solve the problem.
In the previous episode, I presented a theory as to why this generation is plagued with mass shooting-style attacks. I clarified that this theory does not refer to ideological terrorism – as that is a separate issue. At the end of the discussion, I mapped out a diagram to describe how the theory works – this diagram is where we are going to pick up again today.
So for clarity I want to go over the instructions for drawing the diagram once more. If you have a piece of paper you’re welcome to join me. At the center of the paper draw a circle. Label this circle “Christ; meaning; purpose; value.” Now draw a bigger circle around the outside of the center circle (as if you’re making a target). Label the bigger circle “prior generation; biblical truth.” Somewhere outside of the bigger circle, place a dot. Label this dot “prior generation outlier.” Next, draw a third circle that goes around everything else you have on your paper. Label this circle “nihilism curve; science only.” Somewhere outside of this third circle, place a dot. Label this dot “the malevolent outlier.”
Your paper should have a circle in the center with two rings around it – like a target with a bulls eye. Outside of the second ring should be a dot, and outside of the third ring should be a dot. I want to go over with you what each part of this diagram means. The circle in the center is the Christian worldview. This worldview is set down in the Bible and teaches that human beings are made in the image of God and each one of us has transcendent meaning, purpose, and value to our lives.
The key word there is transcendent. If your meaning, purpose and value are transcendent then they are not based on worldly circumstances and are therefore resilient to negative changes in those circumstances. Basically, you can lose your job and survive it. Your spouse can betray you and you can survive it. You can be unjustly persecuted and survive it. This resilience is one of the abilities the Bible teaches you to build into your being.
So, knowing the practical importance of having transcendent meaning, purpose and value in your being – let’s take a look at your paper and see the first orbiting ring: the prior generation. This entire theory is built on the observation that people from the 1950s to the 1980s didn’t have to worry about mass attacks. The attacks were not happening to any degree of prevalence that they are today. One of the key differences in that time period as opposed to today is that going to church was popular. A nuclear family built on biblical truth was considered the American Dream.
It is reasonable to say that a stable family functioning as the basic social unit is fundamental to the overall stability of any given society. Does that mean there were less bad apples in the prior generation than there are today? Absolutely not. But it does mean that the bad apples were not so severely off course as they are today. Consider the prior generation outlier – which is the dot outside of your second circle. This was the type of person who would graffiti school property or get into fist fights. Even this person, despite their poor circumstances, maintained some element of transcendent meaning, purpose, and value to human life.
Why was this? How could a rebel in the 1950s have been any different from a rebel today? Because the curve they were rebelling against was different than the curve today. That’s the key. Any given outlier must be an outlier from an average. The prior generation outlier’s only point of reference was the circle who was steeped in biblical truth. Therefore, the outlier maintained some respect for human life. Additionally, the prior generation outlier did not have to act out to the same degree of severity as the malevolent outlier to get the attention of the prior generation circle.
Now let’s contrast that with the climate today. Look at your paper and see the third ring. This is a culture that has been brought up in idolization of natural science. This culture has made natural science an idol because of the rapid development and benefit from technological advancement. Smart phones, modern medicine, the internet, space exploration – all of these have created a “wow-factor” that has lead to the idea that natural science is the path to discovering the meaning, purpose, and value of your existence. Since natural science is not transcendent its answer will always be that your existence ends in nothing when you die. Everyone who bought in to this worldview instantly became a victim to their earthly circumstances.
This idea that your entire existence depends on the 70 or 80 years you get to be alive has led to a hyper-awareness of external circumstances. Everyone wants everything around them to be arranged just perfectly to promote growth and success for themselves in this life. Political correctness is the attempt to silence any idea that conflicts with any given individual’s preferences. The inherent value of human life is set aside when the advancement of the individual requires that he or she do something evil in order to advance. Suicide and drug addiction skyrockets as young people search and fail to find transcendent meaning without God. Order turns into chaos and civilization becomes impossible. That is what the nihilism curve looks like.
Sitting outside of the nihilism curve is your dot labeled “the malevolent outlier.” This is a person who believes that he or she has been denied all of the external circumstances that are the source of meaning, purpose, and value in a nihilistic worldview – wealth; pleasure; power; and importance. Notice I didn’t say that this person’s circumstances must be bad for them to become an outlier – this person just has to perceive that the circumstances are bad. That’s why it’s sometimes difficult to spot a person like this.
When you combine this sense of rejection with a worldview that teaches existence has no value beyond itself – then you have a recipe for a tragedy.
The abstract of this theory (basically its summary) is this: If you have a collective of people – you have a society. Every society is based on an average norm of behavior (this norm determines the society’s culture). Notice I said the norm determines the culture – the culture does not determine the norm. This is because a behavioral norm (or mode of being) is predicated on the system of belief within a given society. That’s a deeper level than the culture. Send an atheist into a church and he will still be an atheist. Send a Christian to a secular university and he will still be a Christian. Culture is born out of the behavioral norms of a group of people. The behavioral norms are determined by the way the group of people views the world.
Every average must have an outlier and the outlier determines its position in reference to the average. In a culture this outlier is called a misfit. By definition, every misfit’s position of rebellion is dependent on the position of the average. What is the misfit not fitting into to be called a misfit? The further your culture departs from a view of reality that provides transcendent meaning, purpose, and value, the further your misfit will depart as well. That’s why the acts of rebellion are more brutal today than they were in the 1950s.
The solution to the problem of the nihilism curve and the malevolent outlier is this: bring the culture back to a place where transcendent meaning, purpose, and value are possible. Agnosticism is not enough. Agnosticism is a worldview where you don’t rule out the existence of God but you are settled with the fact no one knows. The issue with agnosticism is that it cannot help you whenever you go through a trial in your life. When your circumstances get bad, you can’t depend on a God you know nothing about and aren’t willing to stake a claim that you believe in. A personal relationship with the true and living God is much better. Love is at the core of this solution. The malevolent outlier does not love and does not feel loved. That’s not because of psychopathy. That’s not because the person doesn’t have a conscience. It’s because the person’s belief system doesn’t allow for love beyond the world around him. We can’t change the world to eliminate the possibility of an individual feeling unloved by it. What we can do is teach every individual that he or she is loved by God – even if no one else loves them.
If you find this content valuable, feel free to share it and to use it in your own studies. If you’d like to support this podcast, you can do so at http://www.patreon.com/michaelhbaun. There is a link in the description. Your generosity goes a long way to promoting the growth of this enterprise and the cause of free speech. Thank you all for joining me this evening, and I will see you in the next episode.
The MHB Podcast 