Depraved Indifference = murder with a shrug

It's how a lot of people die. Quite the vibe.

Happy Friday!
I found a two-word phrase that pretty much sums up the pervasively dystopian mindset of 2025 and WOW it’s associated with ACTUAL CRIMINAL MURDER.

DEPRAVED INDIFFERENCE TO HUMAN LIFE refers to a person’s state of mind in recklessly engaging in conduct which creates a grave risk of death.

A person has a depraved indifference to human life when that person has an utter disregard for the value of human life – a willingness to act, not because he or she means to cause grievous harm, but because he or she simply does not care whether or not grievous harm will result.

In other words, a person who is depravedly indifferent is not just willing to take a grossly unreasonable risk to human life - that person does not care how the risk turns out.

Depraved indifference to human life reflects a wicked, evil or inhuman state of mind, as manifested by brutal, heinous and despicable acts. It is evinced by conduct that is wanton, deficient in a moral sense of concern, and devoid of regard for the life or lives of others.

—From nycourts.gov

Depraved Indifference weaponizes misfortune.
DI will complain about paying taxes and the size of potholes in the same pause between bites. It will shrug when people cry. It wonders why nobody wants to work anymore than 4 unpaid jobs at once.

People die from neglect.

Depraved Indifference enables violence.
DI thinks victims deserve what they get and more. It hopes everybody turns the other cheek and gets hit harder the second time, and the third, and the fourth. It thinks pain teaches lessons other than, “You see, nobody cares about you.”

People die when their pleas for help are ignored.

Depraved Indifference shames with isolation.
DI is all about prisons and leper colonies and camps and redlining. Not in my backyard, it belches while clutching plastic pearls. It will happily grind you under the blades of its riding mower.

People die in exile.

Depraved Indifference arrogantly judges.
DI feels better about itself when it observes the suffering of others. It smirks at train wrecks and cackles at the scars of poverty. It thinks it knows better. It thinks it IS better. It will not stand to be told otherwise.

People die from bigotry.

Depraved Indifference bullies reflexively.
DI likes hierarchy maps it draws with itself at the top. It likes to point out other people’s flaws while gatekeeping access to improvement. It enjoys telling the elderly to learn how to code. It hates wheelchair ramps and braille.

People die when they stop having a reason to live.

Depraved Indifference gleefully belittles.
DI snickers and mocks and has little, nasty nicknames for people who aren’t exactly like it. It’s never happier than when it hisses a slur. It thinks everybody agrees with it. Depraved Indifference thinks human suffering is hilarious.

People die a little every time they’re mocked.

Depraved Indifference is flippantly mean.
DI has been through worse, seen worse, survived worse, and never complained (except for all the time). It thinks it earned everything and did everything right and if something bad happens to them, it’s a fluke, a mistake, a travesty of justice, a cause for their canonized martyrdom.

People die when poisoned.

Depraved Indifference is emotionally impotent.
DI refuses to validate the feelings of others because if it did, it would have to acknowledge the powerful emotions that it, too, experiences at all times. This self-imposed numbness means it sees only in black and white and is thus blind to the full spectrum of human experiences. DI is bad at comprehending subtext in conversations and art.

People die when they can’t act like machines.

Depraved Indifference is dangerously short-sighted.
DI believes that it will never be in need of help or support of any kind. When help is needed, it was obviously earned far in advance due to, uh, reasons.

People die of resource misallocation.

Depraved Indifference wonders why it doesn’t have any friends.
DI just says it like it is. Doesn’t sugarcoat things. Is just being honest. Thinks everybody else is too sensitive. Too soft. Too disrespectful. Too coddled. Too entitled. Depraved Indifference loves getting food delivered and not tipping.

People die alone.

But people live when they give a damn or two about each other…