Nailed everything that's disillusioned me about my experiences in the modern 'Left', & gave voice to that which keeps me going. Solidarity, Graham, & those who fight this insidious, smug, identitarian scourge. Genuinely.
Stunning precognition from the man. Completely unaware of him prior to this, and was quite upset to see that he had passed. Certainly I'll be doing a deeper dive into his work. Thanks for this Graham, and Mark of course. RIP
My 24 year old son was telling me about this essay , Glinner and how the poor guy took his own life !He was telling me I should read it ,only about a month ago ! I was going on about my terfery and he was agreeing ! And how I felt the whole political business is such a mess, full of wankers! And the left is just pathetic now !My God ! This is bloody chilling !
Brilliant article. I've never heard of this man before, wish I had. THE quote for me is this one:
"what Nietzsche predicted when he said that something worse than Christianity was already on the way. Now, here it is …
The Vampires’ Castle feeds on the energy and anxieties and vulnerabilities of young students, but most of all it lives by converting the suffering of particular groups – the more ‘marginal’ the better – into academic capital. The most lauded figures in the Vampires’ Castle are those who have spotted a new market in suffering – those who can find a group more oppressed and subjugated than any previously exploited will find themselves promoted through the ranks very quickly."
I have been looking for something like this for a while, a piece of writing that articulates what I have been feeling. Thank you for posting, it has helped me to believe there may be a way out of this situation of 'political homelessness' for so many on the Left.
"The aim is not to popularise a leftist position, or to win people over to it, but to remain in a position of elite superiority, but now with class superiority redoubled by moral superiority too. ‘How dare you talk – it’s we who speak for those who suffer!’"
the old 'Bleeding hearts'!
[The phrase bleeding heart is used to describe one who shows excessive sympathy for another's misfortune and is historically thrown as an insult toward more liberal politicians.]
In other words like all politics no answers to humanity's problems!
Can someone help me understand what he means by "capital"? He uses it a lot in a way that makes it sound like "capital" has intent, is almost a person - eg. "but why would capital be concerned about a ‘left’ that replaces class politics with a moralising individualism".
What does this use of the word "capital" mean? Even what I -think- he means by it - the system/cycle of building of wealth by means of wealth - doesn't seem to fit his usage.
That's very interesting and insightful. This line is fascinating: "what Nietzsche predicted when he said that something worse than Christianity was already on the way. Now, here it is …"
I'm no expert on Nietzsche but something that stuck with me was that he predicted a time when people would keep the worst excesses of religion such as persecution (from the moral high ground), but they would discard the religious principle of redemption.
Which is basically twitter - where an apology (or a nuanced explanation) isn't good enough and "sinners" have no redeeming qualities so they must be hounded, their careers destroyed, cast out into the "wilderness" etc etc and then everyone goes looking for the next transgressor.
Superb article. He saw through it all. Thank you for posting this.
The great Russell Brand, putting Paxman in his place....outwitting him at every turn, three steps ahead of him all the way through and understanding politicians' greed and self-serving natures.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YR4CseY9pk
A good thing to remember is that whatever remains of "the left" is thoroughly infiltrated by government agents. Do you think they're there to spread goodwill? Class consciousness? Cohesion? There have been jokes that there were more government agents involved in various organizations than actual people (not sure that those who do this dirty work for the government are actual people).
Thank you, Graham. Fantastic stuff! Yes, class! We've got to talk about CLASS!
But there's one more thing that Fisher, like most people, misses: - that even more radical than the interests of the working class, are the interests of children. As we leftist mothers used to say in the 70s: "A world fit for children would be a world fit for everyone".
Maybe this movement that we're all engaged in will prove to be the one to unite class and race awareness with Hannah Arendt's "natality awareness" - that we all come from mothers and we all started out as children, so they deserve our solidarity.
Nailed everything that's disillusioned me about my experiences in the modern 'Left', & gave voice to that which keeps me going. Solidarity, Graham, & those who fight this insidious, smug, identitarian scourge. Genuinely.
Stunning precognition from the man. Completely unaware of him prior to this, and was quite upset to see that he had passed. Certainly I'll be doing a deeper dive into his work. Thanks for this Graham, and Mark of course. RIP
My 24 year old son was telling me about this essay , Glinner and how the poor guy took his own life !He was telling me I should read it ,only about a month ago ! I was going on about my terfery and he was agreeing ! And how I felt the whole political business is such a mess, full of wankers! And the left is just pathetic now !My God ! This is bloody chilling !
Bloody fuck! Nailed it. Thanks for sharing
Brilliant article. I've never heard of this man before, wish I had. THE quote for me is this one:
"what Nietzsche predicted when he said that something worse than Christianity was already on the way. Now, here it is …
The Vampires’ Castle feeds on the energy and anxieties and vulnerabilities of young students, but most of all it lives by converting the suffering of particular groups – the more ‘marginal’ the better – into academic capital. The most lauded figures in the Vampires’ Castle are those who have spotted a new market in suffering – those who can find a group more oppressed and subjugated than any previously exploited will find themselves promoted through the ranks very quickly."
This is what has happened to our young people.
That is quite amazing & bang on!
Having experienced the coercive side of both religion & the Gender Identity Theorists (GITs) the parallels are very interesting indeed.
I have been looking for something like this for a while, a piece of writing that articulates what I have been feeling. Thank you for posting, it has helped me to believe there may be a way out of this situation of 'political homelessness' for so many on the Left.
Thank you so much for sharing this. I've been profoundly moved by it, and saddened by reading about the author afterwards. He saw it all so clearly.
"The aim is not to popularise a leftist position, or to win people over to it, but to remain in a position of elite superiority, but now with class superiority redoubled by moral superiority too. ‘How dare you talk – it’s we who speak for those who suffer!’"
the old 'Bleeding hearts'!
[The phrase bleeding heart is used to describe one who shows excessive sympathy for another's misfortune and is historically thrown as an insult toward more liberal politicians.]
In other words like all politics no answers to humanity's problems!
Thanks for posting this it’s superb.
Can someone help me understand what he means by "capital"? He uses it a lot in a way that makes it sound like "capital" has intent, is almost a person - eg. "but why would capital be concerned about a ‘left’ that replaces class politics with a moralising individualism".
What does this use of the word "capital" mean? Even what I -think- he means by it - the system/cycle of building of wealth by means of wealth - doesn't seem to fit his usage.
That's very interesting and insightful. This line is fascinating: "what Nietzsche predicted when he said that something worse than Christianity was already on the way. Now, here it is …"
I'm no expert on Nietzsche but something that stuck with me was that he predicted a time when people would keep the worst excesses of religion such as persecution (from the moral high ground), but they would discard the religious principle of redemption.
Which is basically twitter - where an apology (or a nuanced explanation) isn't good enough and "sinners" have no redeeming qualities so they must be hounded, their careers destroyed, cast out into the "wilderness" etc etc and then everyone goes looking for the next transgressor.
Superb article. He saw through it all. Thank you for posting this.
The great Russell Brand, putting Paxman in his place....outwitting him at every turn, three steps ahead of him all the way through and understanding politicians' greed and self-serving natures.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YR4CseY9pk
A good thing to remember is that whatever remains of "the left" is thoroughly infiltrated by government agents. Do you think they're there to spread goodwill? Class consciousness? Cohesion? There have been jokes that there were more government agents involved in various organizations than actual people (not sure that those who do this dirty work for the government are actual people).
Thank you, Graham. Fantastic stuff! Yes, class! We've got to talk about CLASS!
But there's one more thing that Fisher, like most people, misses: - that even more radical than the interests of the working class, are the interests of children. As we leftist mothers used to say in the 70s: "A world fit for children would be a world fit for everyone".
Maybe this movement that we're all engaged in will prove to be the one to unite class and race awareness with Hannah Arendt's "natality awareness" - that we all come from mothers and we all started out as children, so they deserve our solidarity.