nRX Dark Enlightenment Neo-Reactionary Movement

nRX Dark Enlightenment Neo-Reactionary Movement –

Above: “The flag of Dark Enlightenment.”

Image Source (Right): Curtis Yarvin, MAGA Court Philosopher, Lands at Harvard. Below from … Wikipedia:

Not to be confused with Counter-Enlightenment or Intellectual dark web.

Part of a series on Neo-fascism.

The Dark Enlightenment, also called the neo-reactionary movement (abbreviated to NRx), is an anti-democratic, anti-egalitarian,[1] and reactionary philosophical and political movement.[2] A reaction against Enlightenment values,[3][4][5][6][7][8] it favors a return to traditional societal constructs and forms of government such as absolute monarchism and cameralism.[5] Influenced by libertarianism, the movement advocates for authoritarian capitalist city-states which compete for citizens. Neoreactionaries refer to contemporary liberal society and institutions which they oppose as ‘the Cathedral’, associating them with the Puritan church, and their goals of egalitarianism and democracy as “the Synopsis”. They claim that the Cathedral influences public discourse to promote progressivism and political correctness,[9][10] which they view as a threat to Western civilization.[4][2] The movement also espouses scientific racism, a pseudoscientific view which they claim is suppressed by the Cathedral.[9][10][11][12]
Curtis Yarvin began constructing the basis of the ideology in the late 2000s, with Nick Land elaborating and coining the term “Dark Enlightenment”. The movement has also had contributions from figures such as venture capitalist Peter Thiel. Despite criticism, the movement has gained traction with parts of Silicon Valley as well as several political figures associated with United States President Donald Trump, including political strategist Steve Bannon, Vice President JD Vance, and Michael Anton.
The Dark Enlightenment has been described as part of the alt-right, as its theoretical branch,[13][14] and as neo-fascist.[13][15][16][17] It has been described as the most significant political theory within the alt-right,[2] as “key to understanding” the alt-right political ideology,[2] and as providing a philosophical basis for considerable amounts of alt-right political activity.[18] University of Chichester professor Benjamin Noys described it 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”, whereas he prefers that “capitalist corporate power should become the organizing force in society”.[13] Historians Angela Dimitrakaki and Harry Weeks tie the Dark Enlightenment to neofascism via Land’s “capitalist eschatology” which they describe as supported by the supremacist theories of fascism.[19] Neoreactionary ideas have also been described as “feudalist“[9] and “techno-feudalist”.[6][7]
 – Wikipedia
  • Curtis Yarvin, MAGA Court Philosopher, Lands at Harvard: A debate between Yarvin, who argues America should be ruled by a techno-monarchy, and the scholar Danielle Allen drew a crowd — and questions about whether it should be happening at all. – By Jennifer Schuessler Reporting from Cambridge, Mass. – NYTimes May 6, 2025

Gil Duran @ TheNerdReich

 

 

Dark Enlightenment – ECPS European Center for Populism Studies

“The Dark Enlightenment or the neo-reactionary movement, sometimes abbreviated NRx, is an anti-democratic, anti-egalitarian, reactionary philosophy founded by Curtis Yarvin, an American software engineer and blogger under the pen name “Mencius Moldbug,” and developed further by English philosopher Nick Land. The ideology generally rejects Whig historiography, the concept that history shows an inevitable progression towards greater liberty and enlightenment, culminating in liberal democracy and constitutional monarchy. monarchism and other archaic forms of leadership such as cameralism.

In 2007 and 2008, Yarvin articulated what would develop into Dark Enlightenment thinking. Yarvin’s theories were elaborated and expanded by Land, who first coined the term Dark Enlightenment in his essay of the same name. Jessica Klein, who defines Dark Enlightenment as a disturbing philosophy in an article, states that it’s what would happen if more members of the alt-right read Nietzsche and H.P. Lovecraft instead of Donald Trump’s tweets. She reminded that “at its core, the Dark Enlightenment is a neo-reactionary philosophy started by Nick Land, a continental philosophy professor at the University of Warwick until the late 1990s. There, he cofounded the Cybernetic Culture Research Unit with colleague Sadie Plant, whose writing went on to influence cyberfeminism.”

In 2012, Land’s online manifesto condemns democracy and cites libertarians like Peter Thiel, quoting his belief that freedom and democracy are not “compatible.” It has ten parts, compares immigrants to zombies before you can scroll even a quarter of the way through, and quotes major political and cultural figures ranging from Alexander Hamilton to Winston Churchill, noting Hobbes, Marx, the Terminator, and, importantly, Mencius Moldbug.