Curtis Yarvin's Plot Against America • Hacker News Board

Re: Curtis Yarvin's Plot Against America

#381

Post by NickC25 » Thu, Jun 05, 2025, 1:35 PM UTC

LAC-Tech wrote: post #329

NickC25 wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> he is also committed to race science, the belief that diversity is fundamentally bad Ironically, he's jewish. He's a modern day tech-bro Clayton Bigsby.

How is this ironic?

A guy who says that races shouldn't mix, that diversity is bad, etc... happens to be part of a group that historically has been marginalized to some degree nearly every time it tries to integrate itself into a larger society. Sometimes, that same group's not just been marginalized by political word, but by real physical violence.

A lot of the "real Americans" in flyover country who rail about "coastal elites" do not like jewish people. It's fucked up and deplorable, but it's fact. Here you have Yarvin, who is a jewish dude who grew up between 2 coastal liberal environments (SF and NYC). He's trying to pander to the people who count on those "real americans" for votes.

EDIT: History has shown us that it often doesn't end well for these types of people. "Oh I'm one of the good ones, they won't come after me" usually lasts until the last of the low-hanging fruit is picked. Again, a modern tech-bro Clayton Bigsby. (Chapelle's show reference for those who don't know)

Re: Curtis Yarvin's Plot Against America

#382

Post by rendang » Thu, Jun 05, 2025, 1:47 PM UTC

jrflowers wrote: post #345

rendang wrote: post #341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Thank you for clarifying that you are using the term “doctrinaire egalitarian leftist” to refer to any individual that does not believe in race science, or more specifically any individual that doesn’t agree with Scott Siskind’s position on race science. I’m personally not super familiar with that label and assumed because of the definitions of those words that it would have some sort of philosophical or ideological…

I've read only perhaps 1% of Siskind's work and don't have a particularly close familiarity with him or opinion on his work, and from that position I'm pointing out that the blog post is not particularly persuasive. It just states that Siskind does not hold to the same presuppositions as the author without making an argument for those presuppositions

Re: Curtis Yarvin's Plot Against America

#383

Post by homefree » Thu, Jun 05, 2025, 1:55 PM UTC

sanderjd wrote: post #315

homefree wrote: post #312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Progressives reserve the greatest hate for those they consider “traitors” - it’s why they also hate Ritchie Torres.

This doesn't really track with respect to Scott Alexander though? He hasn't ever been a progressive, so how is he a traitor?

In the schism the other person replying to you is talking about, Scott didn’t go fully into the far left progressive ideology when it happened so therefore he’s a traitor since he should “know better”.

One tenant of the progressive thinking is if you know their argument then you must agree with them because they’re “right”. So you’re either ignorant or evil - there’s no room for smart people that just think they’re wrong. They know Scott isn’t ignorant so therefore he must be evil.

My other comment got flag killed because I mentioned the core group I think is responsible for this kind of thinking within that community.

Re: Curtis Yarvin's Plot Against America

#384

Post by skrebbel » Thu, Jun 05, 2025, 2:09 PM UTC

thrance wrote: post #380

skrebbel wrote: post #374

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair I don't follow at all. Are you saying that it's more likely for the US under Trump to become a Yarvin-style ultracapitalist monarchy than, say, an Orban-style just-about-dictatorship? Despite the fact that the first is one crackpot's weird idea on the internet and the latter is a model with a playbook that's demonstrated to work extremely well in practice? (if your goal is to stay in power as long as you c…

I think you may have a shallow understanding of what fascism is, and I don't mean that disparagingly. I can't recommend this short read enough: https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/umberto-eco-ur-fasci... Fascism is always a big tent movement, that is surprisingly lenient in who it allows inside. Ultraliberalists (Thiel...), Christian traditionalists (Vance...), pro-Russians (Gabbard...), etc. They all find a seat…

Great writeup, thanks!

(I do still feel like all the constant outrage blurs more than it reveals, though, and that this article ("plot against america", seriously?) is a nice example)

Re: Curtis Yarvin's Plot Against America

#385

Post by abenga » Thu, Jun 05, 2025, 2:23 PM UTC

MrZongle2 wrote: post #139

eikenberry wrote: post #110

Didn't have time to make it through the entire (long winded) article, but is it wrong to boil down his thinking to the simple idea that a benevolent, competent dictator is the best form of government? I ask as this seems like a very simplistic and obvious idea. The problem isn't that this is necessarily incorrect, it is how do you find this mythical figurehead? History has shown that we have never discovered a system…

benevolent, competent dictator Choose one.

Why would benevolence preclude competence?

Re: Curtis Yarvin's Plot Against America

#386

Post by thrance » Thu, Jun 05, 2025, 2:49 PM UTC

skrebbel wrote: post #384

thrance wrote: post #380

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you may have a shallow understanding of what fascism is, and I don't mean that disparagingly. I can't recommend this short read enough: https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/umberto-eco-ur-fasci... Fascism is always a big tent movement, that is surprisingly lenient in who it allows inside. Ultraliberalists (Thiel...), Christian traditionalists (Vance...), pro-Russians (Gabbard...), etc. They all find a seat…

Great writeup, thanks! (I do still feel like all the constant outrage blurs more than it reveals, though, and that this article ("plot against america", seriously?) is a nice example)

Certainly, the left could use a more focused messaging.

Re: Curtis Yarvin's Plot Against America

#387

Post by absurdo » Thu, Jun 05, 2025, 3:01 PM UTC

UncleMeat wrote: post #343

freedomben wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't like Yarvin's ideas that I've heard, but GP has a point. There's almost no point to posting something that will just get downvoted quickly (which any defense of Yarvin certainly would), regardless of whether it makes any interesting points. Once it's dead it won't get much if any interaction. It's not about being afraid of people criticizing, it's about expending the effort to write a quality comment that won…

Yarvin’s views spread on hackernews and reddit. The world would be a better place if he was just downvoted to hell initially. I will not participate in something that we already know led to harm. Academics and anti fascist activists should study authoritarians. But in some random web forum the person boosting these ideologies isn’t engaged in any sort of meaningful anti fascism. They are at best a useful rube and at…

The broader issue here seems to be that C.Y. isn’t a random online person venting, in that allegedly the VP endorses his stances [citation needed]. If he was a random kook with a blog nobody knew, we would pay no attention to it.

But actively suppressing dissident speech is indeed the slippery slope, and he may get more endorsements as a result. Plus, it just looks bad to silence opposition because it makes the anti-fascists look like fascists. This has been addressed in one of the other comments.

Therefore the way you handle these types of situations may count for a lot. Or it may count for nothing and the response is overblown. Seemingly, it’s worth something given the amount of attention he is getting. Choose wisely.

Edit: I should point out that the same dismissal and suppression has led to 2 terms of Trump. So maybe there is a lesson to be learned rather than closing eyes and putting hands on ears like what this thread has exhibited.

Re: Curtis Yarvin's Plot Against America

#388

Post by Hikikomori » Thu, Jun 05, 2025, 3:24 PM UTC

sanderjd wrote: post #287

Hikikomori wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many tech billionaires are buying his shit.

That was submitted almost two decades ago. It would be interesting to know what pg thinks about this stuff today, but based on his recent writing I'd bet that he is not buying it. (Also, submitting articles does not imply agreeing with them.)

Don't know about pg, but Yarvin was popular in silicon valley and investor circles. From what I know at least the people below are connected to Yarvin/Thiel and 'network states'. Likely more billionaires that hide it.

Thiel, Musk, Brian Armstrong, Marc Andressen, Ben Horowitz, David Sacks.

Re: Curtis Yarvin's Plot Against America

#389

Post by computerthings » Thu, Jun 05, 2025, 3:32 PM UTC

username332211 wrote: post #215

UncleMeat wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are welcome to defend rising fascism if you want. People will justly criticize you, of course. What happened to intellectual seriousness? Why should you be so frightened of people criticizing you? This is consistent with my expectation of the future of fascism. The appearance of seriousness but once you have a gun pointed in my face the presence of discussion will be dropped in favor of a bullet in my skull.

When it comes to rising fascism, the political mainstream that you so passionately defend and is currently having having apoplectic fits doesn't have the best record, does it? If you remember the 2000s, there was a great deal of consternation with respect of George Bush, his anti-terrorism laws, etc. He was clearly marked as fascist who was going to establish a dictatorship. That clearly didn't happen. Meanwhile, aft…

[dead]

Re: Curtis Yarvin's Plot Against America

#390

Post by twobitshifter » Thu, Jun 05, 2025, 4:16 PM UTC

eikenberry wrote: post #110

Didn't have time to make it through the entire (long winded) article, but is it wrong to boil down his thinking to the simple idea that a benevolent, competent dictator is the best form of government? I ask as this seems like a very simplistic and obvious idea. The problem isn't that this is necessarily incorrect, it is how do you find this mythical figurehead? History has shown that we have never discovered a system…

I’d suggest reading it through when you have the time. This piece is a profile on Yarvin and doesn’t attack his thinking directly, other than pointing out inconsistencies and the occasional counter-example.

In the profile you’ll learn that Yarvin frequently uses the N-word, that he identifies the need for improved means of genocide, and that JD Vance literally embraced him with the exclamation “you reactionary fascist!”

What you should take away from this is that there are people closely associated with the current government whose goal is to find ways to upend the perceived ‘Cathedral’ of liberal thought through fascist means and eliminate democracy.

Whether or not a benevolent king is the best _theoretical_ model of government is really not relevant unless you are the type who thinks _actually_ replacing the democratic system with monarchy is worth another try.