Tag Archives: alt right

Stuck Inside the Vampire Castle

When Mark Fisher, the late cultural theorist whose “K-punk blogs were required reading for a generation,” wrote his (in)famous 2013 essay, “Exiting the Vampire Castle,” he was responding to the path contemporary leftism had been uncritically going down for years.1)Simon Reynolds, “Mark Fisher’s K-punk blogs were required reading for a generation,” The Guardian, accessed 3/31/19, published 1/18/17; Mark Fisher, “Exiting the Vampire Castle,” in K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished Writings of Mark Fisher (2004-2016), ed. Darren Ambrose (London: Repeater Books, 2018): 737-745. Academically insulating itself from the world at large and maintaining an air of superiority, contemporary leftism was cultivating what Fisher saw as “an atmosphere of snarky resentment” coupled with “bad conscience and witch-hunting moralism,” traits born by ignoring class consciousness as such in favor of attacking specific individuals’ social status. Indeed, for Fisher, focus within the contemporary left shifted from broad-based class solidarity (with the recognition that individuals make mistakes and need not be excessively villainized for them) to rigid identitarianism where individual purity had to be maintained, and anyone not up to par must be purged.

While brilliant, Fisher’s analysis was instantly controversial as he shined light on a very unpalatable side of contemporary leftism which drained serious movements of their lifeforce: vampirism. Further, while being no less salient six years later, Fisher’s essay leaves some things unsaid with others still only implied. Thus, given the fact that we never really left, it is more important than ever to reexamine the rigid structure the left currently occupies: the Vampires’ Castle.

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References

References
↑1 Simon Reynolds, “Mark Fisher’s K-punk blogs were required reading for a generation,” The Guardian, accessed 3/31/19, published 1/18/17; Mark Fisher, “Exiting the Vampire Castle,” in K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished Writings of Mark Fisher (2004-2016), ed. Darren Ambrose (London: Repeater Books, 2018): 737-745.

Reply to “The Moral Status of Political Violence”

In the wake of Charlottesville debacle, something I didn’t want to write about, my friend Paul penned an essay titled “The Moral Status of Political Violence” wherein he argues that political violence is moral insofar as it meets certain criteria. As I told Paul on Twitter, I was considering replying to him and although I really didn’t want to write about ethics, I decided to spend a night and write this. What follows is a reply to Paul’s argument that he abbreviates as follows:

I think political violence is moral if it meets most(or all) of the following conditions:
  1. It will not cause escalation
  2. All other nonviolent options have been exhausted
  3. The person using violence has little to no power within existing legal systems
  4. Nonviolent alternatives would be much less effective1)Paul, “The Moral Status of Political Violence,” on Paul Writes Things, published 8/13/17, accessed 8/13/17, <http://paulwritesthings.blogspot.com/2017/08/the-moral-status-of-political-violence.html>

Fair warning: The following post will be different than most of my others posts insofar as, not only is the content different (I tend not to write about ethics), but the style is reminiscent of my policy debate days. In that vein, I will be responding Paul’s offensive arguments one by one while raising my own objections. Specifically, I would like to raise questions regarding what Paul said, counter some of his points, and briefly provide a statement of my stance. The latter will not be very detailed as this is primarily a critique of Paul’s essay, but hopefully it will get some traction regardless.

“So in other words, yes I do believe beating the hell out of white supremacists in Charlottesville is ok. I don’t usually like antifa, but in this instance they are completely justified.”

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References

References
↑1 Paul, “The Moral Status of Political Violence,” on Paul Writes Things, published 8/13/17, accessed 8/13/17, <http://paulwritesthings.blogspot.com/2017/08/the-moral-status-of-political-violence.html>

Alt-Righter Takes Short Half-Hour Break From Being Anti-PC To Enjoy TV Show

Back in 2014, The Onion ran an article titled “Woman Takes Short Half-Hour Break From Being Feminist To Enjoy TV Show.” In the article, the author(s) mocked the modern Left’s attempt to problematize everything to the point that individuals can’t enjoy media without feeling like they’re perpetuating systems of violence. Indeed, the line of thinking spearheaded by claims such as “oh, X did something bad, therefore I can’t enjoy their work” is what leads to blogs like Your Fave Is Problematic, Laci Green saying “[t]he truth is, literally everyone and everything is problematic,” and other attempts to suck the life out of anything fun. Is the trend of ruthlessly slaughtering enjoyment confined only to the Regressive Left, however? Of course not since, at the end of the day, all political ideologies circle back around towards one another. Indeed, in our wonderful Current YearTM, both the Regressive Left and the Alt-Right are filled with different but equally obnoxious tone police, media killjoys, and cry babies. We have entered a world where Laci Green and Lana Lokteff are more closely linked than one would imagine.

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