Conversation

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There’s probably pre-western historical forces in non-western parts of the world that are reasserting themselves after a long period of quiescence, and explain some of the divergence. But they are not obvious to me.
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So to recap, NRx (US branch, not Land) got co-opted in its adolescence by alt-right chan-Trumpism and Thiel and Anton-Claremont crowd backed it even though it wasn’t ideal, and now Thielverse has seeded a mini-media empire and young guard careers to launch rebranded “New Right”
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I suspect “New Right” is the brand that they’ll roll with. “NRx” has too much baggage, “alt-right” is both tarnished by corruption track record and too low-brow. Thielverse sounds too cult of personality and is now inaccurate due to more big names joining. Nice sanitized reboot.
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Reminds me of Modi’s rise from pariah due to Gujarat riots in 2002 to gradually sanitized/laundered image emphasizing “effective administration” and Prime Ministership in 2014, and then the current maturation of the Sangh Parivar Industrial Complex and muscle flexing. 20y arc.
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The specifics are different, but the interacting potentials are similar. If this has same time constants, I’d date the beginning at ~2009 and a maturation around 2029. Whether they actually can go the distance might rest on how well New Rightism does in 2022 election cycle.
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The New Right media machine growth has been quite impressive. I count at least half a dozen declared and undeclared publications within it (Quillette, Palladium etc) that are trying to establish an intellectual voice and style distinct from the Fox/Breitbart world.
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For now they still need old media, even if hostile, hence this Vanity Fair type piece, but soon they’ll hit independent escape velocity. I’d predict ~2023. Right now it’s still precarious. Still feels like “IDW++” network of cells rather than stand-alone institutional landscape.
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Replying to
By random accident I’m connected enough to this crowd that I feel I do grok them very clearly, even though I can’t articulate it. I’m even friends with several of them. Many of them even assume from social-network cues that I’m part of it, which I find hilarious 🤣