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Feb 24·edited Oct 25Liked by Jack Vien

A judicious conclusion, and one that can be distilled to a general rule for dissidents: stop chasing after delusions of political power, and seek real intellectual authority. One of many things that interests me in Haller is that he recognizes the traditional high place of authority, whereas nine out of ten dissidents (notwithstanding their 'Aryan' pretensions, and the fact that "intellectual masturbation on the internet" is the only thing that has ever got them anywhere) are hell-bent on denying it -- from the vulgarians who assume all actions are motivated by blood, threat or money, to the sophists trying to bury the ideal of the sage under the ravings of Nietzsche and Evola.

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Oh, ain't it the truth. Dissident intellectuals have an infuriating tendency to vaunt and identify with warriors, capitalists, the working and agricultural classes, anyone except intellectual authorities, when in fact all of those classes end up deferring to the judgment of intellectuals (even if only grudgingly). What makes it comically self-defeating is that they're intellectuals themselves- and these same intellectuals, drunk on Evola, and extolling the nonsensical idea of an "aristocracy of the spirit", fail to grasp that the guy who owns a car dealership, has employees on his payroll and mouths to feed, and who do what he says, gets hit up for charitable donations, etc. has a lot more in common with an actual aristocrat than Evola did, or they do. It's infuriating to see these people aspiring to be "aristocrats" instead of sages, if only because that's what they actually are. They then get offended that the car dealer ends up deferring to the judgment of Leftist activists, or "Conservatives" (i.e. Leftists who aren't quite up to date, or less consistent) when he might defer to *their* judgment, if only they would stop daydreaming about Bronze Age Whatsits and taking steps to exercise they authority proper to them. Pain!

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