Embracing the Vibe

Auslander Raus!

It’s frustrating being a serious person on the right. Imagine countless hours poring over a ten-thousand word article, fine tuning every word with pinpoint accuracy, trying to assure the message is clear, with just enough emotional resonance to suck in the reader to ponder his extensive arguments. While it’s true every institution is against him, he has the best ideas, and he has the smarts on his side. All he needs is the power of his good argument to convince his compatriot’s want for Truth, and the day will be won. He spends hours of his nights after he’s already tired from his day job writing against wokeness, the deterioration of culture, and, of course, immigration.

Then a single catchy song, overnight, gets more attention than his big-brained pieces ever will.

If you’re here on Substack, there’s a good chance you’re a wordcel. There’s also a good chance you’ve peered into the metanarratives of society far more than the average person. While there are people in the writing space who reach an enormous amount of people, it’s always going to pale in comparison to your average popular pundit, T.V. News show, or e-celeb channel. Even more so, the absolutely apolitical will always be the largest number of people in a society, the ones who simply sway with the wind of popular opinion.

For Americans, the Trump phenomena ruthlessly destroyed much of the historical right-wing pundit class. With their destruction, a new, more energetic force entered the political sphere. Instead of the argument between two contenders trying their hardest to be respectable to the elite classes, Trump took a wrecking ball to the whole grift, becoming the first in an increasingly long line of traitors to the elite class. Instead of policy documents and plans to move digits around in the tax code, there were chants to wipe the slate clean, “lock her up”, and “you have to go back” became the war cry of a people sucked into the drama. The established pundit class died, and only vibes around the idea of Trump remained.

The Left, in retaliation, created their own vibe. The broadcast the idea of Orange Hitler who was going to destroy The American Project. There was a delayed reaction and it seemed the Left, for all their bluster, lost their energy. And then the double punch of Covid and George Floyd came. The left-wing vibe of unremitting anger against the right reached its culmination, and they showed how they could rage with the benefit of full institutional support, bringing the country to its knees.

literally

It was one of the biggest displays of sheer power on the domestic side ever seen since the 1960’s. The left had a vibe wrapped in itself like a pressure cooker, and the right elements made it explode.

Now the vibe is shifting again, now largely as the European right is finally getting its bearings, and there are now relentless protests across the country against their displacement. Again, it started as angry murmurings, shouts coming from the more edgy portions of the populations. Those voices crying out in the wilderness thought they reached no one for the longest time, and then, like overnight, something changed. The vibe shifted overnight, and reached a critical mass before sweeping across the population.

What we’re witnessing could be a new great awakening among a large segment of a population, to the extent that it wouldn’t be off-kilter to compare it to the many religious revivals that have happened throughout history. It’s fitting, since democracy could be argued to be the new, modern religion that pretends it’s not.

These awakenings would not have happened without many things falling into place. In the case of the Floyd riots, without the mass institutions pushing the racist MAGA fascist uprising, media outlets priming their listeners for violence, and the captured DA’s of about every city publicly taking the side of terrorists, he would have gotten a few local protests before being forgotten in the next cycle. Instead, cities burned for an entire summer, corporations filled the coffers of radical NGO’s, and seemingly the only people punished were citizens trying to escape the madness.

In the case of Germany, as much as any true right-wing movement has been neutered by the Mustache Man Card, there has stemmed under the surface a class of smart and savvy political operators who have been able to gain relevance with the entire political class against them. Martin Sellner’s book, "Remigration”, caused a firestorm earlier in the year, and he was worked tirelessly to build alliances in dissident politics.

There have been countless dissidents writing under the radar of German media willing to say what is only whispered in polite circles, and often being punished for it. In the beginning, maybe 1-2 percent of people knew about the arguments they put forth. It started with the fringe or society writing in dissident publications, writing in big-brained fashion. The big-brain pieces get some appeal with readers, who dilute the message to some close friends, who in turn dilute it for more popular appeal. What started as a long think-piece on policy, becomes a brief argument with a nominally aligned person, which becomes the slogan “Auslander Laus!”, which becomes a general vibe in the population.

For writers, there are two reactions he can have. He can embrace the fact his ideas, regardless of how diluted, have reached popular consciousness to the point where it can enact change, or be angry that he doesn’t get the credit for the idea he feels he deserves. There’s almost a revulsion in wanna-be elites at the thought of one’s ideas becoming crass and for mainstream consumption. There’s a certain want of purity and the need for one’s readers to understand the full message and not just sound bites. After all, he spent countless hours getting everything just right, he feels it’s only fitting he’s recognized for that.

What he doesn’t understand it without the laborious work, he wouldn’t have reached any audience at all, and the only way to mass appeal is either a massive propaganda network or the ability to convince High-IQ, low agreeability people in the dissident sphere your arguments are correct. This massive filter to mainstream approval ensures only the most air-tight, inspiring messages get through. The current elite get propaganda networks for their message, aspiring elites get a proving grounds of discourse to align values with other aspiring elites to break through into public consciousness.

Vibe as Proof of Concept

It’s important to note the vibe phenomena does not, in itself, change policy. No matter how angry the masses get, they are always going to be disorganized and unable to act with a single will towards a goal. They are also incredibly fickle, and the vibe will quickly flame out without constant kindling of the fire.

In a strange, circular fashion, the vibe acts as proof there is power to be gained for aspirational elites. While the masses can’t coordinate on their own, they make good foot-soldiers to be wielded. When the vibe reaches a critical mass, the display of rebellion and power exerted gets the attention of secondary characters who may not be explicitly political, who then delve into the controversy and figure out how to direct the energy to their own ends. It could involve supporting the populist message that he doesn’t directly care about in order to create a coalition he can wield to allow the political change in areas he is interested in, or supporting the message because it will directly enhance his own power.

In elite politics, there is no such thing as a man who really cares about “the people”. At most, he may care about a particular coalition based on ethnicity, class, or religion. Overall, he simply sees the masses as tentacles of power he can wield to his own aims.

It becomes a rather convoluted cycle that makes everything come full circle:

1. Dissident writer writes on particular topic

2. Writing reaches other dissident aligned actors and is discussed in the smaller sphere.

3. If effective, simplified version of original writing trickles to political, but not necessarily dissident, actors.

4. Core thoughts become a slogan, suited for mass consumption.

5. Masses internalize slogan, take random, uncoordinated dissident actions.

6. Aspiring elite hears slogan and popular energy. Piquing curiosity.

7. Aspiring elite digs into concept, and eventually reads original dissident thought.

8. Aspiring elite takes message as his own, builds coalition of other like-minded aspiring elites.

9. Using popular energy, new coalition vies for power.

For the current power structure, the new vibe is countered through mass institutional propaganda.

1. FUD message

2. Otherize dissident writers

3. Soft repression in Western democracies, hard repression in others.

4. Disperse populist energy through subversion, in-fighting, or just wait them out.

Both want to wield the power of the masses, but both know the masses are not really “in control”. Just like a hammer can’t bash nails by itself, populist resentment can’t attain a goal by itself, but an elite would be hard-pressed to pound a nail without a hammer.

It’s a delusion, a “Populist Delusion” if you will, to think that vibe shifts signify change in themselves. It’s not nothing though, and the thing to watch out for is counter-elites in Europe willing to stick their necks out like Trump, Musk, and others are doing in the American sphere. While we do that, enjoy the soundtrack.