Talk:Intellectual dark web/Archive 2

Archive 1

Archive 2

Left, right, and center

As far as I can tell from the sources used in the article, members of the "IDW" are largely only "left" within the narrow scope of contemporary American politics. Beyond that scope, it seems very odd indeed to characterize them as "left" rather than "center". Re-framing them as more of a rightwing and centrist collection of figures would, insofar as I can tell, more easily clarify their views, which are primarily critical of what they themselves call "the left". Comrade GC (talk) 17:33, 8 December 2022 (UTC)

People on the left can be critical of the left too. (In fact once I even read a Marxist who was critical of another Marxist!) Re-framing some like Bari Weiss as "rightwing and centrist" is absurd. Your point of "left only within the spectrum of American politics" has merit, though, and this article would benefit from removing "left-right" characterizations of the IDW. AllGloryToTheHypnotoad (talk) 14:24, 20 March 2023 (UTC)

"People on the left can be critical of the left too." I live in Greece. We have several rival communist parties, and several rival socialist parties. Mutual accusations and hatred between them is commonplace. Dimadick (talk) 10:14, 21 March 2023 (UTC)

Yeah, I came to the talk page to make the same observation. The idea that people on the left identify as part of the IDW who criticize authoritarianism on the left is pretty much a made up fantasy. Virtually all of the people connected to the IDW are on the center to center right and paradoxically support policies described as authoritarian. This is a mind fuck of some kind that needs to be fixed. Viriditas (talk) 01:34, 11 July 2023 (UTC)

Take it up with the sources that describe certain members as being on the left. The sources don't all agree, and that's why we included the disagreement, everything from "mostly left-leaning" to "wing of the alt-right". Take it up with the named individuals who identify as liberals. Doesn't really get much traction to follow up with "Wikipedia User:Viriditas asserted they're all actually centrists or center-right." GMG^talk 11:25, 11 July 2023 (UTC)

Please, for those people who want to suggest a left-IDW exists, name one socialist, anarchist or even openly social democratic member of the IDW. Just one. Simonm223 (talk) 12:18, 11 July 2023 (UTC)

Our opinions don't really matter. As previously, "Take it up with the sources that describe certain members as being on the left." GMG^talk 12:26, 11 July 2023 (UTC)

The National Review is not a reliable source for describing someone as left wing. Simonm223 (talk) 12:28, 11 July 2023 (UTC)

The National Review isn't the only citation in the article. GMG^talk 12:33, 11 July 2023 (UTC)

If there is, in fact, a leftist member of the IDW then there must be a source who names them. Otherwise it's likely just typical American conservatives pushing the Overton Window right until anybody to the left of Reagan is described as "left wing." It's absurd Wikipedia maintains this non-neutral blather. Simonm223 (talk) 12:36, 11 July 2023 (UTC)

Have you read the article? GMG^talk 12:40, 11 July 2023 (UTC)

I'm sure you are aware that this is a long-standing complaint of mine. And nothing has been done to address my concerns in the intervening years. There is no reliable source naming a person who holds anything even remotely resembling left-wing political convictions. Simonm223 (talk) 12:43, 11 July 2023 (UTC)

From the article: "In his book Against the Web: A Cosmopolitan Answer to the New Right, author and political commentator Michael Brooks lists a "devotion to affirming capitalism", a "shared obsession with campus and social media controversies" and an "intense interest in IQ and other innate justifications for systemic inequalities" as defining features of the group." How many leftists are you aware of who are devoted to affirming capitalism? How many leftists have an intense interest in IQ? Simonm223 (talk) 12:45, 11 July 2023 (UTC)

The Brooks quote in this article is nonsense. Bari Weiss, Sam Harris, Steven Pinker or Bill Maher aren't particularly pro-capitalist and pro-innate-reasons-for-inequality. I'm rather tempted to remove that quote, since its assertion is contradicted by other sources in this same article. AllGloryToTheHypnotoad (talk) 17:50, 13 July 2023 (UTC)

That would not be WP:NPOV compliant in the slightest. Simonm223 (talk) 17:59, 13 July 2023 (UTC)

Forgive me, but I find your comment very odd. I’m almost certain, Weiss, Harris, Pinker, and Maher have gone on record saying they are pro-capitalist more than once. In fact the only one I don’t recall saying anything is Weiss, but I’m sure she has. Viriditas (talk) 00:40, 14 July 2023 (UTC)

Break

The only two sources to suggest that the IDW extends left of the center-line of politics at all are the Hamburger piece and the National Review. And the Hamburger source is being grossly misrepresented as it clearly declares the IDW as right-wing. Simonm223 (talk) 12:51, 11 July 2023 (UTC)

Bari Weiss, Sam Harris, Steven Pinker or Bill Maher aren't particularly pro-capitalist

Aside from Ben Shapiro, who calls himself a “sometimes Trump” Republican, it is hard to find a member of this movement who identifies in any respect with the American conservative movement of the last half-century (Jordan Peterson occasionally calls himself a conservative, but as a Canadian, he can plausibly distance himself from the GOP). Cultural liberals for the most part, they have little interest in reviving the conservative polemic against the 1960s. There is little reason to think that Sam Harris and the TV host Bill Maher — outspoken atheists who often promote drug use — seek a return to “family values” traditionalism.

Did ya read the Hamburger piece? GMG^talk 13:00, 11 July 2023 (UTC)

Yes. "Some claim to be left" vs "against the left", "in the face of the politically correct left", "the actual ideas... have more in common with their conservative predecessors." The article is being misrepresented. Simonm223 (talk) 13:01, 11 July 2023 (UTC)

I thought your standard here was "There is no reliable source naming a person who holds anything even remotely resembling left-wing political convictions." Are we moving the goalposts? GMG^talk 13:10, 11 July 2023 (UTC)

I am saying the Hamburger source is clear that, regardless of some (and although he doesn't name names I think we both know that it's Sam Harris he's referring to) people claiming a left-of-center position, an assessment of their ideology makes it clear they're a conservative movement. Frankly left-wing movements, even in the United States, aren't protective of capitalism, in favour of IQ, obsessed with campus de-platforming as a risk to free expression or even of the position that free expression is the paramount political right. The Hamburger piece does not say there are left-wing members of the IDW it says that (vaguely defined) members of the IDW clam to be left but are not. Which means, per my complaint for earlier today, the statement that left-wing IDW members exists rests effectively exclusively on a notoriously far-right publication - the National Review. Simonm223 (talk) 13:21, 11 July 2023 (UTC)

although he doesn't name names I think we both know that it's Sam Harris

Did ya read part that I quoted? You know...the part where they "name names"? GMG^talk 13:32, 11 July 2023 (UTC)

I will admit to missing that line. But two rejoinders: 1) Sam Harris and Bill Maher are so distant from anything resembling the left as to make such a claim very nearly WP:FRINGE territory and 2) "cultural liberal" is not "left-wing" these things are not the same. Frankly liberalism is not a leftist political ideology. Those would be Anarchism, Socialism, Communism and Social Democracy. Simonm223 (talk) 13:36, 11 July 2023 (UTC)

This is not going to be a very productive discussion if I have to remind you to read the article, remind you to read the source, and then spoon fed it to you in a quote and you didn't read that either.

And no, I don't care one iota about your preferred definition of what the "true left" is, and it's starting to feel like bludgeoning that bit is your only real thesis here. That's SYNTH. We don't get to say "the source said something, but the source is wrong because I only accept that the 'left' is anarchists, socialists, and communists, using a different source, either not about the subject, or which doesn't actually say that." GMG^talk 13:46, 11 July 2023 (UTC)

and as for Jordan Peterson I think the consensus on his political position (far right) has solidified since 2018. I would be willing to accept a statement saying Hamburger claims Bill Maher, Sam Harris and Jordan Peterson are examples of non-right-wing participants but acording to (RS), (RS) (RS) (RS) they are, in fact, conservatives. Simonm223 (talk) 13:40, 11 July 2023 (UTC)

The source is out of date on Peterson. As for the rest the source is low quality - it's a journalist's attempt from five years ago. It's not sufficient to say definitively that a conservative movement is non-conservative. Simonm223 (talk) 13:49, 11 July 2023 (UTC)

Out of date? Is Peterson no longer a Canadian? GMG^talk 14:19, 11 July 2023 (UTC)

Those who have been labelled as being part of the IDW come from both the right and left

No, they do not. User:Jweiss11 claimed that "Harris, Weinstein, and Weinstein" are on the left. There is zero evidence for that claim. Harris is a so-called "enlightened centrist" who has literally spent the entirety of his podcast career denigrating the American left. Calling him a leftist is nothing but prevarication. Harris is a critic of Trump, but that doesn't make him a leftist.

Bret Weinstein says he supported Bernie Sanders and Occupy, but neither of those are exclusively "leftist" positions. Sanders picked up a huge number of people on the right after speaking at Liberty University (some right-wing Christian evangelicals see Sanders has adhering to some aspects of Christian socialism which has adherents on the right). Further Sanders attracts populist support in general, leading many on the left to believe that Sanders could have beat Trump in 2016 due to this populist appeal on the right. Of course, the DNC strongly disagreed, given their right-wing donors.

Occupy wasn't a leftist movement per se, but a recognition that the working class was getting screwed. Again, that's not a particularly "leftist" position, it's a populist one. Brett says "I have been on the left my entire adult life", and yet he has spent the last five years promoting himself on right-wing media and pushing right-wing talking points. This particular phenomenon is often described as conspirituality, a merging of left and right ideas, causes, memes, and concepts; not quite left and not quite right. Finally, Brett has said that his current set of beliefs and values are best described as center-right in the current climate.

Eric Weinstein spent almost a decade working for the arch right wing figure Peter Thiel. It is unlikely that anyone on the left would ever work for Thiel, no matter how much he would pay. Like his brother, Eric has spent the last five years promoting himself on right wing media and pushing right wing ideas. Like his brother, he is best defined as center-right.

That leaves nobody on the left who can be described as a member of the IDW. Viriditas (talk) 07:51, 12 July 2023 (UTC)

First, "fuck your sources" isn't a coherent argument but is antagonistic. Second, you seem to be making up your own justifications for claiming people aren't truely on the left. GMG is supporting their claim quite reasonably. Springee (talk) 10:19, 12 July 2023 (UTC)

Viriditas, if you're standing at North Pole, every direction is south. Similarly, if one perspective's is left-wing enough, virtually everyone else seems right-wing, e.g. the "DNC"s right-wing donors". Harris, Weinstein, Weinstein are life-long Democrats and without question liberals; all three of them endorsed Andrew Yang in 2019–2020. I wouldn't be opposed to changing the passage in question to "Those who have been labelled as being part of the IDW include both liberals and conservatives. Jweiss11 (talk) 13:22, 12 July 2023 (UTC)

Jweiss11's suggested language would actually satisfy me. I don't contest that Harris is called a liberal by reliable sources. I contest that he can reliably be called a leftist. Simonm223 (talk) 13:38, 12 July 2023 (UTC)

Yes, "liberals and conservatives" probably would work better. Best to jettison "left-right", both because it's Americo-centric and because it begs the question of "what is left". AllGloryToTheHypnotoad (talk) 18:06, 13 July 2023 (UTC)

Lex Fridman

Why is Lex Fridman included in the associated individuals list? He is not mentioned in the cited source. 2001:999:588:1F65:E5DE:C006:D053:AEE7 (talk) 18:06, 14 March 2023 (UTC)

Yes, Fridman should not be be included as the source does not mention him. Accordingly, I have reverted Bera $tark's edit that added him. Jweiss11 (talk) 22:30, 14 March 2023 (UTC)