Neo-reactionaries sometimes decline to speak to reporters. Other focuses of neoreaction often include an idealization of physical fitness, a rationalist or utilitarian justification for social stratification based on intelligence based on either heredity or meritocracy, an embrace of Classical or Objectivist philosophies, and traditional gender roles. A 2016 article in New York magazine notes that "Neoreaction has a number of different strains, but perhaps the most important is a form of post-libertarian futurism that, realizing that libertarians aren't likely to win any elections, argues against democracy in favor of authoritarian forms of government." The Dark Enlightenment has been described by journalists and commentators as alt-right and neo-fascist. Land drew inspiration from libertarians such as Peter Thiel, as indicated in his essay The Dark Enlightenment. Ĭentral to Land's ideas is a belief in freedom's incompatibility with democracy. Steve Sailer and Hans-Hermann Hoppe are contemporary forerunners of the ideology, which also draws influence from philosophers such as Thomas Carlyle and Julius Evola. Neo-reactionaries are an informal community of bloggers and political theorists who have been active since the 2000s. In July 2010, Arnold Kling, an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute, coined the term "neo-reactionaries" to describe Yarvin and his followers. The ideology generally rejects Whig historiography -the concept that history shows an inevitable progression towards greater liberty and enlightenment, culminating in liberal democracy and constitutional monarchy -in favor of a return to traditional societal constructs and forms of government, including absolute monarchism and other archaic forms of leadership such as cameralism. The term "Dark Enlightenment" refers to the Age of Enlightenment, in a pejorative sense. Yarvin's theories were elaborated and expanded by Nick Land, who first coined the term Dark Enlightenment in his essay of the same name. In 20, Curtis Yarvin, writing under the pen name Mencius Moldbug, articulated what would develop into Dark Enlightenment thinking. The Dark Enlightenment, also called neo-reactionary movement (sometimes abbreviated to NRx), is an anti-democratic, anti-egalitarian, reactionary philosophy. Not to be confused with Counter-Enlightenment.