“I’m really only interested in building this intellectual movement”

May 10, 2018 8:23 AM

Meet the Renegades of the Intellectual Dark Web: "I get the appeal of the I.D.W. I share the belief that our institutional gatekeepers need to crack the gates open much more. I don’t, however, want to live in a culture where there are no gatekeepers at all. Given how influential this group is becoming, I can’t be alone in hoping the I.D.W. finds a way to eschew the cranks, grifters and bigots and sticks to the truth-seeking."
posted by wjfitzy (6 comments total)

Pretty Loud for Being So Silenced

Irony can be a difficult concept to grasp, but some hypothetical examples can illustrate it clearly. It would be ironic, for instance, if people who claimed their free speech was being trampled on were actually being heard more than anybody else. It would be ironic if television hosts and podcasters who believe in “engaging in debate with the other side” never actually engaged in any debate with the other side. And it would be ironic if a journalist who believes in “facts” and “listening to critics” ignored facts and never listened to critics.

posted by Space Coyote at 8:25 AM on May 10, 2018 [5 favorites]

hoping the I.D.W. finds a way to eschew the cranks, grifters and bigots

if they did indeed eschew all that, nothing would be left
posted by halation at 8:32 AM on May 10, 2018 [4 favorites]

Oof, barely a couple paragraphs in and I'm already ready to nope out. So far it seems this IDW is basically just the common redditor, for lack of a better term.

"There are fundamental biological differences between men and women. Free speech is under siege. Identity politics is a toxic ideology that is tearing American society apart. And we’re in a dangerous place if these ideas are considered “dark.”"

That whole thing, that's the like most basic punkass way to start griping about society today, a bunch of harmful anachronistic attitudes spewing from a decaying corpse made of anger and the inability to empathize with others. Unable to adjust to decency of the times, they lash out, "the world must be wrong, everyone must be wrong before I am and even if I am then the whole system is just wrong and broken and should be twisted as I see fit."

I have to think this perspective is already overexposed, not sure I'm going to choose to keep exposing myself with this article.
posted by GoblinHoney at 8:33 AM on May 10, 2018 [2 favorites]

This Intellectual Dark Web is neither holy, nor roman, nor an empire.

But to harp on a point I make with tedious constancy, I don't think the NYT publishes these glowing profiles of hateful dipshits to avoid accusations of bias. I think they're just an honest expression of the Times' institutional worldview.
posted by The Gaffer at 8:37 AM on May 10, 2018 [1 favorite]

I'm glad the NYT has found an intellectual successor to Judith fucking Miller.
posted by Mayor West at 8:39 AM on May 10, 2018 [1 favorite]

Double-ish. Already ongoing discussion in the thread on how NY Times is Nazi enabling garbage.
posted by Artw at 8:42 AM on May 10, 2018