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.
Conversation
Ok now even vanity fair is on the beat. This is no longer an illegible current. It’s as Main Street as Starbucks.
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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
I wondered something similar when I read the VF article (earlier today). In itself the article doesn't matter, but it seemed oddly like an inflection point.
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I find it very difficult to parse: I don't really grok at all what the NRx's want, not at an emotional level.
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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 🤣

