Vibe Shift: Mencius Moldbug gets to speak at Harvard

And Antifa didn't beat up Curtis Yarvin? What is the world coming to?

From the New York Times news section:

At Harvard, a Clash Between Democracy and Monarchy

A debate between the political theorist Danielle Allen and the right-wing blogger Curtis Yarvin drew a curious crowd — and questions about whether it should be happening at all.

By Jennifer Schuessler

Reporting from Cambridge, Mass.

May 6, 2025, 7:36 p.m. ET

Curtis Yarvin, the computer engineer turned neo-monarchist blogger, seems to be everywhere these days.

Personally, I’m an American, and we haven’t done kings for 249 years.

His argument that American democracy has exhausted itself and needs to be replaced by a form of one-man rule has made him a star on the right, reportedly catching the ear of powerful figures like Marc Andreessen, Peter Thiel and JD Vance. Since the re-election of President Trump, he has drawn increasing attention from mainstream outlets, including this one.

And on Monday night, he seemed to have arrived at the heart of “the Cathedral,” as he calls the intertwined elite intellectual institutions that shape our society. …

I quite like cathedrals. Here’s Chartres cathedral looking up:

I was disappointed that Harvard campus architecture is fairly true to Harvard’s Puritanical low church roots.

So, I’m not too sure what Mencius is talking about.

Mr. Yarvin was in town to debate Danielle Allen, a prominent political theorist and democracy advocate at Harvard.

Professor Allen is a black lady with a Ph.D. in classics from Cambridge and a Ph.D. in government from Harvard. She started out as a Republican like her father and moved to the Democrats later on. Her father William B. Allen was a professor, Reagan Administration official, and twice ran for the GOP nomination to the US Senate from California and twice lost.

She seems like a smart, reasonable black person, so, not surprisingly, her academic career has been highly successful. (For example, smart, reasonable black economist Roland Fryer was the highest paid professor at Harvard College [because of the huge grants he brought in from smart, reasonable white people like Mayor Bloomberg] until he ran afoul of the Great Awokening during #MeToo for being a normal, healthy black bachelor).

Her current position is James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard, which sounds prestigious.

From the moment the event was announced, some wondered why Professor Allen would risk lending legitimacy to such an extreme figure by debating him. Others rushed to snap up the limited tickets.

The debate — organizers (and the university’s press office) were at pains to emphasize — was not an official Harvard event. Instead, it was organized by Passage Publishing, the publisher of Mr. Yarvin’s new book, “Gray Mirror: Fascicle 1, Disturbance,” and the John Adams Society, a conservative student group that cheekily bills itself as Harvard’s “premier organization for the reinvention of man.”

It was a clash between monarchism and liberal democracy, West Coast techno-insurgency and East Coast credentialed establishment, Mr. Yarvin’s black leather jacket and Professor Allen’s tomato-red blazer. (“Dark enlightenment” versus “bright enlightenment,” as she put it in her opening remarks, noting the sartorial contrast.)

Then he read the first resolution to be debated: “Resolved: The long-term stability and flourishing of our society is better secured by concentration of executive authority than by democratic institutions.”

Keep in mind that in contrast to the United States government, many highly successful institutions, such as Harvard, are not terribly democratic at all. The president of Harvard, for example, is picked by a combination of 12 members of the Harvard Corporation, a self-perpetuating, self-selecting body, and 3 members of the Harvard Board of Overseers, which alumni help elect. Professors and students have no representation whatsoever in the process.

This system has often done a good job of selecting Harvard presidents, such as James Bryant Conant (1933-1953), but also has made some not so hot picks, such as Claudine Gray, recently fired for plagiarism during her undistinguished career. But she was a black woman so it’s not like Harvard could do better. Or perhaps Professor Allen would make a worthier president, but she’s probably more focused on scholarship than fundraising.

Similarly, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China is chosen behind closed doors by the seven members of the Politburo Standing Committee.

The Pope is chosen by majority vote of the College of the Cardinals.

So, the alumni get a small say in picking Harvard presidents, but in all three institutions, primary power to choose the supremo rests with elite organizations chosen top down, either by the electing organization choosing its own new members or by the supremo choosing its members.

Corporations tend to be in-between, with stockholders having the ultimate power to choose the boards that elect the top executives. But, typically, the CEO nominates new members of the board, and stockholders only play an activist role in electing board members during takeover attempts and the like.

… Professor Allen left shortly after the hourlong debate, which concluded with loud applause. But most guests stayed to mingle over cocktails and canapés, perusing a table filled with other offerings from Mr. Yarvin’s publisher, like the highbrow manosphere journal Man’s World and a $395 “patrician edition” of essays by the “race realist” Steve Sailer, who writes frequently about race and IQ.

People who write frequently about race, like Jennifer Schuessler, are actually writing frequently about race and IQ. They just are ignorant of that fact.

If you are not a “race realist,” what are you?”

A “race fantasist?”

The $395 edition of Noticing has sold nicely to people who love fine bookmaking and have a good sized amount of money. But let me point out the paperback is also a handsome book, and it’s only $29.95. And the Kindle version is available right now for $9.95.

And, as I may have mentioned once or twice, the audio version of my anthology will be on sale Real Soon Now.

Unfortunately, not quite yet.