vocativ | What is the Dark Enlightenment? As the term suggests, the Dark
Enlightenment is an ideological analysis of modern democracy that
harshly rejects the vision of the 18th century European Enlightenment—a
period punctuated by the development of empirical science, the rise of
humanist values and the first outburst of revolutionary democratic
reform. In contrast, the Dark Enlightenment advocates an autocratic and
neo-monarchical society. Its belief system is unapologetically
reactionary, almost feudal.
The many bloggers who constitute the movement style themselves as
“Dark Lords of the Sith,” self-described fearless truth-tellers,
who—mixing their cinematic metaphors—offer Matrix-evocative “red
pills” of awakening in the form of sulfurous conclusions about the state
of the world. Indeed, questioning the prevailing Western narrative is
typically a Dark Enlightenment writer’s modus operandi, skewering the
values of the liberal establishment.
Where does the term Dark Enlightenment come from? Inspired
by the pugnacious writings of Mencius Moldbug, the prolific blogger who
serves as the movement’s unofficial center of gravity, the neologism is
the creation of philosopher Nick Land. In 2012, Land wrote an
impressively thorough manifesto titled simply The Dark Enlightenment, which
boldly articulates the movement’s central thesis: “For the hardcore
neo-reactionaries, democracy is not merely doomed, it is doom itself.
Fleeing it approaches an ultimate imperative.” The essay
continues, ”[Neo-reaction] conceives the dynamics of democratization as
fundamentally degenerative: systematically consolidating and
exacerbating private vices, resentments, and deficiencies until they
reach the level of collective criminality and comprehensive social
corruption.” No, this isn’t your grandpa’s conservatism. (Unless your
grandpa was General Franco.)
As for Mr. Moldbug? Yes, he does exist, and no, that is not his real
name. (That would be Curtis Yarvin.) You can find plenty of photos and
video that document his many conference appearances. Mostly, though,
Moldbug—who lives in the San Francisco area and works in the software
industry—blogs and blogs and blogs.
What do they believe? Post-red pill awakening, liberal
progressivism is seen as a state religion, an unquestioned humanist
ideology that determines all outcomes and silences dissenters through
dismissal. It’s a worldview generated and sustained by the mechanisms of
the system itself. Moldbug has given that system the ecclesiastical
label of the Cathedral. Seeing the Cathedral for what it is marks the
first step to becoming darkly enlightened.
What is the Cathedral? According to Land and Moldbug, the
Cathedral is a complex ideology network built atop the university
system, the media (run and operated by graduates of the former) and
employees of the bureaucracy, all of whom grow ever more dependent on
the perpetuation of the Cathedral. The leveling mechanisms of
democracy—with its race-to-the-bottom vote begging (buying) and
illusions of social empowerment—remove any possibility of inventive
political solutions, or, eventually, rational analysis. Inside the
Cathedral, any questioning of democracy’s legitimacy is sacrilege.
Before long, apostates will find penance by buying indulgences (like,
say, Obamacare), whether they like it or not.
