Some time ago, I predicted something that sounded absurd at the time: that radical anti-civilizational neo-Marxism would eventually blend with the conspiratorial wing of the populist right. These movements couldn’t be more different—or so they claim. They despise each other, call each other names, and see themselves as standing on opposite sides of history. Yet give them a little time, and the edges start to blur.
After all, who’s a better ally than yesterday’s enemy? Who doesn’t love that moment—straight out of a Hollywood movie—when former rivals embrace and march off together to “save the world”?
What could bring such strange bedfellows together? The answer is surprisingly simple: a shared hatred of the modern world. And on that point, they agree more than either side dares to admit.
What’s so wrong with modern civilization? According to them, quite a lot:
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Reason is oppressive. Rational thinking is a tool of control.
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Science is a scam. To the left, it’s sexist and racist. To the conspiratorial right, it’s a Jewish plot.
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Jews themselves become the ultimate villains—proof that antisemitism isn’t a matter of ideology but of impulse. The very idea that Jews could simply live as normal citizens is, after all, a modern innovation.
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Freedom is another target. The left calls it a mask for oppression; the right says it undermines moral order. Both see manipulation behind every act of choice—sometimes, admittedly, not without reason.
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Prosperity is suspect too. The left condemns it for killing the planet; the right blames it for corrupting the soul.
Both sides, in their own way, are ready to burn down the modern world in pursuit of a utopia. The only difference is direction—one dreams of a paradise in the future, the other of a golden age in the past.
The list goes on. Even the anti-vaccine movement started on the radical left before being embraced by nationalist conservatives.
This isn’t theory. I’ve seen it firsthand in alternative circles. When the opportunity arises, these people work together with astonishing ease. For now, it doesn’t happen often. For now.