Here are some emails I’ve received lately:
* I resolved to return to 12-step today, a much-needed development I have been mulling for several months. (I used to attend AA but gave up giving up.) I have a lot in common with many in the alt-right, despite being a patrilineal Jew. My social and financial capital is extremely limited; I have spent many years procrastinating and avoiding; and I was already marginalised and interested in fringe ideas from the outset. You are right to emphasise the dangers of the red pill: in some ways the alt-right made me even more marginalised and, coupled with a fondness for alcohol, I put myself in a few situations where my readiness to talk about our ideas nearly got me in trouble. My brother, whom I previously got on very well with, has all but disowned me (and I have barely even spoken about the alt-right with him. He can simply sense a dangerous change.)
In other ways, however, the alt-right has been positive. For the first time ever I feel in touch with reality; I think my delusions are fewer; I have been forced to face up to the future and my culpability in failing to build an adequate life for myself. I began saving money for the first time, and while my professional life is still very unsatisfying, I am more positive about my ability to effect some change. Whether I will ever get there I don’t know but I have at least accepted I have a duty to try. I haven’t wanted to try before, not really. Life was too much of a struggle – I preferred dreaming/drinking.
I found the recent stream (‘Under Earning’) highly enjoyable. It was notable that the presence of the older man triggered many under-earning responses in the young Australian. He became needlessly confrontational in a way that illustrated the point you were making. I don’t think he was aware of that though. Rodney, to his credit, handled him very well.
