A reader passes on a couple of pieces about the Dark Enlightenment Racialists

Mouthbreathing Machiavellis Dream Of A Silicon Reich

…and a little follow up by the same guy:

Give Dictatorship A Chance?

She writes:

I think your past concerned postings about this lunatic group are vindicated even though most readers (myself included) dismiss them as educated lunatics. However, they do seem to have some influence on billionaires in Silicon Valley, like Peter Thiel. I wonder how one should call out this disgusting philosophy without giving them what they want: more press and publicity.

Echoing your concerns about whether we should take the DE crowd seriously, Klint Finley wrote:

“I was familiar with Peter Thiel’s donations to both Ron and Rand Paul, as well as his aversion to democracy. Once I noticed that Patri Friedman had cited Moldbug and Hans-Hermann Hoppe, I started to worry.

Ultimately, though I think the link between Moldbug’s ideas and Tea Party politicians like Ted Cruz and Rand Paul, via Thiel, is still a bit tenuous. And this isn’t turning out to be a mass movement. As I recall, Justine Tunney’s whitehouse.gov petition attracted only two signatures. Tom Perkins is pushing somewhat Moldbuggian ideas, but I doubt anyone is going to take him seriously.

But I wouldn’t go so far as to say that reaction is just a curio. I see it more like a canary in the coal mine….So while I don’t think many will ultimately go “full Moldbug,” we’re already seeing a growing number of tech industry types who are adopting this caveman cult mentality, and I don’t think that’s a good thing.”

I think the canary image is about right. The influence of these people is still small and boutique.  But it says something about where post-Christian “scientific racialist conservatism” is headed that such creeps have more and more a place at the table.  And if they get tech money behind them, who knows what mischief they might work.  It’s useful be aware of them, since they seem to have some attraction for the young, bright, clever, and evil in the College Republican set.  But I also think we shouldn’t spend too much energy on them.  The conservative anti-charism of discernment being what it is, we should not discount the possibility that the Thing That Used to be Conservative will with unerring folly gravitate toward lionizing this dangerous filth.  But we should also hope in the grace of God and, as you note, not give these guys a jot more publicity than is necessary.