The real problem with capital-P progress arguments is that they’re less a matter of serious philosophy and more of over-indulgence in a trumped up, empirically suspect notion of winning that most of the time is non-falsifiable, due to ad hoc conditions postulated. That’s a little complicated. What I mean is that they’ll first stipulate that Progress has won completely and totally, and then for every counterexample brought to bear in response, they’ll find some cockeyed way to sweep it under the table. “We’re just not advanced enough, yet,” “They just haven’t been educated enough, yet,” “They’re defective,” “They’re mentally ill,” […]

When you get down to it, the opportunistic “we” that I’ve been describing for the past couple weeks here isn’t the end-all-be-all of progressive discourse. Hope I haven’t implied such a claim. It’s really just one particular manifestation. Just one of the many strange varieties of doublespeak and mendacity that thrive in the bizarre, sprawling ecosystem of leftist rhetoric. But it is a typical example, a representative one in many senses. It’s been noted on this very site, as well as elsewhere in conservative circles, that progressives have consistently won the battles of the culture war on the power of […]

The Dark Enlightenment has trading cards, but so do progressives. Progressive Trading Cards have been in development for much longer—true to the progressivist spirit, the cards represent not individual heroes, but groups of afflicted minorities. The powers the cards have are more advanced: descriptive, yet with actual quantities assigned for calculation purposes. After all, we need to know who beats whom, why and when. But it’s not a regular trading card game. You’ll note that I’ve left out a few groups: whites, males, straights, Christians, and crimethinkers. When all the cards are dealt, one person in particular has one card: […]

“The Morning is a Promise” The morning is a promise of difficulties Old age is mostly this knowledge What they call ‘a real man’s college’ A school not known for its ease But what rage is there left to spend There is always another failure to mend Work on then, Sisyphus! This pleased The court, that man be thus condemned Not to drift away without a body to dwell Say with me, it is sooth, it is meet, it is well But to face fear, to face hell or be contemned Intemperate, coward, fool, unjust — of these Pushing on […]

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, […]