Why I've Abandoned Vitalism

Looking past the radical-seeming aesthetics and framing, it represents a last-ditch effort to salvage '90s liberalism'.

The Sensible Centrist (DR) movement has, for the past few years, had two distinct factions: the Christians and the Vitalists.

While ‘Christian’ is fairly straightforward, ‘Vitalism’ is much more vague, being united mostly by simply not being Christian and subscribing to the Nietzschean critique of the religion.

I started Anglofuturist Magazine in large part because I wanted to be separate from the Religious Right-dominated Sensible Centre. At the time, I felt they were ‘stiff,’ ‘puritanical,’ and ‘fun-hating.’

But in the summer of this year, that began to change.

Part of the reason for my Substack hiatus was that I had become an ‘ideological schizophrenic,’ sharply changing what type of anti-Wokeist I was in any given week on Substack Notes. I realized this was disorienting to people, so alongside needing to focus on settling into my new environment, I also needed to reflect on my ideas.

In this article, I’m going to analyze ‘Vitalism’ and its convoluted character. I will state what initially attracted me to Vitalism and how I moved away from it after seeing its ‘Woke Drift.’ I will argue—retreading some ground that previous authors have covered—that it does not represent a real alternative to Wokeism, as it lacks a ‘positive vision’ outside of one’s personal interests. I will then rebut some Vitalist (and formerly my own) critiques of Christianity. Finally, I will conclude that only Christianity can serve as a robust, positive alternative vision for an ethnically diverse society like the United States. In Britain and other European nations, I will argue that a synthesis between Christianity and ethno-cultural nationalism is probably the most feasible alternative to Wokeism.

What is Vitalism?

The term ‘vitality’ means ‘life energy.’ ‘Vitalism’ uses this word to express a Nietzschean opposition to both Christianity and liberalism. Nietzsche viewed the latter as an extension of the ‘slave morality’ inherent in the former, a perspective best articulated in a video by Uberboyo, which I used to strongly agree with.

With some key exceptions, like Richard Spencer (whom I would place in the Vitalist camp), Vitalists generally do not tend to be hardcore ethno-nationalists. Jews and White-minority ethnics are overrepresented in its ranks.

A common component of Vitalism, alongside Nietzscheanism, is a subscription to Human Biodiversity (HBD). However, adherents typically use this toward non-nationalist conclusions, often (though not always) praising ‘high IQ’ immigrants from places like India.

There are two broad factions within Vitalism: ‘techno-optimist’ Vitalism and ‘techno-pessimist’ Vitalism.

The techno-optimists are represented by figures like

Richard Hanania

and

Anatoly Karlin

, to name two very negative examples.