Category Archives: Alt-right

Guest post by Alt-Right Exposed

Right on cue, the Deep State Alt Right movement has been activated in order to conflate President Trump and Republicans with racism, and hatred of women, ahead of the mid term elections.

Andrew Weev Auernheimer, webmaster of the Deep State Neo-Nazi Daily Stormer website, publicly praised the cowardly mass shooting and terrorist attack, by one of his followers, against innocent Black Americans in Buffalo, New York on March 14th.

On the Poast social media platform, WeevstatedViolence works. Terrorism works., and They have launched open war against us, and occasionally there are a few heroes that are willing to respond in kind. I support anyone that kills Democrats.

TRENDING: SHOCKING UPDATE: JUDGE IN SDNY 'WE BUILD THE WALL' CASE DOXES JUROR WHO CALLED CASE "A WITCH HUNT"

In numerous articles on the Daily Stormer, and on their Gamer Uprising forum, posters have been celebrating the attack, and calling for more violence.

Andrew Weev Auernheimer is a convicted computer hacker, who was sent to prison after being caught stealing and doxxing over 100,000 iPad users.

Mysteriously, Weev was suddenly released by Obamas Justice Department, after serving only 13 months of a 41 month sentence. As soon as he left federal prison, Auernheimer immediately started to praise convicted Oklahoma City terrorist Timothy McVeigh, and he publicly called for statues to be erected of terrorists who attacked the United States government.

Weevthen fled to Ukraine, where he suddenly had someone tattoo a swastika on his chest, and started Sieg Heiling, while attempting to align himself with Donald Trump, during Trumps 2016 presidential election campaign.

This is all eerily reminiscent of Alt-Right leaderRichard Spencersuddenly doing Sieg Heils and praising President Trump right around the same time.

It has long been considered common knowledge on right wing message boards that Andrew Weev Auernheimer cut some sort of a deal with the feds, to get out of jail early in order to infiltrate, disrupt and neutralize the right wing.

Weev, who is of of Jewish descent, according to his ownmother, ingratiated himself to Neo-Nazi Andrew Anglin, editor of a site called Total Fascism, which was later became the Daily Stormer. Anglin allowed Weev to become the webmaster of the site, despite his ethnicity and his early release from federal prison.

Weev and Andrew Anglin registered the Daily Stormer in Russia, in order to conflate Trump and conservatism with Russia, during the 2016 election. If these two were not taking orders directly from Adam Schiff, it is hard to tell how they would act any differently.

The alleged Buffalo shooter, 18-year-old Payton S. Gendron, was an avid reader, and a huge fan of the Daily Stormer. Gendron promoted and praised the site by name in his manifesto, while describing himself as a Neo-Nazi, a white supremacist, and an incel. All of these buzzwords are constantly being bandied about on the Daily Stormer and on their forum.

Gendron also shared a lot of Daily Stormer memes on a Discord channel which has long been considered an FBI honeypot on 4chan.

Weev and Anglin recently switched the sites domain to a registrar in Communist China, but the CCP dumped them after the Buffalo shooting. It seems that promoting terrorism is a bit much for even the Chinese Communist Party to stomach, at least publicly.

The site is now only accessible on the Tor network, which is park of the Deep Web, or Dark Net, where drugs and child pornography are routinely trafficked.

The official Daily Stormer forum, Gamer Uprising, is still up and running on the regular Internet. A whois search of Gamer Uprising indicates that the forum is registered in Tonga, and is hosted in the state of Washington, on the notorious vanwa.tech.

It turns out that vanwa.tech is being kept online by a shady Russian company calledDDoS-Guard, which is the host of the official website of the terrorist groupHamas. Vanwa also hosts the8chanforum, where the Buffalo shooter just happened to post and hang out on. Just a coincidence, we are sure.

For most of the existence of the site, Anglin advocated Neo-Nazism, and called for the extermination of Jews, and the ethnic cleansing of all non-whites. As soon as Weev became involved, the site took an even darker turn, if that is possible, in which they started calling for the kidnapping, rape, torture, and murder of women and teenage girls, in addition to committing terrorism against all minorities.

Timeandagain, have documented how the Daily Stormer started promoting the Incel movement in the past.

The incel, or involuntary celibate movement is composed of losers who hate and demean women, because they lack proper hygiene and basic social skills. Most of them are addicted to pornography, so they do not have the courage to approach women without coming across as creepy.

Due to being constantly rejected by normal women, the incels become bitter and lash out at women, often threatening to rape them. Some, like Elliot Rodger, who is often praised on the Daily Stormer,murderedtwo people, all because of his inability to approach women.

In one recentarticle, Andrew Anglin celebrated the stabbing death of a 13 year old Florida cheerleader, Trystin Bailey, in 2021. While the rest of the world reeled back in horror at this gruesome, cowardly murder, Weev and Andrew Anglin celebrated it.

If all of this activity were confined to the Dark Web, that would be one thing. However, the incel movement that Weev and Andrew Anglin started, is beginning to become popular, even among young influencers on the right, who should know better.

The Daily Stormer is promoting and endorsing Donald Trump again, in order to, once again, conflate support for Trump with racism, terrorism, and hatred and violence against women. The exact same people did the exact same thing during the first year of President Trumps term, when they encouraged the attack on Charlottesville.

These incels and Neo-Nazis are not conservatives.

They are not traditional.

They hate Christianity and everything that the West stands for.

They are not part of our culture.

They are not American, and most importantly, they will not replace us.

Continued here:

Alt-Right Incels at Deep State Daily Stormer Site Celebrate Buffalo ...

from the failboat-sets-sail-again dept

Laura Loomer still thinks she can sue her way back onto Facebook and Twitter. In support of her argument, she brings arguments that failed in the DC Appeals Court as well as a bill for $124k in legal fees for failing to show that having your account reported is some sort of legally actionable conspiracy involving big tech companies.

For this latest failed effort, she has retained the services of John Pierce, co-founder of a law firm that saw plenty of lawyers jump ship once it became clear Pierce was willing to turn his litigators into laughingstocks by representing Rudy Giuliani and participating in Tulsi Gabbards performative lawsuits.

Laura Loomer has lobbed her latest sueball into the federal court system and her timing could not have been worse. Her lawsuit against Twitter, Facebook, and their founders was filed in the Northern District of California (where most lawsuits against Twitter and Facebook tend to end up) just four days before this same court dismissed Donald Trumps lawsuit [PDF] alleging his banning by Twitter violated his First Amendment rights.

Trump will get a chance to amend his complaint, but despite all the arguments made in an attempt to bypass both the First Amendment rights of Twitter (as well as its Section 230 immunity), the courts opinion suggests a rewritten complaint will meet the same demise.

Plaintiffs main claim is that defendants have censor[ed] plaintiffs Twitter accounts in violation of their right to free speech under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution Plaintiffs are not starting from a position of strength. Twitter is a private company, and the First Amendment applies only to governmental abridgements of speech, and not to alleged abridgements by private companies.

Loomers lawsuit [PDF] isnt any better. In fact, its probably worse. But it is 133 pages long! And (of course), it claims the banning of her social media accounts is the RICO.

The lawsuit wastes most of its pages saying things that are evidence of nothing. It quotes several news reports about social media moderating efforts, pointing out whats already been made clear: its imperfect and it often causes collateral damage. What the 133 pages fails to show how sucking at an impossible job is a conspiracy against Loomer in particular, which is what she needs to support her RICO claims.

The lawsuit begins with the stupidest of opening salvos: direct quotes from Floridas social media law, which was determined to be unconstitutional and blocked by a federal judge last year. It also quotes Justice Clarence Thomas idiotic concurrence in which he made some really dumb statements about the First Amendment and Section 230 immunity. To be sure, these are not winning arguments. A blocked law and a concurrence are not exactly the precedent needed to overturn decades of case law to the contrary.

It doesnt get any better from there. Theres nothing in this lawsuit that supports a conspiracy claim. And whats in it ranges from direct quotes of news articles to unsourced claims thrown in there just because.

For instance, Loomers lawsuit quotes an authoritarians George Soros conspiracy theory as though thats evidence of anything.

On or about May 16, 2020, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbn and the Hungarian Government called Defendant Facebooks oversight board not some neutral expert body, but a Soros Oversight Board intended to placate the billionaire activist because three of its four co-chairs include Catalina Botero Marino, a board member of the pro-abortion Center for Reproductive Rights, funded by Open Society Foundations Soross flagship NGO and Helle Thorning-Schmidt, former Prime Minister of Denmark, who is unequivocally and vocally anti- Trump and serves alongside Soros and his son Alexander as trustee of another NGO, and a Columbia University professor Jamal Greene who served as an aide to Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) during Justice Kavanaughs 2018 confirmation Hearings.

Or this claim, which comes with no supporting footnote or citation. Nor does it provide any guesses as to how this information might violate Facebook policy.

Defendant Facebook allows instructions on how to perform back-alley abortions on its platform.

Loomers arguments dont start to coalesce until were almost 90 pages into the suit. Even then, theres nothing to them. According to Loomer, she relied on Mark Zuckerbergs October 2019 statement that he didnt think its right for tech companies to censor politicians in a democracy. This statement was delivered five months after Facebook had permanently banned Loomer. Loomer somehow felt this meant she would have no problems with Facebook as long as she presented herself as a politician in a democracy.

In reliance upon Defendant Facebooks promised access to its networks, Plaintiffs Candidate Loomer and Loomer Campaign raised money and committed significant time and effort in preparation for acting on Defendant Facebooks fraudulent representation of such promised access to its network.

On or about November 11, 2019, Loomer Campaign attempted to set up its official campaign page for Candidate Loomer as a candidate rather than a private citizen.

On November 12, 2019, Defendant Facebook banned the Laura Loomer forCongress page, the official campaign page for Candidate Loomer, from its platform, and subsequently deleted all messages and correspondence with the campaign.

On page 94, the RICO predicates begin. At least Loomer and her lawyer have saved the court the trouble of having to ask for these, but theres still nothing here. The interference with commerce by threats or violence is nothing more than noting that Facebook, Google, and Twitter hold a considerable amount of market share and all deploy terms of service that allow them to remove accounts for nearly any imaginable reason. No threats or violence are listed.

The Interstate and Foreign Transportation in Aid of Racketeering Enterprises section lists a bunch of content moderation stuff that happened to other people. Fraud by Wire, Radio, or Television consists mostly of Loomer reciting the law verbatim before suggesting Facebook and Procter & Gamble schemed to deny her use of Facebook or its ad platform. Most of the fraud alluded to traces back to Zuckerberg saying Facebook would allow politicians and political candidates to say whatever they wanted before deciding that the platform would actually moderate these entities.

Theres also something in here about providing material support for terrorism (because terrorists use the internet), which has never been a winning argument in court. And theres some truly hilarious stuff about Advocating Overthrow of Government which includes nothing about the use of social media by Trump supporters to coordinate the raid on the US Capitol building, but does contain a whole lot of handwringing about groups like Abolish ICE and other anti-law enforcement groups.

All of this somehow culminates in Loomer demanding [re-reads Prayer for Relief several times] more than $10 billion in damages. To be fair, the ridiculousness of the damage demand is commensurate with the ridiculousness of the lawsuit. Its litigation word soup that will rally the base but do nothing for Loomer but cost her more money. Whatevers not covered by the First Amendment will be immunized by Section 230. Theres no RICO here because, well, its never RICO. This is stupid, performative bullshit being pushed by a stupid, performative journalist and litigated by a stupid, performative lawyer. A dismissal is all but inevitable.

Filed Under: 1st amendment, conspiracy, content moderation, john pierce, laura loomer, mark zuckerberg, rico, section 230, terms of serviceCompanies: facebook, twitter

Excerpt from:

Alt Right Journalist Whos Lost Every Lawsuit Over Banned Accounts ...

The Friday edition of PBS and CNN Internationals Amanpour and Company could have selected anyone to profile Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as his name is increasingly floated as a possible 2024 presidential candidate. But, instead of picking DeSantis himself or someone close to him, NPRs Michel Martin chose Lincoln Project bomb thrower Rick Wilson, who labeled both DeSantis and press secretary Christina Pushaw as alt-right culture warriors.

Martin was confused where DeSantiss beliefs come from, considering he has an impressive resume that doesnt suggest right-wing crazy person:

I mean, he has a very, sort of, classic profile for a political figure but. I mean, he went to Yale, played baseball, like another former president, went to Harvard Law School, went into the Navy, served in Congress. He was always a very conservative member of Congress. But how do you think that this, sort of, fixation on this particular basket of issue started?

Wilson claimed the answer lies in Pushaw being some sort of alt-right troll and puppet master, He is surrounded by a small cadre of very ambitious advisers. And the chief among those advisers, who dominates every bit of his thinking now, is a woman named Christina Pushaw who comes from this very alt-right background, who comes from this background where the trolling and the social war stuff is the only thing that matters.

Pushaw has taken DeSantis who was fairly generic and caused him to be transformed into this alt-right trolling culture warrior of the first degree. Wilson then claimed, without any evidence that DeSantiss other advisors resent this, but DeSantis keeps her around because of 2024 ambitions.

It wasnt the first time Wilson accused DeSantis of doing what he has solely because of future plans. Earlier he labeled DeSantis the undisputed king of the culture war and declared that removing Disneys special tax status was equal to seeking to destroy them.

He also mispresented the states anti-Critical Race Theory law, As if you can just, like, lie to them and pretend [slavery and racism] never happened.

Finally, he attacked DeSantis from the left on abortion, which makes one wonder what he was doing when he advised Republican campaigns, And finally, his last act in this sort of culture war trifecta he's doing is he's passing one of the most restrictive abortion bills in the country. Restricting abortion at 15 weeks with, you know, the usual -- the usual new play of no exemptions for rape, incest, life of the mother.

In a segment full of burned straw men and personal attacks, Wilson claimed, once again with no evidence, that, He is not doing this because he believes these things as a governor. He's doing it because he and his advisers have decided that this is the path to the 2024 nomination for president.

If Wilson, PBS, and CNN think that not teaching little kids about gender theory is alt-right then they are doing more to mainstream it then anyone actually on the alt-right could ever dream of.

This segment was sponsored by viewers like you.

Amanpour and Company

4/29/2022

11:38 PM ET

MICHEL MARTIN: How would you describe where Ron DeSantis, kind of, sits in the sort of, the ecosystem of our national politics right now?

WILSON: Well, I mean, look, Ron DeSantis is the undisputed king of the culture war in America right now. He is attacking a number of axes in Florida, particularly. Hes hes is accusing Disney of being a company dedicated to pedophile grooming and seeking to destroy them. He is setting up a system in Florida where where people who believe that Critical Race Theory, the imaginary demon of their -- is being taught in classrooms and will allow people to while people to sue teachers and schools that, quote/unquote, you know, "Make people feel uncomfortable for talking about slavery or racism in America." As if you can just, like, lie to them and pretend they never happened.

And finally, his last act in this sort of culture war trifecta he's doing is he's passing one of the most restrictive abortion bills in the country. Restricting abortion at 15 weeks with, you know, the usual -- the usual new play of no exemptions for rape, incest, life of the mother. So, all these things that have been happening for Ron DeSantis are built around one central premise. He is not doing this because he believes these things as a governor. He's doing it because he and his advisers have decided that this is the path to the 2024 nomination for president.

They believe the culture war -- correctly, by the way, that the only thing the Republican base cares about now is the culture war. All the other ideological predicates of the past of what, you know, when when folks like me were working inside the party and doing campaigns from from president down to dogcatcher, there was a sort of -- whether you agree with it or not, a sort of coherent ideological idea: limited government, individual liberty, free markets, the world law. Again, maybe they weren't all evenly applied. But the principle of the Republican Party wasn't, let's burn down Walt Disney because we think that they're secretly trying to groom children for a pedophile ring and, you know, under the magic kingdom.

This craziness that has infected the party is very much what Ron DeSantis is running on in '22 and '24. And and very much what motivates the Republican base in this day and age.

MARTIN: What do you think this this this -- came from with Ron DeSantis? I mean, he has a very, sort of, classic profile for a political figure but. I mean, he went to Yale, played baseball

WILSON: Went to Harvard.

MARTIN: -- like another former president, went to Harvard Law School, went into the Navy, served in Congress. He was always a very conservative member of Congress. But how do you think that this, sort of, fixation on this particular basket of issue started?

WILSON: Sure, well, I can tell you why. He is surrounded by a small cadre of very ambitious advisers. And the chief among those advisers, who dominates every bit of his thinking now, is a woman named Christina Pushaw who comes from this very alt-right background, who comes from this background where the trolling and the social war stuff is the only thing that matters.

And and she has become the most prominent adviser around him. She directs every strategic decision inside the administration now. And and as she gained power, he shifted from being that, sort of, traditional Tea Party-ish Republican, who was fairly generic in almost every way. You know, decent accomplishments, decent educational background, you know, limited government constitutional conservative on paper.

Once Pushaw came into his orbit, he transformed into this alt-right trolling culture warrior of the first degree. And it is -- you know, in Tallahassee and among his many advisers, there's been a little grumbling about it but no one no one can take her out of that role because he views her position as being so vital because it's raised him $100 million from small door donors. It's given him, you know, something like 75 hits on Fox News in the last year. It's given him this enormous central prominence as the -- as a person that Trump fears the most who will run against him in '24.

Read the original here:

PBS, Lincoln Project Label DeSantis, Press Secretary 'Alt-Right'

EMILY KWONG, HOST:

You're listening to SHORT WAVE...

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

KWONG: ...From NPR.

So a few weeks ago, I had a few of my closest friends over...

THOMAS LU, BYLINE: Hello.

BERLY MCCOY, BYLINE: Hello. Hi.

LU: Oh, my. Look at - what, what?

MCCOY: I know.

KWONG: ...Aka, some of the members of team SHORT WAVE - you may recognize the voices of Thomas Lu and Berly McCoy - for an experiment in the culinary arts.

REGINA BARBER, BYLINE: I'm kind of jealous I was on the wrong coast, but a culinary arts experiment - are you saying you tried to cook something new?

KWONG: That's right, Regina Barber, and I used all of my creative impulses.

Sliding off this pan like kids down a waterslide into the wok - whee, I'm going to be a dish.

BARBER: (Laughter) I love it.

KWONG: You know, you got to talk to your food. I sent my friends outside, so it was just me cooking with Berly, our cat Zuko...

(SOUNDBITE OF CAT MEOWING)

BARBER: I love the name - go "Fire Nation."

KWONG: ...And possibly the most versatile pan in the kitchen - the wok.

BARBER: Everyone should get one.

KWONG: Seriously, we have a whole episode about woks coming out in a few weeks...

BARBER: Awesome.

KWONG: ...Featuring this guy.

KENJI LOPEZ-ALT: I'm Kenji Lopez-Alt. I am a he/him.

BARBER: Oh right, the cookbook author - "Food Lab."

KWONG: Uh huh.

BARBER: Doesn't he have those videos where he records his cooking from his head?

KWONG: Yeah, something like that.

LOPEZ-ALT: The GoPro was sitting in the kitchen, and I was about to cook something, so I just stuck it on my head, and I was, like, looking at my YouTube channel, and I was like, oh, this one video I have has, like, a million-something views, and it was just making a grilled cheese sandwich with a GoPro on my head.

KWONG: Kenji is all about demystifying the process of cooking. He peppers the pages of his cookbooks with science explainers so people can understand what's happening in, let's say, the wok, and why. So today, for the first time in a while, we have a SHORT WAVE Micro Wave.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

BARBER: Ooh, I love our Micro Waves - our mini episodes with a little bit of science, and it's followed by some listener mail.

KWONG: That's right. And today, in this microwave, we're going to break down the science behind a cooking technique called velveting for making the perfect stir-fry, where the meat stays tender and the veggies are crisp.

BARBER: Velveting - it's not just for upholstery.

KWONG: That's right.

BARBER: (Laughter).

KWONG: You're listening to SHORT WAVE - the daily science podcast from NPR.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

KWONG: So, Regina, what is your relationship to the cooking pan known as the wok?

BARBER: I actually have two woks. One is pretty old and nicely seasoned. I use woks to mostly, like, stir-fry vegetables and make big noodle dishes.

KWONG: Oh, it sounds so good. I have a wok that was salvaged from a thrift shop, and it's perfectly seasoned, too - such a find. We use it for stir-frying, steaming, simmering. But there's this thing that can happen in wok cooking where you're making stir fry, right? And your vegetables are crisping up all nice, but you're simultaneously drying out your meat.

BARBER: Yeah, I actually hate that.

KWONG: Yeah. And I always wondered, like, how, in Chinese restaurants, they kept the meat so tender.

BARBER: Totally.

KWONG: It provides that contrast with the rest of the stir fry. And the answer, my friend, is velveting.

LOPEZ-ALT: The name is called velveting because it gives the meat a very tender, velvety texture because it's already essentially cooked through.

KWONG: So think about restaurant stir-fry. You know how the chicken is kind of slick and, like, shiny?

BARBER: Yeah, it's. It's almost, like, unnaturally smooth.

KWONG: Well, that's because it has gone through this velveting process, where you marinate lean meats like chicken or pork loin or fish in a slurry of cornstarch and pre-cook it.

LOPEZ-ALT: So it actually makes the stir-frying process easier because you don't have to try and cook the meat through. It's ready to accept the sauce because it already has this layer of cornstarch on the outside. So all you have to do, then, is stir-fry your aromatics and vegetables, add your meat, add your sauce, and toss it all together. And it - you know, essentially, you do it to lean meats to give them that very, very sort of tender, velvety texture.

BARBER: It sounds so delicious.

KWONG: Right? What I learned from Kenji is that if you prepare this velveting marinade, it kind of acts like a sealant, protecting the meat from the direct heat of the wok and keeping the juices inside.

LOPEZ-ALT: As the meat cooks, and if it's exuding any juices from the inside, those juices, instead of going out in the pan and sort of steaming away, they get trapped in this layer of egg white and cornstarch.

BARBER: I want to make this now. Tell me more about the velveting marinade. Like, what's in it?

KWONG: OK, so Berly and I made Kenji's velvet chicken with snap peas - very simple. First, we cut up some chicken...

(SOUNDBITE OF KNIFE SLICING)

KWONG: ...And we coated it in a marinade of egg whites...

(SOUNDBITE OF EGG CRACKING)

KWONG: ...Cornstarch...

(SOUNDBITE OF CONTAINER LID OPENING)

KWONG: ...And a water-based liquid.

(SOUNDBITE OF LIQUID BEING POURED)

KWONG: You can use soy sauce or stock or Shaoxing wine.

BARBER: Like rice wine, right?

KWONG: Yeah.

BARBER: OK, so why those ingredients specifically?

KWONG: Well, the water-based liquid provides flavor and color. The egg whites - upon cooking, they create that loose matrix of protein, kind of setting up around the meat and protecting it from the heat. But the real star in this marinade is cornstarch.

BARBER: Love it.

KWONG: Cornstarch is raw starch. It's just extracted from the endosperm of corn, and it has this amazing property.

LOPEZ-ALT: Starch, essentially - like, it swells in water. And so it thickens water, and it turns it into this, you know, sort of, like, gel matrix as it heats.

KWONG: A single grain of starch can swell to 30 times its original size...

BARBER: Wow.

KWONG: ...Upon contact with heat. So when you coat chicken with a marinade based in cornstarch, it prepares the meat to later absorb sauces from the stir-fry and keeps the meat's juices trapped inside during cooking.

BARBER: This is super interesting. I love his phrase gel matrix. So after you marinate the chicken in this, like, cornstarch slurry, like, what's next?

KWONG: All right. Next is kind of a high-wire act of heat and courage. You want the coating to stick evenly, so the next step is basically to precook the meat in boiling water or oil.

BARBER: Ooh.

KWONG: So, yeah, we're putting the chicken that's coated with the cornstarch into hot water. This is called passing through. And in Chinese restaurants, actually, they do it with oil. We're just doing it with water because - a little healthier, maybe a little less scary.

BARBER: Ooh. Wait - what did the meat, like, look like after it was passed through?

MCCOY: I would have never thought to do this. This is...

KWONG: Right?

MCCOY: ...Such a...

KWONG: Doesn't it look like chicken you get at a Chinese restaurant, though - how it's kind of soft and doughy and spongy?

MCCOY: Totally.

KWONG: Then it was time for the wok.

(SOUNDBITE OF FOOD SIZZLING IN WOK)

KWONG: We added the chicken to a bath of delectable lemon ginger sauce...

(SOUNDBITE OF LIPS SMACKING)

KWONG: ...Those snap peas, and the final dish was...

Oh, my gosh, it's so good. Ooh.

BARBER: (Laughter) I'm still jealous.

KWONG: All I'm saying is that, by the power of cornstarch vested in me, I will be velveting my proteins for my wok from here on out.

BARBER: I think I will too.

KWONG: OK.

BARBER: But for now, Em, ready for some listener mail?

KWONG: I'm ready. Let's hear it.

BARBER: Listener Leah Maria Park (ph) writes, (reading) your piece about Chien-Shiung Wu really moved me. She's just so inspiring for me, as an Asian-read girl - which I think she means people assume she is Asian. She goes on to say, (reading) I also relate to Jada because I still don't know a lot about my grandma's life story, who passed when I was 13. I was just not interested in much of it at the time, and now I wish I had asked her. Thanks for bringing the story to us.

KWONG: Hmm. Oh, that's beautiful.

BARBER: It is beautiful.

KWONG: I also lost my grandmother very young, and, yeah, sometimes I think this kind of reporting is definitely, like, in her memory, you know?

BARBER: Yeah.

KWONG: What is the next letter?

See the rest here:

How To Keep Meat Juicy With Science : Short Wave - NPR

The Johnny Depp-Amber Heard defamation trial was, from gavel to gavel, a singularly baffling, unedifying and sad spectacle. Now that it has ended with the jury finding in favor of Depp on all questions and in favor of Heard on only one, its clear that the confusion was the point.

Why did Depp, who had already lost a similar case in Britain, insist on going back to court? A public trial, during which allegations of physical, sexual, emotional and substance abuse against him were sure to be repeated, couldnt be counted on to restore his reputation. Heard, his ex-wife, was counting on the opposite: that the world would hear, in detail, about the physical torments that led her to describe herself, in the Washington Post op-ed that led to the suit, as a public figure representing domestic abuse.

Even before the verdict came in, Depp had already won. What had looked to many like a clear-cut case of domestic violence had devolved into a both sides melodrama. The fact that Heards partial victory, which involved not Depps words but those spoken in 2020 by Adam Waldman, his lawyer at the time, can be spun in that direction shows how such ambiguity served Depp all along. As one commenter on The New York Times site put it, Every relationship has its troubles. Life is complicated. Maybe they were both abusive. Who really knows what happened? The convention of courtroom journalism is to make a scruple of indeterminacy. And so we found ourselves in the familiar land of he said/she said.

We should know by now that the symmetry implied by that phrase is an ideological fiction, that women who are victims of domestic violence and sexual assault have a much harder time being listened to than their assailants. I dont mean that women always tell the truth, that men are always guilty as charged, or that due process isnt the bedrock of justice. But Depp-Heard wasnt a criminal trial; it was a civil action intended to measure the reputational harm each one claimed the other had done. Which means that it rested less on facts than on sympathies.

In that regard, Depp possessed distinct advantages. He isnt a better actor than Heard, but her conduct on the stand was more harshly criticized in no small part because hes a more familiar performer, a bigger star who has dwelled for much longer in the glow of public approbation. He brought with him into the courtroom the well-known characters he has played, a virtual entourage of lovable rogues, misunderstood artists and gonzo rebels. Hes Edward Scissorhands, Jack Sparrow, Hunter S. Thompson, Gilbert Grape.

Weve seen him mischievous and mercurial, but never truly menacing. Hes someone weve watched grow up, from juvenile heartthrob on 21 Jump Street to crusty old salt in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. His offscreen peccadilloes (the drinking, the drugs, the Winona Forever tattoo) have been part of the pop-cultural background noise for much of that time, classified along with the scandals and shenanigans that have been a Hollywood sideshow since the silent era.

In his testimony, Depp copped to some bad stuff, but this too was a play for sympathy, of a piece with the charm and courtliness he was at pains to display. That he came off as a guy unable to control his temper or his appetites was seen, by many of the most vocal social media users, to enhance his credibility, while Heards every tear or gesture was taken to undermine hers. The audience was primed to accept him as flawed, vulnerable, human, and to view her as monstrous.

Because hes a man. Celebrity and masculinity confer mutually reinforcing advantages. Famous men athletes, actors, musicians, politicians get to be that way partly because they represent what other men aspire to be. Defending their prerogatives is a way of protecting, and asserting, our own. We want them to be bad boys, to break the rules and get away with it. Their seigneurial right to sexual gratification is something the rest of us might resent, envy or disapprove of, but we rarely challenge it. These guys are cool. They do what they want, including to women. Anyone who objects is guilty of wokeness, or gender treason, or actual malice.

Of course there are exceptions. In the #MeToo era there are men who have gone to jail, lost their jobs or suffered disgrace because of the way theyve treated women. The fall of certain prominent men Harvey Weinstein, Leslie Moonves, Matt Lauer was often welcomed as a sign that a status quo that sheltered, enabled and celebrated predators, rapists and harassers was at last changing.

A few years later, it seems more likely that they were sacrificed not to end that system of entitlement but rather to preserve it. Almost as soon as the supposed reckoning began there were complaints that it had gone too far, that nuances were being neglected and too-harsh punishments meted out.

This backlash has been folded into a larger discourse about cancel culture, which is often less about actions than words. Cancellation is now synonymous with any criticism that invokes racial insensitivity, sexual misbehavior or controversial opinions. Creeps are treated as martyrs, and every loudmouth is a free-speech warrior. Famous men with lucrative sinecures on cable news, streaming platforms and legacy print publications can proclaim themselves victims.

In the courtroom. A defamation trialinvolving the formerly married actors Johnny Depp and Amber Heard just concludedin Fairfax County Circuit Court in Virginia. Here is what to know about the case:

Ms. Heards op-ed. Mr. Depps suit was filed in response to an op-edMs. Heard wrote for The Washington Post in 2018 in which she described herself as a public figure representing domestic abuse. Though she did not mention her former husbands name, he and his lawyers have argued that she was clearly referring to their relationship.

The domestic abuse claims. In the 2020 trial, Ms. Heard accused her former husband of assaulting her first in 2013, after they began dating, and detailed other instances in which he slapped her, head-butted her and threw her to the ground. Mr. Depp has since accused herof punching him, kicking him and throwing objects at him.

The verdict. After a six-week trial, the jury found Mr. Depp was defamed by Ms. Heardin her op-ed, but also that she had been defamed by one of his lawyers. Mr. Depp was awarded $15 million in compensatory and punitive damages, but the judge capped the punitive damages total in accordance with legal limits for a total of $10.35 million. The jury awarded Ms. Heard $2 million in damages.

Which is just what Depp did. And while he accused Heard of doing terrible things to him in the course of their relationship and breakup, the lawsuit wasnt about those things. It was about words published under her name, none of which were Johnny Depp. In a sentence the jury found false and malicious, after describing herself as representing domestic abuse Heard wrote that she felt the full force of our cultures wrath for women who speak out. This time she surely has.

Misogyny isnt the subtext of American political rage and social dysfunction; all too often, its the plain text. The links between domestic violence and mass shootings are chilling and well documented, though rarely cited in arguments about policy and prevention. The mobs of social media mobilize against women with special frequency and ferocity, often using the language of righteous grievance. Gamergate, a campaign of harassment directed at women who wrote about video game culture, pretended to be about ethics in journalism. The alt-right in the months before the 2016 election and its post-Trump progeny specialize in targeted misogyny. The TikTok hordes that went after Amber Heard over the past few months took a page from that book.

Depps victory is also theirs. The rage of men whose grievances are inchoate and inexhaustible found expression in a 58-year-old movie stars humiliation of his 36-year-old former wife. I have to wonder: Are men OK? Thats a sincere question. Does the blend of self-pity, vanity, petulance and bombast that Depp displayed on the stand represent how we want to see ourselves or our sons? Thats a rhetorical question. The answer is yes.

Not all men, though. Right? Now that the trial is over, well find new things to be ambiguous about, new venues where indeterminacy can serve as an alibi for the same old cruelty, and for its newer iterations. Johnny Depp is being embraced as a hero in some quarters, but his victory extends even to those who will allow themselves to feel troubled by the outcome of the trial and then move on. Some of us may wince a little when we watch Pirates of the Caribbean or Donnie Brasco, but well probably still watch. Theyre pretty good movies, and its not as if they can be expunged from the collective memory. That hasnt happened to Louis C.K., or Woody Allen, or Michael Jackson, or Mel Gibson, or even Bill Cosby. Some of them have gone to court, some have faced public censure and disgrace, but they all remain woven into the fabric of the culture, and their behavior is too. We may not entirely forget, but we mostly forgive.

Lets at least be clear about what that means. It means that we value the comfort and self-regard of men, especially famous ones, more than we value the safety and dignity of women, even famous ones.

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Johnny Depp-Amber Heard Verdict: The Actual Malice of the Trial - The New York Times

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We were all ugly, Amanda, a 22-year-old student from Florida told me, recalling the online community she found when she was 18. Men didnt like us, guys didnt want to be with us, and it was fine to acknowledge it.

This Reddit forum was called r/Trufemcels, and she commented there under the username strangeanduglygrl. Amanda didnt post very often, but she checked in every day on the community of self-identified femcels, or involuntarily celibate women. (I agreed to refer to her by her first name only, to separate her current life from her former internet identity.) They came to complain about the superficiality of men and the privilege of pretty women, and to share their experiences moving through the world in an unattractive body, which therefore disadvantaged them romantically, socially, and economically. They were finding the modern dating landscapethe image-based apps, the commodified dating market, the illusory freedom to be found in hookup cultureto be unnavigable, and they talked about taking a pink pill, and opening their eyes to the reality that society was misogynistic and lookist. They could be funnyin 2019, a commenter repeated a pretty friends suggestion that nobody really needs to wear makeup, adding five heart-eye emoji and a link to the joke subreddit r/thanksimcured. They could be kind of meanlike male incels, they mocked lucky, beautiful women, whom they called Stacys. Mostly, they wrote about being sad. Normies cant comprehend real loneliness, an early post begins. Guys dont treat ugly girls like people, reads another.

I was the kind of girl in school where it was like, people would say Oh, he has a crush on you to make fun of the guy, Amanda told me. She was anxious and unhappy, but she didnt want to talk about any of it with her friends. When she first heard the term femcel, it offered some clarity. In a very literal way: I was involuntarily celibate and female. So I was like, Okay, that applies. Online, she found thousands of other women who were trying to figure out how to live without the kind of romantic love that our society has deemed a pillarmaybe the pillarof happiness. Even though the women in the [subreddit] were pretty depressed and sad, it did give me reassurance, she said. At least there are other people out there who are like me. And they werent completely weird. They were pretty normal.

Around the same time that Amanda was getting involved in the femcel community, mass media attention was focused on its far-better-known male counterpart. The lonely and angry young men of the internet became a subject of fascination because their language was disgusting and their threats of violence against women were realincels deified the murderer Elliot Rodger, who killed six people (and himself) in Isla Vista, California, in 2014 and left behind a YouTube video in which he outlined his plans to punish women for rejecting him. Coverage also illuminated the broader Manosphere, the sprawling online network of disaffected young men that overlapped with the so-called alt-right and with President Donald Trumps rabid army of MAGA trolls. In a 2018 report on the intersection of misogyny and white supremacy, the Anti-Defamation League outlined how incels sense of entitlement to sex was leading them toward other extremist spaces and beliefs. This was a scary and dizzyingly complicated story, and femcels, whose rage was quieter and whose presence was smaller, didnt really factor in.

Five years later, incels are a known quantity, and femcels are the new mystery. In recent months, headlines have named 2022 the year of the femcel and heralded a coming femcel revolution, wherein women are reclaiming involuntary celibacy and asserting their right to give a name to their loneliness and alienation. This new recognition of femcels has tended to stop there. But incel had political meaningpeople who identified with the term were read as reactionaries, the young, mostly white men who felt left behind as society progressed beyond its historical focus on their specific needs. The term femcel is now in widespread use, not just in Reddit forums but on every major social platform, including the Gen Zfavored TikTok, but we still dont know what its for. If a femcel revolution is coming, what new world are femcels dreaming about?

When Amanda talks about the femcel community, she specifically contrasts it with one other option: contemporary liberal feminism, or maybe girlboss feminism, as popularized by Millennials and the brands that cater to them.

The liberal-feminist notion of like, supporting all women, feeling positive all the time its disingenuous, she told me. When she started identifying with the term femcel, it was partly because she felt a resentment toward a style of feminism that challenged traditional beauty standards mostly by asking those who fell short of them to feel beautiful anyway, regardless of their lived experiences. Id rather be able to talk about being ugly than just try to convince myself that Im pretty, she said.

In some ways, this logic is even more uncomfortable than the original incel logic. In a 2021 essay, the feminist theorist Jilly Boyce Kay argued that its not just incels who assume that any woman can get sex from men. This is a widespread cultural assumption. Women have long been understood to hold sexual capital; in modern dating culture, theyre expected to wield it. Femcels complicate that story. They feel the same sense of humiliation and exclusion that incels do, but they react to those feelings differently. Incel discourse tends to project anger outward onto society in a hatred of women, Kay told me when we spoke recently. That anger is expressed radically: through threats of violence, or through bizarre (though, arguably, imaginative) calls for the government to redistribute sex. In femcel discourse, it does tend to be much more turned inward on the self, she said. Though society is discussed as inherently lookist and unfair, femcels are not out to change it, because they dont see it as changeable.

This inward-facing posture contributes to the difficulty in estimating the groups size and summarizing its positions. When the most well-known Reddit forum specifically for femcels, r/Trufemcels, was banned from the platform in June 2020, it had just over 25,000 members. (The subreddit was one of 2,000 forums banned for promoting hate after a major change to Reddits content policies. A Reddit spokesperson declined to provide more detail on the decision.) The larger Vindicta subreddit was created as a space for femcels to discuss looksmaxxing, or improving their physical appearance with a combination of soft (makeup) and hard (plastic surgery) approaches, but has recently seen a diluting influx of non-femcels looking for beauty advice and sometimes offering words of encouragement. (This has caused problems: Reminder to femcels, people who LIE to you and tell you that you look fine the way you are are NOT on your side, a moderator wrote last year. They BENEFIT from you remaining ugly and not fixing your looks because it makes them more attractive relative to you.)

Now femcels are scattered across what Kay tentatively calls the Femisphere. Some left Reddit altogether, moving instead to a small, femcel-specific board on the Reddit-look-alike site The Pink Pill, which has only 580 members. Another reason the femcel subculture is difficult to visualize and comprehend: Theyre unwanted even in many women-only spaces, so they sometimes hide or are hidden. They were tolerated in the notorious Female Dating Strategy subreddit for a while, but were later kicked out. The Forever Alone Women subreddit welcomes them, but forbids the use of any incel or femcel lingo. A women-only 4chan-like imageboard called lolcow.farm has a reputation as another site that femcels have drifted toand is covered with femcel lingobut virulently denied their presence there when I posted on the site about this story. Theyre a fringe group that is mostly a meme, one commenter wrote. Femcels arent real, another added.

Femcels are real, and their existence has meaning. But thinking of them as a unified group with specific political goals is less useful than thinking of them as overlooked individuals who are now being swept around the web, sometimes letting their insecurities and resentments lead them into unproductive conversations. The architecture of many of the forums theyve ended up in encourages defensiveness, border-patrolling, exclusion, even aggression. For instance, while femcel culture is not inherently transphobic, there is an overlap or amenability to transphobia, Kay told me. Femcels, especially now, tend to find themselves on identity-based forums that are fixated on biological-essentialist ideas of genderwomen are like this, men are like that, as Kay put it, more stagnant than revolutionary. These spaces do just kind of become inward-looking, very defensive, rather than about imagining radical new futures, she said.

In the past year, the term femcel has taken a surprising turn: It has been adopted by the mainstream internet. On Twitter, its an easy synonym for depressed or not dating right now. On Instagram, its a sort-of-funny word to pair with a baffling meme or a picture in which you actually look really hot and disaffected. Its newly popular on TikTok, which has seen an odd trend toward semi-ironic sex negativity. And on Tumblr, its the latest word for describing your basic Tumblr usera romantic loner who likes to blog. The era of the incel is over, the era of the femcel has begun, reads a tweet that has been circulating as a meme; the text appears above a graph that shows an increase in the number of women under the age of 35 who say they have not had sex in the past year. (The graph was created by a right-wing think tank with the creepy task of promoting the natural family.)

Its, like, an appropriation of ugly-girl culture, Amanda said, when I asked her about the diffusion of the term. I did kind of get that old feeling of like, You guys are not part of the group. Youre too pretty to be part of this group.

On Tumblr in particular, the word is totally divorced from its original meaning, and is following the natural, goofy path of any internet word that is perceived to confer edginess and intrigue. Lila, a 21-year-old Tumblr user, recently used the femcel tag on a post that reads, in curling cursive script, asking myself if I can cook my instant noodles with vodka instead of water. The tropes of the toxic loner are not just for boys, she told me. (I agreed to use only her first name because she was worried about harassment.) Tumblr users are adding #femcel to images of antisocial icons like the super-skinny and delusional Natalie Portman in Black Swan, the Lisbon sisters of The Virgin Suicides, and of course Lana Del Rey, from whom they learned of the joys of cigarettes and cherry schnapps. I just thought the word was funny and maybe even a little shocking, Hannah, a 19-year-old Tumblr user who also tags some of her posts with #femcel, told me. I knew it would get peoples attention. Most of my posts are ironic. Ive been in a relationship with my boyfriend for two years. (Hannah asked to go by her first name only, because she doesnt want her identity associated with her Tumblr account.)

As silly (or maybe even annoying) as that may be, using the word femcel more lightly could hold some promise. Its literal use has been nearly tapped out. At the personal level, true femcels see two main options for themselvesthey either give up on love and society altogether, vowing to lie here and rot, or they devote themselves to ascending through rigorous self-improvement and sometimes dangerous body modification. Broadly speaking, theyre finding their way to extremes but not toward anything revolutionary. A smaller number have recognized a more politically hopeful third option, Kay told me, which is to give up on men but not on the world. In abandoning heterosexuality, they work on finding joy and intimacy in other ways or focusing on other areas of life which are not to do with romance and sex.

Used more airily, the term femcel still highlights certain contradictions in contemporary life. There are many people who are experiencing similar, less articulated anxiety about their place in the gender order and about the pressure to locate happiness through sex and romance, which they must find through success in a marketplace. The 21st century was supposed to bring a wider range of options than this, but to many, it doesnt appear to have. There are still winners and losers, Kay argues. She also cites the feminist philosopher Amia Srinivasans 2018 essay on incels, Does Anyone Have the Right to Sex? In it, Srinivasan wonders how to dwell in the ambivalent place where we acknowledge that no one is obligated to desire anyone else, that no one has a right to be desired, but also that who is desired and who isnt is a political question. Femcels dwell in that ambivalent space all the time. Some may risk, as they say, rotting there. But others may emerge having thought more deeply than most about alternative ways of ordering their lives, of finding happiness and dignity on their own terms.

Amanda no longer thinks of herself as a femcel, and she looks back on the time when she did as an experience. (Her era of femceldom, she called it.) Today, shes sympathetic toward the young women who have adopted the word, even if somewhat insincerely or inaccurately. On the internet, young women see more images of beautiful people every day than they have at any other time in history, she pointed out. A TikTok feed is basically the popular girl in high school times 10 million. Its easy to feel like an outsider, and its also easy to feel like youve been lied to: If traditional beauty standards dont matter, then why are they still celebrated all the time? What are we, stupid? I think for girls, it just feels kind of infantilizing, she said. Like, were not allowed to think of ourselves as we really see ourselves. It was illuminating, for a time, to have a word for that.

More:

What Do Female Incels Really Want? - The Atlantic

But its a pretty accurate assessment. Beeminder is an online commitment contract tool it lets people put their money on the line for productivity. If you fail to achieve your stated goal, Beeminder gets your money. StickK, another commitment contract tool, lets people pay up to an individual or a charity they either love or hate and takes a cut of the money that's forfeited.

Youre essentially blackmailing yourself, said Breanna Robles, a tech worker whos been struggling with productivity while working at home. That cant be good for your anxiety and your mental health.

But commitment contracts are popular in a niche corner of the internet, and the tools have built up loyal followings of people in Beeminders case, especially developers who find the extra motivation effective. But its not for everyone; risking your money for productivity just sounds extreme to most people. The method often requires specific, numeric goals that could feed into unhealthy behaviors. StickK offers a version of its service to enterprises, raising the question of what happens when you implement commitment contract psychology in the workplace. The name stickK comes from the carrot vs. stick idea of motivating others (or yourself).

Beeminder emerged from incentive games Reeves used to play with his partner while struggling to finish his dissertation on algorithmic game theory. Sometimes he risked his money. The personal incentive schemes turned into a website to help a friend lose weight, and eventually into an actual startup in 2011 funded by money from failed productivity goals.

Theres this fundamental part of human psychology where we procrastinate, Reeves said. Having that immediacy of Beeminder says I have to do this by 5, that can be very valuable for a certain psychology.

The origin story of stickK also involves academia and bets between friends. It was founded in 2007 by Yale economists Dean Karlan and Ian Ayres with the help of Jordan Goldberg, then a student at the Yale School of Management and now chairman of stickKs board. Karlan had made a bet with a friend in graduate school to lose 30 pounds or pay the other $10,000. Both Karlan and his friend lost the weight. The success of this wager, plus Karlans and Ayres research in behavioral economics, led to stickKs conception. The two put in about $75,000 of their own money and with Goldbergs help built a beta version of the site. Thousands of people signed up and the founders leveraged that into a series A funding round.

That was when I said, OK, I guess Im not going back to business school, Goldberg said. I was fascinated by the research and started reading up on a lot of behavioral economic research and how accountability can boost behavior change.

Beeminder has stayed relatively small, hovering around 3,000 monthly users who are primarily the super techy nerd types, Reeves said. Hes fine keeping it that way, as it has led to a tight-knit community. Its lengthy existence is impressive in itself, considering how long the graveyard section is in this ancient-looking blog post of Beeminders competitors. Commitment contract tools have waxed and waned over the years. Aherk, a site that posted embarrassing photos on Facebook if you failed to achieve your goal, was a particularly popular one back in the day.

One clear problem: Couldnt you just lie to get out of paying? Reeves encourages Beeminder users, many of whom are fans of the quantified self movement, to integrate their Fitbits or other tracking hardware that automatically relays data. But his main answer is that the people who sign up for these services just arent the type to back out like that.

Theres that natural incentive to not want to ruin your own data, Reeves said. If you ever set the precedent of lying to Beeminder, then it would lose all the power it has over you.

One constant, unchanging fact about humanity is that most of the time, we fail. We fail to turn in assignments on time, we fail to go to the gym, we fail to schedule catch-up calls with friends. Failure and procrastination are some of the most predictable aspects of human behavior. Its the reason Beeminder and stickK are able to exist, and why theyre backed by behavior experts.

The point of the commitment contract is to make the consequences of your failure or success more immediate. You dont instantly feel the reward while writing a complicated report. That feeling comes later, when its submitted. The pain of never exercising often comes decades later. Theres always costs and benefits with anything you do, Goldberg said. This is just making the cost more palpable.

It will work for a time, said Art Markman, professor of psychology at the University of Texas, Austin. But he doesnt think it will work forever, particularly if your goal is something you really hate doing. Forcing people to give to an anti-charity they hate is an added layer of pain, but he doesnt think it lasts either.

Eventually, the accumulated pain of doing this thing you really don't want to do will outweigh whatever pain is associated with whatever amount of money you said you're going to part with, Markman said.

Instead, he advocates for trying to make the process of achieving a goal more pleasurable. That might mean adjusting your environment or adopting a new tool: any kind of hack that makes the journey more enjoyable. This leads to a healthier relationship with productivity, he argues. Motivating yourself with punishment robs you of some of the joy and satisfaction when you finish your task.

When I am under threat, the emotions I experience are stress, anxiety and fear when I havent yet avoided the calamity, Markman said. When I do avoid the calamity, I experience relief. Who wakes up and thinks the pinnacle of my emotional existence is relief?

Tools like Beeminder and stickK also encounter a problem that all tracking apps face: the possibility of feeding into unhealthy and obsessive behaviors. With a commitment contract graph, or any kind of goal-tracking app, youre not able to see the whole context of your situation. Elizabeth Eikey, assistant professor of public health and design at UC San Diego noted that a completed task on an ideal day versus a horrible day are the same data point within an app. It just looks like youre either doing well or youre doing poorly, Eikey said. You internalize that. When you can't put context to it, it just kind of reinforces the things that could be poor for mental health.

Its one thing to enter a commitment contract in your personal life, enlisting a friend who will take your money if you fail. What does this method look like in an office?

Reeves doesnt think commitment contracts have a place at work. He cited Goodharts law, writing that any metric you try to optimize quickly becomes meaningless because people game the living crap out of it.

StickK, however, sells its services to businesses all the time. The bulk of its money comes from its enterprise plan. The enterprise plan tends to focus on rewards over consequences and, for obvious reasons, does not make employees fork over their cash. StickK works with employers to create a list of wellness campaigns and assigns a certain number of points for each campaign. For example, an environmental campaign might encourage workers to bike to work or recycle. Points are awarded to employees who take part in the preferred behaviors, which can then be redeemed in a virtual mall with curated prizes (Six Flags tickets, for example).

But Goldberg explained that, depending on the companys preferences, the reward, or carrot, system can be tweaked to appear like the punishment, or stick. Lets say you want employees to get a health risk assessment each year. In the carrot approach, you take $500 off the $3,0000 health care premium for employees who receive the assessment. In the stick approach, you add $500 to the $2,500 health care premium for employees who dont receive the assessment.

We can layer in a couple of pieces of loss aversion on the corporate side, Goldberg said.

StickK also plays with the illusion of progress. Sounds a little sinister, but basically you're making people feel like they're further along or further behind in a journey towards an outcome, Goldberg said. For example, instead of making a reward cost 300 points and starting an employee off at 0, set the cost at 500 points and start the employee off at 200.

Elizabeth Tenison, assistant professor in nutrition at Rowan University, ran a health and wellness study for her fellow faculty and staff with the help of stickK. She enrolled participants in a course with five different units (yoga, sleep, nutrition, positive thinking and exercise), and split them into in-person and remote cohorts. Both groups created goals for each unit, and were awarded points through stickKs website.

Most people really liked it, Tenison said. They loved the rewards, they loved the accountability. It did change the mindset for certain people.

As part of the study, Tenison asked colleagues how they would feel if Rowan University implemented a similar program for employees. Many said they felt it would be beneficial as a push to improve behavior. Tenison, noting the massive stress brought on by the pandemic, said workplaces should be creative when thinking about employee wellness. Something like stickK is a fun way to do it, Tenison said. I really do believe that it's part of their responsibility to take care of their employees and do the best by them.

But Tenison thinks it should be voluntary. A mandatory, gamified behavioral program is not necessarily a good look. Employers taking such an active role in employee behaviors may push the boundaries, or sound a bit dystopian, for some. Corporations may be hesitant to advertise their participation in programs like stickK. The default agreement between stickK and its clients includes language that says we cannot disclose that we are working with them, Goldberg said. Leaders should be careful about not intervening too much in personal behaviors, University of Chicago social psychologist Ayelet Fishbach said.

There are ethical issues that need to be considered more specifically; you should consider work-life separation and how much your employer gets into your personal lives, Fishbach said.

Everyone has different comfort levels when it comes to behavior change. Maybe sacrificing money or an employee rewards program offers the push some need to finally do the thing theyve been putting off forever, the thing that will feel so good once its finished. Maybe both ideas are horrifying to some, like Robles, who sees it as self-blackmail. Regardless, it makes all of us think more deeply about human motivation, and how to be more productive while not making ourselves miserable.

How do we help people reach the goals that they have but also acknowledge the humanity of people? Eikey said. We cant ignore that.

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'Well be here again': How tech companies try and fail to prevent terrorism - Protocol

A peregrine falcon swoops over grazing cows. A giant Stars and Stripes is painted on wood with Bundy for governor and No trespassing attached. Up a gravel drive, past an upturned wheelbarrow, is a red, white and blue Bundy campaign bus and a sign that declares: Keep Idaho Idaho.

Ammon Bundys compound is situated under rolling green hills and a broad Idaho sky. From his five-bedroom farmhouse, the far-right activist gazes out at his 240 apple trees along with cherry, peach and pear trees. He points to the homes of two neighbors, both military men and both flying the American flag upside down.

Its a sign of distress, Bundy says. Im not influencing them in any way but, if there is going to be some type of civil war, I think it will be the military fracturing. I hope not. I believe more in a separation, if it was needed.

The bearded 46-year-old, notorious for armed standoffs with law enforcement that landed him in prison, has no chance of becoming governor of Idaho. But the mere fact that, during a year in solitary confinement, he wrote in his journal about a plan to run for elected office is indicative of a change in the political wind here.

Idaho has long been one of the most conservative states in America with its fair share of extremism. Now, critics warn, the extremists are being normalised. Once dismissed as backwoods fanatics, the far right have entered the political arena and identified a path to power.

That path leads through a state Republican party that has long exploited tensions between independent-spirited Idahoans and the federal government, which manages two-thirds of the states land, and more recently embraced former president Donald Trumps culture of grievance.

Trump beat Joe Biden with 64% of the vote here in the 2020 election. Democrats have not held the governors office since 1995 or statewide elected office since 2007. Most elections for the state legislature do not even feature a Democratic candidate.

Chuck Malloy, a columnist and former communications adviser to the House Republican caucus, said: Sure, we have a two-party system: its Republican and more Republican. Idaho is shifting more to the right every day.

In the Republican primary election for governor on 17 May, incumbent Brad Little, a stalwart conservative by national standards, is portrayed as a Republican in Name Only (Rino) by his even more extreme challenger, Lieutenant Governor Janice McGeachin (Bundy dropped out of the Republican race and is running as an independent).

McGeachin has sought to grab attention by issuing executive orders banning coronavirus mask and vaccine mandates when Little was out of state only to see them overturned on his return. But the political grandstanding appears to have backfired. Opinion polls suggest that McGeachin is heading for defeat.

Little, who can boast of a record $1.9bn budget surplus, could not be described as much of a liberal saviour, however. He made a pilgrimage to Trumps Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida only for the former president to endorse McGeachin four days later. As the state partys centre of gravity shifts right, he is shifting with it.

The governor recently signed one of the most extreme abortion laws in the country, banning the procedure after a foetal heartbeat is detected and allowing family members of rapists to sue providers. He also signed a bill banning transgender women from competing in womens sports.

Malloy observed: Little cant come across as looking pro-abortion in any way, shape or form so he signs this bill and makes the comments, well, I think its unconstitutional, but Ill sign it anyway. He doesnt want to go into a Republican primary election by being soft on the abortion issue or guns. Hes been picking his fights.

He added: Democrats cant be crazy about Brad Little. But to at least some people its a matter of do I vote for sane or insane?

Lauren Necochea, chair of the state Democratic party and a state representative, confirmed that she is unimpressed by the governor. She said: The difference between Little and McGeachin is really more style than substance. She personifies the far-right extremism while he panders to it.

Although Little is likely to retain the governors mansion, elections for other offices of state are more competitive between the hard right and harder right. Priscilla Giddings, a McGeachin ally, is running for lieutenant governor, while Dorothy Moon, a member of the far-right John Birch Society, is a contender for secretary of state.

Ral Labrador, a former member of the influential US House Freedom Caucus who once proclaimed Nobody dies because they dont have access to healthcare, is among the candidates for state attorney general.

The extremist faction has also been expanding its influence in the state house and senate, recently attempting to block government funding for healthcare and television and to criminalise librarians for disseminating material harmful to minors, though the measures were ultimately thwarted.

House member Chad Christensen, for example, proudly declares on his webpage his membership of the Oath Keepers, a militaristic, anti-government group whose founder, Stewart Rhodes, is facing charges of seditious conspiracy for his role in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.

Scott McIntosh, opinion editor of the Idaho Statesman newspaper, said: When I moved here in 2006, the Republican party was very much dominated by reasonable Republicans. Brad Little would be in that category. All they were worried about was running a good small state government.

Theyre still here but the Republicans who are getting elected, particularly in the past 10 years, are more interested in coming to the state capitol and pushing transgender rights, abortion, library criminalisation bills that are more culture wars they see going on in other parts of the country that they want to stop from happening here in Idaho.

Perhaps most insidiously, a new far-right generation is targeting and taking over Republican central committees at county level. It means that the election for governor might be less important than it seems since the winner will find themselves tugged to the right by a radicalised state government.

Shea Andersen, a marketing consultant who has worked on political campaigns, agreed: Theyve figured out that the real power in Idaho is not to hold the governors seat necessarily though certainly it would send a great message for them but any sort of fringe political viewpoint is better served by fanning out and getting your positions represented in more day-to-day operations, whether that is state legislature or county commissioner races or even races for treasurer and secretary of state.

The trend is especially pronounced in northern Idaho, a region infamous in the late 20th century for Richard Butlers effort to establish a white homeland from his 20-acre Aryan Nations compound. Butler was eventually bankrupted by the Southern Poverty Law Center and the compound was burned in June 2001.

Chris Fillios, a moderate Republican seeking re-election as a county commissioner in Kootenai county, has observed extremists on the march there. They have been told, infiltrate at every level: school board, county, city offices, anywhere and everywhere they can, state level, federal level, infiltrate, infiltrate.

Fillios sees a connection with alt-right figures such as Steve Bannon, a former chief strategist in the Trump White House. If we start from the national level and we look at Steve Bannon having identified his so-called 40,000 shock troops, the most fertile ground that they could find would be northern Idaho. If they can get a foothold here, they could use it as sort of a launch pad for the rest of the country.

A driving force is the Idaho Freedom Foundation, a thinktank that vets legislation and legislators for their conservative and libertarian credentials. Approached for an interview, the foundation emailed a one-word reply: Nope. Approached in person at its office near the state capitol in Boise, the foundations staff gave a brusque refusal.

Tellingly, the foundations website asks: Are you a refugee from California, or some other liberal playground? Did you move to Idaho to escape the craziness? Welcome to Idaho. Were glad to have you here. You are one of the new Idahoans. The people who came to the Gem State seeking a home that reflects their values: small government and a freer life.

This is a trend that has been called right flight as conservatives pour into Idaho from liberal, racially diverse states. It could be seen as part of the grand sorting of American national politics as liberals move to places where they will find like minds and conservatives do likewise, meaning that blue states turn bluer and red states turn redder.

Stephanie Witt, director of the Applied Research Center at Boise State University, said: The newcomers arent liberals. Theyre as conservative or more conservative than the people who are here.

I remember one woman I met at a county womens forum. She was a recent transplant from southern California and shes just like, We cant let California happen here. She felt like she was really holding a line.

California is the most diverse state in America; Idaho is 93% white. But Tom Luna, the first Hispanic person elected to statewide office in Idaho as superintendent of public instruction, denies that race is a motivating factor. I dont see white flight as a reason at all for people moving here. I dont know the numbers but Ive met a lot of new people that have moved here and I see quite a diversity that identify themselves as Republicans.

Luna is now chair of the state Republican party. He rejects the notion that it has gone rogue. This is the same party that has led for the past 20 years resulting in now one of the fastest-growing, if not the fastest-growing, state in the country, and one reason is because of quality of life.

But among the new arrivals is Bundy, who grew up in Utah and lived in Arizona before moving to Idaho seven years ago. The father of six children settled on farmland outside Emmett also the home of Governor Little, a third-generation sheep and cattle rancher about an hour north-west of Boise.

Bundy was infamous for standoffs with federal agents near his familys ranch in Nevada in 2014 and at the Malheur national wildlife refuge in Oregon in 2016, which left one man dead. He served prison time but denies that he was leading armed rebellions and claims he won the PR battle.

The federal government has been attacking the land users ranchers, loggers, miners and other people, he said in an interview, wearing a checked shirt and paint-flecked jeans and sitting near a baby grand piano. Theres been this almost theological battle thats been going on for decades and decades over the land in the west.

He articulates the small government ideology of many far-right Republicans here: I believe that we should become independent. Weve got plenty resources and we should be able to stand on our own and not be dependent on the federal government to pay our medical bills and to build our buildings and all of that. But were like welfare junkies. We cant seem to get off of it.

Bundy has been arrested multiple times in Idaho. Once such incident occurred in 2020 because he refused to leave a statehouse auditorium while protesting against pandemic legislation after officials ordered the room to be cleared. Earlier this year he was involved in protests that helped force a hospital into temporary lockdown.

The rise of such tactics by extremists, which has included harassing and intimidating Republican legislators deemed too moderate, and storming into school or district health board meetings, sometimes with AR-15 rifles, has raised the specter of political violence in the states future.

McIntosh of the Idaho Statesman said: I only see it getting worse. I dont see a way out of it.

View post:

Republican and more Republican: Idaho shifts ever rightward - The Guardian

Is it possible to love a stranger? Why do dancers have to wear leotards? How can you track the endangered Preble's meadow jumping mouse when it's difficult to track them with a collar because of their tiny necks?! Kids have the unique ability to ask questions that adults might not think too much about.

These questions provide insight into the minds of young people. This year, we received over 2,400 entries from 45 states and the District of Columbia, and the creativity, innovation, and emotion students were able to pack into eight minutes impressed us.

We loved listening to every minute. NPR has spent weeks listening to, agonizing over and judging the entries. Today, we're announcing our 15 high school and 10 middle school finalists! Our judges will select two grand prize winners from this list.

In our fourth year of the Student Podcast Challenge, students are reflecting on the opportunities and evils of the internet, asking questions about their hometowns and taking a look at the kid in the mirror.

Students are asking big questions about the world wide web

How can the web harm us? Where is the good in the internet? How can it help?

From relative obscurity to having a Chipotle bowl made in your name, high schoolers Justin Alexander and Ben Kirsch in Scarsdale, N.Y. look at how TikTok has revolutionized the music industry. They cite the app's ability to catapult "quintessential starving artist" types like Tai Verdes to stardom in Unprecedented and Unavoidable: Tik Tok's effect on Music Industry.

But students are exploring the darker sides of the web, too. In One Click Away: How Online Extremism is Hidden in Plain Sight, Sophia Shin, Matthew Suescan and Emily Zhang from Hackensack, N.J. create a fake Facebook profile of a middle aged woman who had "right leaning tendencies" to see what the platform's algorithm would serve up.

You can find inspiration in your own backyard

From exploring Amarillo, Texas' coffee culture to asking why the previously bustling small town of Wiggins, Miss. only has two businesses left standing, there's no place like home (to create a podcast).

When Carmel, Calif. high schooler Owen Shirrell's great uncle received a draft notice during the Vietnam War, he got creative with hypnosis to excuse him from his assignment overseas. Take a listen to How A 1950 Lincoln Continental Saved My Uncle From Vietnam to hear the rest.

In Changes in Our Backyard: Gentrification in DC, high school students Arjun Nair, Alis Chang, Ishani Biswas, and Sarah Hailu visit local businesses and ask residents about gentrification. One interviewee says gentrification is, "to push out the people who are already there and can barely afford to live there and come in with condos and upscale housing."

Young people are narrating their own stories

Students are turning the mic on themselves in a big way this year, 8 of our 25 finalist podcasts deal with questions of identity. One offers insight into how the tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons allows some students to explore their LGBTQ identity while another emphasizes the importance of inclusive dance for people with disabilities.

Christina Zhang from Biloxi, Miss. details the comfort she finds in her small Chinese-American church. As Zhang describes in Having the Grace to Find a Sense of Place, Chinese Grace Bible Church is one of the few places she feels represented.

"The people sitting in the pews, which are actually just office chairs," Zhang says, "are Chinese-Americans who find comfort in knowing ... they can feel a perfect balance of ebullience and fortune without the fear of prejudice or exclusion."

In the Holden Immigrant Experience, Su Hay Thi Lin, Erika Flores, Trefena Sumoket describe the challenges faced by those who make their way to the United States.

"When I see immigrant students in my classroom, it reminds me of the struggles that my father went through," explains the students' teacher. "It took him five years to graduate high school because he didn't have any [English language learner] support."

Congratulations to all our finalists!

2022 Student Podcast Challenge: The Finalists

Content warning: some podcasts include topics that may be sensitive for some listeners/readers, such as school violence and sexual harassment.

High School Finalists

Love and Hate - Mendocino, CA

By: Arete Gagnon, Geneveve Schaner

Submitted by: Marshall Brown, Mendocino High School

Today, most people would say our world revolves around hate, but is that really the case? To better understand the human relationship with love and hate, Mendocino High School students Arete Gagnon and Geneveve Schaner ask members of the public.

Tea, Toast and Truth: Connecting Through Climate Change - Ashland, OR

By: Anya Moore, Mira Saturen, Kena Robertshaw, Amelia Wilkinson, Ella Gibbs, Tate Oliva

Submitted by: Shane Abrams, Ashland High School

The climate crisis impacts us all. But for teenagers, the ones who are going to have to live with the consequences, facing the future can feel daunting. From fear to anger, bewilderment to hope, a group of Ashland High School students sought to capture teenagers' responses to climate change in an effort to make all the young people out in the world experiencing similar emotions feel a little less alone.

More Players at the Table - Silver Spring, MD

By: Maggie Crow, Marie Spirtas

Submitted by: Sarah Forman, Montgomery Blair High School

More Players at the Table shines new light on how the tabletop role-playing game, Dungeons & Dragons, can be an accepting space for queer people. With the use of personal testimony from many Queer D&D players, high schoolers Maggie Crow and Marie Spirtas explore the freedom and self-expression found within the game.

How A 1950 Lincoln Continental Saved My Uncle From Vietnam - Carmel, CA

By: Owen Shirrell

Submitted by: Barbara McBride, Carmel High School

Faced with the impending threat of an induction notice in the spring of 1969, Owen Shirrell's great-uncle and grandfather demonstrated that necessity truly is the mother of invention. This podcast details how the brothers used hypnosis in order to avoid being drafted for the Vietnam War with only, ehm, minor consequences.

Nervous Laughter - Rockville, MD

By: Teagan Hyun-Suk Nam

Submitted by: Jonathan Brammer, Northwood High School

After an attempted school shooting, students have a strange response: humor. Nervous Laughter analyzes why not just high schoolers, but people everywhere, can bring themselves to laugh in the darkest of times.

Having the Grace to Find a Sense of Place - Columbus, MS

By: Christina Zhang, Sawyer Levenson

Submitted by: Thomas Easterling, The Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science

Annie Hsu, a 24-year old community leader, serves as an inspiration to many. Volunteering as a local Chinese church Sunday school leader at Grace Baptist Church, the lessons she teaches Asian-American youth in Mississippi reach far beyond bible verses.

IC And FP Sexual Harassment JHS - Jericho, NY

By: Farrah Park, Isla Chan

Submitted by: Suzanne Valenza, Jericho High School

Sexual harassment is an issue everywhere including high school. Students Farrah Park and Isla Chan discuss instances where they were harassed and the negative long-term effects it had.

From Nowhere: Food & Farming in Korean America - Troy, NY

By: Sabrina Antrosio

Submitted by: Gemma Halfi, Emma Willard High School

How does food interact with identity? In her podcast, high schooler Sabrina Antrosio says "it isn't just something we mindlessly consume. What we eat can be used to identify and identify with others." Antrosio interviews her mother, grandmother, and Korean-American farmers to explore how Asian-Americans have made space for themselves in America.

Changes in Our Backyard Gentrification in DC - Poolesville, MD

By: Arjun Nair, Alis Chang, Ishani Biswas, Sarah Hailu

Submitted by: Clayton Traver, Poolesville High School

In this entry, Poolesville High School students talk gentrification in Washington, D.C. They interview residents and local business owners about what gentrification really is and what it means to them. The high schoolers offer their own ideas on how the problem of gentrification can be mitigated.

Food Sharing with the Homeless - Teterboro, NJ

By: Queenie-Michelle Asare-Gyan, Justin Jang, Mia Palli

Submitted by: Erica Golle, Bergen County Technical Schools- Teterboro Campus

Bergen Tech seniors Queenie-Michelle Asare-Gyan, Justin Jang, and Mia Palli analyze Newark's proposed ordinance to require permits for distributing food to homeless individuals in public areas. Accompanied by bursts of energetic commentary, the students come to their own conclusions regarding the ordinance's implications.

How Family Can Hurt - Cicero, IL

By: Nayely Lopez

Submitted by: Jeremy Robinson, JS Morton East High School

"Gordita, flaco, chaparro, chaparra." All of these are comments Nayley Lopez has received or heard given from family members on her or others' bodies, and it hurts. Lopez uses her podcast to discuss the effects her family's comments have on mental health and offers guidance for those in similar situations.

Amarillo Coffee Culture - Amarillo, TX

By: Joe Mueller, Kloee Pratt-Castaneda, Jared Medina

Submitted by: Jenny Inzerillo, AmTech Career Academy

Three Amarillo high school students wanted to know: does their hometown have a "coffee culture?" And if so, what is it? They did the research, asked around and got answers about how a caffeinated beverage might have shaped this rural community.

Unprecedented and Unavoidable: Tik Tok's effect on Music Industry - Scarsdale, NY

By: Ben Kirsch, Justin Alexander

Submitted by: Molly Earle, Edgemont Jr./Sr. High School

TikTok has propelled many artists to global stardom. Without the app, singers and songwriters who, by now, have been nominated for Grammys, performed on Saturday Night Live and gotten signature Chipotle bowls might still be unknown. So has TikTok truly started a revolution in the music industry?

One Click Away: How Online Extremism is Hidden in Plain Sight - Hackensack, NJ

By: Sophia Shin, Matthew Suescan, Emily Zhang

Submitted by: Carly Berwick, Bergen County Academies

This podcast explores one of the most harmful phenomena to arise from our current technological age: online extremism. Students Sophia Shin, Matthew Suescun, and Emily Zhang share the procedure, results and analysis of their own investigation into the alt-right pipeline conducted on Facebook and TikTok. Their study reveals that anyone is susceptible to falling victim to this dangerous rabbit hole.

You Can Go Back Home Again - Columbus, OH

By: Raegan Calvert, Braedon Rothert

Submitted by: Thomas Easterling, The Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science

Wiggins, Miss. used to be a town bustling with life. Its downtown area, Pine Hill Avenue, once had businesses lining its streets. But nowadays, there are only two businesses left standing. Calvert reports on why this happened and the debate residents have over Wiggins' next steps towards growth.

Middle School Finalists

No Cap - Medford, MA

By: Giancarlo Astuccio, Frank Barbosa, Christian Bernier, Christie Bonocoeur, Carducci Cherry, Paul DeMayo, Francis DiRienzo, Latrell Huggins, Yisel Romero, Gavin Lin, Carlos Loredo, Makayla Maccarone, Marcello McLaughlin, William Ogles, Amari Peoples, Wildji Simon, Gabriel Waple

Submitted by: Amelia Whalen, Andrews Middle School

Displeased with their school district's policy restricting students from wearing hats and hoods, a group of middle schoolers plan to challenge the rule at an upcoming school committee meeting. Over the course of this podcast, the students explore the history of this rule and lend insight on how they plan to challenge it.

Uncovering the Secrets of the Modeling Industry - New York City, NY

By: Matilda Fried Levenstein

Submitted by: Jessica Nelson, The Clinton School

The reality of the modeling industry might surprise you: rather than glamour, money and fame, it sometimes ends in debt, exploitation and harassment. Middle schooler Matilda Fried Levenstein interviews those who have seen behind the industry's magic curtain to discuss both their positive and negative experiences in the modeling world.

Endangered - Cloverleaf, CO

By: Pearl Leubner, Emily Quintana, Serenity Smith, Madeline Meraz, Rachel Barth, Allison Kenney, Danielle Kenney, Zoe Frank

Submitted by: Karen Penry, Cloverleaf Enrichment School

The black-tailed prairie dog, the Preble's meadow jumping mouse and the black-footed ferret are endangered. The students at the Cloverleaf Enrichment School share tips on how to protect our furry friends like making sure not to let your cat out if you live near the jumping mice.

The Worlds We Create - Rockwall, TX

By: Blake Turley, Wesley Helmer, Kit Atteberry, Harrison McDonald

Submitted by: Misti Knight, Williams Middle School

Have you ever come across a "tea" account on social media? If not, this is the podcast for you. A group of students at Williams Middle School discuss the online world of school gossip and conduct a surprising experiment to show just how fast it can spread.

Monnishaa Tambe - Powell, OH

Read more from the original source:

Listen up! Here are the finalists of the 2022 Student Podcast Challenge - GBH News

Anti-democratic, reactionary philosophy founded by Curtis Yarvin in 2007

The Dark Enlightenment, also called neo-reactionary movement (sometimes abbreviated to NRx), is an anti-democratic, anti-egalitarian, reactionary philosophy. In 2007 and 2008, Curtis Yarvin, writing under the pen name Mencius Moldbug, articulated what would develop into Dark Enlightenment thinking. Yarvin's theories were elaborated and expanded by Nick Land, who first coined the term Dark Enlightenment in his essay of the same name.[1] The term "Dark Enlightenment" is a reaction to the Age of Enlightenment.[2][3]

The ideology generally rejects Whig historiography[4]the concept that history shows an inevitable progression towards greater liberty and enlightenment, culminating in liberal democracy and constitutional monarchy[4]in favor of a return to traditional societal constructs and forms of government, including absolute monarchism and other archaic forms of leadership such as cameralism.[5]

In July 2010, Arnold Kling, an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute, coined the term "neo-reactionaries" to describe Yarvin and his followers.[2]

Neo-reactionaries are an informal community of bloggers and political theorists who have been active since the 2000s. Steve Sailer and Hans-Hermann Hoppe[1] are contemporary forerunners of the ideology, which also draws influence from philosophers such as Thomas Carlyle and Julius Evola.[2]

Central to Land's ideas is a belief in freedom's incompatibility with democracy. Land drew inspiration from libertarians such as Peter Thiel, as indicated in his essay The Dark Enlightenment.[1] The Dark Enlightenment has been described by journalists and commentators as alt-right and neo-fascist.[4][6] A 2016 article in New York magazine notes that "Neoreaction has a number of different strains, but perhaps the most important is a form of post-libertarian futurism that, realizing that libertarians aren't likely to win any elections, argues against democracy in favor of authoritarian forms of government."[7]

Other focuses of neoreaction often include an idealization of physical fitness, a rationalist or utilitarian justification for social stratification based on intelligence based on either heredity or meritocracy, an embrace of Classical philosophy, and traditional gender roles.[citation needed]

Neo-reactionaries sometimes decline to speak to reporters. When approached by The Atlantic political affairs reporter Rosie Gray, Yarvin attempted to troll her on Twitter, and blogger Nick B. Steves said that her IQ was inadequate to the task of interviewing him and that, as a journalist, she was "the enemy".[5]

By mid-2017, NRx had moved to forums such as the Social Matter online forum, the Hestia Society, and Thermidor Magazine. Kantbot, an NRx-adjacent figure on Twitter, noted at the time that the online NRx spaces already appeared less vibrant, with almost no activity occurring at Social Matter.[5]

In 2021, Yarvin appeared on Fox News' "Tucker Carlson Today", where he discussed the United States' withdrawal from Afghanistan and his concept of the "Cathedral", which he claims to be the aggregation of political power and influential institutions.[8]

Journalist Andrew Sullivan notes that neoreaction's pessimistic appraisal of democracy dismisses many advances that have been made and that global manufacturing patterns also limit the economic independence that sovereign states can have from one another.[9]

In an article for The Sociological Review, after an examination of neoreaction's core tenets, Roger Burrows deplores the ideology as "hyper-neoliberal, technologically deterministic, anti-democratic, anti-egalitarian, pro-eugenicist, racist and, likely, fascist", and ridicules the entire accelerationist framework as a faulty attempt at "mainstreaming...misogynist, racist and fascist discourses."[10] Moreover, he criticizes neoreaction's racial principles for their brazen "disavowal of any discourses" advocating for socio-economic equality and, accordingly, considers it a "eugenic philosophy" in favor of what Land deems 'hyper-racism'.[1][10]

Some consider the Dark Enlightenment part of the alt-right, representing its theoretical branch.[4][11] The Dark Enlightenment has been labelled by some as neo-fascist,[4] and by University of Chichester professor Benjamin Noys[4] as "an acceleration of capitalism to a fascist point." Land disputes the similarity between his ideas and fascism, claiming that "Fascism is a mass anti-capitalist movement,"[4] whereas he prefers that "[capitalist] corporate power should become the organizing force in society."[4]

Journalist and pundit James Kirchick states that "although neo-reactionary thinkers disdain the masses and claim to despise populism and people more generally, what ties them to the rest of the alt-right is their unapologetically racist element, their shared misanthropy and their resentment of mismanagement by the ruling elites."[12]

Scholar Andrew Jones, in a 2019 article, postulated that the Dark Enlightenment (i.e. the NeoReactionary Movement) is "key to understanding the Alt-Right" political ideology.[13] "The use of affect theory, postmodern critiques of modernity, and a fixation on critiquing regimes of truth," Jones remarks, "are fundamental to NeoReaction (NRx) and what separates it from other Far-Right theory".[13] Moreover, Jones argues that Dark Enlightenment's fixation on aesthetics, history, and philosophy, as opposed to the traditional empirical approach, distinguishes it from related far-right ideologies.

Historian Joe Mulhall, writing for The Guardian, described Nick Land as "propagating very far-right ideas."[14] Despite neoreaction's limited online audience, Mulhall considers the ideology to have "acted as both a tributary into the alt-right and as a key constituent part [of the alt-right]."[14]

Read more:

Dark Enlightenment - Wikipedia