Social Matter

When you travel in European cities that are older than modernity, and contrast them with modern cities, the difference in both scale and in public decoration is stark. In modern cities, the trend is to have no recognizable human features to any of the buildings or public decorations. Where there is representational art, it tends to be fractured like a Soviet collage, in Socialist-Realist style (especially if it dates to the New Deal era), or intentionally mimicking the primitive art styles of African or Native American art. What’s absent from modernist cities (and the interiors of modern homes) is, with […]

Following the Vice documentary on life under the Islamic State, lots of questions are being asked regarding the propaganda being put out by the servants of Caliph Ibrahim, particularly since it is considered some of the most sophisticated promotion of radical Islamism ever seen. I want to talk about how neoreaction may be better placed to understand the recent propaganda campaigns since it is generally more aware of the divide which lies between the progressive mindset (in both its left and ostensibly right wing manifestations) and, well, pretty much everyone else in the world. Specifically, this awareness gives us clarity in understanding what […]

‘Rape culture’ is a concept in contemporary feminism that states that it’s a culture in which women are taught to avoid situations in which they might be raped, instead of a culture that primarily concerns itself with training men to stop being sexually aggressive. One reason why this argument has become so popular (other than all the government money dedicated to advancing it) is that this basic position is part of what makes civilization distinct. Civilized men are civilized because they observe a sophisticated etiquette regulating their sexual behavior, usually codified in law. Tribal cultures without written law still have […]

The rule of law obtains in fewer and fewer arenas of American life and for thinner and thinner strata of the population. It’s receding. Rule of law doesn’t leave behind a vacuum as it recedes, though. We have various replacement schemes already taking hold: rule of corporate interest, rule of the bureaucrat, rule of mob outrage, rule of judicial fiat, executive order, selective enforcement, and so on. The sites at which these schemes contend are chaotic. Sometimes these upheavals produce dramatic blooms of jurdicial topsy-turviness. Our Internal Revenue Service, for instance, decides to adhere to even the most microscopic detail […]

The point of the guide is to provide an onslaught of material efficiently packaged. Each one of these modules can be expanded out into multiple essays—books, even, but they’re sufficient for brutal effectiveness. Apply liberally. Some of them are more serious than others. Some are just plain ridiculous—don’t begrudge me my fun. I expect not to be called out on my failure to pass the ideological turing test on some of the modules, mostly because (1) I understand I didn’t pass, and (2) the purpose of not passing is because deconstruction on multiple levels is possible, given that your opponent […]

This was a place and time of prosperity It was no wrong to extend all equal charity The people traded, exchanged, and played Never thinking their age just numbered days   The city first grew within a golden wall And though initially its towers were small Soon kings paid homage from all around Not even a starving beggar to be found   The people styled themselves gods of this world Masters of fate, rulers of all powers unfurled They bought into the crafty serpent’s lie Forsaking the task of pushing back the tide   The ocean grew and soon broke […]

In the occidental world today, beauty is perhaps more concentrated than it has ever been anywhere in all of human history.  That is to say, large swaths of the most beautiful women, at the peak of their nubile physical allure and residual fertility, take pilgrimages to cities and universities which densely cluster their beauty for a select group of men. For previous generations, especially before the last century, beauty was much differently allocated.  Without urbanization and quick transportation, people mostly stayed put.  A well-reputed, successful man would pick from the handful of beautiful women in his town or village.  The […]

Yesterday, the Umlaut published another article (this time by Eli Dourado, a research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University) [1] about neoreaction’s supposed inability to understand the positive aspects of democracy. Let’s start with praise: unlike the majority of articles written about neoreaction, he links to a few relevant articles and spends a minority of the piece discussing them. Dourado spends most of the piece explaining why a journal article [2] refutes Mencius Moldbug, the authors at More Right, and Nick Land. Dourado should not have wasted his time attacking neoreactionaries, who are mostly presenting cases developed by […]

One common criticism of vocal progressive anti-racists, whether they’re tenured professors or Hollywood celebrities or TV anchors, is that they don’t practice what they preach. They tout the benefits of diversity. They preach the necessity of “solidarity” with the poor urban blacks trapped in inner-city ghettos. And then they go home to their well-policed, relatively affluent, mostly white communities (where even the few swarthier folk that they live near have been carefully vetted by schools and businesses for middle-to-upper class attitudes). The most famous example is, of course, Tim Wise, a Jewish anti-racist lecturer from (it pains me to say […]

Last time, I wrote about the era of Equality and how the unrestrained struggle for power leads to the destruction of society.  This time, I’m writing about the era of Security, when people try to pick up the pieces of what the egalitarians have smashed. At first glance, the era of Security might seem like what neoreaction wants to bring about; after all, we advocate institutions of authority precisely because they contribute to security.  This appearance is misleading.  We do want there to be an era of Security, but only because it is the crucible for the era of Liberty. […]