When I first asked to speak with Yarvin, he requested that I prove my “professional seriousness as a current historian” by “reading or at least skimming” three books, and I complied. One of them, Public Opinion by Walter Lippmann — a classic of the journalism school canon — describes how people can respond when their previous beliefs about how the world works are called into question.
“Sometimes, if the incident is striking enough, and if he has felt a general discomfort with his established scheme, he may be shaken to such an extent as to distrust all accepted ways of looking at life, and to expect that normally a thing will not be what it is generally supposed to be,” Lippmann wrote. “In the extreme case, especially if he is literary, he may develop a passion for inverting the moral canon by making Judas, Benedict Arnold, or Caesar Borgia the hero of his tale.”
There, I thought of Yarvin — the self-described dark elf who yearns for a king.
Curtis Yarvin spent at least a year shamelessly advocating a brutal Ronavirus police state total surveillance regime.
Never forget.
Shame Yarvin was ‘on their side’ in that horrible time. I do like a lot of his stuff however, is I will continue to read it.
All I can say is the fear of what was widely proclaimed to be the greatest pandemic ever that would wipe humanity from the face of the earth made a lot of people run for moral cover. A lot still do, though if they are socialist or lefty-crazy they love a police state whatever the reason. At least Yarvin probably doesn’t want it all the time.
Curtis Yarvin spent at least a year shamelessly advocating a brutal Ronavirus police state total surveillance regime. Never forget.
Yes, nerds/weaklings tend to panic when faced with any kind of physical threat, including disease. Yarvin is still worth reading. You just have to keep in mind his biases and blind spots.
(Sailer, Cochran, Razib and Jayman have similar flaw.)
It’s been obvious for quite a while that a lot of Yarvin’s outlook is driven by his terror of street crime; if you read his old “Unqualified Reservations” columns, he makes it clear that there is no right that he would not give up in order to insure safety and public order, and I guess that his take on Covid was kind of an extension of this. Yes, he’s still an interesting and innovative thinker, and if I had a young daughter like Yarvin does, I might feel the same way, but still…
His King awaits. And he will kneel before him.
Chedolf: “Yes, nerds/weaklings tend to panic when faced with any kind of physical threat, including disease.”
Altitude Zero: “It’s been obvious for quite a while that a lot of Yarvin’s outlook is driven by his terror of street crime.”
https://i.ibb.co/GRgXxqQ/tenor.gif
Nitpicks first. “Advocating” is worth significantly less than literal bullshit. According to Moldbug, too. As to police state, it was quite comical when the USA Inner Party clowns screamed «we want police state without police!», while USA Outer Party clowns screamed «No-o! Keep the police!»
As to his expressed stance as such… well, it was annoying, but not surprising at all.
1. While he knows well that «attempting to understand the world through the reports and analysis produced by the Cathedral is like trying to watch a circus through the camera on a cell phone duct-taped to the elephant’s trunk», he did not quite kick the habit himself.
2. While he does not seriously buy into accelerationism, he at least occasionally dallies with it.
3. Even when he obviously knows the score, he does not preach to the choir, but to the prospective converts. That’s, like, right in the names. “An Open Letter to Open-Minded Progressives”, “Gray Mirror Of The Nihilist Prince”.