Nihilism

When:

Lookups spiked on October 8, 2013

Why:

As the government shutdown continued, Jon Stewart presented a mock debate on The Daily Show between comic representatives of the government's Obamacare rollout ("Team Incompetence") and its Republican opposition ("Team Nihilism").

Nihilism means "the belief that a society's political and social institutions are so bad that they should be destroyed."

From the Latin word that means "nothing," it was originally used in English to mean "a denial of intrisic meaning and value in life."

Photo credit: Comedy Central