An Existential Analysis Of The Simp
By: Fayyadh Jaafar
Tags: Memes, Existentialism, Pop Culture, Philosophy, Simp

According to the Urban Dictionary, a simp is a guy that is too much into girls and women. He’s usually just a virgin that won’t take no for an answer. You can see why this would be considered pathetic behavior. Let us examine the simp from an existentialist point of view.

Let’s start with what makes him different than other guys like you and me. Why does he have such a high chance of being a victim? It’s because he lacks any sort of self-esteem. His lack of self-worth causes him to be obsessed with getting some girl, whether it be through sexual intercourse or not. If you’ve ever been on the receiving end of his attention, then you know how pathetic this behavior is. He’ll do anything to get a woman’s attention.

He may appear caring at first glance, but it’s not even about that. It’s more of a self-serving act. He just wants attention and doesn’t care who he gets it from. This is why when you tell him to leave you alone, the opposite occurs. For all intensive purposes, he’s a loser.

Sociologically, he doesn’t have any friends. This is due to the fact that he doesn’t understand how friendship or love works. He only has a sexual attraction towards you and wants to get into your pants, whether you like it or not.

He’s a man with no agency. You can easily manipulate him into doing whatever you want. You’d think he would learn from his mistakes after being humiliated by you, but no.

But what does it mean to have an agency? For one, it’s the ability to do something, anything at all. You can think, speak, or act in accordance with what you want and not what others dictate you to do. When you have no agency, you are no longer living; you’re just being used as a puppet by external forces that cause you to dance to their tune.

He doesn’t live life on his own terms. He’s a slave to his own pitiful carnal desires. He doesn’t even want to improve himself as a person. His life is pointless; he will die, and no one will mourn his death.

But what does it mean to have a “self”? Jean-Paul Sartre, a famous existentialist, claims that we are nothing. There is no essential self that exists within us. Rather, we are objects in the world just like any other object that exists around us. We are defined by what we do, not who we are. Our existence comes from our actions and our essence comes from those same actions. From this logic, one can reason that the people around him shaped him into who he is today.

In the case of the simp, he desires the attention of females. They are the ones that give him meaning and without them he would cease to be. This mindset is known as being an Other (an object that depends on Other for definition). These types of people can’t function without others around them, so they shape themselves in order to fit what is expected of them.

We mustn’t forget that objects are defined by their relation to other objects.

We shall further explore other existentialists’ views on the simp.

Kierkegaard

For Kierkegaard, despair is a feeling that one can not find meaning in his or her life. In other words, the individual feels as if he or she is insignificant and worthless. To Kierkegaard, the Christian faith provides meaning and purpose in life. He believed that God could give you salvation as long as you believe in him. He believes that faith makes us feel better about our lives, but it does not solve the problem of finding purpose.

Kierkegaard wrote, “The individual is capable of annihilating itself, but it is not capable of producing itself. It is a result and can not have its own ground or reason for being. “ The reader is expected to believe that it does not matter what you do; the result of your action does not give meaning to life. Rather, only God can do this.

In regards to the simp, one can say that he has low self-esteem, and only finds meaning in life because females find him desirable. Without their attention, he would annihilate his very being.

Heidegger

Heidegger believed that our Dasein (an individual’s existence) is defined by the concept of death. He believed that death is a part of life, and so our being is defined by it. Is the fear of death really that important to us? I believe so. Fear instills in us a drive to survive and this, in turn, gives us meaning.

Heidegger seems to be hinting that without fear, life does not have any purpose or meaning. In this context, he is saying that the fear of death is a part of Dasein, and without it, an individual has no meaning or purpose.

Because of this, Heidegger does not believe that faith gives us meaning like Kierkegaard does. Rather, he believes that it is our fear of death that drives us to pursue our own goals and ambitions, such as faith, love, family, hobbies — anything that makes us “who we are”.

But for a simp, who is defined by his obsession with females that are not receptive to him, he is in a constant state of despair. No matter what he does, he will never be satisfied because deep down inside he knows that he will never truly get the girl. So, we can conclude that the fear of death doesn’t drive him to find meaning in his life; rather, it gives him despair of ever having meaning or purpose to begin with.

Nietzsche

Nietzsche wrote of the ‘last man’ and the ‘overman’. The last man is an individual that does not strive to be great. He does not set high goals for himself and just coasts through life. The overman, on the other hand, is a being that sets his own goals and pursues them relentlessly. He wrote, “What is good? All that heightens the feeling of power, the will to power, power itself. “

The concept of the will to power is tied into the meaning of life. What does it mean to have meaning in life? Having a purpose? Why do we do the things that we do? Are we driven by some sort of internal force? Is there something that pushes us to act?

Nietzsche would answer these questions with a resounding, “Yes.” He believed that all living things are driven by an internal force, which he called the will to power.

A rose has the will to bloom. A wolf has the will to hunt. But for the simp, he has no will to do anything. No matter what he chooses to do, it is never enough. He is stuck in a state of dissatisfaction and unhappiness. Perhaps this is what Nietzsche meant by the last man; he is a creature that is mediocre in every way.

This dissatisfaction with life leads to unhappiness and a feeling of hopelessness. Ultimately, it leads one to a state of apathy. His obsession with women has caused him to never reach his own goals and ambitions. He is stuck in a state of disillusionment.

Camus

Camus believed that life was inherently meaningless. We are born into the world and we will eventually die, but what happens in between these two events is of no importance whatsoever.

Camus wrote in The Myth of Sisyphus, “The meaning of life is the situation created by its lack of meaning and the ways in which we deal with such situations.”

In other words, we are born into a world with no meaning. There is no reason for us to be here. In the chapter titled ‘Don Juanism’, Camus states that a man’s obsession with seducing women is an escape from this universe that has no meaning. It fills a void.

The simp’s obsession with women fills a void. It fills the void of meaning. The problem is, the void can always be filled with something else. He could fill the void with alcohol or other drugs. He could fill it with television, movies, and video games. He could fill it with work. Ultimately, it is still a void that needs to be filled. The problem is not the object that is filling the void, but rather the void itself.

The ultimate meaning of life boils down to one’s own subjectivity. No two people are going to agree on what gives life meaning. For the simp, it is women. This is his own meaning of life.

The problem is, he goes about it in an incorrect way. He does not understand what it means to have a relationship with another person. His worldview is so distorted that he believes women should be treated like objects that are only there for personal pleasure and entertainment. This is what ultimately leads to his unhappiness.

This unhappiness causes him to always be on the lookout for ways of improving his situation. He thinks he has found it in sex. Sex, he believes, will give his life meaning and fulfillment.

The problem with this is, sex is not meant to give your life meaning. It is an act of self-gratification. It is about you and what you get out of it. It’s not about the other person, or at least it shouldn’t be. If you’re having sex with someone else, then ultimately it should be for their benefit, not yours.

For Camus, the meaning of life is not found in sex, but rather in revolt against the Absurd. The act of rebellion exemplifies the concept of meaning in a universe that has none.

Unfortunately for the simp, his pathethic attempts at rebellion do not count as true acts of rebellion. His misguided attempts at sexual gratification are not acts of liberation, but rather another form of self-gratification. He is a slave to basic human desires.

The true act of rebellion comes from the virtuous-those that have achieved inner freedom. The simp merely acts based on momentary impulse. This is not freedom, this is a slave to his desires.

Conclusion:

The problem that the simp faces is NOT women, but rather himself. He is his own enemy. He must learn to control his desires and master himself before he can hope to master others (if that is even something that is desirable-it need not be according to existentialism).

The first step towards existential freedom is to look inwardly at one’s own life and address one’s own desires. Acknowledge them, and then change your relationship with them. Don’t just act on them blindly. The next step is to move on from there and attain your own subjectivity. Do not seek the approval of others, or else you will always be seeking something that is constantly moving and changing. Detach yourself from social expectations and live for yourself.

A simp can always redeem himself by recognizing the error of his ways and striving towards personal growth. This can be a long and difficult process. But it can be done.

This is the epitome of existential freedom. To overcome all obstacles, even the ones we create for ourselves. Through this, we achieve something greater than ourselves. We achieve fulfillment.