‘That’ View of History
An Incredibly Mild Critique of The Dissident Right with Commentary on its Gatekeeping Failure
Internet culture is the essence of postmodernism represented by the constant occurrence of Analysis Paralysis that repeats continually. We live in postmodernity, so it's difficult to not be postmodern. Impossible really. The need to obsess over what has happened and pontificate on what will happen seems to be a particular double-edged sword in our day. After all, we were the first generation to have the means to know a lot of past history, and we're the first with enough hubris to believe we have a duty to judge the past for its sins.
“Do not judge so that you will not be judged. 2 For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.
That view of history is the one that dominates the political left and the right. It is the view that is the spirit of our age. It is the view that by constant analysis of the past you can somehow change the future.
The destruction of all things that could restrain oneself is part of the progressive worldview that dominates media, liberation theology as it's called. They essentially believe that by analyzing the past and destroying things that are seen as out-dated that we can have a glorious future. But the right of our day has a version of it too, and it can be found everywhere. There is this idea that we can navigate back to the past to arrive at a healthy place in today's time, which should be absurd on the surface.
Can you imagine driving forward while always looking in the rearview mirror?
Obviously, we can make certain assessments based on statistics. Things like: “households with two parents are more stable and healthy than households with one parent.” We can even look at the health of past times relative to this metric. What we can't say, however, is that, by recreating the conditions of a prior age where this was the norm, we can force a reality where this becomes the future again. The reality is that we can never reproduce the conditions of a “healthier” past because our baseline in the future is completely different. We have to start from where we are.
Elon Musk recently did an interview with Jordan Peterson where he mentions that one of his sons was consumed by the “woke” mind-virus, so he mentions that after that, he declared war on it. Heartbreaking story, but I was happy to know his response to it is genuine. This is the kind of response the right should have, not the ideological response that is happening.
Desiring for things to be like the 50’s but without the race and gender stuff is not enough to see the terrors of our age be overturned. Wanting to go back is a kind of cowardice that longs to cling to something dead instead of fight for what's left that's still living.
If the woke mind-virus is in front of us, our only response should be to see it dismantled and overturned, run over while being mocked and its symbols desecrated. Our response should not be to weep over what once was and to try to construct a reality where those dead things can live again. I will not make the statement that we can't have something like the environment found in the 50’s again; instead, we have to see the goal as conquering the giants in our culture so that maintaining the reward is part of the process of restoration. Staying where you you have ascended is harder than getting there. The West lost sight of that.
The goal can't be the past. It must be the future.
I often find that reactionaries operate with their focus on the past which is why I struggle to relate to their solutions, though their analysis has weight. I feel like the dissemination of ideas found in elite theory has led to a situation where most reactionaries essentially desire the same system that is in place today, except they would be part of the elites (and people that they like) rather than those who are elites today.
My critique of the dissident right (DR) essentially starts there. Instead of hating the essence of the system, what is actually hated is the group of people that are considered “elite”. I have no doubt that if I could Thanos snap a significant number of people who could be called “dissident right” into power that within 10 years we'd have the same system that we have now in the US but different groups of people would be favored over those that are favored now.
This isn't directed at all people in that space, but the people that I actually like are the anomalies in that space. They are the people who are truly thinking differently, even more different that the differences characterizing the space. Some even rejected the label altogether, so one might call them “DR-adjacent”.
My addendum to this critique is to say that over the past 2 years the space has suffered from being cointelpro-ed in numerous ways especially by switching its base of operations from content-focused websites to Twitter. For YouTube, the barrier for entry was making interesting videos; thus, this meant that the quality of the space was higher just because, to participate, you had to be adding something of value to the discourse there. Same with Substack or any other writing and/or podcasting platforms. It's much easier for narcissistic individuals and feds to infiltrate e-right political spaces via Twitter, which has no barriers for entry.
If someone wanted to save the space, I would highly recommend that no serious discussions take place outside of YouTube and Substack and other content-based like-platforms. Twitter is not a place for intellectual debate or spiritual discussion. “It's a place to form mobs and waste time” (this is a quote but I can't remember who from). Inevitably, anyone who wants to come to real solutions will be driven out from Twitter, a place where discussions are being deliberately frustrated by outside forces, both systematically and due to the nature of the personalities drawn to relatively radical thinking about modernity.
I have no doubt that numerous women getting the ick about the space, including Alex Kaschuta, was due to a concerted effort to destroy it by feds—I wish that I was joking. That's my gut feeling anyway. I say this because, though I didn't post this on Twitter at that time, even I was starting to get the ick about the space, and I have really, unusually thick skin. I mean…I'm a black women who has explored the edgiest e-right spaces. Trust me. I have thick skin and am willing to search for gold in piles of trash. My conclusion has been, since it seemed to happen to majority of the women in the space at once, that it was some kind of plot though I have no evidence of that. Again, gut feeling.
My thought is that it was driven by outside forces. It should be noted that Nick Fuentes’ growth should be…a concern for those who want to continue to endure in the space. He's really the only one who has had a lot of unusual success, and I feel as though it should be obvious that some of his support is not genuine for those of you who follow your gut.
Anyway, I think now is the perfect time to perhaps retreat and rethink the space as it has been deeply corrupted compared to what it was just 3 years ago (when it was quite productive and making meaningful content). I am willing to put out this warning that women have a really good ability to know when a social space has become irredeemable. Managing social networks (originally the physical kind) is part of a woman's makeup. Wise men should probably respond accordingly if the women are fleeing close association with the online space that is called the “dissident right”.
I'm sure something new will arise from its ashes a year or two from now, and hopefully, those involved will be wise enough to gatekeep that space…intensely.
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