Student embraces hedonism

Jared Epps 

Guest columnist

On this tiny planet spiraling in an infinitely expanding and cold universe, the more cynical among us might look around and think about how nothing particularly matters in the grand scheme of things.

To ignore the reality of a finite existence and the likelihood of incomprehensible cosmic forces wiping humanity from the universe, people find different coping methods. Some people get off on being power fetishists, some look for abstract, intangible things to believe in and others choose to flirt with hedonism.

Given the reality of the universe, I think hedonists are on to something. In a crap-sack world where another day living is never a guarantee, I think living a life devoted to seeking pleasure is a rational way to go about living.

I could spend time worrying about the fact that Earth will become uninhabitable in a few centuries, the distinct possibility of a nuclear war obliterating organic life or why so many African Americans act like the ignorant wastes of space that America’s whitewashed culture stereotypes them as.

Better yet, I could stop caring; being worried about the African American community or the state of the world isn’t conducive to my personal happiness, since both are headed in a downward spiral to hell.

To some extent, hedonists have a profound understanding of life and how easily it can be ripped away. 

Instead of spouting off some idealistic garbage suggesting that humanity needs to make the world a better place, they believe in maximizing their personal pleasure because their own lives are the extent of what they can control.

People don’t really tend to care about one another. That’s not necessarily an inherently bad thing, and acting hedonisticly fits with how people typically act, anyway. 

Trying to inform people of social or worldly problems is largely a waste of time. 

The general reaction would be something along the lines of “it won’t happen to me”; it’s more efficient and healthy to just stop caring about the “right thing to do” and instead do what feels right.

However, I’m not insisting that people should run out to shoot up strange narcotics or have random sexual encounters with strange, unfamiliar people, nor am I suggesting that people shouldn’t at least contribute the bare minimum to society. Hedonism should draw the line where the pleasure-seeking interferes with a working society.

Certain individuals might give hedonism a negative connotation, since the idea of “pleasure-seeking” puts many a mind in the gutter. 

Aside from incredibly uptight fundamentalist crackpots, most people would typically agree that minimizing suffering and maximizing pleasure is the result that most people generally strive for.

Eventually, we and everything we loved, hated, and believed in will die and fade into nothingness, so we might as well live it the hell up before all traces of humanity cease to exist.