Umlaut¶
It’s probably less true with each passing week that Neoreaction can be accurately described as a small, dispersed population of libertarians mugged by reality. Nevertheless, it is part of NRx heritage that such a characterization made considerable sense in the past. There should be no surprise that between libertarianism and NRx a significant zone of complex friction and interchange can be found. Right now, Umlaut is the media motor of such contact.
This is more than a little strange. Partly, it is odd because Umlaut‘s CATO institute parent is the principle representative of respectable libertarianism, feeding ideas into the political process (where they are of course completely ignored), while stressing a non-threatening strain of Statist harm reduction, rather than the rougher anti-state antagonism of the Mises Institute, or even the dope-head dissidence of Reason. Secondly, it seems an unlikely follow up to this.
Michael Anissimov, whose precious bodily fluids are free of all libertarian contamination, has put out a red flag post on the recent peculiar intimacy, taking the Kuznicki horror as representative of the genre. His post, which contains valuable information about the institutional structure and media presence of various libertarian organs, concludes that Umlaut is the “libertarians’ real, on-the-ground outlet for ideology.” (The original version also noted that the public outreach of CATO Unbound had peaked with Peter Thiel’s decisively important remark: “I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible.”)
This tweet is almost certainly relevant:
How can we promote the right leadership when people are being influenced by Mises and his anti-authoritarian ideals?
— Michael Anissimov (@MikeAnissimov) February 17, 2014
Handle has pursued a deeper engagement, specifically with (Umlaut‘s) Adam Gurri. (This blog has a limited, and schizoid, relationship with the magazine, from fear and loathing last October, to intrigued. Two further — excellent — Umlaut articles bridged the gap here from raised-hackles to friendly woofing.)
This development grates on a number of neuralgic NRx issues, which makes it enormously entertaining, intellectually stimulating, and strategically tangled. It plugs directly into the recent ‘entryism’ conversation, due to the libertarian connections of Patri Friedman (a focus of the J. Arthur Bloom piece.) Themes of exit, secession, and markets, among others, are all susceptible to inflammation from libertarian influences. Working out what NRx is, at its core, is inevitably complicated by ideological foreign entanglements, especially if the libertarian connection is mirrored — at the other extreme — by a no less tortuous negotiation over boundaries with the European New Right.
To underscore the latter point, NRx is reasonably analogized to a weak, fissile state, cross-cut by the machinations of superpowers (libertarianism and the ENR). Local ‘nationalists’ deploring all alien interference quickly find their positions undermined by the blatant dissymmetry of their concerns, driving them into polarization, conflict, collaboration, and counter-collaboration. Which Right is right? The potential tension is extraordinary. It cannot possibly be less than interesting.
ADDED: Correction:
@Outsideness FYI, The Umlaut is not affiliated with Cato (or any other organization).
— Eli Dourado (@elidourado) February 17, 2014
ADDED: Michael Anissimov
responds. Citing Moldbug (very adeptly), he remarks: “This is where myself
and Nick Land part ways. I’m hooked on the Frederick the Great
solution, he’s hooked on the Hong Kong solution. Both are equally
valid interpretations in light of the founding texts of Moldbug.”
— Yes.