Fuck the World: In Defense of Not Caring

Your level of care should be proportional to the good that caring does.

I had a bit of an epiphany sitting on a rock at the edge of Lake Solitude.

A few things you should know about Lake Solitude, a hike in Grand Teton National Park. On paper, it’s a medium-difficulty hike. About 14 miles roundtrip from the docks on Jenny Lake, starting at the popular tourist destinations of Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point. 2200 feet of vertical – far from easy, but also quite doable for an experienced hiker. One would expect that it would be hard to find any sort of solitude at the lake at all.

Yet, the lake earns its name. There were only three other hikers at the lake when I arrived. Having been in crowds of tourists all week, it was the most alone I’d been in a while, and it was easy to find a spot to just myself and the marmots. I saw several others along the trail, but many turned back - because the hike is not as easy as it appears. At least in June, when I made my hike, there was a surprising amount of snow along the route, making the last few miles effectively a slippery, treacherous slog that requires at least some degree of both fitness and determination. And crucially - unlike so many east coast hikes that I’m used to – there’s no easy way out. No road to the top, far from any phone signal – you wanna make this trip, you gotta be ok with being cut off. From everything. No up-to-the-minute weather reports, no phoning for help, and certainly no ordering an Uber to drive you back. It’s just you and the wilderness, you gotta find your own way in and out.

But once that fear of being cut off subsided, and I pushed ahead and made it to the lake – there was a kind of peace. A fullness to my being. I realized how cut off I was, how anything could be happening (as it turns out, Israel was striking Iran at that moment) – and I would be completely unaware. That’s when a thought crossed my mind: fuck the world.

Fuck the fucking world. I’m here. I’m living my life, I’ve found a way to love it. I’m harming no one. Fuck the world. Fuck the wars, fuck the politics, fuck the corporations, the cultural norms, the expectations. Fuck it all. Hiking in the snow is brutal but it is beautiful. Our society is far more brutal and ugly at the same time. It is atrocious and meaningless.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not some misanthrope. I’ve been lucky in that I’ve known many very kind people who have made my life better. I don’t hate people.

I hate groups of people.

Because when people get into groups, they become horrible fascists. That’s actually the origin of the term. The fasces was the Roman bundle of rods with an ax, symbolizing the authority of the state to beat (the rods) or kill (the ax) those that upset the emperor in some way. The early fascists adopted this symbol, focusing not just on its authoritarian symbolism but also on the strength in unity. In the words of Martin Prince, “Individually we are weak, like a single twig, but as a bundle we form a mighty faggot!”

And that’s fascism. Forcefully eliminating individualism to obtain the strength of the group. Unfortunately, this strategy works at gaining power, at least in the short term - but is also miserable for the individuals caught up in it. Humans are naturally fascist because our genes last longer if we’re the ones working together against some other group with different genes, as opposed to being the ones in that other group. That’s why people are so quick to cheer “Go Team Us!” - regardless of the terrible things Team Us has done or is doing.

Which brings us to Gaza.

There are no individuals fighting in Gaza, on either side – only fascists. Islamofascists vs. Judeofascists. Or put differently, Islamists vs. Zionists. Which team are you on?

And don’t accuse me of being “rational centrist” or, as I’ve often been accused, secretly advocating for whatever side you’re not on. As the title of this article makes clear, I’m on team IDGAF. I’m not a centrist, I’ve become an Apathy Fundamentalist.

Hamas and Israel both claim the whole region as being properly under the permanent dominion of people just like themselves. Both want Team Us to win - at any cost. They are both morally reprehensible. Fuck them.

“Why could they just express that they care?” She said. “She” was a date - a Jewish date. A quite beautiful one at that. It turned out to be the last date between the two of us. She wondered why her coworkers and even her supervisor didn’t send out a team email after October 7 expressing outrage at what had happened.

There are many acceptable answers. “I guess they were too worried about offending someone.” “Maybe they were worried about consequences of brining up an emotionally sensitive topic.” “It’s a shame they didn’t think about how you would feel, I’m sorry that happened.”

But those are not the correct answers. The rationally correct answer is also emotionally unacceptable. But it’s the answer I gave, because I’m first and foremost an honest person. I knew as I was saying it that this would be our last date - that I would ask her out again, and that she would say no, because I provided this answer. But I had to say it: “They probably just don’t care, and that’s understandable.”

I further explained that they should not care. That this conflict was clearly motivated by religious animosity on both sides, that until both sides eliminate the pro-violence factions currently in charge nothing will change, and that that will never happen because the people themselves are in favor of violence against the other side and provide minimal to zero concern about separating the innocent from the guilty when it comes to the other side. Therefore caring is futile. The uninvolved don’t care, and they are right to not care.

There are things that are worth caring about – treatable diseases, poverty caused by lack of resources, etc. Caring about these things does good because that care could lead to charity and/or voting for policy changes that save lives. Caring about Israeli civilians being murdered by terrorists does nothing good. Caring about Palestinians being murdered by Israeli soldiers and bombs also does no good. It’s just not worth wasting care on.

Yes that applies to even the children. The following will induce anger, but is also hard to deny the reality of: The Israeli children killed on Oct. 7 would’ve mostly grown up to support the killing of Palestinian children. The Palestinian children killed in the aftermath would’ve mostly grown up to support the killing of Israeli children. Children were killed, but the existence of future child murderers has been prevented. I’m not sure how to quantify the net loss.

I didn’t say all that in reality, but I said enough of it. She changed the topic. She politely declined my attempt at a fourth date.

Back to Lake Solitude. In the mountains, your options for what to care about are limited. Do you care more about finishing the hike or comfort? Do you have enough strength to finish? Do you have enough time? Enough water? Are there bears up here? Are you still on the trail?

These things are worth caring about. What’s happening in the middle east is not.

And that’s my solution that I offer. Care more about those topics where your care matters, care not at all where it doesn’t. Fuck your group. Are you Jewish? Say “Fuck Israel!” Are you Muslim? Say “Fuck Palestine!” Fuck the men, the women, and even the children. Seriously, say it and live by it. Focus on what you can change. Focus on helping those who are ready to receive help.

Let us all do that.