I suspect everyone remaining on LW who is far to the left of techno-libertarians has pretty much given up by now – I can think of a few names whose absence from threads ilke that one I’ve noticed.

But don’t worry, the neoreactionaries are still in full voice, and LW is still on the neoreactionaries’ own chart.

Seriously? Compare the lukewarm reception of an interesting article about the profound consequences of unintended economic incentives (5 upvotes, 88 comments) with the massive self-struggle session instigated by a rambling screed castigating the rationalist community for being insufficiently leftist in their censorship (25 upvotes, 797 commments).

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White Nationalism? I do think that it is needed to destroy white nationalism, such as it exists, as it is a terrible mess of racial hatred. That said, I think that there is something beyond hatred in a sense of pan-European sentiment, and also that most white people who define and own the white identity are not white nationalist.

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So let me ask: could you point to a society that you think has lived up to the ideals of the extreme left?

Well, some ideals make value much more narrow than others, so I’d say that all competition here is extremely unequal if you compare us to liberals or ordinary conservatives. I’d put forth the (uncharitable) guess that reactionaries also have a rather high bar to clear, but might not be sufficiently familiar with the history of societies they like to become really disappointed in them (as unstable, irrational, whatever).

I’d nominate Anarchist Catalonia, with some reservations, and cautiously point out that Nordic countries are usually agreed to be a working modern-day compromise. Beyond that, we see different worthy elements in different historically existing societies, just as you do. E.g. the Soviet bloc had some highs on multiculturalism and gender equality, despite its many awful aspects. (Here is a rebuttal to Bryan Caplan’s attack on the Spanish experiment.)

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New strategy: my issue with the extreme left comes for my perception that no one (of the writers that I have read so far) has bothered to think about or predict what will happen if they succeed and get their way. Perhaps I’m wrong. So let me ask: could you point to a society that you think has lived up to the ideals of the extreme left? Or if not, describe what such a society would look like?

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To make a more material argument of Stanislaw’s, I’d say that the *more intelligent and elevated* parts of the Left seem more, rather than less, likely to do what the least intelligent and elevated parts of the Right do: advocate complete destruction of enemies when there should be other options with higher utility, and when they lack the actual ability to destroy those enemies.

I have a theory why this indeed appears to be the case, but in light of recent drama on this blog, and comments on Twitter, I’ll only say the gist of it: we perceive ourselves to be weak and pushing against an overwhelming tide of Bad Stuff, because there is no longer any mainline Left comparable even with the 1960s; a constructive mass movement, rooted in shared group interests, no longer exists. And I’m afraid this is because of a historical tectonic shift, irreversible by any political organizing.

All we can really do is scream and complain online, at people who frequently end up screaming and complaining back; it’s a truly miserable outlet for any remaining will to change things. It’s a horrible sign that the SJ movement is the biggest thing currently going in the West! Look at the flop that was Occupy. The ancients would’ve been shocked at how far we’ve fallen. We’re being so reactionary in the technical sense because we can no longer even envision progressive mass action. Hence the desperate witch hunts that I so reluctantly support. The only game in town is so rotten. Shit’s fucked.

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Mormons can often recognize other Mormons on sight, even in pictures stripped of any remotely plausible symbol of religious affiliation.

I wonder if this also holds for Adventists, who have even stronger dietary restrictions than Mormons (thanks, Kellogg!). No alcohol, tobacco, or caffeine (not even chocolate!) and vegetarianism is strongly encouraged, though apparently not that strongly practiced — Wikipedia says 35%. They do have a lifespan advantage similar to that of Mormons.

My mother says she’s sometimes identified as an Adventist from very little information, though I don’t think it’s on sight. (She was raised Adventist, but left, and doesn’t follow any of the dietary prohibitions* except for the ones about pepper and usually-but-not-always fish and alcohol.)

There’s an Adventist health food store near where I live. They have a wide variety of carob products. America is weird. (Which is the whole point, and one of the best things about it.)

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You may not be old enough to remember when banks were akin to Greek temples–marble and gilding everywhere, huge atriums, etc. etc. This was a consequence of statutory limits on banking profits–to increase their profits, they had to inflate their operating expenses. Deregulation of the industry in the 80s had the side effect of much shabbier banks!

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