{{Short description|Commentators opposed to identity politics and political correctness}} {{distinguish|Dark Enlightenment}} {{Use American English|date=August 2020}} {{use mdy dates|date=June 2020}}
The '''intellectual dark web''' ('''IDW''') is a loose grouping of academics and social commentators who oppose what they perceive as the influence of left-wing identity politics and political correctness in higher education and mass media. Individuals and publications associated with the term may reject what they view as authoritarianism and ostracism within academia, the (mainstream) science community, and progressive movements in Western countries. The stance may include opposition to deplatforming, boycotts, and online shaming, when perceived as threats to freedom of speech.
==Origin and usage== [[File:EricWeinstein.JPG|thumb|Eric Weinstein in 2010]]
The term "intellectual dark web" was coined as a joke<ref name="Kelsey p174">{{cite book |last1=Kelsey |first1=Darren |editor=Kranert, Michael |title=Discursive Approaches to Populism Across Disciplines: The Return of Populists and the People |date=2020 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |location=Cham |isbn=978-3-030-55038-7 |page=174 |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-55038-7_7 |chapter=Archetypal Populism: The 'Intellectual Dark Web' and the 'Peterson Paradox' }}</ref> by mathematician and venture capitalist Eric Weinstein and popularized by ''New York Times'' opinion editor Bari Weiss.<ref name="Sheedy p89">{{cite book |last1=Sheedy |first1=Matt |title=Owning the Secular: Religious Symbols, Culture Wars, Western Fragility |series=Routledge Focus on Religion |date=2022 |publisher=Routledge |location=London |isbn=978-0-367-46802-6 |pages=89–90 |doi=10.4324/9781003031239}}</ref><ref name="Postill 2024">{{cite book |last1=Postill |first1=John |title=The Anthropology of Digital Practices: Dispatches from the Online Culture Wars |date=2024 |publisher=Routledge |location=New York |pages=7–8 |isbn=978-1-003-85133-2 |doi=10.4324/9781003335238 |chapter=Introduction}}</ref> It has been used to refer to various academics and social commentators who express concerns over the perceived excesses of left-wing identity politics and political correctness.{{r|Sheedy p89|Postill 2024}} Media studies scholar John Postill argues that Weiss's essay, titled "Meet the Renegades", was a "defining media event" that offered an identity and cast of characters for the "anti-woke" movement to follow.{{r|Postill 2024}}
The first recorded usage of the term was on a 2017 episode of Sam Harris's podcast, when Weinstein used it to refer to a group of thinkers, including Weinstein and Harris, who used digital media to offer alternatives to mainstream media narratives.{{r|Postill 2024}} This occurred after Weinstein's brother, biologist Bret Weinstein, resigned in 2017 from his position as professor of biology at the Evergreen State College in response to protests against his criticism of a campus event that asked white students to stay off campus, as opposed to the previous annual tradition of black students voluntarily absenting themselves.<ref name="Svrluga 2017">{{cite news |first1=Susan |last1=Svrluga |first2=Joe |last2=Heim |date=June 1, 2017 |title=Threat shuts down college embroiled in racial dispute |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/06/01/threats-shut-down-college-embroiled-in-racial-dispute/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=14 July 2024 |archive-date=May 26, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190526100104/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/06/01/threats-shut-down-college-embroiled-in-racial-dispute/ |url-status=live |url-access=limited}}</ref>
Derek Beres argues for ''Big Think'' that other controversies, dating back to 2014, should also be viewed as antecedents to the IDW. These include a debate between Harris and Ben Affleck on ''Real Time with Bill Maher'' in October 2014, the publication of "Google's Ideological Echo Chamber" by James Damore in August 2017, and Cathy Newman's interview of Jordan Peterson on ''Channel 4 News'' in January 2018, each of which related to controversial topics such as Islamic extremism and workplace diversity policies.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://bigthink.com/21st-century-spirituality/5-key-issues-that-led-to-the-rise-of-the-intellectual-dark-web |title=5 key moments that led to the rise of the Intellectual Dark Web |first=Derek |last=Beres |website=Big Think |date=2018-03-27 |access-date=2019-09-11 |archive-date=March 26, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190326062157/https://bigthink.com/21st-century-spirituality/5-key-issues-that-led-to-the-rise-of-the-intellectual-dark-web |url-status=live}}</ref>
==Membership and ideology== The IDW comprises an ideologically diverse network of commentators who share an opposition to left-wing identity politics and political correctness.{{r|Postill 2024}}<ref name="Kelsey p179">{{harvp|Kelsey|2020|p=179|ps=: "IDW figures are often unified in their opposition to 'radical leftist', 'social justice warriors' and 'political correctness' movements."}}</ref><ref name="Hamburger 2018">{{cite magazine |last1=Hamburger |first1=Jacob |date=18 July 2018 |title=The 'Intellectual Dark Web' Is Nothing New |magazine=Los Angeles Review of Books |url=https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-intellectual-dark-web-is-nothing-new/#! |url-status=live |access-date=5 October 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190327104249/https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-intellectual-dark-web-is-nothing-new/#! |archive-date=March 27, 2019 |quote=Despite their various differences, all members of the movement believe their ideas are being stifled by an epidemic of 'political correctness.'{{nbsp}}... These thinkers ought not to be allowed to pretend that its ideas are, historically speaking, anything other than conservative.}}</ref> They often claim to have been unfairly treated by mainstream media and higher education institutions, which they say have been pressured into avoiding controversial topics.{{r|Kelsey p179}} Other issues of concern include postmodernism and "cultural Marxism", which are perceived as contributing to moral relativism and the suppression of free speech.{{sfnp|Sheedy|2022|pp=89–90|ps=: "For some IDW figures, the influence of postmodernism and 'cultural Marxism' is said to be particularly dangerous, contributing to moral relativism, political correctness, and the stifling of free speech."}}
In her essay, Weiss characterized IDW members as "iconoclastic" and "academic renegades"<ref name="Finlayson 2021">{{cite journal |last=Finlayson |first=Alan |title=Neoliberalism, the Alt-Right and the Intellectual Dark Web |journal=Theory, Culture & Society |volume=38 |issue=6 |date=2021 |issn=1460-3616 |doi=10.1177/02632764211036731 |pages=167–190 |s2cid=239690708 |doi-access=free}} {{cc-notice|cc=by4|from this source=yes}}</ref> who had found audiences online after being "purged" from institutions that had become "hostile to unorthodox thought".{{r|Postill 2024}} Eric Weinstein described the IDW as being opposed to "the gated institutional narrative" of the mainstream media and political elites.{{r|Kelsey p174}} IDW figures often use alternative media, including podcasts and newsletters, to build identification with audiences who are disillusioned with mainstream media and politics by branding themselves as reasonable thinkers and reinforcing narratives of political polarization.<ref name="Baker 2022">{{cite journal |last1=Baker |first1=Stephanie Alice |last2=Maddox |first2=Alexia |title=From COVID-19 Treatment to Miracle Cure: The Role of Influencers and Public Figures in Amplifying the Hydroxychloroquine and Ivermectin Conspiracy Theories during the Pandemic |journal=M/C Journal |date=2022 |volume=25 |issue=1 |doi=10.5204/mcj.2872 |doi-access=free |language=en |issn=1441-2616}}</ref> According to Weiss, many IDW members have identified as atheist, including "New Atheists" Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Sam Harris, and Steven Pinker. Commentators such as Douglas Murray, Maajid Nawaz, Joe Rogan, and Dave Rubin are also included.{{r|Sheedy p89}} Other notable IDW members according to Weiss include Bret and Eric Weinstein, Jordan Peterson, Ben Shapiro, Heather Heying, and Christina Hoff Sommers.{{r|Postill 2024}}
IDW beliefs overlap with those of the alt-right movement while tending to avoid explicit white supremacy and ethnonationalism. Similarities with the alt-right are seen in debates over gender identity, feminism, men's rights, and race science. IDW commentators tend to dismiss issues of transgender rights and racial and gender inequality as the concerns of leftist "social justice warriors" while welcoming some gay men, such as Murray and Rubin, into their ranks.{{r|Sheedy p89}} A 2019 study by {{sfnlink|Ribeiro|Ottoni|West|Almeida|2020|text=Ribeiro et al.}} examining patterns of user comments on YouTube videos described the IDW as a "gateway to the far right".{{r|Sheedy p89}} Jacob Hamburger argues in the ''Los Angeles Review of Books'' that the IDW belongs to a neoconservative tradition of attacks on "political correctness" that began during the Reagan era, associated with commentators such as Allan Bloom, Roger Kimball, Dinesh D’Souza, David Brooks, Irving Kristol, and Norman Podhoretz. Hamburger describes leftists along with liberals and progressives as the "primary adversaries" of the IDW.<ref name="Hamburger 2018"/>
Some IDW members describe themselves as liberals in opposition to what they perceive as the excesses and indifference of the American Left, while others lean to the right.<ref name="Fouriezos 2020">{{Cite web |last=Fouriezos |first=Nick |date=August 10, 2020 |title=American Fringes: The Intellectual Dark Web Declares Its Independence |url=https://www.ozy.com/news-and-politics/american-fringes-the-intellectual-dark-web-declares-its-independence/362845/ |access-date=2020-09-05 |website=Ozy |archive-date=September 19, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200919021953/https://www.ozy.com/news-and-politics/american-fringes-the-intellectual-dark-web-declares-its-independence/362845/ |url-status=live}}</ref> Those who have been linked to the IDW are generally critical of what they perceive as "conformist" liberals, and some have been associated with the alt-lite and the alt-right.{{r|Finlayson 2021}} Political scientist Daniel W. Drezner argues that the IDW contributes to polarization because of its need to appeal to a primarily right-wing audience, despite the political leanings of individual members.<ref name="Drezner 2018">{{cite news |last1=Drezner |first1=Daniel W. |author-link1=Daniel W. Drezner |title=The Ideas Industry meets the intellectual dark web |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2018/05/11/the-ideas-industry-meets-the-intellectual-dark-web/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |department=PostEverything |access-date=5 October 2024 |date=May 11, 2018 |archive-date=May 29, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190529031640/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2018/05/11/the-ideas-industry-meets-the-intellectual-dark-web/ |url-status=live |url-access=limited}}</ref> ''The Guardian'' characterizes the IDW as an ill-defined movement composed of figures from both "the right and sometimes left extremes of the political spectrum" who share a belief in "hardcore libertarianism". This includes "mainstream intellectuals" such as Steven Pinker alongside "cranks and show-offs" such as Milo Yiannopoulos and Alex Jones.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--anonymous author(s)--> |title=The 'Intellectual Dark Web' – the supposed thinking wing of the alt-right |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/shortcuts/2018/may/09/the-ntellectual-dark-web-the-supposed-thinking-wing-of-the-alt-right |access-date=1 May 2025 |date=May 9, 2018 |archive-date=June 10, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190610151510/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/shortcuts/2018/may/09/the-ntellectual-dark-web-the-supposed-thinking-wing-of-the-alt-right |url-status=live}}</ref>
Nick Fouriezos of ''Ozy'' magazine describes IDW as "a growing school of thought that includes a collection of mostly left-leaning professors, pundits and thinkers united in their criticism of the modern social justice movement as authoritarian and illogical." Liberals who have been labelled as being part of the IDW often credit the European Enlightenment with vast improvements in human welfare since the 18th century, and see Enlightenment values such as freedom of speech and individual rights as threatened by both political correctness on the left, and Trumpism and religious conservatism on the right.<ref name="Fouriezos 2020"/>
==Reception== {{Undue weight|section|date=October 2024 |reason=over-reliance on opinion commentary; lack of secondary sources describing reception of the IDW from a disinterested viewpoint.}} Criticism of the IDW has come primarily from the left and support from the right.<ref name="Hamburger 2018"/><ref>{{cite web |url=https://areomagazine.com/2019/05/06/yes-the-intellectual-dark-web-is-politically-diverse/ |title=Yes, The Intellectual Dark Web Is Politically Diverse |work=Areo |first=Blaine |last=Bowden |date=2019-05-06 |access-date=July 30, 2019 |archive-date=August 5, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190805120237/https://areomagazine.com/2019/05/06/yes-the-intellectual-dark-web-is-politically-diverse/ |url-status=live}}</ref> Jonah Goldberg, writing in the ''National Review'', said the "label is a bit overwrought", writing that it struck him "as a marketing label – and not necessarily a good one.{{nbsp}}... It seems to me this IDW thing isn't actually an intellectual movement. It's just a coalition of thinkers and journalists who happen to share a disdain for the keepers of the liberal orthodoxy."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/intellectual-dark-web-bari-weiss/ |title=Evaluating the 'Intellectual Dark Web' |last1=Goldberg |first1=Jonah |author-link1=Jonah Goldberg |date=May 8, 2018 |work=National Review |access-date=25 June 2019 |archive-date=July 15, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200715125707/https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/intellectual-dark-web-bari-weiss/ |url-status=live}}</ref> Henry Farrell, writing in ''Vox'', expressed disbelief that conservative commentator Ben Shapiro or neuroscientist Sam Harris, both claimed to be among the intellectual dark web by Weiss, could credibly be described as either purged or silenced.<ref name="Farrell 2018">{{cite web |last1=Farrell |first1=Henry |title=The 'Intellectual Dark Web,' explained: what Jordan Peterson has in common with the alt-right |url=https://www.vox.com/the-big-idea/2018/5/10/17338290/intellectual-dark-web-rogan-peterson-harris-times-weiss |website=Vox |access-date=14 July 2024 |date=10 May 2018}}</ref> Weiss' fellow ''New York Times'' columnist Paul Krugman argued there was an irony in claiming popular intellectual oppression by the mainstream while still publishing in the ''Times'', among the most prominent newspapers in the nation.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Bonazzo |first1=John |author-link1=David A. French |title=''NY Times'' 'Intellectual Dark Web' Story Savaged on Twitter—Even by Paper's Staffers |url=https://observer.com/2018/05/new-york-times-bari-weiss-intellectual-dark-web-twitter/ |work=The New York Observer |access-date=June 25, 2019 |date=August 5, 2018 |archive-date=July 22, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190722165419/https://observer.com/2018/05/new-york-times-bari-weiss-intellectual-dark-web-twitter/ |url-status=live}}</ref> David French contended many of the critics were missing the point, and were instead inadvertently confirming "the need for a movement of intellectual free-thinkers."<ref>{{cite web |last1=French |first1=David A. |author-link1=David A. French |title=Critics Miss the Point of the 'Intellectual Dark Web' |url=https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/05/intellectual-dark-web-meaning-audience/ |work=National Review |access-date=June 25, 2019 |date=May 11, 2018 |archive-date=August 13, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190813064324/https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/05/intellectual-dark-web-meaning-audience/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
In 2019, a study from the Federal University of Minas Gerais found a pattern of migration of viewers who comment on YouTube videos; they went from commenting on clips associated with the IDW and the "alt-lite" to commenting on more "right-wing and/or alt-right" videos. The study looked at over 331,000 videos that an algorithm had classified as right-wing, analyzed 79 million YouTube comments, and found a group that migrated from IDW channels to "alt-lite" channels, and then to alt-right channels. The subjects who left comments at an IDW channel were more likely to graduate, after a few years, to leaving significantly more comments on alt-right channels than the control group. The study's authors said they were not intending to "point fingers", but to draw attention to the effects of YouTube's recommendation algorithm.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/youtube-far-right-radicalization-study-877061/ |title=Study Shows How the 'Intellectual Dark Web' Is a Gateway to the Far Right |last=Dickson |first=EJ |date=August 28, 2019 |magazine=Rolling Stone |access-date=September 25, 2019 |archive-date=September 21, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190921044442/https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/youtube-far-right-radicalization-study-877061/ |url-status=live |url-access=limited}}</ref><ref name="Ribeiro 2020">{{cite book |first1=Manoel Horta |last1=Ribeiro |first2=Raphael |last2=Ottoni |first3=Robert |last3=West |first4=Virgílio A F |last4=Almeida |first5=Wagner |last5=Meira Meira |title=Proceedings of the 2020 Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency |chapter=Auditing radicalization pathways on YouTube |s2cid=201316434 |date=2020 |publisher=Association for Computing Machinery |location=New York |pages=131–141 |doi=10.1145/3351095.3372879 |isbn=9781450369367 |doi-access=free}}</ref>
==See also== * {{anl|Bill Maher}} * {{anl|Culture war}} * {{anl|Claire Lehmann}} * {{anl|Dark web}} * {{anl|Debra Soh}} * {{anl|Heterodox Academy}}
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
==Further reading== * {{cite journal |last1=Doody |first1=Sean |title=Making sense of a pandemic: reasoning about COVID-19 in the intellectual dark web |journal=Frontiers in Sociology |date=2024 |volume=9 |article-number=1374042 |doi=10.3389/fsoc.2024.1374042 |doi-access=free |pmid=39351293 |issn=2297-7775|pmc=11440435 }} * {{cite magazine |last1=Lester |first1=Amelia |title=The Voice of the 'Intellectual Dark Web' |url=https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/11/11/intellectual-dark-web-quillette-claire-lehmann-221917/ |magazine=Politico |date=November–December 2018 |archive-date=November 12, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181112000033/https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/11/11/intellectual-dark-web-quillette-claire-lehmann-221917 |url-status=live}} * {{cite news |last1=Malik |first1=Nesrine |title=If the 'Intellectual Dark Web' are being silenced, why must we keep hearing about them? |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2018/05/if-intellectual-dark-web-are-being-silenced-why-must-we-keep-hearing-about |work=New Statesman |date=11 May 2018 |language=en |url-access=limited}} * {{cite news |last=Weiss |first=Bari |author-link=Bari Weiss |date=May 8, 2018 |title=Meet the Renegades of the Intellectual Dark Web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/08/opinion/intellectual-dark-web.html |work=The New York Times |archive-date=January 31, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200131000213/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/08/opinion/intellectual-dark-web.html |url-status=live |url-access=limited}}
{{Jordan Peterson}}
Category:2010s neologisms Category:American political neologisms Category:Anti-communism in the United States Category:Anti-Marxism Category:Criticism of political correctness Category:Criticism of postmodernism Category:Dinesh D'Souza Category:Identity politics Category:New Atheism Category:Political philosophy