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I think there’s a good case that Hanania’s views have actually changed. Have they changed to the extent that he doesn’t believe immigrant demographics have any effect on a society’s future? I rather doubt that, but I don’t think he’s “hiding his level” on most of these issues, or he wouldn’t so capably troll and embarrass his ideological fellows (which he freely admits has cost him money and acclaim with his audience, eg. his opposition to anti-abortion politics by itself means half of dissident right/trad twitter vehemently hates him, and may even have doxxed him).
And you have to admit, by OO standards, Hanania’s writing is pretty mild. My guess is he’s still in the bottom quartile of antisemitism for Palestinians.
No it's not, his emerged writings on sterilization and anti-feminism are more extreme than anything I've read in the DR in memory, although I was not around for the Dionysian 2016 "Alt-Right": the blind transgressionism did not appeal to me as it seemed to appeal to Hanania. I clung to the "racist libertarian" sensibilities to which Hanania has now retreated until having to face the reality that begging for everyone to be individualists does not work, and I became more influenced by the DR as it moved away from that sort of rhetoric that Hanania contributed to.
And I do believe he has changed his mind, I just don't think he's changed his mind for the right reasons. I don't think he's been influenced by arguments, I think he's been influenced by the incentives that could reward him or punish him based on what he says.
But that's not the population group we care about, it's elite or elite-adjacent influencers we should care about, and if Hanania is able to retain some status in that population that is significant. How many in that population group have gone on the record endorsing The Culture of Critique?
I would be interested in Hanania explaining the arguments that he may have formerly found in The Culture of Critique to be compelling, but now he does not think so. Given that he has retreated to "HBD doesn't matter for policy" I doubt he would give an honest answer for why his opinion on that work changed (if it has, technically nothing he wrote in his apology indicated a shift in view on this particular topic). He's just going to say whatever maximizes his chances of retaining his status, and he'll retcon it as a sort of moral enlightenment.
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