Current Affairs31 Touko 2022

The Terrifying and Stupid Ideas of "Neoreactionaries"

A recent article in Vanity Fair about the National Conservatism Conference profiles figures on the "New Right," including Peter Thiel, J.D. Vance, Blake Masters, and a deeply unpleasant individual called Curtis Yarvin, a.k.a. Mencius Moldbug. Yarvin/Moldbug is an advocate of "neoreactionary" politics and explicitly believes in ending democracy and instituting a dictatorship in the United States. J.D. Vance, who may well be a U.S. senator soon, admits in the Vanity Fair profile that he is an admirer of Yarvin's thinking. For a long time, "neoreactionary" thought dwelled mostly in the darker corners of the internet, but we may well soon see these ideas become more mainstream as the American right becomes increasingly extreme and hostile to the democratic process.

Today on the podcast, author Elizabeth Sandifer joins to discuss "neoreaction": what its tenets are and why it is both incredibly stupid and incredibly terrifying. Sandifer is the author of Neoreaction a Basilisk: Essays on and Around the Alt-Right. Sandifer's book profiles some key neoreactionary thinkers and is a witty demolition of their horrible ideas. In this episode, Sandifer explains the core of neoreactionary philosophy, including some of the more bizarre ideas to percolate through this ecosystem such as the "basilisk" of the title. We discuss why these ideas catch on and the threat they pose.

The photograph above is of Curtis "Mencius Moldbug" Yarvin, who looks precisely like what you'd expect a sinister pro-dictatorship pseudointellectual named Moldbug to look.

Tämä jakso on lisätty Podme-palveluun avoimen RSS-syötteen kautta eikä se ole Podmen omaa tuotantoa. Siksi jakso saattaa sisältää mainontaa.

Jaksot(600)

Democrats Paved the Way for Fascism — Jennifer Welch on MAGA, Socialism, and Political Revolution

🌹 Use the code "15OFF" for a discount on Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership Jennifer Welch, co-host of I’ve Had It and author of Not Today, Fascists, joins Current Affairs ed...

29 Syys 43min

Israel Is Stealing the West Bank in Plain Sight (w/ Jasper Nathaniel)

🌹 Use the code "15OFF" for a discount on Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membershipJasper Nathaniel is an independent journalist who recently returned from reporting in the occupied W...

19 Syys 36min

How 9/11 Normalized Endless War

🌹 Use the code "15OFF" for a discount on Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership CODEPINK co-founders Medea Benjamin and Jodie Evans, along with national co-director Danaka Katovi...

15 Syys 45min

How Trump Made a Broken DOJ Even Worse

🌹 Use the code "15OFF" for a discount on Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership Rachel Cohen is an attorney and organizer who previously resigned from the law firm Skadden Arps a...

9 Syys 31min

MAGA Stole Animal Rights from the Left

🌹 Use the code "15OFF" for a discount on Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership Astra Taylor is a writer, activist, and co-author of End Times Fascism, and Aaron Regunberg is a cl...

2 Syys 49min

Palestinians Shouldn’t Have to Be Perfect Victims (w/ Mohammed el-Kurd)

🌹 Use the code "15OFF" for a discount on Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership Mohammed el-Kurd is a Palestinian writer from Jerusalem, The Nation’s Palestine correspondent, and ...

31 Elo 31min

AIPAC Knows Its Money Is Toxic (w/ Track AIPAC)

🌹 Use the code "15OFF" for a discount on Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership Track AIPAC is an advocacy and watchdog project that tracks AIPAC and other pro-Israel political sp...

27 Elo 31min

Both Parties Are Failing Working People (w/ Dan Osborn)

🌹 Use the code "15OFF" for a discount on Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership Dan Osborn is an independent candidate for U.S. Senate in Nebraska and a former union leader who fi...

25 Elo 19min