I find it apparent that the "right wing" has splintered into many different factions over the past few years.
The underlying belief structures and/or seeds of these various ideologies were present at least to some degree previously.
However, ever since the COVID-related restricted eased, our collective need to band together was removed (as well as some of the higher risk from Woke Leftist cancellation), and thus, the divergence between these factions grew, and presumably their flavour has continued to evolve as well.
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@Nink recently posted this thread, which was a mapping of the Canadian "right wing" through the lenses of cultural-social values and economic-government values.
A while back I stumbled onto this YouTube video by a right-wing Zoomer going by the username "Whatifalthist". He takes a big-picture view of it, arguing there to be four main factions, though only two particularly relevant to The U.S. context and the rest of The Western World. These two factions for The U.S. could roughly be summarized as libertarian-constitutionalist Americans vs. a more authoritarian "conservative" outlook which within itself would presumably have multiple sub-factions.
As a side note, Whatifalthist made a similar themed video about the modern-day Left Wing in The West, which was a partial context for the right-wing counterpart video. That video wasn't about current factions of The Left, rather, how The Left came to adopt its current ideological framework.
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The most nuanced analysis I've come across thus far was by a relatively small YouTuber with the username "The Court's Sense", whom creates his videos as an expansion on his Substack posts.
Note that his analysis dates back to February 2024 or earlier, so, some of it could be partially out-of-date.
Here's the video:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjmIt4xOW98
The Substack article which his video was based on is here:
------------------
Most of the remainder of this thread OP will be a summary of the factions he loosely labelled and defined. This will cover the first ~29 mins of his video.
**The rest of the video is about the interaction between the different factions, as well as, The Court's Sense discussing his own personal views and political leanings, among other related topics.
I have found his break-down to be a generally useful framework for thinking about the current state of the "right wing", though I don't agree with all of his points and remarks about each faction.
---------------
To start, here is his rough mapping of the current ideological factions of the modern-day "right wing":
The x-axis is defined by "status quo [classical] liberalism" vs. "radical", and the y-axis is defined by "populist" vs. "elitist".
There are many different flavours of "radical", but a general characteristic of this is wanting to "radically" change Western society.
"Populist" [content creators] attract greater numbers of people, and tend to have less refined productions.
"Elitists" tend to be intellectuals, academics, and the such, whom will generally have less of a following, but a more refined message.
------------
Now, a break down of what each of these labels roughly mean and in some cases an example or two of people whom roughly fall within the faction (as of Feb. 2024).
The majority of the following is my paraphrasing or quoting of The Court's Sense (and as such some of the characterizations have positive or negative connotations for some of the factions, given The Court's Sense's own biases which he is transparent about), though I do add in a few additional points here and there.
The ten factions are:
1) Libertarians, likely self explanatory. Populist because their base of support is the common person whom desires freedom and independence, against government interventions
2) Jonesists = Alex Jones-like people, hyper-populists, have many followers, often many "conspiracy theories"
3) Populist Cons = Populist Conservatives, many Trump supporters, Tucker Carlson & Steven Crowder are two examples, radical only in the sense that they are opposed to the current political establishment, but, are still roughly classical liberals. Focused a lot on Current Thing talking points and issues. Concerned with the "common person". Can be charismatic.
4) ConLibs = Conservative Liberals, so-called "90's Liberals", whom would have been on The Left a few decades ago, but "The Left left them". Generally agree with the foundations of The Left, but, that modern "progressives" have "gone too far". Classical Liberals. An example would be Dave Rubin. Many Republican politicians possibly fall within this faction. The Court Sense had Candace Owens here as well, but I would say she has probably departed that faction since Feb. 2024.
5a) Wignats = Ethno-Nationalists, define nations by their ethnicities. An example would be Keith Woods. A lot of disagreement and varying views within this ideological faction. A sub-set of this faction are people whom are genuinely pro-fascism. Focus quite a bit on statistical differences between different ethnicities and groups of people. The overall faction lean towards populism, but has an element of "elitist".
5b) Groypers. A more populist, less "elitist", sub-faction of the Ethno-Nationalists. Nick Fuentes types. Many "edgelords" and agitators whom enjoy trolling others. Their views are difficult to pin down because they mask them in irony, as a "joke", and the such. Demographics are mostly disillusioned Zoomers and Millennials.
6) IDW = Intellectual Dark Web. Generally embrace similar values as the Conservative Liberals, but are more "elitist". Many are academics and professors, whom have been rejected by the modern-day "progressives" for not being "progressive enough". A few examples would be Jordan Peterson & Brett Weinstein. Commonly discuss research papers, philosophy, and so forth. They could be loosely thought of as intellectual Leftists whom hold Leftist values from ~1990's - 2010's or so.
7) Trads = Traditionalists. More radical because they are willing to reject "classical liberalism" & modernity in favour of traditional morality and religion. Their beliefs help them overcome nihilism. An example of a Traditionalist would be Matt Walsh.
**The boundary between "Trads" & "Wignats" would be the so-called "Christian Nationalists".
8) RWH = right-wing historians. Not explicitly political. Their focus is on history and geopolitics, which has political implications. They offer a dispute to the Leftist narratives on history. An example would be Whatifaltist (discussed above), and, someone not mentioned by The Court's Sense whom could possibly fall within this category, would be Robert Sepehr. They tend to produce high quality content.
9) NRx = Neo-Reactionaries. A relatively new faction on the right-wing. They reject some of the fundamental values of [classical] liberalism, regarding democracy, separation of powers, and the market place of ideas. Tend to favour technocratic monarchies. Theory heavy, "elitist". They derive from the so-called Italian Elite Theory, which The Court's Sense claims follows from Machiavelli. They believe that society is ruled by an elite political class, whether it be a monarch or oligarch(s), and that the "common people" are mostly irrelevant to the political process. A few examples as of Feb 2024 were apparently Academic Agent and Auron MacIntyre. Many of these people were former libertarians and ex-liberals. Generally culturally liberal. Against violence. They want to perfect [classical] liberalism, rather than reject it.
A person not mentioned by The Court's Sense whom is likely either a Traditionalist or a Neo-Reactionary (or somewhere near the boundary of the two) would be the relatively small YouTube creator "Richard The Fourth", though I haven't dived into enough of his content to properly describe his overall belief structure.
10) BAPists = Nietzscheans. i.e., based on Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophy. Against egalitarianism. Might = right. Strength, talent & beauty are seen as inherently good. These people could also be characterized as right-wing pagans, i.e., not religious but spiritual, with a focus on "nature", and an example not given by The Court's Sense would be the relatively small YouTube creator "The Ark", whom is focused on right-wing paganism, and refers to Nietzsche frequently. The Nietzscheans see [classical] liberal morality as Christian morality without god, and reject it. Focused on philosophy and aesthetics. They want to return to pre-Christian times, and attribute "European greatness" to paganism rather than Christianity. They have a high interest in ancient history. Disgusted with "modernity". They look down on the "common people". Supposedly one of the more well known example is "Bronze Age Pervert" (BAP), whom is also a eugenicist.
There are also several "outliers", whom often hold sets of ideas/values that are generally held by opposing factions.
People whom The Court's Sense considered to be "outliers" as of Feb 2024 include:
---------------
I would be interested to hear if anyone else knows of other breakdowns of this nature for the current factions of the right-wing (as of say 2022 and beyond).
The underlying belief structures and/or seeds of these various ideologies were present at least to some degree previously.
However, ever since the COVID-related restricted eased, our collective need to band together was removed (as well as some of the higher risk from Woke Leftist cancellation), and thus, the divergence between these factions grew, and presumably their flavour has continued to evolve as well.
-----------
@Nink recently posted this thread, which was a mapping of the Canadian "right wing" through the lenses of cultural-social values and economic-government values.
A while back I stumbled onto this YouTube video by a right-wing Zoomer going by the username "Whatifalthist". He takes a big-picture view of it, arguing there to be four main factions, though only two particularly relevant to The U.S. context and the rest of The Western World. These two factions for The U.S. could roughly be summarized as libertarian-constitutionalist Americans vs. a more authoritarian "conservative" outlook which within itself would presumably have multiple sub-factions.
As a side note, Whatifalthist made a similar themed video about the modern-day Left Wing in The West, which was a partial context for the right-wing counterpart video. That video wasn't about current factions of The Left, rather, how The Left came to adopt its current ideological framework.
--------------
The most nuanced analysis I've come across thus far was by a relatively small YouTuber with the username "The Court's Sense", whom creates his videos as an expansion on his Substack posts.
Note that his analysis dates back to February 2024 or earlier, so, some of it could be partially out-of-date.
Here's the video:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjmIt4xOW98
The Substack article which his video was based on is here:
------------------
Most of the remainder of this thread OP will be a summary of the factions he loosely labelled and defined. This will cover the first ~29 mins of his video.
**The rest of the video is about the interaction between the different factions, as well as, The Court's Sense discussing his own personal views and political leanings, among other related topics.
I have found his break-down to be a generally useful framework for thinking about the current state of the "right wing", though I don't agree with all of his points and remarks about each faction.
---------------
To start, here is his rough mapping of the current ideological factions of the modern-day "right wing":
The x-axis is defined by "status quo [classical] liberalism" vs. "radical", and the y-axis is defined by "populist" vs. "elitist".
There are many different flavours of "radical", but a general characteristic of this is wanting to "radically" change Western society.
"Populist" [content creators] attract greater numbers of people, and tend to have less refined productions.
"Elitists" tend to be intellectuals, academics, and the such, whom will generally have less of a following, but a more refined message.
------------
Now, a break down of what each of these labels roughly mean and in some cases an example or two of people whom roughly fall within the faction (as of Feb. 2024).
The majority of the following is my paraphrasing or quoting of The Court's Sense (and as such some of the characterizations have positive or negative connotations for some of the factions, given The Court's Sense's own biases which he is transparent about), though I do add in a few additional points here and there.
The ten factions are:
1) Libertarians, likely self explanatory. Populist because their base of support is the common person whom desires freedom and independence, against government interventions
2) Jonesists = Alex Jones-like people, hyper-populists, have many followers, often many "conspiracy theories"
3) Populist Cons = Populist Conservatives, many Trump supporters, Tucker Carlson & Steven Crowder are two examples, radical only in the sense that they are opposed to the current political establishment, but, are still roughly classical liberals. Focused a lot on Current Thing talking points and issues. Concerned with the "common person". Can be charismatic.
4) ConLibs = Conservative Liberals, so-called "90's Liberals", whom would have been on The Left a few decades ago, but "The Left left them". Generally agree with the foundations of The Left, but, that modern "progressives" have "gone too far". Classical Liberals. An example would be Dave Rubin. Many Republican politicians possibly fall within this faction. The Court Sense had Candace Owens here as well, but I would say she has probably departed that faction since Feb. 2024.
5a) Wignats = Ethno-Nationalists, define nations by their ethnicities. An example would be Keith Woods. A lot of disagreement and varying views within this ideological faction. A sub-set of this faction are people whom are genuinely pro-fascism. Focus quite a bit on statistical differences between different ethnicities and groups of people. The overall faction lean towards populism, but has an element of "elitist".
5b) Groypers. A more populist, less "elitist", sub-faction of the Ethno-Nationalists. Nick Fuentes types. Many "edgelords" and agitators whom enjoy trolling others. Their views are difficult to pin down because they mask them in irony, as a "joke", and the such. Demographics are mostly disillusioned Zoomers and Millennials.
6) IDW = Intellectual Dark Web. Generally embrace similar values as the Conservative Liberals, but are more "elitist". Many are academics and professors, whom have been rejected by the modern-day "progressives" for not being "progressive enough". A few examples would be Jordan Peterson & Brett Weinstein. Commonly discuss research papers, philosophy, and so forth. They could be loosely thought of as intellectual Leftists whom hold Leftist values from ~1990's - 2010's or so.
7) Trads = Traditionalists. More radical because they are willing to reject "classical liberalism" & modernity in favour of traditional morality and religion. Their beliefs help them overcome nihilism. An example of a Traditionalist would be Matt Walsh.
**The boundary between "Trads" & "Wignats" would be the so-called "Christian Nationalists".
8) RWH = right-wing historians. Not explicitly political. Their focus is on history and geopolitics, which has political implications. They offer a dispute to the Leftist narratives on history. An example would be Whatifaltist (discussed above), and, someone not mentioned by The Court's Sense whom could possibly fall within this category, would be Robert Sepehr. They tend to produce high quality content.
9) NRx = Neo-Reactionaries. A relatively new faction on the right-wing. They reject some of the fundamental values of [classical] liberalism, regarding democracy, separation of powers, and the market place of ideas. Tend to favour technocratic monarchies. Theory heavy, "elitist". They derive from the so-called Italian Elite Theory, which The Court's Sense claims follows from Machiavelli. They believe that society is ruled by an elite political class, whether it be a monarch or oligarch(s), and that the "common people" are mostly irrelevant to the political process. A few examples as of Feb 2024 were apparently Academic Agent and Auron MacIntyre. Many of these people were former libertarians and ex-liberals. Generally culturally liberal. Against violence. They want to perfect [classical] liberalism, rather than reject it.
A person not mentioned by The Court's Sense whom is likely either a Traditionalist or a Neo-Reactionary (or somewhere near the boundary of the two) would be the relatively small YouTube creator "Richard The Fourth", though I haven't dived into enough of his content to properly describe his overall belief structure.
10) BAPists = Nietzscheans. i.e., based on Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophy. Against egalitarianism. Might = right. Strength, talent & beauty are seen as inherently good. These people could also be characterized as right-wing pagans, i.e., not religious but spiritual, with a focus on "nature", and an example not given by The Court's Sense would be the relatively small YouTube creator "The Ark", whom is focused on right-wing paganism, and refers to Nietzsche frequently. The Nietzscheans see [classical] liberal morality as Christian morality without god, and reject it. Focused on philosophy and aesthetics. They want to return to pre-Christian times, and attribute "European greatness" to paganism rather than Christianity. They have a high interest in ancient history. Disgusted with "modernity". They look down on the "common people". Supposedly one of the more well known example is "Bronze Age Pervert" (BAP), whom is also a eugenicist.
There are also several "outliers", whom often hold sets of ideas/values that are generally held by opposing factions.
People whom The Court's Sense considered to be "outliers" as of Feb 2024 include:
- Ayn Rand (e.g., Libertarian, but, elitist and radical),
- Ben Shapiro (e.g., mix of ConLibs, Libertarian, and, Traditionalist),
- Elon Musk (e.g., mix of IDW, ConLibs, and Populist Cons),
- Carl Benjamin aka Sargon (e.g., mix of Traditionalist, Neo-reactionary, and Populist Cons, used to be a Classical Liberal within the ConLib faction), and,
- Paul Joseph Watson (e.g., mix of Populist Cons & ethno-nationalists).
---------------
I would be interested to hear if anyone else knows of other breakdowns of this nature for the current factions of the right-wing (as of say 2022 and beyond).
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