The Duality of the Internet

Vitalist and Christians feuding...again.

As a middle of the pack Millennial, I’m old enough to have experienced most stages of the internet post-1995. Dial up? Check. Instant messaging? Check. Early bizarre versions of social media websites that no one remembers? Check. Reddit? Um. Yeah, guilty as charged. By now, I feel like a jaded, grizzled veteran of ‘Nam telling the Zoomers that this isn’t my first time around the block and they need to calm down and stop .

The latest kerfuffle on Substack (in my circles) has been a cat fight between right wing Christians and so-called Vitalists/Nietzscheans/neo-pagans/etc (from henceforth called the Dissident Right or DR). From my point of view, the DR provoked this fight because although they need assistance in the existential fight against the ultra left, they harbor a not so secret disgust for people that actually believe in a religion, as if they are one step evolved from a cow turd in an Iowa pasture.

At this point, I don’t feel like responding to the accusations from the DR that Christians are the origination of woke shenanigans and its our “superstition, slave morality, and lack of ‘keeping up with the times’” as the key root cause. Anybody throwing around such terms is not a serious interlocutor and is providing zero reason to work together with them as a partner since they cannot even keep themselves from insulting a co-belligerent.

What is more interesting to me is the nature of discussions on internet boards and the oscillating opinion over “this isn’t real life” and “this is definitely real life”. At this point in my life, I can accurately describe myself as being terminally online and have been for decades at this point. I’ve always been more into abstract ideas than the average guy. I’ve lost count of how many esoteric blogs I’ve discovered, devoured all their content, became bored of, and moved on to the next one in hopes of finding something original and fresh to feed my brain. Early on, it didn’t take long before I picked up on that most people are not that interested in the economies of 18th century Asian states or political solutions that don’t fall under standard liberalism.

Most readers and writers on Substack are aware of the above. The existence of micro-niche intellectual spaces serves a purpose and some of that discourse may eventually filter its way down to the tangible world. When pursuing the Notes section during the recent Christian/DR dustup, I couldn’t help but chuckle to myself how dumb the disagreement is. Not only because 18 year old atheists are trying to lecture others on morality given that they have no substantive reason to even believe in morality, but because the content of this discussion would baffle 99% of the people we interact with on a daily basis.

I can’t even imagine trying to explain the layout of this conflict to my parents, let alone most friends my age, even the intelligent ones. The contours of online debates are way beyond the capability of most people to grasp. Normies have jobs, children, a hobby or two, and they do not have the time to read at the level to contribute to most of these debates. This is totally fine and I support it. I do think we should take a step back and breathe every now and then when someone posts something stupid on Substack. I’ve learned to liberally use the block and mute buttons on here, something I’ve done maybe once or twice in all my years of using X. Some users are not worth our engagement, especially if they are bad faith actors or are haughtily dismissive from the get go. Others can readily be co-belligerents and are ready to work together without clashing.

So the internet doesn’t matter. Up until that moment in which it absolutely does.

I can point to several tangible areas of my life that the internet and the exchange of ideas has impacted, and greatly at that. If it weren’t for the internet, I probably wouldn’t have had more than 2 kids. Innumerable sermons, speeches, and articles have spurred me on to stretch myself to have more children than I thought comfortable. Seeing men online with elite potential encourage others to do the same has changed my mind on what I could do and how I should set my ambitions higher. I drink better and more niche alcohol because of the internet. I wear different types of clothing than I would if I were limited to observing the populace around me.

I will continue using the internet. The benefits outweigh the drawbacks. But I will especially work on not letting internecine internet debates weigh on me. Block and move on. I’ll be shaking the fiber optic dust off my feet as I keep moving to the potential next esoteric topic. Remember the real world, but don’t let your real world limit your potential. Allow the best of the internet to change your worldview, where needed.