Dark Enlightenment

The Dark Enlightenment, or neoreactionary movement, or just neoreaction (abbreviated NRx by proponents), is an anti-democratic, reactionary movement that broadly rejects egalitarianism and Whig historiography. The movement favors a return to older societal constructs and forms of government, including support for monarchism, religion, and traditional gender roles, coupled with a libertarian or otherwise right-wing or conservative approach to economics. Some critics have characterized the movement as neo-fascist. The term was coined by author and philosopher Nick Land as a satirical play on words for the knowledge supposedly gained from the Enlightenment and lost during the Dark Ages.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]

A 2013 essay published on the website TechCrunch describes the "Neoreactionary" "community of bloggers" as a term applied to, and sometimes a self-description of, an informal group of online political theorists who have been active since the 2000s.[1]

The phrase "neo-reactionary" was coined by "Mencius Moldbug" (the pseudonym of Curtis Yarvin, a computer programmer) in 2008[8][9] (George Orwell used it in a different context in 1943[10]). Arnold Kling used it in 2010 to describe "Moldbug" and the term was quickly adopted by the subculture.[1]

See also

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Finley, Klint (22 November 2013). "Geeks for Monarchy: The Rise of the Neoreactionaries". TechCrunch.
  2. Pein, Corey (May 19, 2014). "Mouthbreathing Machiavellis Dream of a Silicon Reich". The Baffler. Archived from the original on February 9, 2015.
  3. Bartlett, Jamie (27 July 2010). "Meet The Dark Enlightenment: sophisticated neo-fascism that's spreading fast on the net". The Daily Telegraph.
  4. Walther, Matthew (January 23, 2014). "The Dark Enlightenment Is Silly Not Scary". The American Spectator. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
  5. Phillips, Jon (Fall 2014). "Troublesome Sources". Southern Poverty Law Center.
  6. Laliberte, Bryce (November 8, 2013). "It's not racist to seek an 'exit'". The Daily Caller. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
  7. Land, Nick. "The Dark Enlightenment".
  8. Moldbug, Mencius (May 1, 2008). "OL3: the Jacobite history of the world". Unqualified Reservations.
  9. Moldbug, Mencius (June 19, 2008). "OLX: a simple sovereign bankruptcy procedure". Unqualified Reservations.
  10. Orwell, George (24 December 1943). "As I Please". Tribune.

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