May 5, 2024

REACTIONARIES HAVE TO KEEP REACTING:

Is Bari Weiss Embarrassed by the Intellectual Dark Web? (Matt Johnson, May. 4th, 2024, Daily Beast)

However, in the 2018 Times essay, Weiss conceded that audience capture—a phenomenon where public figures are rewarded for producing content that flatters the biases and prejudices of their audiences—“probably helps explain why some people in this group talk constantly about the regressive left but far less about the threat from the right.” Weiss warned of the dangers of aligning with right-wing charlatans who happen to have large platforms. She worried that “cranks, grifters and bigots” might take over the movement.

These concerns turned out to be well-founded.

The IDW name, nowadays, is more of a punchline than a movement—not even used by superfans of its erstwhile members. This is in no small part because many of its core members have devolved into a cadre of virulent MAGA activists, anti-vaxxers, and unhinged conspiracy mongers of all kinds.

The Right exists to amuse normals.