The meta reason for all the memes
Over the years I have seen and heard everything in the Dissident Right (DR), which I now regard as a defunct and dysfunctional construct. Although it is well past its sell-by-date and in dire need of replacement, it nevertheless retains its slimy grasp on the levers of radical critique.
There are reasons for this but they are not the subject of this essay. Instead, what I want to focus on here is the anti-Semitic tendency in the DR and why it exists.
First of all, Anti-Semitism or what I call the "Grand Semitic Panotheory," is totally wrong. While Jews, individually and collectively, have done "bad things" at various times and places, they are not responsible for all the bad things that are happening to the West (basically <1.5 fertility, mass immigration, and drag queen story hour). OK, maybe the last one!
Despite the essential wrongness of this panotheory, it nevertheless retains an iron grip on DR minds. Why is that? The answer is simple but has a few moving parts, so pay attention.
The key to this conundrum is sociodynamics, which is, cue Wikipedia:
"...the study of the behavior of groups and of the interactions of individual group members, aiming to understand the emergence of complex social behaviors among microorganisms, plants and animals, including humans."
The DR is a social phenomenon. What makes it different, however, is that it is also an anti-social phenomenon.
The people in the DR are the "debris" of the modern West (I am using all these descriptive terms unpejoratively, although it may not seem like it). They are, and many of them will admit this themselves, misfits, loners, failures in various aspects of their lives, etc. Often they are just autistic or asymmetrically talented. You get the picture.
The people in the DR are the "debris" of the modern West (I am using all these descriptive terms unpejoratively, although it may not seem like it). They are, and many of them will admit this themselves, misfits, loners, failures in various aspects of their lives, etc. Often they are just autistic or asymmetrically talented. You get the picture.
Social lubricant for the frens club
The substance from which the DR is built is thus antisocial people. However, the DR is also paradoxically social. But this socialness is largely an effect of technology.
The past 20 years or so has seen a massive leap in connecting people through technology, more specifically the internet. "A rising tide lifts all boats," as they say, and this wave of technological socialisation has socialised even the anti-social! In fact, it may even have socialised them more, as only the truly antisocial have the time resources to be fully socialised by tech.
The past 20 years or so has seen a massive leap in connecting people through technology, more specifically the internet. "A rising tide lifts all boats," as they say, and this wave of technological socialisation has socialised even the anti-social! In fact, it may even have socialised them more, as only the truly antisocial have the time resources to be fully socialised by tech.
The dual anti-social and over-socialised nature of this group of people may well explain its love of "sock names" and avatars. A normally socialised person has little need or inclination to hide behind a fake identity, unless there is a direct reason to do so. But this sort of thing is obviously much more appealing to a technologically over-socialised "anti-social person."
But how does this feed into anti-Semitism? To understand that we have to examine the social dynamics that occur when typical Dissident Righters get together on the internet in chats or streams or Twitter spaces. I have seen the lot. Needless to say, this is far different from a normal, healthy social interaction.
Firstly, almost everyone will be anonymous or cloaked to some degree. Secondly, the mere act of socialisation, even the ersatz one of online interaction, will produce excessive amounts of nervous energy and anxiety. Thirdly, due to the anti-social route that their intellectual development has taken, they will generally be "unique" or "crankish" in their ideas, concepts, or ways of looking at the world. These will also be marinaded more in emotion and psychological reaction, rather than comprising precise data, rigorous logic, and a belief in objective truth.
Due to the antisocial nature of Dissident Righters and their prior solipsistic development, they are almost guaranteed to disagree about almost everything in a socialised situation. Just listen to any DR livestream that brings together a number of individual Dissident Rightists. They all have their unproven and often unprovable "crackpot" theories on almost anything, including things that have happened just a few days ago.
For example, one will say that the Deep State tried to assassinate Trump -- twice! -- while another will say that Trump arranged his own assassination attempt, either because (a) he's in with the Deep State, or (b) he's fighting the Deep State, etc., etc.
Endless extraneous speculation presented as fact and unfounded, unverifiable hair-splitting is the inevitable result of this, with everybody diverging and getting on each other's tits. Constant disagreement and reversion back into anti-socialness is the natural outcome. But there is a way in which this can be prevented, namely to find something that all parties concerned can loosely agree on, or at least pay lip service too.
The thing that serves this function best is Anti-Semitism, and its simulacrums, which include hatred for "evil elites," "bankers," "globalists," George Soros, or even "lizard people."
But why does Anti-Semitism serve this apparently unifying function? There are two obvious reasons: one is that it is nebulous enough, and two is that it provides a convenient "common enemy" to a group of people who would otherwise be in a state of enmity with each other.
The nature of the Grand Semitic Panotheory also means that you can link Jews to almost anything, from "running" the porn industry to being the "hidden hand" supposedly controlling the British Royal family -- all the while adding that they're either in it for (a) immediate gain, (b) long-term economic or political control, or (c) something much more sinister.
Don't expect people whose intellectual development has been driven by solipsistic emotions to be able to question or vet much of this. The only modulating influence will be in each group collectively deciding the correct amplitude of Anti-Semitism to keep the party going. In some DR groups they might be ready for the "hard stuff," the real "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" and "Hitler was right" stuff, while in other groups it might be the low-calorie, more plausible Anti-Semitic pop, "Israel is using the United States" or something like this:
It is the very versatility of Anti-Semitism that means it can fix and fill any crevice and crack between all the "crackpots" who make up the DR. It is an effective emollient and lubricant, helping these generally shy, awkward, and argumentative individuals to all rub along together and enjoy, at least for a time, the warm, sweaty embrace of socialisation.
Instead of Dissident Rightists evolving their critique through a healthy clash of ideas and the elimination of contradictions and falsehoods, they reach a lazier synthesis through consensus on a fake idea that maintains their transient camaraderie.
Unfortunately, these pointless social clusters then end up blocking the doorway and corridor down which healthy critique and dissidence has to travel.
Instead of Dissident Rightists evolving their critique through a healthy clash of ideas and the elimination of contradictions and falsehoods, they reach a lazier synthesis through consensus on a fake idea that maintains their transient camaraderie.
Unfortunately, these pointless social clusters then end up blocking the doorway and corridor down which healthy critique and dissidence has to travel.
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Colin Liddell is the Chief Editor of Neokrat and the author of Interviews & Obituaries, a collection of encounters with the dead and the famous. Support his work by buying it here (USA), here (UK), and here (Australia).
Well, Skrewdriver do have a song called "Antisocial", so I suppose it makes sense.
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