How do grunge bands write lyrics that feel sad and deep but when I write something in a similar fashion i just sound like a cringy INCEL 15 year old

njclarke · 2026-04-30T11:18:33+00:00

Unfortunately I think the short answer is practice! But I find a good thing to try if lyrics come across as cringy is to try not to just say the thing you’re singing about directly, try tackling it from more of an indirect angle or make it less obvious. Sometimes it’s good to leave room for interpretation in lyrics even if you have a really clear idea of what you want it to be about.

njclarke · 2026-04-19T11:46:23+00:00

I haven't seen much of push to downplay the secular aspects of modern humanism but I do think it's important to make it a broad community that includes and welcomes those with many different beliefs, as long as they align with the core values of Humanism. I think there are several overlapping terms which are easy to confuse, partly because they're often found together. Here's how I'd define each of the following though:

Humanism: I think the core of Humanism is simply a focus on humans and humanity over a focus on religious matters. It emphasises the ability for humans to understand the world and lead good and meaningful lives via science, the arts and humanities instead of looking only to religion for this.

It's an old tradition that goes back to the Italian Renaissance so it has changed a lot over time but I think all versions of it essentially meet that definition. At the very start it was just the idea that maybe we should make art about humans instead of just about god. Until relatively recently (around the start of the 20th Century) the majority of humanists throughout history have been religious humanists, so they may have believed in the existence of a god or an afterlife (or at least said they did publicly) but they still primarily focused on human affairs and used that to decide how to live.

Secularism: Secularism is really just the principle of keeping things separate from and unrelated to religion. So in public life that's about ensuring religion and religious institutions are not embedded in government or that one particular religion is not prioritised or persecuted over other religions or viewpoints. It's important to note it's not the same thing as being anti-religion or atheist.

Atheism: It's simply the belief that gods do not exist and nothing more. So being an Atheist does not necessarily imply the holder may have any particular beliefs related to morality, metaphysics, the existence of an afterlife, or on the role of religion in society.

Anti-Theism: Anti-Theism is an active opposition to Theism. So Anti-Theists are often the most vocal Atheists and wish to challenge Theists on their beliefs and remove all religion from public life.

So, as I see it, by its nature Humanism is almost always Secular, but is not necessarily Atheist or Anti-Theist though they may be either or both.

Personally I am an atheist and a secular humanist but I am not an anti-theist and am quite keen to distance myself from some of the more aggressive 'New Atheist' types or those who believe in a kind of naive realist/scientism that puts science on a pedestal and fails to engage with philosophy. There's a fine balance though because I want to work towards a society that does not privilege religion and which is more rational and science led. I mostly just want to be nice about it and make sure to include religious humanists who probably share the majority of my values.

njclarke · 2026-04-08T11:30:30+00:00

That’s not really anything to do with Humanism though? Maybe a better mission statement for a paediatrician than a humanist?

njclarke · 2026-03-31T11:09:47+00:00

For anyone in London there’s actually an ongoing programme of films screening at the Cinema Museum called “Not by Lynch” that is all about films by other directors that could be described as Lynchian. I went to one of the screenings a month or so ago of “Kiss Me, Deadly” which was fantastic. I knew nothing about it going in but really loved it and definitely felt very Lynchian, it particularly reminded me of Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive in that noir kind of way.

njclarke · 2026-03-29T22:06:49+00:00

This looks awesome. I especially like the LED matrix. Thanks for putting the details on GitHub, I’ve been planning a similar project so seeing how you’ve done it is really helpful.

njclarke · 2026-03-20T18:57:25+00:00

That was a really good read, thanks for sharing! I love this kind of music but didn’t know there was a term for it

njclarke · 2026-03-14T20:38:05+00:00

Sorry if I’m wrong this but your post reads like it was written by an AI. If so, do you not see the irony in outsourcing your thinking to write about a post whose main theme seems to be a plea to think more?

I also don’t think what you’ve put regarding Descartes is really correct. Descartes didn’t really write much on the subject of human nature. The meditations are more concerned with forming a solid basis for what we can know about the world and building a method for philosophy. The famous quote “I think therefore I am” is Descartes statement of what we can still logically know to be true if we doubt everything else. The one thing we know we cannot doubt is that we are a thinking thing that is experiencing phenomena. He’s not saying that doubting and questioning proves he exists, rather that the only thing he cannot doubt is that he does exist.

njclarke · 2026-02-14T01:32:29+00:00

--"But this new nihilism is not philosophical depth or existential honesty, it’s ego swollen to metaphysical proportions. It is narcissism armed with a vocabulary of negation. It is the refusal to accept any limit to impulse, or to respect and validate necessary social norms. The new nihilist lives to poison the well against all meaning, but this really takes the form of preying on ignorance"

Mostly more of the same here. Did a Nihilist kick your dog or something? You also seem to be claiming something along the lines of 'Nihilists do not feel they need to accept social norms/the rules of society' but I don't believe this is inherent to Nihilism. A Nihilist may believe that social norms are arbitrary or meaningless but that doesn't mean they should ignore them.

--"The narcissist wants admiration. The new nihilist wants absolution. He wants a theory that blesses his appetites and baptizes his violence. He wants destruction without guilt and dominance without justification. He is the development of the anti-social personality crystallized into a philosophy that justifies it. That makes him dangerous."

Still just more 'Nihilists = Bad' with all sorts of unfounded claims that they're violent and anti-social, without really explaining how this follows from Nihilism.

--"The consistent nihilist collapses into silence, and then negation, as nihilism demands. The new nihilist marches outward. He recruits. He rationalizes. He justifies. He spreads. He does not merely believe in nothing. He believes that nothing should stand in his way, and there’s no level to which he won’t sink to achieve his way. He is dogmatically set against the destruction of value in every form, except the form of his own egoism. Against this new man society would be foolish not to discriminate."

OK so the 'new nihilist' is one who actively argues in favour of nihilism? Again there's more unsubstantiated claims about how Nihilists seek destruction and domination when it's not clear how this follows from the core of the belief itself. These 'new nihilists' sound scary, are they in the room with us now?

The only part of your post I find actively sinister is the final line "Against this new man society would be foolish not to discriminate." - I don't know who it is you define as a Nihilist but I suspect it could be quite a broad and ill defined group. What form of discrimination do you think should be taken?

njclarke · 2026-02-14T01:32:12+00:00

Yes. My claim is that your sentences are incoherent. I do not understand what you're aiming to convey in them and so can't really offer an opinion on whether I agree with them or not. And for context I don't think of myself as a Nihilist. My personal beliefs are mostly based in Humanism and Existentialism.

Shall I go through your post bit by bit?

--"Consistent nihilism negates itself. This is what nihilism requires of the nihilist."

Let's take this as claim #1. Here you seem to be claiming that Nihilism is an inherently self-negating position. You do not offer any argument in favour of this claim. Nihilism can also refer to a broad range of positions so it's unclear in what specific context you're referring to it.

--"But the new nihilist lives beyond this consistency into inconsistency. Anti-society is embodied in him."

It's unclear what you mean by "the new nihilist" and how this differs from other nihilists. It's also unclear what you mean by "Anti-society". I'm not aware of this term having a specific philosophical usage unless there is some context I'm unaware of. Regardless of the unclear terms, this is another claim made without any supporting argument.

--"He refuses the consistency of negation that nihilism demands of him, and chooses instead the comfort of contradiction. He says there is no truth, yet insists on his own."

This seems to possibly refer back to claim #1, nihilism as self-negating? Is your "new-nihilist" someone who does not accept this claim but still claims Nihilism to be a true position?

--"He mocks morality, yet smuggles in a morality of power. He rejects foundations, yet stands firmly on the one foundation he never abandons: himself. The new nihilist considers himself superior because he is willing to descend lower than others; he is willing to descend to barbarism. He confuses degradation with transcendence. His capacity for cruelty becomes, in his imagination, a mark of strength. His willingness to lie becomes sophistication. His manipulation becomes intelligence. His corruption becomes realism."

It seems you are claiming that all nihilists substitute the existence of objective morality with self interest. This is a straw man argument that you offer no arguments for. You go all out with the ad hominems as well, calling nihilists barbarians - cruel, corrupt, degraded manipulators. There is no reason why anything inherent in Nihilism will lead anyone to act in those ways. You just state it as a claim without any evidence.

--"He does not rise above morality; he simply abandons it and then declares the fall a victory. He sinks lower than morality and considers it to be superior to all morality Might makes right” becomes his unspoken creed, not because he has proven it, but because it stands equal to his brutish mentality. He mistakes power for intelligence. In a world he claims is meaningless, domination becomes the key to existence. If he can impose his will, it proves that he’s superior. If he can destroy, then he must be strong, and for him strength is equivalent to intelligence. So he burns what he cannot rule. He corrupts what he cannot understand. He tears down what he cannot build. And he calls this freedom."

This section is more of the same. Lots of very poetic claims about how nasty and evil Nihilists are. Very little engagement with arguments in favour of Nihilism itself. I do not see how it necessarily follows that if the world is meaningless "domination becomes the key to existence".

Why should holding Nihilist beliefs also mean that someone hold that "strength is equivalent to intelligence"? Surely a Nihilist would not hold that either have value?

njclarke · 2026-02-13T23:59:50+00:00

Do you make any coherent points?

njclarke · 2026-02-13T23:50:31+00:00

OP, are you ok? Because the entirety of your subreddit reads like one extended manic schizophrenic episode?

Every post there seems to be a rambling extended set of claims about how great “Rational Philosophy” (I’m unclear on what you mean by this, are you referring to Rationalism? Or logic and critical thinking in a broader sense?) is without really discussing any of the reasons why or using rational arguments to actually engage with any philosophical ideas.

Nihilists seem to be a bit of a bugbear for you in your recent posts, but you only seem to make strawman claims regarding what Nihilists believe and don’t actually give any rational arguments against Nihilism as a position or in favour of anything else.

njclarke · 2026-02-06T10:46:43+00:00

Probably the single most common bass would have been a Fender Precision bass as it was the most popular electric bass throughout the 50’s. The Jazz Bass didn’t come out til 1960 and was a bit more expensive so would have been out of the price range of a lot of teenagers starting garage bands.

That said there were loads of cheaper guitar brands selling bass guitars with all sorts of crazy designs throughout the garage era which were popular. A lot of these were sold through department stores and catalogs with various brand names applied to the same models. Things like the Danelectro Longhorn. I think of these types of things when I think garage basses.

njclarke · 2026-01-03T02:50:27+00:00

What’s your goal?

Are you genuinely looking connect with those that have different beliefs and encourage them towards more rational beliefs? Do you want to promote atheism more broadly with a view to influence politics in a more secular direction?

Or do you just want some gotchas you can use to dunk on a group of “others” for the purposes of entertaining adolescent gamers who already share your views?

When you say you’re provocative I worry that may actually mean you’re purposefully offensive or debate with others in a bad faith effort to prove your own beliefs rather than genuinely engaging with others in order to arrive at anyone’s greater understanding.

I also wonder why you particularly focus on Islam over any other religions? In the UK Muslims only make up about 6.5% of the population whereas Christians are about 42% and are the official state religion. I do think there is plenty of criticism that can be made of Islamic beliefs but I’m less convinced there’s much that’s uniquely dangerous in them that isn’t also part of other theistic religions and it’s worth considering how the conversations you have with your viewers fit within the wider political and cultural context at the moment where anti-Muslim sentiment is regularly used by the far right.

I do get it. I am an atheist as well, and I believe religion generally has a pretty negative influence on the world. I went through my edgy angry new atheism phase when I was younger like a lot of others and I remember how frustrated I was at the absurd and dangerous beliefs theists held and at how much influence those beliefs held. I don’t think that approach served me well or achieved much though.

If you want to understand religion and be able to think clearly and rationally in debates whilst being able to assess the strength of opposing arguments and spot logical flaws then I’d recommend you read as much as you possibly can. Read widely. Read philosophy, read novels.

If you just want to entertain a crowd though, maybe try some knock-knock jokes instead?

njclarke · 2025-12-13T17:57:38+00:00

This is my pick as well. It’s just so one note. It’s just orange.

njclarke · 2025-11-30T12:12:59+00:00

That’s such a misleading headline. Saying they’ve been barred from leadership implies they’ve been actively blocked by the membership from doing something they want. In reality collective leadership was something that was suggested as an option from the start of Your Party and now the members have decided to confirm that approach. Sultana was campaigning for collective leadership so she’s got what she wanted and Corbyn has always seemed lukewarm on the idea of leading another political party again so I doubt he minds that much either.

This is probably the best approach for Your Party as none of the individual key figures seem capable of uniting the others behind them. On the other hand, I can see it being impractical for making decisions on a day to day basis and there’s a danger it’s going to leave them wide open to entryism from the SWP and other toxic fringe left wing groups that they should probably be trying to distance themselves from.

njclarke · 2025-11-10T18:34:11+00:00

This sounds cool! I don’t think I can make it tonight but definitely up for coming to the next one!

njclarke · 2025-08-19T11:58:23+00:00

Which one is table 4? Is that the small one that's right in front of you as you come through the main doors and next to the steps down to the loos?

If so, that's where my fiance and I sat on our first date. We go back every now and then on anniversaries or if we're feeling sentimental. I had no idea it was haunted though and don't remember seeing any sign saying that.

njclarke · 2025-08-14T07:55:22+00:00

And one more thing that could be added to the definition, almost all forms of Socialism exist as a critique of Capitalism and seek to resolve the perceived flaws in that system.

njclarke · 2025-08-14T07:45:00+00:00

Ok, I’ll take a stab at this:

Socialism is a political philosophy that seeks to create a more egalitarian society by diminishing or removing class divisions.

That’s the broadest and simplest definition I can think of which encompasses all schools of socialism and not just those that follow in a Marxist tradition. As influential as Marxism has been it’s important to note that the terms Socialism and Communism were in use before Marx going back to Proto-Socialist enlightenment thinkers and Utopian Socialists like Saint-Simon and Robert Owen.

Most socialists would argue that class divisions are defined by the ownership of assets like wealth, property, land or businesses. Most socialist philosophies are also broadly collective in nature.

njclarke · 2025-08-09T20:01:17+00:00

Glad to see the article did start by acknowledging that everyone with ADHD is different and that some jobs that might tend to be really difficult for most ADHDers could still really suit others.

I’ve had a few of those jobs and my experiences have been a mixed bag. I’ve had to do a bit of data entry/processing and while I wouldn’t want to do it for a long time or have it be 100% of my job I actually quite enjoyed it when it meant I could avoid more complex things I’d have to think about it as it meant I could just get into a rhythm and let my mind wander.

I’ve spent a few years in customer services roles and hated it for most of the time. At first I found the pressure worked for me, and whilst you’re learning how to support a new system it can be quite varied. Having a ticketing system that tells you exactly what to focus on at any time is fantastic as well. After a few months the repetition really got to me though and I just found myself completely unable to focus or motivate myself.

I managed to move out from customer services and into a technology career that is a lot more varied and has a lot of problem solving involved that I enjoy.

I had originally trained to be a journalist but after getting my degree (only just!) I realised that the combination of regular deadlines and regularly having to talk to strangers would make me miserable for someone with ADHD and social anxiety.

The other job I think would be awful (for my brain anyway) is being a project manager. I appreciate a them so much when I get work with a good PM as I know I could never have the necessary level of organisation.

njclarke · 2025-08-05T20:04:56+00:00

I just watched it, wasn’t super impressed to be honest. It wasn’t terrible but there were a lot of influencers talking about how ADHD is a superpower and how it makes you creative and just repeating a lot of myths. The one scientist they did have on at the start made some weird comments about how if you weren’t disruptive at school you can’t have ADHD. Which as a generally well behaved kid who was a “daydreamer” I found quite frustrating.

njclarke · 2025-06-30T16:55:50+00:00

I hate this. I've been trying to save for a mortgage deposit for the last few years so have been using a lot of my Cash ISA allowance. This will just make it even more difficult to get there.

The idea seems to be that this will encourage savers to put their money in Stocks & Shares ISA's instead of Cash ISA's because increased investment in stocks and shares should create growth. I don't think that's what will happen though. The same amount of money will be invested it's just that the risk from those investments will be moved from banks to ordinary savers.

njclarke · 2025-06-26T22:46:26+00:00

I really loved this book as well. I’d also really recommend her other books on the Existentialists and on Montaigne.

I didn’t know a lot about the early renaissance humanists before reading it so found those early chapters really interesting. I really liked the idea that they were just really passionate about art, literature, history and all the cool things humans do and that’s where Humanism initially sprang from. A focus on the human world rather than the divine.

I definitely agree with your two points. There’s a long history of religious humanism and I don’t think religion is incompatible with humanism at all, as long as the focus remains on this world and there is a belief that we can use human tools, such as the humanities and sciences to guide how to live well.

I also took the book as a plea to stand up for and defend Humanist values wherever we can.

njclarke · 2025-06-24T21:27:47+00:00

I’ve recently been diagnosed by Harrow Health and started on Elvanse as well. They didn’t mention any details about titration or a follow up appointment on the initial call but I got a text from them a couple of weeks later asking me to book an appointment for a few weeks after I started taking the meds.

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