An Ego-Maniacal Writer’s Failed Attempt at Guilt by Association
A couple of months ago the following correspondence took place. I knew of course what sort of publication The New Yorker is, and based on the very first question I was certain that my name would be mentioned, no matter what. Hence, to forestall any possible misrepresentation, I decided to reply. But I refused to simply talk and insisted on doing things in writing so that I could later prove what was and wasn’t said.
Dear Professor Hoppe,
I’m a writer at The New Yorker who is working on a story about the political blogger Curtis Yarvin. Mr. Yarvin has described you to me as one of his biggest influences. I just finished reading Democracy: The God That Failed, and it is evident just how influential it has been on his work. I’d be grateful to speak with you for the story about your philosophy and its influence on the neoreactionary movement here in the United States. Are there some windows you might be free to speak this week?
With thanks,
Ava Kofman
Dear Mrs. Kofman,
I am aware that I had an influence on Yarvin and we also once briefly met several years ago. I have not followed his development closely since then. For my taste his writing has always been a bit too flowery and rambling.
As regards your request, I live in Europe, am a low-tech person and are currently ill in bed with some sort of flu. However I might be able to answer a couple of questions per email correspondence.
Sincerely
HHH
Dear Mr. Hoppe,
Thank you so much for you message. I hope you have recovered from your flu, and I’m sending here some questions for e-mail. Feel free to add or modify them as you see fit, of course!
- I watched your recent lecturefrom March. Do you see any of your ideas about transforming the size and nature of the state playing out in contemporary initiatives like DOGE in the United States?
- When did you first hear about Curtis Yarvin’s blog or read it? Where did you meet, and what was the meeting like?
- Yarvin has called not just for an empowered sovereign, preferably a monarch, but a
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LewRockwell.com is a libertarian website that publishes articles, essays, and blog posts advocating for minimal government, free markets, and individual liberty. The site was founded by Lew Rockwell, an American libertarian political commentator, activist, and former congressional staffer. The website often features content that is critical of mainstream politics, state intervention, and foreign policy, among other topics. It is a platform frequently used to disseminate Austrian economics, a school of economic thought that is popular among some libertarians.
