Acid Fascism

The global resurgence of radical right masculinist consciousness combines nostalgia for rigid, hierarchical manhood with immersion in fluid, decentralized digital networks. This precarious ultra-masculinity traces back to fascist psychedelic experimentation in the sixties counterculture, exemplified by the Lyman Family. The concept of Acid Fascism offers a way to understand an emerging desire for an experimental, rather than utopian, reactionary manhood. Alt-right subjectivity demands a theoretical approach comfortable with the shifting affective complexions of nostalgic and paranoid masculine sensibility.

Study at a glance

Abstract

What comes after the New Man? An urgent dilemma for twenty-first-century anti-fascism is the global resurgence of a radical right masculinist consciousness that is at once nostalgic for strictly codified and hierarchical symbols of manhood while culturally immersed in accelerative, amorphous, and acentric digital networks. I trace this precarious and unsettled ultra-masculinity back to the material context of fascist psychedelic experimentation with consciousness in the sixties counterculture, through the example of the Lyman Family, to contend that Acid Fascism provides a new and important way to think about an emerging desire for an experimental—rather than utopian—reactionary manhood. Alt-right subjectivity requires a theoretical approach toward technological acceleration that is at ease with morphing affective complexions of nostalgic and paranoid masculine sensibility.