December 15, 1999. The Connection with Christopher Lydon. December 15, 1999. That something Hibbs heard was nothing with a capital N - Nihilism. Thomas Hibbs says that's the ethic he sees all through pop culture today.
Sitcoms fill hours with characters obsessing about the inconsequential.
Hibbs draws on Tocqueville, Arendt and Nietzsche - who warned that democracies were especially susceptible to this kind of spiritual flattening and cynicism. The Perspectives of Nietzsche . The Ism Book . A series in 9 parts. The shows were aired originally from June 14th to August 8th.