The Matrix & Black Nihilism

I truly am feenin' for The Matrix sequels. The Matrix: Reloaded and The Matrix: Revolutions are the only Hollywood movies that I care about this year. Those Wachowski brothers have my panties in a bunch by creating a whole mythology for me to get lost in. This trilogy is so much more than great action and special effects; I think it's an analysis, an assessment and a pretty cogent indictment of Western capitalism and the arrogance it breeds. It is a bit ironic - these will be the biggest movies this year.

But back to the nihilism that's introduced in the second scene - the messy apartment, waking up at the computer screen, seemingly disconnected from everything else ... this particular scene sometimes looks much like my own life. Nihilism is real; I've only begun to put words to the immeasurable nothingness that I have personally experienced, sometimes for days, weeks ... months ... I've lived through many moments when I have not loved myself, exhausted and abandoning any hope, isolating myself from loved ones, procrastinating, escaping through sleep - dead before dying. This battle is so real for me.

So, I find it extremely interesting to see Cornel West cast in The Matrix as a spiritual elder of Zion. Intrigued, I recently reread his essay "Nihilism in Black America" (the first chapter of Race Matters). In it, he says:

The proper starting point for the crucial debate about the prospects for black America is an examination of the nihilism that increasingly pervades black communities. Nihilism is to be understood here not as a philosophic doctrine that there are no rational grounds for legitimate standards or authority; it is, far more, the lived experience of coping with a life of horrifying meaninglessness, hopelessness, and (most important) lovelessness. The frightening result is a numbing detachment from others and a self-destructive disposition toward the world. Life without meaning, hope, and love breeds a coldhearted, mean-spirited outlook that destroys both the individual and others.

It will be interesting to see how or if this philosophy is manifested in the movie, true, but some of this philosophy also gives me the language to talk about feelings I've had for years that I have never been able to verbalize as anything but vague depression. Now, to pinpoint weapons that I can use to combat this "deadly assault" in my own life ...

Until then, here are some interesting links:

• a whole collection of essays at the official website
• Glitches in The Matrix ... and How To Fix Them
• Welcome to the Desert of the Real
• Laurence Fishburne's African Diary (for UNICEF)
• Nihilism in Black South Africa
• An African Cave: Plato's Allegory in a Post-colonial World
• Find The Roots of Your African Ancestry