One of the things I’ve noticed about Neoreaction is that although the Dominion is vastly over-represented among this network of bloggers and the community around them, there has of yet been precious little in the way of neoreactionary analysis of the Canadian regime itself. In this article, I want to take a look at the State structures of Canada, the interests which constructed them, and how Moldbuggian analysis can help us understand the modern day politics of the true north strong and free. The first big distinction to make from our friends south of the 49th is that, of course, […]

Elliot Rodgers. The Story of Elliot Rodger. Or: Don’t Tell Me Details About What I Can’t Have. Or: How Not To Be Antifragile. The interesting part of the Elliot Rodger story is that it’s not quite so simple to dismiss him as some dimwitted, basement-dwelling lunatic—and his manifesto/autobiography/memoir doesn’t read that way. It’s erudite, albeit entirely narcissistic and self-indulgent. My Shoot Up Is Worth Not Just A Manifesto But A Memoir For I Have Accomplished Much Worth Writing About, And You Should All Pay Attention To the Injustices I Have Suffered. In the meantime, most outlets have seized onto the […]

The recent European elections in France, England, and elsewhere on the continent have surprised the international press while not particularly surprising most other people. This is because the people who occupy the positions of influence within these countries are accustomed to having their words listened to. It’s shocking when swaths of the population become immune to lines that were so effective only a few years before. Most will blame the ‘financial crisis’ that erupted in 2007 world-wide. This financial crisis has also created a credibility crisis that can’t be waved away through credit rating manipulation or through extraordinary central bank […]

Last week, I talked for a little bit about what I was calling the opportunistic “we,” which is really nothing more than a rhetorical sleight of hand that surfaces a lot in our public discourse. This tactic, no doubt sometimes intentional and sometimes not, defines “we” as broadly as possible when talking about entitlements and as narrowly as possible when talking about responsibilities. It’s an oscillation between two sets of referents. And it’s an oscillation that, like in the Lone Ranger joke, frequently leaves certain hapless palefaces holding the bag when it comes time for a reckoning. Originally, I had […]

People join the political fringe due to a couple common motivations: resentment combined with ambition. The motivations are the same regardless of what the ideology that animates that particular fringe group is. This is why you will often see people who are members of one fringe group often rapidly defecting to another group. The resentment of the established order is the primary motivation: the ‘movement’ is only an instrument for satisfying the ambition of the individual. In most situations, most individuals on the fringes will protest passionately about their true motivations for participating in what is almost always a fruitless, […]

There’s an old joke about Tonto and the Lone Ranger that might have cracked your grandparents up, even though it hits a little too close to home today. I don’t recall all the particulars, but the gist of it is that the two of them are narrowly surviving one Wild West crisis after another. Shootouts with bandits, runaway stagecoaches, collapsing mineshafts, that sort of thing. Each and every time they pull through by the skin of their teeth, nothing but their wits between them and certain death. But then, one fateful day, the pair find themselves chased into a canyon by […]

One morning I woke up and wrote down what an ideologically-bizarro world would look like: the communists would writhe about centralizing the means of production, the libertarians would welcome big government, and the anarchists would violently tear down peer-to-peer ridesharing services that remove the exploitative middleman from the picture. Turns out, unlike the desperate last move of tired, spent Hollywood scriptwriters, this wasn’t just a dream. Seattle Anarchists don’t like Uber. Counterforce, one of the groups responsible for violent reaction, calls Uber “one of the most disgusting tech companies in existence.” Read the post. It’s seething with hysterical rhetoric and […]

I am not a white nationalist, but like Moldbug, I am not exactly allergic to the stuff. Unlike Moldbug, I am seeing white nationalism and Nazi imagery picking up steam in edgy trendsetting intellectual circles, and am worried that it might actually have a political future. Here I’ll explain what I think is happening and what the implications are. When the USSR was going down, there was an obvious schelling point for what to do: surrender to the West and become a liberal democracy. It turned out to be badly executed and didn’t really do them much good, but everyone […]

The noted security columnist Bruce Schneir recently wrote*: In addition to turning the Internet into a worldwide surveillance platform, the NSA has surreptitiously weakened the products, protocols, and standards we all use to protect ourselves. By doing so, it has destroyed the trust that underlies the Internet. … Trust is inherently social. It is personal, relative, situational, and fluid. It is not uniquely human, but it is the underpinning of everything we have accomplished as a species. We trust other people, but we also trust organizations and processes. The psychology is complex, but when we trust a technology, we basically […]

I hate to see stray dogs. Unfortunately, I live in a city that has more than its fair share of them. They’re a sad sight—skittish, fearful, usually in some state of malnourishment or starvation, ribs visible. Dogs are domesticated animals, and they don’t do well when they’re all on their own in the concrete jungle. Abandoned and pitiable creatures. My typical reaction, though, to seeing some un-collared mutt limping along is honestly nothing much. I think dark thoughts for a moment about irresponsible dog owners. Reflect briefly on how much I hate metropolitan life. Move on with my day. My wife, however, […]