At VDARE.com, the Derb reviews his Google Reader list.
I'm of two minds about this spreading phrase "Dark Enlightenment."
Personally, I've increasingly found over the years that I most identify with the thinking of that cheerful, optimistic symbol of the Light Enlightenment, Ben Franklin. Perhaps it's just The Endimenment I object to?
By the way, "The Endimenment" has never appeared online before in the history of Google.
By the way, "The Endimenment" has never appeared online before in the history of Google.
I like dark enlightenment. It sounds cool and mysterious. Reactionary is already poisoned both the left and the right describe the other as reactionary. Manosphere is just plain gay. Anything with "white" in the title is an instant no-go.
ReplyDeleteIt owns the "evil" epithet and helps to promote the idea (which is sadly completely unknown to regular GOPers) that the left is running the show and we are the underground, the subversives.
Almost everything under the heading of the "Dark Enlightenment" was perfectly mainstream around the year 1900. Even early Franz Boas and WEB DuBois were onboard with a lite version of h-bd.
ReplyDeleteBetter to think of it as two Enlightenments. The first one, from 18th C to early 19th, was inspired by physics, and included the early development of economics, which attempted to construct a physics-type science of human society. (In orbital physics, treating planets as points, and ignoring their differences apart from mass, is a reasonable thng to do. Economists, and the Declaration of Independence, may commit similar simplifications.) Voltaire, who popularized Newton for the French, is a characteristic figure. Opposition to the First Enlightement took varied forms: Romanticism, Burkean conservatism, Catholic anti-modernism.
The second Enlightenment, from mid 19th to early 20th C was inspired by biology (and other historical sciences, like philology) and attempted to apply evolutionary principles to understanding human society, including recognizing the importance of human biological variation. TH Huxley, Galton, and Haeckel are characteristic figures. In literature, Conrad, Hardy, Dreiser, Zola, Wells are all affected. Opposition to the Second Enlightenment took varied forms: assorted Blank Slate theories most obviously (and maybe literary modernism?).
Cataclysmic ideological revolutions and world wars obviously shaped the course of both Enlightenments.
I get it that all 30 or 40 of you guys (and 6 or 7 women) in this clique really find each other swell, but spare us the pretense of a "branding discussion" about best portraying your ideological/sentimental school to the wider world. Whatever term does or doesn't make sense, it's obviously just a search for a cudgel if (when) you need to bash the latest apostate from orthodox Alternative Rightism.
ReplyDeleteI've been meaning to write Derb a note recommending The Conservative Treehouse for his reading list, but feared he's already well inundated with similar requests and admonishments.
ReplyDeleteSince he claims to keep up with the comments here, I'll make it an open admonishment. :-)
They're pretty good. They've been on the Trayvon race-baiters like wolverines, which is fitting as that's seems to be the site- mascot. Then, since the Benghazi mushroom cloud, they've been on that one with equal verve. I recommend it to all my Darkly Enlightened friends.
I have no affiliation with the Con-Treehouse other than being a satisfied reader. Best wishes.
It's stupid
ReplyDeleteHoly Cow. I'm darkly enlightened? A dark enlightenist? Enlightenedly dark?
ReplyDeleteI was most chuffed to be on the list (and in such grand company, too!) but I was just getting comfortable with HBD.
I'm going to quote from Candide, the best-known book by Voltaire, the most famous figure of the Enlightenment.
ReplyDelete"The northern nations have not that heat in their blood, nor that raging lust for women, so common in Africa."
The following is from a female character's description of how she was raped by a pirate:
"He was an abominable negro, and yet believed that he did me a great deal of honor..."
An attempt to explain why she was raped:
"....our maids of honor, and even our waiting women, had more charms than are to be found in all Africa...
It appears that Voltaire was aware of human biodiversity.
"Dark Enlightenment" sounds cheesy and dorky.
ReplyDeleteThe Endimenment! "This is the Endimenment,my Friendenment"?
ReplyDelete@anon: I enjoy the "Candide" quotes, which point up that work's Sadean tendencies well; but the entry on Beauty in the Dictionaire Philosophique relativises the question, with something about the Guinea savage as happy with his-- oh well, I just looked it up. It's more trivial and moralizing even than I remembered. "The negro with the round eyes and flat nose, who will not give the name of 'beauties' to the ladies of our courts, will without hesitation give it to these [virtuous] actions and these [ethical] maxims."
ReplyDeleteWell, even Jefferson could've corrected his anthropology on that. The Dictionary appeared after Candide though, which shows something of the genial and inconsistent moralizing of most philosophes.
I'll take Samuel Johnson over either Enlightenment or Positivism.
Conservative Treehouse is good on Trayvon but horribly Conservatard/willing tool of Conservative Inc on nearly everything else, including sending soldiers to die for the Scots-Irish.
ReplyDeleteRollo Tomasi has been writing one excellent post after another lately at Rational Male.
ReplyDeleteI'm still wondering what soldiers died for the Jews, given that Israel preferred Saddam be left in power as a check against Iran (as did the Saudis) and Bush ignored both (and did what Clinton proposed but not seriously, aka Captain Bullshit).
ReplyDeleteAs for Derb's Dark Enlightenment, I think he has it wrong.
The Dark Enlightenment is not a REJECTION of logic and reason but a re-embrace, and a CONTINUATION of the Enlightenment, rejecting religious Dogma (PC, Diversity, Global Warming, Pacifism, global elitism) in favor of science and reason, including new research into human genetics, behavior, inheritance, and more.
This Enlightenment is "Dark" because it tells us true things we'd rather not know or read or hear, because they paint a not-so-lovely picture of human nature at its rawest. That Human beings are not some sort of kumbayah post-Christian soft/weak PC SWPLs, but at our core, highly emotionally and intelligently charged primates with huge drives towards dominance, sex, genetic continuation, and more. We are not homo economus like Tyler Cowen imagines us, bloodless economic machines, or better Angels like most of the soft and gooey Leftists think, but primates first and foremost, and red in tooth and claw as the rest.
And yes, that's Dark.
To shamelessly steal from Truth. Would you guys let you daughters marry Derb's kids?
ReplyDeletePerhaps it's just The Endimenment I object to?
ReplyDeleteYou object to The Benightment.
"Dark Enlightenment" sounds cheesy and dorky.
In a very superficial sense it does. But because it's based on a s-load of underlying substance I think it has legs.
Well, one of Derb's kids is a girl. It wouldn't be very conservative to let your daughter marry her.
ReplyDeleteDiderot's and D'Alambert's encyclopedia was a major milestone of the Enlightenment. Some quotes from the article entitled "Negro"
ReplyDeleteNegro, man who inhabits different parts of the earth. From the tropic of Cancer to that of Capricorn, Africa has only black inhabitants. Not only their color distinguishes them, but they differ from other men in all the traits of their faces, with large flat noses, fat lips and wool instead of hair, and seem to constitute a new kind of men.
If one moves away from the equator and towards the antarctic pole, the black lightens, but the ugliness remains: one finds that mean people that inhabits the southern tip of Africa."
The English translation fails to make sense after the colon, so I looked at the French original. I would translate the portion after the colon like this: "some of these ugly people inhabit the southern tip of Africa." The French original uses the word "vilain". That can mean ugly, but also wicked, nasty, bad. Since the beginning of the sentence had "laideur", which can only mean "ugliness", I'm interpreting "vilain" as "ugly" here.
...
"I would never finish if I spoke of the inhabitants of islands encountered in the Indian Ocean and of those that are in that vast ocean filling the space between Asia and America"
...
"If one traveled over all of these islands, one would find in some of them, perhaps, inhabitants far more embarrassing for us than the blacks, to whom we would have a good deal of difficulty in refusing or in giving the name of men."
...
"The Danish woman with blonde hair dazzles the astonished traveler; he can hardly believe that the object he sees and the African woman he has just seen are both women."
"Those who can see" is the best blog I have ever read.
ReplyDelete"Conservative Treehouse is good on Trayvon but horribly Conservatard/willing tool of Conservative Inc..."
ReplyDeleteOh, I wouldn't go that far. Of the unholy triumvirate, invade, invite, in-hoc, they've only firmly endorsed invade, and even that is more of the Teddy Roosevelt BSD variety, than the neo-con's willing labradoodle to the Israel lobby.
Derb will be pleased to see signs of stirring again at Moldbug's site, with another post last week.
ReplyDeleteGilbert P.
whatever happened to Richard Hoste? he was a great writer who wrote for alt right and then suddenly vanished. his old site is now russian jibberish. anyone know what happened to him? who he was? he had great site too.
ReplyDeletewe need a word to describe the rise of blatantly anti-white (usually anti-white male mostly) media or in paticular anti-white advertizing (state farm "french model", old spice/greg jennings/dog "believe in your smelf", and countless others you can see on ESPN everyday).
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the team, kids. Do what ye will!
ReplyDeleteThe Dark Enlightenment is not a REJECTION of logic and reason but a re-embrace, and a CONTINUATION of the Enlightenment, rejecting religious Dogma (PC, Diversity, Global Warming, Pacifism, global elitism) in favor of science and reason, including new research into human genetics, behavior, inheritance, and more.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that man cannot reject all dogmatism. The modern-day hegemonic religion of political correctness / anti-racism / Marxism / environmentalism / Global Warming slash Climate Change etc. etc. is simply the dogma that filled the void of Christian dogma that had been rejected or, at the least, watered down.
Dogma is at odds with reason, but it would appear that there is a need for it in man's soul. Something will fill in that gap.
This Enlightenment is "Dark" because it tells us true things we'd rather not know or read or hear, because they paint a not-so-lovely picture of human nature at its rawest. That Human beings are not some sort of kumbayah post-Christian soft/weak PC SWPLs, but at our core, highly emotionally and intelligently charged primates with huge drives towards dominance, sex, genetic continuation, and more. We are not homo economus like Tyler Cowen imagines us, bloodless economic machines, or better Angels like most of the soft and gooey Leftists think, but primates first and foremost, and red in tooth and claw as the rest.
And yes, that's Dark.
I think that Darwin and Nietzsche would be in total agreement with much of what we write about, when it comes to human nature.
"Would you guys let you daughters marry Derb's kids?"
ReplyDeleteYour daughters (and sons) are just going to steamroller blindly over your objections. Have you seen the average Eurasian mix? Whats not to like with, on average, exotic good looks, intelligence and a grounding in two great cultures?
Why are all the brands of true conservatism (or whatever you want to call it) negative?
ReplyDeleteFor example, we had "paleo"conservatism for a while. Message: we're dinosaurs = stupid and extinct or going extinct.
Then there was that faction at Mt. Pelerin or somewhere similar that boasted of calling its annual conference Back to the Dark Ages, or something like it. This is unattractive.
Even the classical term "conservatism" itself, while head and epaulets above the other nomenclature, does not appeal to the hormones of active humanity. Just as well try to storm the barricades under the banner of "prudentism."
Now we have this appalling term - Dark Enlightenment - which, like the other late innovations, radiates self-loathing like heat from the sun.
The dark is bad. The light is good. What is needed is not an association with the dark, but with the light. Therefore, I move that the real Right herewith adopt the name "The New Enlightenment."
Consider the overwhelming fact that not even one but slenderly capitalized political, religious, or philosophical movement with the terms "new" or "light" or "shining" or "dawn" on the marquee has ever failed, to my knowledge, to attract more than 500 people of (perhaps unwieldy) vigor.
All the darks, dims, and dooms seem to appeal to the wrong kind of person - the crank who hides under the bed, fingering his gold coins and drinking whiskey straight from the bottle.
All the darks, dims, and dooms seem to appeal to the wrong kind of person - the crank who hides under the bed, fingering his gold coins and drinking whiskey straight from the bottle.
ReplyDeleteThe "Dark Enlightenment" does consist of a lot of shut-in types. People will think of dark basements when they hear about the "Dark Enlightenment".
i think hoste needed a job and looked at the pc future, realized that his real name would leak out sooner or later and sensibly decided his personal well-being contributed more to his happiness than blogging about everything what's wrong with the world. i'm glad some care enough to continue, but if watson or derb get trashed what will happen to a guy like hoste?
ReplyDeleteor he might have met some nice black, filippino or jewish girl, stuff like that changes guys too.
I read Nick Land's multipart essay "The Dark Enlightenment"
ReplyDeletestarting here:
http://www.thatsmags.com/shanghai/article/1880/the-dark-enlightenment-part-1
with amazement and enthrallenment (sp?), wondering where does this all lead ... the ending was, let's say surprising.
Unless it's meant to exemplify the thing itself, it should be "endimmenment", not "endimenment".
ReplyDeleteCennbeorc
The TEA Party had a pretty silly name but they managed to get things done.
ReplyDeleteYou guys can call this whatever yo want as long as its not a bunch of philosophy students and policy wonks going on about dead German philosophers and making pithy statements on news articles while our country falls apart around us like so much of the alt-right currently is.
"Endimenement" doesn't work phonetically. It should be "Endimnement." Or, better yet, "Endarkenment." Perhaps "Endhimmitude"?
ReplyDelete"You guys can call this whatever yo want as long as its not a bunch of philosophy students and policy wonks going on about dead German philosophers and making pithy statements on news articles while our country falls apart around us like so much of the alt-right currently is."
ReplyDeleteHey. Just think of us as YOUR shiftless, cosmopolitan, intellectual vanguard.
Gilbert P.
"I read Nick Land's multipart essay "The Dark Enlightenment"
ReplyDeletestarting here:
http://www.thatsmags.com/shanghai/article/1880/the-dark-enlightenment-part-1
with amazement and enthrallenment (sp?), wondering where does this all lead ... the ending was, let's say surprising."
So the founding fathers were very much against democracy. That's why they designed a republic.
I suppose it's impossible, but at least it's conceivable. The dark enlightenment should perhaps return us to the original Constitution, where for example Senators are elected by state legislators etc.
Robert Hume
"I think that Darwin and Nietzsche would be in total agreement with much of what we write about, when it comes to human nature."
ReplyDeleteActually, there is a slight difference between Darwin and Nietzche's main ideas.
Well more than a few but here is one.
Roughlly, Darwin postulated the "survival of the fittest" whereas as Nietzche postulated the "will to power" as the prime mover of human behavior.
The relationship between these two ideas is complicated by the fact that having "power" is a good way to insure "survival." So it is not easy to disentangle exactly what is motivating people either consciously or unconsciously.
Arguably, Nietzche seems to have been more accurate, because all these childless power couples in the West and low fertility rates provide some evidence that people on average prefer having two high incomes rather than sacrificing one income for the sake of having progeny...
Money is a form of power after all and many people in the West seem to prefer having money to having children.
In less sophisticated Third World countries children are still seen as a source of wealth and possible security in old age and not as an investment black hole as many of those in advanced economies are apt to view children.
So Nietzche's explanation would also be able to account for the high fertility in some Third World countries as well as accounting for the low fertility in advanced Western economies.
Of course, the argument of some is that falling standard of living in some economies, such as the U.S., is the real reason for falling fertility and there is some truth to that. Many married women work because they have to and not because they want to in order to keep up with the Jones.
Still, I think Nietzche was on to something that at least partly explains low fertility rates better than Darwin does (though I suppose Darwin might say that the decrease in fertility is because people are putting more resources into fewer children in order to better insure the survival of the fewer progeny in an environment of heightened competition).
Your daughters (and sons) are just going to steamroller blindly over your objections. Have you seen the average Eurasian mix? Whats not to like with, on average, exotic good looks, intelligence and a grounding in two great cultures?
ReplyDeleteGive me a break. Before I had any racial consciousness, I dated a spectacularly hot Eurasian who wanted to marry me, but my instinct said that was a mistake.
And if you know the score and make any attempt to rear your children properly, they won't have to rely on instinct; they'll have been taught the difference between reproduction and mutation.
So the founding fathers were very much against democracy. That's why they designed a republic.
ReplyDeleteNo, sicne a republic can be a type of democracy, that doesn't follow.
"they'll have been taught the difference between reproduction and hybridization".
ReplyDeleteFixed that for you.
From a HBD perspective, what's wrong with mating between representatives of two groups with similar average group IQs?
"Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteThe TEA Party had a pretty silly name but they managed to get things done."
Yeah, they managed to get several congressman elected who almost instantly upon taking office turned on them and ignored them.
Has anyone offered "Endarkenment"? It's crude and silly but it works, kind of.
ReplyDelete