“Thiel noted in a speech at a New Criterion gala in 2023 that there are two schools of Nietzschean thought operating on the American right. One “boils down to a strong-man argument—think of Bronze Age Pervert and other internet types—that says, well, the West may in fact be chauvinist, racist, sexist, and all the other things it’s accused of being, but we should embrace that rather than apologize for it.”50 The other, Thiel hints, lies in a statement made by Nietzsche at the end of his life declaring that the “God of the Jews” had won- that the concern for victims brought about by Christianity has become the de facto concern of the West, so instead of trying to undo this transvaluation of values, a return to Christianity may be key to saving Western civilization.” – Nietzsche’s Eternal Return to America.
There may be two schools of Nietzschean thought on the American right. From where I am standing, they are both wrong.
Thus Spake Zarathustra and Beyond Good and Evil are excellent, so if you want to decide for yourself start there. But if you want the quick version, here we go.
First, this Bronzy is wrong, obviously. Nietzche’s Ubermench is not a killer or conqueror of others, but one who has become the best version of himself (or herself) and has conquered his own weaknesses. A man like Achilles who is so incapacity of controlling his emotions that he goes on an unholy killing spree out of guilt and anger is not a strong man. Being incapable of controlling your emotions is, for anyone who has either never read Homer or wildly misunderstood him, is literally the opposite of that. It’s weakness. It’s like, the definition of weakness. It’s so weak the Greek Gods themselves say it’s weak. They would know.
So yeah, Bronzy is incredibly off base, and given his PhD at Yale in, quite literally Nietzsche, you have to wonder if he is twisting the text to gain credence to his own self serving philosophies. This one I don’t know for sure, he knows better than me, but he’s wrong.
And yet, somehow Peter Thiel’s characterization even more wrong. Bronzey is taking the Adolf Hitler fantasy approach. Nietzsche despised German Nationalism, antisemitism, and pro-fascist movements etc to the point, rejecting his Germanness to the point of trying to fabricate Polish ancestors (hello my fellow Pole! It’s an ethos!). His sister was very pro-Hitler, yes, but she doesn’t speak for Friedrich.
But you know what Nietzsche hated even more? Christianity. Christianity in his mind is what caused the fall of Western Civilization. The fact that the “God of the Jews” has to date won the value wars may be true, but that’s bad. It is the death of Christianity he seeks, not a resurgence. The whole plot of Thus Spoke Zarathustra is that God is dead. Man has two options – sink to complacency or rise to become the ubermensch and create art and beauty in a world where there are no strings on them.
Both Bronzy and Thiel, in seeing the challenges and pain of the present, are asking for permission to give up and regress to a past of hierarchy and obedience that makes men like them feel safe and enables them to escape accountability by pretending there is no other way. There is another way – a way forward towards an uncertain future that we all have the power to shape.