Clowns to the left of me, Jokers to the right.

A quick swim in the discourse.

I find mainstream politics tedious. I don’t give a damn who becomes president, I don’t care about current affairs outside my county. I’m fatalistic when it comes to the wheel of history turning and will surf that wave to the end. Bombs will be dropped, graves will be filled, and the world will continue until the end of days. Everything we build will turn to ash and dust because everything is poisoned by the illness of sin. Plus, the whole thing is boring.

But, I am interested in the cultural side of things. I care about my family, my friends, my people, and my culture. My art, architecture, music, literature, and all of the achievements of my ancestors and my future descendants. Because of this, I'm finding the recent discourse on Substack between the more “Trad Right” and the “Secular or self-described Vitalist Right,” somewhat interesting. Moreso because I do agree with some of them, like Rachel Haywire about the “right” embracing art and elitism.

So let's hit some key points.

Am I on The Right

Am I on the Right? What does that mean, what does that entail? I’m not a Republican or a conservative, so I’m not on the American Right. Like I said above I’m not that interested in politics beyond the macro-cultural.

Ok, so what am I? For ease of reference, I’m squarely in the Ernst Junger Mircea Eliade camp. I’m a cradle Eastern Orthodox Christian who spent most of my life as an Atheist and recently returned to religion. I believe that all of our societal ills are due to spiritual disenchantment and a loss of Christianity that has been replaced by rampant capitalist materialism and that a return to small-scale society and focus on the community would be the ideal, but as a Christian, I understand that we are not of this world and that all will be for naught. At the same time, I’m sympathetic with Camu’s absurdism and will continue to roll that boulder up the hill and whitewash Chesterton’s fence.

Anyways to get back to the point. This recent bout of discourse at its center is between

Dave Greene

and

Walt Bismarck

, you can find the back-and-forth discourse on their respective Substacks and notes. I’ve been a listener of Dave for many years now and I agree with all of his critiques of Walts program. Walt, I find entertaining but unrealistic, if well-intentioned.

Now my main problem with the vitalist right is that it avoids first principles. The ills of our present come from the destruction of the moral and spiritual foundation of our society. Everything Walt advocates for is at best a bandaid at worst a regression to aughts American Pie fratboy behavior. Young men don’t need money and pussy, most simple chuds can get both, what young men need is purpose. Telling guys to hustle techbro jobs for that 400k so they can bang “elite” chick on yachts won’t give them purpose. The world is filled with degenerate rich high achievers who spend their lives snorting coke and end up blowing their brains out.

We live in a de-sacralized world devoid of meaning. We need to encourage and expand on the good, the true, and the beautiful. Everything else is just material nonsense.

The other issue with the Vitalist Right is that several of the commentators associated with it are strictly anti-Christian. Walt says that “politics are transactional and coalitional,” well I’m sorry man, but I’m not going to agree with anyone that is ok with ripping fetuses out of women, transgender surgery of minors, paid surrogacy, etc. Christianity is not a trend, it’s not a belief that is negotiable, it’s the fundamental building block of everything we believe in. You don’t negotiate on core principles. Christianity survived the Roman Empire, Muslim invasions, the French Revolution, and the Soviet Eastern Block, and will survive until the end of the world because God is truth and truth is eternal.

Either way, I might not know where on “The Right,” I am or if I am even on the Right but I know that adopting every view of my enemies is not where I want to stand, no matter how popular that would make me.