> It seems to serve both for social signaling within the movement and as a straightforward ideological stance on the profound and radical rejection of reason.

> It seems to serve both for social signaling within the movement and as a straightforward ideological stance on the profound and radical rejection of reason. Esoteric knowledge is definitely used for in-group signalling in elite "alt-rightish" affinity groups like frogtwitter. You gain status by having extensive knowledge of that stuff (e.g. relating current events to the Corpus Hermeticum) and posting about it semi-ironically. Then it filters down to the less-educated elements and gets taken seriously.