Neoreaction a Basilisk: Essays on and Around the Alt-Right

by Elizabeth Sandifer

Rather it is the larger neoreactionary discourse—the myriad of blogs, subreddits, and Twitters that exist to endlessly spit out neoreactionary memes, evangelizing over and over again, generally to each other, but with especial vigor whenever they find anyone who expresses the slightest skepticism about the red pill’s effects. The tone of these engagements is brilliantly satirized by David Malki’s famed “The Terrible Sea Lion” comic, in which two women remark on how much they dislike sea lions only to be chased around by one for two days repeatedly demanding that they provide sources to back up their assertions34. This constant restatement of an idea defined by the fact that it only needs to be expressed evokes Eve Sedgwick’s observation of the conspiracy theorist’s obsession with telling and retelling the story of their preferred conspiracy, as though they believe that if only their testimony is understood by the right person everything will be OK35.