This occurred after Weinstein's brother, biologist Bret Weinstein, resigned in 2017 from his position as professor of biology at the Evergreen State College in response to protests against his criticism of a campus event that asked white students to stay off campus, as opposed to the previous annual tradition of black students voluntarily absenting themselves. Origin and usage Įric Weinstein, mathematician and former director of Thiel Capital, stated that when he coined the term he was 'half-joking'. In his book Against the Web: A Cosmopolitan Answer to the New Right, author and political commentator Michael Brooks lists a 'devotion to affirming capitalism', a 'shared obsession with campus and social media controversies' and an 'intense interest in IQ and other innate justifications for systemic inequalities' as defining features of the group. Alternatively, Christian Alejandro Gonzalez, writing for the National Review, posited that, despite comprising 'all political persuasions', the IDW was united in a particular conservative-leaning conceptualization of injustice and inequality specifically. Writers for Salon dubbed it a politically conservative movement united more over a rejection of American liberalism than over any mutually shared beliefs. Writers for Psychology Today characterized it as 'generally concerned about political tribalism and free speech', or as a rejection of 'mainstream assumptions about what is true'. Those who have been linked to the IDW are generally critical of what they perceive as ' conformist' liberals, and some have been associated with the alt-lite and the alt-right of the political spectrum. Shared beliefs include opposition to political correctness, but focus areas vary. Sources differ on the nature of the IDW, with some describing its members as 'small-l liberals' and others as 'reactionaries' and ideologically diverse. The validity of the term is contested by some it has been applied to due to the range of beliefs it encompasses.

Those who have been labelled as being part of the IDW come from both the right and left of the political spectrum. This includes opposition to deplatforming, boycotts, and online shaming, which are seen as threats to freedom of speech. Individuals and publications associated with the term reject what they view as authoritarianism and ostracism within mainstream progressive movements in Western countries, especially within universities and the news media. The intellectual dark web ( IDW) is a term used by some commentators who oppose identity politics, political correctness, and cancel culture in higher education and the news media within Western countries. Not to be confused with Dark Enlightenment.

Against the Web by Michael Brooks