âi feel like some people are missing the point of this post entirely so to make things abundantly clear: this has nothing to do with being naive, âdelusionalâ or living in some âromanticâ fantasy world. the point of this post is a very specific, very withering, insidious sort of nihilism in which any gesture of kindness is dismissed as inherently pointless. itâs cynicism for the sake of it and it doesnât challenge a thing - all it does is affirm and maintain the same shittiness that made you bemoan the world to begin with. it contributes nothing other than telling people that trying to be good is a wasted effort because sometimes people are deliberately shitty. yes, sometimes people are shitty. spectacularly shitty, mind-bogglingly shitty. but thatâs the choice that they have made. and i am not going to sit here and dismiss all the good that has been done, that can be done, because of someone elseâs choice. thatâs not living in denial or ignoring that terrible things happen - itâs about acknowledging the terrible things, being angry (viciously, incandescently angry) and acutely aware of them, yet actively working to make the world a better place regardless, in whatever way you can. thatâs not naive, and it certainly isnât some frivolous little game - itâs fucking exhausting. itâs very, very difficult to remain hopeful in hopeless times, to keep fighting for even a fraction of the things that need to be fought for - but itâs very easy, incrediblyâdangerouslyâeasy, to wash your hands of the whole thing, to turn your back on it because âoh, thereâs no point. thatâs just the way the world worksâ. thatâs not profound. thatâs a self-fulfilling prophecy that fools itself into thinking itâs in on some grand, dazzling secret that everyone else is too much of a naive, doe-eyed idiot to grasp: âthe world is terrible, why bother?â fineâand then what? the world keeps being terrible, because no one bothers. people have died, keep dying, over and over, because no one bothers.