“Behind the Internet’s Anti-Democracy Movement” is a scary piece in The Atlantic by Rosie Gray. “White House chief strategist Steve Bannon is reportedly a reader of neoreactionary political theory,” the byline reads, “A tour through the pro-authoritarian philosophy gaining visibility on the right.”
The piece mentions some of the major pre-figures (Hayek, Carlyle, Bertrand de Jouvenel), as well as contemporary figures & affiliated websites:
- Mencius Moldbug
- Nick Land
- Publius Decius Mus
- Hestia Society
- Social Matter
- Thermidor
- Neoreaction.net
- Nick Steves
At the top of an NRx list, I would also add:
Some quotes from the Gray piece:
If it’s a little in the weeds compared to the by-now-familiar alt-right aesthetic—Pepe the frog, fashy haircuts, and the like—that’s on purpose. Neoreaction is explicitly and purposefully opaque, and has no interest in appealing to a wider audience. This puts it at odds with some of the alt-right or “new right” leaders who seek to take their ideas mainstream…
“Neoreaction is a political worldview and intellectual movement based largely on the ideas of Mencius Moldbug.”…
The worldview espouses an explicitly authoritarian idea, a rejection of the post-Enlightenment vision of a world that is continually improving as it becomes more democratic. Per the website’s authors:
The core of our problem is that there is no one with the secure authority to fix things. The core of our solution is to find a man, and put him in charge, with a real chain of command, and a clear ownership structure.
Real leadership would undertake a proper corporate restructuring of USG: Pardon and retire all employees of the old regime; formalize obligations as simple financial instruments; nationalize and restructure the banks, media, and universities; and begin the long slow process of organic cultural recovery from centuries of dysfunction.
Who will be the leaders? Well:
The only viable path to restoration of competent government is the simple and hard way:
1) Become worthy.
2) Accept power.
3) Rule
More on Mencius:
“It’s actually quite possible to recognize that human population genetics has a lot of impact on politics and history, and also recognize that human population genetics has nothing at all to do with your individual, personal and professional human relationships. Nor does politics,” Yarvin [aka Mencius – Ed] wrote…
The post-Moldbug neoreactionaries still draw on his foundational writings, but the movement is morphing and splintering, and characterized by a conflict between nationalists and “techno-commercialists.” There is, as well, a history of mutual distrust between some alt-right and NRx figures.
Did you ever think you would see the MSM discussing NRx?
