4 ms·
My philosophical excursions eventually led me to his writings, but I never found what I read to be inspiring or substantial. Pretty much like Ayn Rand in that r
by mikrl 1y ago
My philosophical excursions eventually led me to his writings, but I never found what I read to be inspiring or substantial. Pretty much like Ayn Rand in that respect.
Like a precocious undergrad who just discovered set theory and thinks he’s king of the… uhh sovereign corporation?
Lots of literary references though. Borges, of course gave him Urbit/Tlon[0], and wrote some racially spicy stuff in his day. Pretty sure Nock is a reference to a controversial libertarian thinker[1]. I bet you could find more anti-Semitic, pro-slavery and anti-democratic Easter eggs if you looked.
Clearly though, in person he managed to rub elbows with some pretty influential people… also like Ms Rand.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jorge_Luis_Borges https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jorge_Luis_Borges
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nock https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nock
- unsigner 1y agoyou're not wrong about most of this, but anti-semitic? he's very openly Jewish
- ceejayoz 1y agoPockets of self-hating minorities most certainly exist. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_of_German_National_Jews https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_of_German_National...
- mikrl 1y agoI don’t claim to understand, but it’s still a theme. Maybe it’s an elite vs mass culture anti-semitism? Lots of internalized hatred among ‘bougie’ white and black people towards their respective poor strata; why would a Jewish person interested in reactionary politics spare the normies who, on the whole, abhor it?
- n4r9 1y agoHis father was Jewish but his mother is said to be a Protestant. He doesn't describe himself as Jewish as far as I can see.
- mikrl 1y agoIronically, the same is true of Karl Marx! His father converted to Lutheranism and Karl was baptized as such. As a young man he wrote a paper on the topical question of the Jews in Prussia[0], regarded in the modern day as antisemitic, though probably tame for the era. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Jewish_Question https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Jewish_Question
- n4r9 1y agoWell, except that Karl Marx's mother was Jewish.