The culture of hopelessness is a deeply conservative reaction to social change and challenge. It is marked by reflexive opposition and inward-looking tribalism, rather than by hope, solidarity, or progress. Instead of imagining alternatives, it retreats into irony and disengagement.

Meme culture and pervasive sarcasm are good examples of this tendency. They often reinforce a narrow, consumerist worldview that feels clever but lacks the power to engage with or transform wider social realities. In this way, such “invisible” movements quietly contribute to the problems we face, rather than helping to solve them.

At its core, this is a #deathcult mentality. The pressures of #mainstreaming and #stupidindividualism do not lead to human flourishing, they normalise despair, fragment collective action, and make systemic change feel impossible.