Who Can Still Cultivate the Uncomfortable?
Scrutiny #2: An Anarch Journal of Review
Merciless critique is the only option in hegemony. In the apparent fractures of knowledge and truth which occupy so much of our time there is a great coming together of all their meaninglessness.
“Knowledge is power” has been invalidated for consideration by ceaseless information. The superabundance of knowledge is digital ecstasy -- information is free-floating and combines to provide pure entertainment and eliminate friction. Maybe knowledge was power, but the world is not set to obey our observations but rather to continually undermine them. Collective knowledge, individual knowledge – both desiccated. All that’s left now is the double of our knowledge. Now the machine speaks.
If what follows seems like a pale rebellion in the face of technological civilization, you’re right. And yet we cannot quite accept a volitional running towards stupidity and countenancing the automatic writing of the world. Who can stand this incessant droning on, the cacophony of nested pointlessness, and the ever-lower hum of intelligence? Scrutiny is a challenge: to show yourself, to make war, with ideas and with the machine. We have swapped the vital restlessness of rebellion with the disease of comfort and anxiety. Traded in critique for synthesis, irrational violence for a safety policy, meaningful death for life extension – all the while being the servants of grand, meaningless, objectively staggering extermination. “Contradictions” was an old watch word. The system’s contradictions are its strength, its negative outcomes its fuel – collapse its metaphysical mana.
Scrutiny is a lucidity pact. Not an ideology, but a form which we take towards all things. To our own ideas. To the past. To the numb future. In these pages the rampant contradictions and divergences have a thin veil of warfare. Even at the smallest level there must be violence against the culture, against the image, against the robot, against its knowledge and its material. Who are the last agents who can still summon this near-exterminated, irrational violence? Who can still cultivate the uncomfortable? Scrutiny is the engine, powering us towards the receding cliffs of rupture.
- Steve Kirk and Invecchiare Selvatico (editors)
————
Scrutiny #2 Contains:
The Other Churl: Savagery in the Graveyard of Purity
A consideration of Anti-Oedipus by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari alongside Revolt Against the Modern World by Julius Evola and with some help from Fulminations by Benjamin DeCasseres
by Steve Kirk
What Is Worth Doing?
by Invecchiare Selvatico
A Review of Backwoods issue no.4 (2024)
Crazy Wisdom in an Imaginary Fez
by Jason Rodgers
(review of Th. Metzger’s Hakim Bey: Real And Unreal)
Coming Down From The Mountain
Invecchiare Selvatico Reflects On
Friedrich Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra
As Seen from Raven’s Eye:
Indigenous Anarchy, Performative Nihilism,
and “No Spiritual Surrender”
by 4LH
Insurrectionary Immanence:
a review of Warlike, Howling, Pure
by tamarix bagaudae
Perfumed Polemics — Distinctively Dionysian
by Steve Kirk
The Sick-lical Condition of Revolution
Ben Morea: A Life In Rebellion
by Invecchiare Selvatico
Civilization and Its Malcontents
The Human Project
by Invecchiare Selvatico
————
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Comments
Evola. I knew eventually…
anonymous (not verified) Mon, 03/09/2026 - 16:25
Evola. I knew eventually these people would show their fashi-hands.
i expect they included that…
anonymous (not verified) Tue, 03/10/2026 - 07:50
In reply to Evola. I knew eventually… by anonymous (not verified)
i expect they included that just for people like you, 16:25
Yes, as usual in their…
anonymous (not verified) Wed, 03/18/2026 - 01:04
In reply to i expect they included that… by anonymous (not verified)
Yes, as usual in their foolhardy stupidity, the fascists eventually get to expose themselves.
exactly how are these folks…
anonymous (not verified) Wed, 03/18/2026 - 08:16
In reply to Yes, as usual in their… by anonymous (not verified)
exactly how are these folks fascists???
please explain, with any sort of reality-based info, otherwise shut your stupid face.
screw tinny
begets (not verified) Mon, 03/09/2026 - 17:40
haha vecchie changed fonts
also
"Merciless critique is the only option in hegemony."
so many other options
"Even at the smallest level there must be violence against the culture, against the image, against the robot, against its knowledge and its material."
says who?
they seem more like kirk's…
anonymous (not verified) Tue, 03/10/2026 - 08:09
In reply to screw tinny by begets (not verified)
they seem more like kirk's fonts
it seems they are saying that "merciless critique" is not the only thing to do, but the only way to critique, mercilessly, duh.
and "says who?"
and what, folks expressing opinions now in this groupthink retarded version of anarchism is off limits too.
The ToC references a review…
anonymous (not verified) Mon, 03/09/2026 - 17:40
The ToC references a review of Backwoods. I didn't realize there were more recent issues. Can someone share a lead on how to order one?
backwoodsjournal@protonmail…
anonymous (not verified) Wed, 03/11/2026 - 14:42
In reply to The ToC references a review… by anonymous (not verified)
backwoodsjournal@protonmail.com
Answer to the title question…
anonymous (not verified) Tue, 03/10/2026 - 02:07
Answer to the title question: Italian state (loke many other states) *specializes in it*, you cunts.
Our role as anarchists should be rather to cultivate conviviality. Shady fake fucks like the authors ofc got zero interest into it, as they already got their posh comfy zones.
Can the editors post an e…
anonymous (not verified) Tue, 03/10/2026 - 05:32
Can the editors post an e mail please?
Everybody cryin'…
Will C. Slack (not verified) Tue, 03/10/2026 - 08:06
Everybody cryin' mercilessness when they don’t know the meaning of the word. Scrutiny is a lucidity parody. No, the ideology is still faith in the same old form, long essays which take backward all things–their own ideas even–to the past, numbed (as is the present) by endless pages of print. Here is a rampant contradiction: recorded culture presents images of opposition, which it calls “warfare,” to the culture and material knowledge of robots–there is but a thin divergence between them. Who are the agents who can summon never-exterminated boredom with shrill, lachrymose cultivation of literary violence as prospects for rupture recede? Scrutiny is the engine. Ladies and gentlemen, start your engine-hating!
Ok.
anonymous (not verified) Tue, 03/10/2026 - 08:46
In reply to Everybody cryin'… by Will C. Slack (not verified)
Thank you, chatGPT.
maybe you should read i…
anonymous (not verified) Wed, 03/11/2026 - 08:19
In reply to Everybody cryin'… by Will C. Slack (not verified)
maybe you should read i first.
On account of issue #1 and…
AL (not verified) Wed, 03/11/2026 - 13:08
On account of issue #1 and with the announcement and anticipation of #2, I wish to express a micro-review of this relatively new project specifically in the context of the anarchist locale. Some have called it too pessimistic, too cynical, too word-centric, and at times, too mean, that the tone can be too harsh, dismissive, and contemptuous. Some have said that it offers nothing to the battles and proliferation of the anarchist milieu. Well, it seems that Scrutiny may be on a lucid course as one of hopefully additional interesting counters to the perpetual pedestaling of mediocrity and uncritical enthusiasm for repetitive performance. Refreshingly, they don’t fret about our precious feelings and preoccupations unless, perhaps, those feelings or intuitive gestures are somehow linked to a more penetrating critique related to relevant activity. Why should they care? They clearly despise any moral or ideological expectations or signaling, yet still seem curious about deeply held personal beliefs. They appear both disgusted and curious, an understandable and noteworthy disposition given the conditions. They are obviously not attempting to reach some anticipated grand audience or help grow a generalized collective project. Why would they? They are justifiably appalled by most of what is on offer and they frankly express why. There are even a few things they seem to appreciate and even find usefulness in, with their own specifications and their own means, of course, and they point to these with attentive notes of thought. If this brutal directness offends, by all means, don’t read their journal, it is not for you. Squirm back to your tepid and manicured bubbles where generic rhetoric and groupthink set the parameters or scuttle up the brittle towers from which you scan and brood. If you venture on solely to gather evidence of some perceived malicious intent or horrifying agenda, then be prepared for what you cultivate. But, if you wish to acutely engage with these texts as they have attempted to do with the projects brought to light in review, both in #1 and I assume with issue #2, they might just welcome your divergent thoughts… and even some of our feelings. As the editors of Scrutiny appear to provoke, I too hope to rip through the skin and expose the bones, flesh, and blood and taste uninhibited the world around me, and respond not with a groan or yelp, but with a growl and howl. - AL
knowledge and information…
km (not verified) Sat, 03/14/2026 - 10:43
knowledge and information are not the same beast. if your collective knowledge is desiccated, know that not everyone is in the same boat.
so much martial and violent rhetoric just in this intro, such animosity toward culture (all cultures, or just your own?) assertions of merciless criticism and yet gobs of grievance float just off screen.
is your faction called make anarchs great again because that's what you sound like here. "i get to do whatever i want whenever i want" is a child's tantrum, or current right-wing thought and sadly this is how this comes across. and your defenders in the comments are only making this clearer.
and you sound like every…
anonymous (not verified) Mon, 03/16/2026 - 08:14
In reply to knowledge and information… by km (not verified)
and you sound like every generic leftist out there. reactionary in defense of liberal culture and branding everyone outside it a maga right-winger.
everyone is in the same boat, generally. technology and techno-culture has desiccated and reconstituted, re-desiccated, etc. over and over. obviously we all have scrapes and crumbs left, duh., but any illusions of meaningful connectedness outside the individual and small intentional groupings is a lie, a dangerous one. that IS what the right is doing right now, that IS what all political motivations are doing right now, promoting these lies as truth.
and who said "i get to do whatever i want whenever i want"??
your comments here are obviously fed by your obvious ideology.
of course
km (not verified) Tue, 03/17/2026 - 13:24
In reply to and you sound like every… by anonymous (not verified)
of course i don't think the people doing this journal are right-wing maga, but if there is an anarchist version of maga at least one of them comes close. in the sense of taking on some of the tropes against inclusiveness. (to be fair, in other places)
really, the bothersome thing for me is, it seemed like i was on the same page with some of the writers a few years ago and then Evola, Land, Yarvin and others became touchstones and that is off-putting, to say the least. even this obsession with Nietzsche and nihilism feel weird now. isn't the point, according to Nietzsche, to get beyond the meaninglessness? to forge new modes of being?
i mean, it's all good. this journal is not for me as i have scrutinize so much already i wear tri-focals, but i am just disheartened that other theory has not been chosen to riff on.
oh, who is the "one" that…
anonymous (not verified) Wed, 03/18/2026 - 08:37
In reply to of course by km (not verified)
oh, who is the "one" that comes close. please let us all know. you seem so perceptive.
ok, "the tropes against inclusiveness" -- come the fuck on. so now, to be critical of such a lame concept is "right wing"? oh yes, all is trapped in you politicized binary brain.
(i think the acaps might be a touch closer to your little fears, don't ya think?)
oh, so disheartening that these anarchists don't riff on the theory you want them to, probably the same tiresome and boring "classics" or maybe something hot out of the academy or perhaps the latest slingshot?
oh please, inform us.
8:37your snarkiness may seem…
anonymous (not verified) Wed, 03/18/2026 - 13:13
In reply to oh, who is the "one" that… by anonymous (not verified)
8:37
your snarkiness may seem clever or pointed to you, but it just comes across as bitter and empty to anyone who doesn't know how special you are.
this is not just a problem with you, obviously. it's an internet constant. but it's boring, and it would be cool if peeps moved past it.
signed, yet another anon
what is bitter and empty and…
anonymous (not verified) Wed, 03/18/2026 - 15:06
In reply to 8:37your snarkiness may seem… by anonymous (not verified)
what is bitter and empty and boring is the anarchist space.
and i don't really spend much time online, only an hour or so less a week, this is the real me, with absolutely every reason to feel elitist towards 99% of human scum.
maybe if i had a diagnosis to wave around people would.... ad nausea
i specifically stated i did…
km (not verified) Wed, 03/18/2026 - 15:01
In reply to oh, who is the "one" that… by anonymous (not verified)
i specifically stated i did not think you all are right wing, but then you go and use the word "lame" as a perjorative which sort of makes my case that you are taking on the tropes of the right vis a vis inclusivity.
anyway, i ran across this quote today and i think it gets to what i mean more clearly - "MAGA is a rebellion against the reality of interdependence." and to reiterate i am not calling you all right wing; i am saying you sound like their rebellion is related to yours, a sort of masculine, warlike, rugged individualism which has no time for respecting other ways of being.
the fact that you are…
anonymous (not verified) Wed, 03/18/2026 - 17:09
In reply to i specifically stated i did… by km (not verified)
the fact that you are triggered by the word "lame" takes any meaningful discussion off of the table, and exposes why one might be tired of abstract usage of inclusivity as a concept.
this is also an example of…
km (not verified) Wed, 03/18/2026 - 20:55
In reply to the fact that you are… by anonymous (not verified)
this is also an example of why i think you are right leaning. that you think I'll be bothered by being called triggered, that you use the word "triggered" that way, that you believe feelings are stupid and so need never be taken into account, that you'll only understand this response as something to mock, that mocking is a tactic of first resort....
truly, i do not care what language you use. at the same time the language you choose to use says so much about you.
i only care about the…
anonymous (not verified) Thu, 03/19/2026 - 15:37
In reply to this is also an example of… by km (not verified)
i only care about the feelings of those i am in direct relationship with, that is all.
and you certainly DO seem to care about the language games, can't play it both ways, that is lame.
other ways of being are…
anonymous (not verified) Wed, 03/18/2026 - 17:11
In reply to i specifically stated i did… by km (not verified)
other ways of being are great (especially non-human ones and freaks). identity-driven ones do not interest me. they are inherently political, an enemy of anarchy.
What is your actual …
anonymous (not verified) Wed, 03/18/2026 - 15:13
In reply to oh, who is the "one" that… by anonymous (not verified)
What is your actual "cririque" of... inclusivity, beyond it being "lame"? If we start to be inclusive to non-White people, blind people, people wjth ADHD and gay people, what makes it lame, Mr Hegseth?
"start to be inclusive"?…
anonymous (not verified) Wed, 03/18/2026 - 17:13
In reply to What is your actual … by anonymous (not verified)
"start to be inclusive"? what a gross assumption. i don't see identities. i see unique people or sheep people.
okay okay you've now…
km (not verified) Wed, 03/18/2026 - 20:25
In reply to "start to be inclusive"?… by anonymous (not verified)
okay okay you've now convinced me. 99% of humans are scum according to you and actually they're not humans but sheep. seems like you have made the move to full on right-wing, my bad for trying to give you the benefit of the doubt.
and, you accuse me of binary thinking while you seem to believe there are only either individual selves or mass identities. as if we all are not shape-shifting our way in and out of and between those poles several times a day (minute?). nothing stays put as one or the other only. nothing is all of one thing and none of the other.
so being misanthropic is …
anonymous (not verified) Thu, 03/19/2026 - 15:43
In reply to okay okay you've now… by km (not verified)
so being misanthropic is "right-wing"? sorry, but wrong.
so being honest and not a humanitarian is "right-wing"? again, wrong.
i despise the right as much as the left.
i despise politics.
i despise human-centered excuses.
i have a tight band within a tribe connected to place. that is my center, not humanity.
just received my copy in the…
anonymous (not verified) Tue, 03/17/2026 - 08:32
just received my copy in the mail!
can't wait to dig into it.
looks great, a small book, interesting format.
cover is a little dark and the margins are a bit tight, but maybe that is appropriate for this journal.
got to run, my eyes and brain are watering.
the aesthetics (or rather…
anonymous (not verified) Wed, 03/18/2026 - 15:21
the aesthetics (or rather the fonts of the TOC look very bad).
Evola is dumb. Reading Evola makes you dumb. He is not a great thinker who just happened to be a fascist, he is a doofus who buries his fascist garbage in weinery superficial understandings of lots and lots of things mixed with some good old fashioned race science (no no its spiritual not scientific, it just mirrors social darwinism). I would rather deal with trite moralism than evola. all evidence points to these not being serious people.
wow. yeah. great take. i…
anonymous (not verified) Wed, 03/18/2026 - 17:06
wow. yeah. great take. i actually just read the review from the new scrutiny, and well, they are VERY critical of Evola, far more than "Evola is dumb. Reading Evola makes you dumb." that is just, well, dumb.
the author actually does a very interesting job comparing the motivations, bankruptcies, and overlaps of Evola with that of Deleuze and Guattari. Never was there any love given, but let's not try to understand the world of ideas, those we appreciate and those we do not and their overlapping and conflicting territories, beyond what we are told by others. who is not serious?
and fonts, wow, you are sooooooo serious.
brother, given that this is…
anonymous (not verified) Wed, 03/18/2026 - 21:53
In reply to wow. yeah. great take. i… by anonymous (not verified)
brother, given that this is a publication clearly aimed at a small marginal subculture (and really just a small tiny subsection of that who don't care for bourgeois things like "making the text readable"), why bring evola in to begin with? let's assume for a second that you are correct (I haven't read it, I can't because I'm not giving someone $20 dollars to read their unknown essay on evola) why title the piece in this way? I'm sure you'll be very impressed by the next issue of my magazine in which I compare the thought of elisee reclus to issues of der sturmer. very helpful!
You must be very impressed
21:53 - different anon who's…
anonymous (not verified) Thu, 03/19/2026 - 07:56
In reply to brother, given that this is… by anonymous (not verified)
21:53 - different anon who's been reading this with interest... but
this doesn't make sense. should they hide that they're including information about someone in thieir essay?
that and the complaint about it being expensive are the only points i'm getting here, neither of which make a lot of sense.
99.9999999999% of anarchism…
anonymous (not verified) Thu, 03/19/2026 - 09:58
In reply to 21:53 - different anon who's… by anonymous (not verified)
99.9999999999% of anarchism is grifting and grandstanding
ted sturgeon's law
anonymous (not verified) Thu, 03/19/2026 - 12:29
In reply to 99.9999999999% of anarchism… by anonymous (not verified)
99.9999999999% of everything is grifting and grandstanding.
you are really good with…
anonymous (not verified) Wed, 03/25/2026 - 09:26
In reply to 99.9999999999% of anarchism… by anonymous (not verified)
you are really good with your numbers. maybe you can use your incredible percentile knowledge to deal with your resentment issues.
if not maybe clever alliteration can be your thing.
it seems like you need something to be good at.
07:56 what are you having…
anonymous (not verified) Fri, 03/20/2026 - 09:07
In reply to 21:53 - different anon who's… by anonymous (not verified)
07:56 what are you having difficulty following? I think evola is fascist pretentious garbage almost exclusively consumed by fascists who want to appear smart and very stupid people. I am saying the title and subtitle of the essay do not give you any hint as to what they're doing with the evola. Anyone who is even vaguely familiar with who evola is will know that the inclusion of his thought in anything is to signal [see above]. hence being perplexed why they wouldn't in their ad copy put anything to explain what they were doing. but perhaps I am not the intended audience, because the intended audience is people who like drivel with bad design!
7:56 here
anonymous (not verified) Fri, 03/20/2026 - 13:56
In reply to 07:56 what are you having… by anonymous (not verified)
that clarified your point, thank you.
no problem! this is the best…
anonymous (not verified) Sun, 03/22/2026 - 11:43
In reply to 7:56 here by anonymous (not verified)
no problem! this is the best interaction I have ever had on anews! I hope you are having a good day given how bad things are at the moment!
i hope you are as well.
anonymous (not verified) Wed, 03/25/2026 - 16:35
In reply to no problem! this is the best… by anonymous (not verified)
i hope you are as well.
so, "Savagery in the…
anonymous (not verified) Mon, 03/23/2026 - 08:15
In reply to 07:56 what are you having… by anonymous (not verified)
so, "Savagery in the Graveyard of Purity" might clue you to the take if your head wasn't so far up your reactionary leftist ass. i do not assume any love for Evola here. plus, it is an anarchist publication, so that might color your approach. i have seen this same reaction anytime anarchists try to understand things outside the approved leftist orbit. you see signaling everywhere, even where there is not, this is what makes you reactionary. what do you read? i am sure it is only text which support what you believe. and, droning on about layout just makes all of your pretend critique even more obnoxious.
different anon, but at some…
anonymous (not verified) Mon, 03/23/2026 - 13:00
In reply to so, "Savagery in the… by anonymous (not verified)
different anon, but at some point the editors of scrutiny (or whatever publication) can just take it that their design/titling isn't super clear maybe to some of the people they want to appeal to, and anon-who-wasn't-appealed-to-here can accept that a title isn't the only thing to look at or make judgements on, when facing a new publication.
is online the only place where people have snap judgements that they then adhere to religiously? or jus tthe main place?
I have probably read a lot…
anonymous (not verified) Mon, 03/23/2026 - 13:13
In reply to so, "Savagery in the… by anonymous (not verified)
I have probably read a lot more evola than you. what is your point?
i do not think clarity was…
anonymous (not verified) Mon, 03/23/2026 - 13:45
i do not think clarity was the reason for their issues with the piece (that they did not read) and journal (that they did not read). that is a very generous take given the way people tend to react these days to things they don't understand or that step outside limited (and often oblivious to) ideological borders. some say they prefer clarity, but that does not promote thinking, only agreeing or disagreeing, only fighting or following. i think more murky, at times, is best for interacting with intricate, complex, and subjective realities.
that's all well and good,…
anonymous (not verified) Wed, 03/25/2026 - 11:26
In reply to i do not think clarity was… by anonymous (not verified)
that's all well and good, but as already stated by the above poster, there are only so many hours in the day. why on earth should we waste them on fascist dogshit instead of beautiful poetry outside of our beloved anarchist canon? why not challenging literature?
why limit yourself? why not…
anonymous (not verified) Mon, 03/30/2026 - 08:38
In reply to that's all well and good,… by anonymous (not verified)
why limit yourself? why not try to understand troubling strains which at times cross-over anarchist thinking at brief moments to better grasp the problems? ignorant negation is no match for informed critical thinking.
so, sure don't "waist your time", but don't shit on others who choose to, or worse, try to brand them as something they are not. and, one book read, one review written, does not sum up in any way the person reading and writing, unless you are a dogmatic (non)thinker.
what is this terrible…
anonymous (not verified) Mon, 03/30/2026 - 09:29
In reply to why limit yourself? why not… by anonymous (not verified)
what is this terrible misquoting you're doing? original did not write "waist your time"... devalues your whole post.
comments like this devalue…
anonymous (not verified) Tue, 03/31/2026 - 08:27
In reply to what is this terrible… by anonymous (not verified)
comments like this devalue any actual critique. but the real point is, there is so much to investigate in the world, why would anarchists want to spend it all on the same tired rhetoric that it reproduces endlessly. why not read things you might disagree with or that challenge you to help develop an actual critique of your own, rather than the copy and paste we typically see.
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