The Intellectual Dark Web

The intellectual dark web has found a huge audience outside the mainstream to talk about things the mainstream don’t dare speak about.

There’s a new brand of intellectual out and about these days. These are the members of the Intellectual Dark Web. But what are they proposing? That depends entirely on which thinker you decide to watch. The Intellectual Dark Web or IDW, for short, doesn’t have a solid set of central principles and values except for their collective dislike of the “regressive left.”

Proponents include names you’ve heard of like Jordan Peterson and Joe Rogan but also people you might not know much about like Eric and Bret Weinstein. Ayann Hirsi Ali is also among their number. She made waves several years ago for her sharp criticism of Islam. Among these people, you’ll here decidedly unpopular opinions like conversations about the innate biological differences between men and women or that some races are more geared for success than others. You’ll also hear a very right-leaning attitude towards immigration. Many of these thinkers believe that the real problem in this country is excess immigration and they give voice to a not-insignificant part of this country that wants to see immigration curtailed, right away. Some of the don’t want to “build that wall” but see value in stemming the tide of immigration.

I was trying to get my head around the Intellectual Dark Web. Many of the movement’s proponents have been ostracized for having non-orthodox opinions from whatever group they come from. I’m familiar with this phenomena myself. Long-time readers will know that I often have unpopular opinions. Eric Weinstein and his wife Heather left Evergreen State College because they spoke out against a planned “Day of Absence” where white students were asked to stay home and skip class and only students of color were supposed to go to the school that day. They spoke out against it and soon found themselves on the wrong side of the debate.

Another aspect of the movement I think is interesting is how interested they are in the modern obsession with fitness and reviving masculinity. That is Peterson’s whole platform and Joe Rogan will chime in on with it from time to time as well. Letting men by men and women be women is certainly a nice idea at the face however, it can also seem like a reaction to the blurring lines of gender in our society and the new conversations we’re having about gender, sexuality, and the acceptance of those who don’t define them by the traditional boundaries in those areas.

Can You Have a Conversation?

The IDW is known for its long-form conversations. Episodes of The Joe Rogan Show podcast can run as long as three hours long. Joe Rogan will riff on anything from legal weed, which he is in favor of, to his tepid support of Trump on immigration. Other shows like the Rubin report may present short videos on Youtube but also can stretch into 30 minute sit downs or more.

Hasan Piker describes the IDW as conservatism in new packaging. To some degree that tracks. Many of the political opinions you’ll hear in the many videos produced online will seem like old-school conservative ideas. You’ll see favorite positions like strong support of Israel. But you’ll also see other things like many thinkers being in favor of Medicare-for-all or drug legalization. According to Daniel Messer, there is even broad agreement on gay marriage. So where does the rub with the left begin? As usual, it mostly has to do with identity politics.

However, the IDW seems to focus on the idea that we need to have open and honest conversations in this country and that no real conversation is happening because the media shuts down the conversation on topics that they don’t countenance. I can’t help but to think that having open and honest conversations about how to deal with the very real problems we face in this country on racism, sexism, and other problems can be rather difficult when one side of the conversation wishes to pretend it doesn’t exist at all.

It is a bit difficult to start an open and honest conversation when one side demands that some of the other side literally cease to exist. How can you have an open and honest debate when your debate partners begin from a place where racism doesn’t exist, transgender people are deranged, and gay people have to basically ignore the ways in which they are subtly discriminated against in daily life? Much of the identity politics of the left has to do with these groups seeking a co-equal voice at the table of ideas. the IDW seems to want to have these voices silenced in favor of their supporters who would much rather not deal with any of these problems at all.

Identity Politics in Focus

There is much wrong with modern identity politics. It is intrinsically divisive at some level. I agree with that. However, part of the reason identity politics has become popular in recent years has to do with marginalized groups speaking out for radical equality in both government and culture. This has gotten some severe backlash. If there is one thing the alt-right and the new left have exposed in this country is a rot right at the core of America. That rot is that this country is ok with alternate identities as long as you conform to the dominant (usually anglo-saxon) culture. If you don’t wish to align with that broad cultural dynamic or choose not to participate in the culture from that place, or even decide to participate in your own culture, then that is bad and should be condemned.

We’ve Lost the Country

Much of the IDW seems to be a simple plea, “Can’t we get back to the way things were?” People like Ben Shapiro seem the dominance of liberalism in mainstream culture as a boon to Republicans and other “real people” who are just trying to talk about “reality.”

I do keep hearing a common theme about having conversations about “real people” and “reality.” It seems as if many of these people, and indeed many Americans, feel like the culture has left them behind. This transcends a broad range of issues. From sex and sexuality to race relations, many of the people in the IDW will use the same language contrasting the PC left with themselves. They describe themselves as the “real” Americans who exist ing “reality” and the PC Left or Regressive Left as something “plastic” or “fake.”

There is an attitude that the “real people” are saying things that most everyone agrees with but are afraid to admit because of public backlash and social shaming. I’m not always comfortable with socially shaming and I’ve written about that here. However, I don’t quite buy this “real people” vs. “fake people” narrative pushed by the IDW. What makes a real person? What makes a fake person? Can you only be real if you’re willing to denigrate other communities for the purposes of humor or just because that is what you think and you think you should have the right to say that without people coming back and making an earnest reply to you?

I think much of this feeling comes from the many cultural changes we’ve experienced over the last decade. I just closed out an article on Rouges about the toxic nature of the internet and the reality that people want to keep their racist humor and jokes. They want to make jokes about trans-people and people of color and they don’t want any backlash about it. They don’t want to be “cancelled” or “doxxed” because of their humor that we might now consider off-color. This usually leads to a very common discussion of the IDW, free speech.

Free Speech

Many people in the IDW, most notably Joe Rogan and Milo Yiannopoulous (before he fell off) have been proponents of “free speech.” Insomuch as they consider any protests or backlash they might receive from things that they say as threatening their free speech. I hardly agree with people who threaten them with violence. We should never tolerate that in a civilized society. However, the constitutional guarantee of free speech does not mean that people will allow you to say whatever you want without protests or other forms of backlash. If any of these people are too afraid of what others might say or do then that is about them. If someone is being threatened, then handle that with the police and through normal channels. If people want to show up to your event en masse and make their own voices heard about what you think and say, then that is their right too.

Just because you’re saying something, doesn’t mean everyone is going to like it and if you can’t handle people calling you out, perhaps you should re-think your opinions or at least seek out places where you aren’t likely to have so much negative response.

Ultimately, they don’t want to be told what to think, and they want their opinions to have equal weight with everyone else. In that way, they are losing the country. Many people have decided that some language and some jokes just aren’t appropriate anymore. It’s time to move on. For the IDW, this is the denigration of free speech. This is the subjugation of the “real people.”

A Return to Normalcy

Most IDW thinkers have progressive social opinions with the exception of Ben Shapiro. However, much of the complaints tend to center around some of the ways in which left-wing activists have pushed for this social change. The policing of speech, jokes and the endlessly re-postable Tumblr comments from outrage leftists attacking everything from men to the lack of respect of new types of sexualities, genders, and pronouns have ignited this movement. The culture is changing and right now, at this moment, our culture is questioning everything. The IDW seems to be a haven for those that aren’t interested in that particular discussion and would rather return things to “normal.”

IDW thinkers and their followers don’t really mind gay people or people of color (setting white supremacists to one side) but they do enjoy more traditional masculinity and a traditional feminity that rejects 3rd wave feminism. The cultural attack against men that has culminated in #metoo and the questioning of male action has put many men on edge. They are looking for a haven against how the culture is finally questioning the actions of men in the world around them. The IDW seems to be that haven.

The IDW in Society

One thing is clear, the IDW is not going away. Joe Rogan has the most popular podcast on iTunes right now. The simple fact is that the IDW is going to be engaging with society and there are a variety of people who definitely agree with these types of discussion and thinking. However, it is important, that during the engagement, those who decide to have these discussion hold the line and boundaries on overt racism, sexism, and homophobia. I think the IDW has dialed into a certain amount of social displacement in society. That is something worth talking about and focusing on.