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I started to think that the article _might_ have a certain political slant after coming across these phrases: "problems of governance from beyond the establish

I started to think that the article _might_ have a certain political slant after coming across these phrases: "problems of governance from beyond the established liberal democratic paradigm" ... " the lone overman" ... "Growth Through Struggle" .. "your cosmic duty and win glory only in the bold attempt" ... "our society has been so stagnant and uncreative ... We chose the path of comfort... In our cowardice, we turned away" Now, what do those stirring words remind you of?

smsm42 5y ago
Of course the guy who wants to find his own path and share his ideas is literally Hitler. If you ask "how ridiculous ideological bubbles can be", the answer is - this ridiculous.
- SideburnsOfDoom 5y ago
  > guy who wants to find his own path is literally Hitler Not an accurate summary.
LAC-Tech 5y ago
Why don't you just come out and say what you want to say?
- samvher 5y ago
  My guess is it reminds of Ayn Rand / Atlas Shrugged, but that’s just based on what I’ve picked up from documentaries (I haven’t read this book or anything else by her).
  - meheleventyone 5y ago
    Yeah I went and checked out the authors Twitter after reading the article and there was a tweet praising Atlas Shrugged very near the top which was amazingly on-brand I thought after reading the article. Having actually read the book when I was going through an ill-thought out libertarian phase I don't understand how anyone capable of engaging writing themselves can think it's anything other than turgid dross. Feels more like praising it is part of the belief system than anything else.
    - pm90 5y ago
      It’s a shibboleth at this point into the club of the ultra selfish.
    - SideburnsOfDoom 5y ago
      I wasn't thinking about Ayn Rand (although her presence is no surprise at all). Lets just say that some of the rhetoric must have sounded better in the original German. e.g. "Übermensch" is a much more evocative word than "overman".
      - memling 5y ago
        > "Übermensch" is a much more evocative word than "overman". Try "Superman" instead. I'm not a historian, and I've wondered whether the historical background for the comic (conceived in the early '30s I think?) included some of the racial overtones that were more pervasive at the time. I don't know how influential Darwin and Galton were scientifically at the time, but even if they weren't current in scientific circles (which I kind of doubt), certainly it's hard to ignore that the ideas were "in the water" so to speak.
        SideburnsOfDoom 5y ago
        > and I've wondered whether the historical background for the (Superman) comic included some of the racial overtones that were more pervasive at the time. Maybe you should look into it some more then https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2020/jan/30/take-that-mr-hitler-the-jewish-roots-of-superheroes https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2020/jan/30/take-that-mr... https://screenrant.com/superman-secret-hebrew-name-jewish-kal-el-moses/ https://screenrant.com/superman-secret-hebrew-name-jewish-ka... https://anfieldindex.com/geek/comics/superman-jewish-hero https://anfieldindex.com/geek/comics/superman-jewish-hero https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Siegel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Siegel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Shuster https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Shuster
        memling 5y ago
        These were super interesting, thank you. Do you know if there are any references to them intentionally trying to subvert the Nazi idealism of the Übermensch?
- SideburnsOfDoom 5y ago
  Godwin's law.
  - honkdaddy 5y ago
    So just to be clear - you're likening the author to Adolf Hitler? If you think someone is a racist or a transphobe or a nazi or whatever flavour of the month punchline you prefer, you should just come out and say it, rather than being so bizarrely vague and smug about it. You think he's a nazi because he used to work with Peter Thiel - just say it!
    - SideburnsOfDoom 5y ago
      I can't say what the author is like, as I never heard of them before today. I note what the rhetoric of this piece echoes very strongly, and no doubt deliberately. I don't think that the "flavour of the month punchline" comment is in any way justified. It is neither.
      - honkdaddy 5y ago
        But the Hitler comparison is what you meant, no? What is the rhetoric of the piece that you're talking about?
        SideburnsOfDoom 5y ago
        Since you ask, the phrases that I quoted are white nationalist and or Fascist (Neo- or old-school) thinking and imagery. I won't claim that it's all about one person's speaking style, that is reductive. The philosophy (such as it is) of those movements wasn't found there alone. This guy gets it: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29837954 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29837954 Sorry to be "vague", I have no wish to be open to accusation (good faith or otherwise) regarding the site guidelines https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
        5y ago
osullivj 5y ago
Not to mention the name "Wolf". Evidently, he is a "man of destiny". Oddly his linkedin profile pic has a toddler on his shoulders. I assumed the child was his own - the article does have a passing mention of finding a wife. No doubt he considers it his duty to transmit his elevated genetic legacy to future generation.
- iakov 5y ago
  Do you think that transmitting your genes to future generations is bad? Is having a sense of purpose aka destiny bad? Not sure what you are trying to say here, apart from the fact that you don’t like the author of the article.
- smsm42 5y ago
  It's a pretty common Germanic (and Jewish) first name: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_(name) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_(name) Are you really faulting a person because he has a name you don't like? BTW, how about Wolf Blitzer, is he too...? And of course him having kids makes him some kind of a eugenicist, only those folks have kids and love to put them on their shoulders, nobody else would ever consider something like fatherhood enjoyable and worth celebrating. Sheesh.

smsm42 5y ago

Of course the guy who wants to find his own path and share his ideas is literally Hitler. If you ask "how ridiculous ideological bubbles can be", the answer is - this ridiculous.

SideburnsOfDoom 5y ago
> guy who wants to find his own path is literally Hitler Not an accurate summary.

LAC-Tech 5y ago

Why don't you just come out and say what you want to say?

samvher 5y ago
My guess is it reminds of Ayn Rand / Atlas Shrugged, but that’s just based on what I’ve picked up from documentaries (I haven’t read this book or anything else by her).
- meheleventyone 5y ago
  Yeah I went and checked out the authors Twitter after reading the article and there was a tweet praising Atlas Shrugged very near the top which was amazingly on-brand I thought after reading the article. Having actually read the book when I was going through an ill-thought out libertarian phase I don't understand how anyone capable of engaging writing themselves can think it's anything other than turgid dross. Feels more like praising it is part of the belief system than anything else.
  - pm90 5y ago
    It’s a shibboleth at this point into the club of the ultra selfish.
  - SideburnsOfDoom 5y ago
    I wasn't thinking about Ayn Rand (although her presence is no surprise at all). Lets just say that some of the rhetoric must have sounded better in the original German. e.g. "Übermensch" is a much more evocative word than "overman".
    - memling 5y ago
      > "Übermensch" is a much more evocative word than "overman". Try "Superman" instead. I'm not a historian, and I've wondered whether the historical background for the comic (conceived in the early '30s I think?) included some of the racial overtones that were more pervasive at the time. I don't know how influential Darwin and Galton were scientifically at the time, but even if they weren't current in scientific circles (which I kind of doubt), certainly it's hard to ignore that the ideas were "in the water" so to speak.
      - SideburnsOfDoom 5y ago
        > and I've wondered whether the historical background for the (Superman) comic included some of the racial overtones that were more pervasive at the time. Maybe you should look into it some more then https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2020/jan/30/take-that-mr-hitler-the-jewish-roots-of-superheroes https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2020/jan/30/take-that-mr... https://screenrant.com/superman-secret-hebrew-name-jewish-kal-el-moses/ https://screenrant.com/superman-secret-hebrew-name-jewish-ka... https://anfieldindex.com/geek/comics/superman-jewish-hero https://anfieldindex.com/geek/comics/superman-jewish-hero https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Siegel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Siegel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Shuster https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Shuster
        memling 5y ago
        These were super interesting, thank you. Do you know if there are any references to them intentionally trying to subvert the Nazi idealism of the Übermensch?
SideburnsOfDoom 5y ago
Godwin's law.
- honkdaddy 5y ago
  So just to be clear - you're likening the author to Adolf Hitler? If you think someone is a racist or a transphobe or a nazi or whatever flavour of the month punchline you prefer, you should just come out and say it, rather than being so bizarrely vague and smug about it. You think he's a nazi because he used to work with Peter Thiel - just say it!
  - SideburnsOfDoom 5y ago
    I can't say what the author is like, as I never heard of them before today. I note what the rhetoric of this piece echoes very strongly, and no doubt deliberately. I don't think that the "flavour of the month punchline" comment is in any way justified. It is neither.
    - honkdaddy 5y ago
      But the Hitler comparison is what you meant, no? What is the rhetoric of the piece that you're talking about?
      - SideburnsOfDoom 5y ago
        Since you ask, the phrases that I quoted are white nationalist and or Fascist (Neo- or old-school) thinking and imagery. I won't claim that it's all about one person's speaking style, that is reductive. The philosophy (such as it is) of those movements wasn't found there alone. This guy gets it: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29837954 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29837954 Sorry to be "vague", I have no wish to be open to accusation (good faith or otherwise) regarding the site guidelines https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
        5y ago

osullivj 5y ago

Not to mention the name "Wolf". Evidently, he is a "man of destiny". Oddly his linkedin profile pic has a toddler on his shoulders. I assumed the child was his own - the article does have a passing mention of finding a wife. No doubt he considers it his duty to transmit his elevated genetic legacy to future generation.

iakov 5y ago
Do you think that transmitting your genes to future generations is bad? Is having a sense of purpose aka destiny bad? Not sure what you are trying to say here, apart from the fact that you don’t like the author of the article.
smsm42 5y ago
It's a pretty common Germanic (and Jewish) first name: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_(name) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_(name) Are you really faulting a person because he has a name you don't like? BTW, how about Wolf Blitzer, is he too...? And of course him having kids makes him some kind of a eugenicist, only those folks have kids and love to put them on their shoulders, nobody else would ever consider something like fatherhood enjoyable and worth celebrating. Sheesh.