What the Heck is ‘Accelerationism,’ and Why Is It So Dangerous?

Yippee Ki-yay, let’s all accelerate societal collapse and the coming ‘end times’! (Let’s not.)

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Last week I came across a disturbing with the cheery title “Is the US on the brink of another civil war?” That article covers many frightening aspects of today’s far right and its violence-prone politics — and one of the most disturbing is something I hadn’t yet heard about: the far right’s increasing embrace of fervent ‘accelerationism.’

That’s quite a mouthful, but it’s actually a pretty simple concept. ‘Accelerationism’ refers to the spreading far-right and evangelical belief that we’re in or nearing the ‘end times,’ and that our society is SO corrupt and immoral that it all needs to be torn down and totally replaced ASAP. Plus, it’s the clear duty of true Christians and ‘patriots’ to hasten this process.

Thus, the name ‘accelerationism.’ A growing set of diverse factions within the U.S. (thankfully, still a fairly small minority) wants to deliberately accelerate social and political collapse, so they can then step in and impose their long-desired Christo-fascist society and government.

Of course, they don’t see it as fascist or oppressive — rather, they see it as restoring God’s vision…