“Integral crowd are LARPing as Metamodernists. They read that ironic sincerity is part of Metamodernism and so they try to embody that as a signal of their advanced state. But it doesn’t work. Instead, it undermines their earnestness.”
very well put. i had a similar experience with Hanzi though i never went back - and feel a similar way about Brendan, Marc, and Zak creating characters to communicate their visions. these are all deeply serious people who take their ideas deeply seriously, and their playfulness doesn’t read as remotely as considered or fun(ny). there’s no compensatory self-satirizing or edginess that jreg or burnham do that signals humility or vulnerability, nor effective mockery and double-speak that make far right memetics compelling — not that integralists would go there.
i do believe some oscillation between irony and sincerity makes the best art at the moment, and i get why philosophers would want to get in on this as a way to catch fire, but falling short does come off worse than not trying at all.
Yeah it's a shame really. I get what the intention is but when it doesn't come off it feels worse than if it was never tried at all. I guess it's harder to do when the belly of what you're doing is theory but charity aside if it doesn't work it doesn't work
thinking on it more this sounds like the most damning part of your critique - the very name of this loose group of philosophers is an inaccurate appropriation. as youve been suggesting, they are a new generation of Integralists who are distancing themselves from their lineage with a trendy name, but not in substance, and barely in style. it kinda feels brutal, but necessary.
thanks for all your insights in these critiques, gives me a lot to chew on for my own development.
well to be fair it's not all of them but there's definitely a heft dose of Integral DNA in the movement. I do want to highlight a version of Metamodernism I am partial to which doesn't stands aside from this strain. Glad the series is helpful for someone else — in large part it's been an attempt to articulate my own discomfort
“Integral crowd are LARPing as Metamodernists. They read that ironic sincerity is part of Metamodernism and so they try to embody that as a signal of their advanced state. But it doesn’t work. Instead, it undermines their earnestness.”
very well put. i had a similar experience with Hanzi though i never went back - and feel a similar way about Brendan, Marc, and Zak creating characters to communicate their visions. these are all deeply serious people who take their ideas deeply seriously, and their playfulness doesn’t read as remotely as considered or fun(ny). there’s no compensatory self-satirizing or edginess that jreg or burnham do that signals humility or vulnerability, nor effective mockery and double-speak that make far right memetics compelling — not that integralists would go there.
i do believe some oscillation between irony and sincerity makes the best art at the moment, and i get why philosophers would want to get in on this as a way to catch fire, but falling short does come off worse than not trying at all.
Yeah it's a shame really. I get what the intention is but when it doesn't come off it feels worse than if it was never tried at all. I guess it's harder to do when the belly of what you're doing is theory but charity aside if it doesn't work it doesn't work
thinking on it more this sounds like the most damning part of your critique - the very name of this loose group of philosophers is an inaccurate appropriation. as youve been suggesting, they are a new generation of Integralists who are distancing themselves from their lineage with a trendy name, but not in substance, and barely in style. it kinda feels brutal, but necessary.
thanks for all your insights in these critiques, gives me a lot to chew on for my own development.
well to be fair it's not all of them but there's definitely a heft dose of Integral DNA in the movement. I do want to highlight a version of Metamodernism I am partial to which doesn't stands aside from this strain. Glad the series is helpful for someone else — in large part it's been an attempt to articulate my own discomfort