The conservative framing of American politics around a perceived culture war dates back to at least 1951 when National Review founder William F. In reality, both the group’s claim to be a persecuted minority and their depiction of the left as censorious and dominant were hardly new accusations. His critique of the IDW begins with rejecting the framing that its bromides against political correctness are new or against the grain. He ends the book with an optimistic message of humanism, universalism, and cosmopolitanism invigorated with class-conscious politics and a willingness to call to task the regressive tendencies of this new, but in some sense very old, configuration of the right.

He lays out for the reader all the problematic, insidious, and frightening aspects of the IDW and how we as leftists and socialists should respond to them. That’s why Michael Brooks, host of the Michael Brooks Show and co-host of the Majority Report, is the perfect guide.Īgainst the Web: A Cosmopolitan Answer to the New Right (2020, zer0 Books) gives us Brooks’ uncompromising, hilarious, and brilliant analysis of the Intellectual Dark Web from a left perspective. We on the left, and honestly just people with good sense and empathy, need a guide to their insanity. Yet, their brand of being “intellectual renegades” masks their baked-in, reactionary conservatism. They received a glowing write-up in the New York Times in 2018 and have continued to gain plaudits from the mainstream press and alternative media. This disconnect from reality in a desperate search for answers that satisfy the insensitive, inhumane, and downright insane is a hallmark of the Intellectual Dark Web (IDW), a cadre of writers, speakers, and “thought leaders” that includes Sam Harris, Jordan Peterson, Ben Shapiro, and others. This kind of thinking underscores one of Harris’ central problems: his inability to tie much of what he’s thinking to actual, lived reality. For example, in The End of Faith, Harris creates the nearly unheard-of situation involving a Islamist terrorist bomb threat in Los Angeles where thousands would die unless someone was tortured for information. Specifically, I noticed his overreliance on “thought experiments,” which presuppose such a fantastical scenario that it makes his position on the issue seem more reasonable than it actually is. At some point, however, I began to see the cracks in his thinking. The neuroscientist, author, and podcaster had shaped my thinking on religion, science, and politics for nearly a decade. Actually, I was a bit of a Sam Harris apologist. I have a confession to make: I used to be a Sam Harris fan. Introduction: Confessions and Commendations

Against the Web by Michael Brooks