The ‘Grey Enlightenment’ is similar to the ‘Dark Enlightenment’ in terms of its belief in biological determinism and the social hierarchy or caste system that arises from it, which goes against the welfare liberal ideal of egalitarianism. We differ in that our approach is more descriptive (positive) than prescriptive (normative), as well as taking a more pragmatic approach that maximizes utility and economic flouring for the top 1%, or what we call the smarties or cognitive elite. The society we envisage though these posts is inevitable or already occurring; we’re merely bearing witness to the unfolding of events, or the world as it is – with some suggestions on how to make it better such as adoption of eugenics. However, we believe America will adopt a eugenics program within the next fifty years to address the growing entitlement problem, without the need for a revolution – although implementing such a program now would be better than waiting.
The Dark Enlightenment generally opposes the mixed economy and democracy and wants to upend the entire thing, to be replaced with a ‘neo autocracy/monarchy’. To some extent, that’s where society is headed; no revolution or ‘end times’ is necessary, and only the naive believe America is or was ever a democracy, so there is no need to expunge something that only exists as a figment of the imagination. The ‘cathedral’ of liberalism and moral decay, while possibly irksome, doesn’t hinder the ambitions of the cognitive elite. The Dark Enlightenment would lump social media such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter and most TV programs in with the ‘cathedral’ and should be purged. We argue there are benefits to placating large portions of the low-IQ population with easily digestible entertainment – most notably, a lessened likelihood of revolt.
Essentially, the major difference between the two ideologies is that the Dark Enlightenment seeks revolution to change the fundamental institutions of society, whereas we want to keep the status quo, albeit with gradual changes along the way. Being a ‘member’ of the Grey Enlightenment doesn’t require much commitment or undertaking a large ideological leap of faith because it’s very similar to the society we have today, and most of our ‘beliefs’ are self-evident.
As an example of the differences, the fed and most forms of centralized government are anathema to the ‘reactionary right’; however, from a pragmatic/utilitarian perspective, we (Grey Enlightenment) argue that the 2008 bank bailouts and the various QE programs that followed were a success and a necessity, by creating an environment conducive to the creation of wealth and the flourishing of the cognitive elite. In a technocratic form of manifest destiny, in behooves policy makers to create policy that enables the best and the brightest to fulfill their full biological potential or destiny; the bank bailouts accomplish this – in addition to deregulation, low taxes, low interest rates, and QE. Six years later and stocks keep going up; no doubt the bailouts helped. Silicon Valley is the center of the universe. Home prices in the Bay Area keep going up. TARP was fully repaid as early as 2011, and the treasury turned a profit. As measured by subsequent gains in the stock market, real state, and overall economic activity – both and the US and abroad, one could argue that the bailouts had the best ROI of any government program.