The New Reaction

by Rachel Haywire

Humorously provocative, Rachel Haywire's collection of essays is part autobiography, part call to arms. The mischievously anarchic streak characteristic of Haywire's work suffuses every chapter, each one calling for the radical revaluation of modern ideals. Not one to suffer fools gladly, this author takes no prisoners in her incisive exposition of the weaknesses pervading contemporary ideologies. Committedly opposed to the restrictive nature of polarisation, Haywire places herself decidedly beyond both Left and Right in their modern senses, and asserts her position as firmly apart from the ideological herd. When they said, "Rachel, one must be this or that," she replied that she is neither, or both. When they said, "Patience, parties, movements, and a well-established hierarchy are necessary for our triumph," she said, "We need instead riots, total war, and the destruction of the totems that have created your priestly relationship with life." When they demanded orthodoxy, she said, "being ruled is being ruled, control is control." Rachel Haywire is an author and tech journalist from Los Angeles, California. She runs the dissident political magazine Trigger Warning (triggerwarning.us) and was the founder of both the Extreme Futurist Festival and INSTED. Once upon a time she was also an industrial music producer and fetish model, who was featured in various anthologies about the occult, politics, philosophy, and alternative culture. She is now finishing up her degree in Philosophy, with a focus on applying Nietzsche to a modern day context. Her first book was a travel memoir called Acidexiaabout her journey through the North American zeitgeist."

57 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 25, 2015

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

Less than an hour's worth of reading material in this "book" (a collection of essays previously published online, averaging a few pages each). When she writes in a straightforward manner, it's merely headache-inspiring. When she tries to get clever with allegory and symbolism, the result is incomprehensible and unreadable. I couldn't tell you what the point of this book is. She used to be a leftwing activist, but left after being unable to deal with the logical inconsistencies of that culture. Then she became a right-wing activist, very pleased with herself by not looking like a typical conservative. She then left the right-wing blogosphere, unable to deal with the inconsistencies of that ideology. I guess she writes for transhumanist publications now, but I don't need cybernetic cerebral augmentation to predict that she will eventually flee that community in righteous disgust, and will write many aspy essays on hypocrisy in the transhumanist community.

She (and her suspiciously enthusiastic editor) write about her like she's a fearless iconoclast, boldly holding up a mirror to hypocrites on the left and right. But she seems more like an angry old punk on the Autism spectrum who can't get along with anyone, and won't examine her own role in this.

[Victimofhaywire · Rating 1 out of 5]

"There is this amazing quality to Haywire's writing in that she doesn't actually name a specific problem or issue, or offer any real proof of what she is saying ; she just sort of careens into the next point she tries (and usually fails) to make so she can blast liberals, or SJW, or the newest buzzword ie trying to draw eyes to meaningless and poorly composed prose. Meanwhile, her own history with white supremacists, actual neonazis and fascists doesn't seem to be any sort of issue or problem for her, or cause for reflection. She simply plays this zero-sum "I'm anti-whatever they are" game, because she can't be cool/faux edgy without putting on all this childish armor to make herself so pointlessly contrary. Sometimes it's punk/anarchism, sometimes it's Transhumanism, or it's just good old fashioned Fascist Folderol. She is tilting at windmills and even those are going away now."

[Dennis Abell · Rating 4 out of 5]

A breath of fresh air

The New Reaction is just that. The newest release from Rachel Haywire is for those who find themselves disenfranchised with how the current social climate leads so-called "social activists" to condemn those who would even dare to dissent. If this describes you, give this a read. You may just come through with a new perspective.