The subtitle of my last post was “Why I'm one of the hundred without heroes”.
Centurions
I thank Neoliberal Feudalism for including me in his list of “cultural/metaphysical pessimists”:
“Hundred” refers to
’s higher-end estimate of the number of English-language cultural/metaphysical pessimist Dissident Rightists. I call that hundred the Centurions.But what did I mean by “without heroes”? I ran out of time last night to explain that phrase, so I’ll do so here.
Last night I was thinking that Neoliberal Feudalism’s dichotomy between “pessimistic” and “optimistic” (see his graph below) could also be interpeted as asoteric vs. soteric.
The soter of asoteric and soteric is Greek σωτήρ sōtḗr ‘savior’, the root of soteriology.
The Soteric
believe in one or more saviors. Their anthem is Bonnie Tyler’s “Holding Out for a Hero”.
“I need a hero!”
Their saviors can be sacred and/or secular.
I don’t actually know any QAnon believers, but I know TAnons - QAnons without the Q devoted to the New Trinity: Jesus, Trump, and Eeeelon. (What, no ♥ANCE1?) Others see salvation abroad:
the ZAnons look to Russia and Tsar Vladimir, the mostest piousest Christian leader on Earth
the XiAnons look to China
the ShiAnons look to Iran
(Thanks to
for the Anon terminology!)At the turn of the century, I was an atheist who saw salvation in technology. In machine messiahs.
I just realized that Nagano Mamoru named his machine messiahs after this Yes song. Nagano loves Western rock.
Man would transcend his mortal, natural flesh and upload his mind into immortal constructs like the machine people of Galaxy Express 999. Like Count Mecha.
If I had maintained that transhumanist outlook, I might see salvation in AI today. But I don’t, because I’m asoteric.
The Asoteric
do not believe in any messiahs - human, machine, or institutional. No leader, no computer, no church or state.
Their anthem is the Stranglers’ “No More Heroes”2.
“No more heroes anymore …”
The a- of asoteric is the Greek negative prefix a- also found in atheism.
I came up with the term a-soteric on February 13. (I dropped the hyphen tonight.) I’ve been saving these three examples of asoteric thought in a draft since March 1:
First, The BarefootHealer:
The message for the average person- follow none.
No one is here to save you, you must save yourself. Now if that concept scares you, then you will follow anyone with the "right" presentation. So eventually you'll fall for it
If that concept invigorates you, then your inner voice is strong and you will be hard to capture.
Second, I’m blocked from liking this Note, but at least I can embed it:
Third, this Note from
which happens to tie into an Ann Coulter post I read tonight via a Note by Rurik.Asoteric sounds almost like esoteric, but the asoteric are not esoteric in this sense:
Having to do with concepts that are highly theoretical and without obvious practical application; often with mystical or religious connotations.
Being asoteric requires no mumbo-jumbo, no capital-T theory. The three examples of asoterism above should be easy to grasp. Should.
Yet they’re not. Maybe the asoteric are esoteric in this sense (emphasis mine):
Intended for or likely to be understood by only a small number of people with a specialized knowledge or interest, or an enlightened inner circle.
To be asoteric is to belong to a nanoniche. Neoliberal Feudalism writes,
This is for good reason; people naturally want to believe that the world can be made into a better place politically, economically, religiously, either through their own efforts or by relying on favored politicians to save them (hence the Q phenomenon). People require hope to live, and this is a dark, cruel world; getting a little jolt of hopium - Trump will save us! Tariffs, expulsions of illegals, stock market increases, putting the woke and trannies away, Christ is King, brothers! - helps many people through their day.
To get through the day without hopium - to live by the ideal of NO COPE - is hard for most. Soterism is way easier.
In the eyes of some soterists, the USSA is rapidly becoming the good ol’ USA again under the guidance of the Great Orange God. DOGE has wiped out zillions in Demoncrat waste. The Kristi Krackdown is purifying our population.
Kristi Noem Is Telling You to Leave Now
I listen to an oldies station in Hawaii. Its advertising is clearly targeted toward old people - specifically, conservative Boomers. Lots of drugs. Lots of Christianity. Lots of Trump. And the audio version of this ad:
America is back, baby! Up, up , and away like Superman!
Next stop - Mars!
In the eyes of other soterists, the USSA is doomed, but the torch of liberty burns on in BRICS3.
Similar to the game-changing Kazan Declaration, this year’s BRICS declaration serves as a manifesto for the Multipolar World Order. Containing 126 commitments, the document reads like a Bill of Rights against the global tyranny of the Collective West.
(
is being sarcastic, in case you can’t tell.)
If that torch isn’t in the fertile fields of Siberia, it could be inside a computer.
Hello, HAL!
In the eyes of this asoterist, the whole world is doomed.
And yet I feel fine.
The weird implanted insta-love for ♥ANCE that I witnessed last summer seems to have gone into hibernation, waiting for reactivation if the Great Orange God dies in office.
I forgot about “No More Heroes” until I heard it at Wendy’s on June 17. I guess it’s mainstream in the USSA now. (It was #8 in the UK, but it never charted here. I can’t remember how I first encountered it.)
More like “RC”.
I’ve never encountered any BAnons touting Brazil.
The INDO INDO INDO fetishists I have encountered aren’t interested in India, much less BRICS - they want Indian BODIEZ to bless America with their low-cost high intelligence. Infinite H1Bs! What could go wrong? Nothing for a LastWhite confident that they will hang out with their Brahmin peers like their dream candidate Vivek Ramaswamy while the rest … who cares?
I have seen just one guy on Substack promote South Africa as paradise. Not sure he’d go so far as to claim it’s our last hope, though.
Needed more gundam clips tbh 💪
Great post. Thank you for the mention.