Angela Nagle | |
|---|---|
 Nagle in 2017 | |
| Born | 1984 (age 40–41)[1] Texas, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Dublin City University |
| Genre | Non-Fiction |
| Notable works | Kill All Normies |
Angela Nagle (born 1984)[1] is an Irish academic[2] and non-fiction writer who has written forThe Baffler,[3]Jacobin,[4] and others. She is the author of the bookKill All Normies, published byZero Books in 2017, which discusses the role of the internet in the rise of thealt-right andincel movements.[2][5][6][7] Nagle describes the alt-right as a dangerous movement but also criticizes aspects of the left that she says have contributed to the alt-right's rise.[2] Since 2021, she has been publishing articles on a wide range of personal, political and cultural topics via the online publishing platformSubstack.
Nagle was born inHouston, Texas, to Irish parents, then grew up inDublin, Ireland. She graduated fromDublin City University with aPhD for a thesis titled "An investigation into contemporary online anti-feminist movements".[8]
Nagle's bookKill All Normies: Online Culture Wars from 4chan and Tumblr to Trump and the Alt-Right discusses the role of the internet in the rise of thealt-right andincel movements.[2][5][7] She describes the alt-right as a counterculture of young men who reject taboos on race and gender.[2] While many young people in the alt-right started simply as trolls, she says the movement has developed into something much more serious.[2] While she supports identity politics in general, she says that some on the left have contributed to the rise of the alt-right with their "performative wokeness", which often involves censoring dissidents and ganging up on them.[2] She has also expressed concerns about "thewoke cultural revolution sweeping Irish society".[9]
The book received many positive reviews, and Nagle became a welcome commentator on the topic of online culture wars.[10] ColumnistRoss Douthat ofThe New York Times praised Nagle's "portrait of the online cultural war".[11] AnotherNew York Times contributor,Michelle Goldberg, wrote thatKill All Normies had "captured this phenomenon".[12] NovelistGeorge Saunders listedKill All Normies as one of his ten favorite books.[13]Fusion TV's documentaryTrumpland: Kill All Normies directed byLeighton Woodhouse was based on the Nagle's book.[14]
In May 2018,The Daily Beast andLibcom.org accused Nagle of "sloppy sourcing", including not citing sources and drawing heavily fromWikipedia andRationalWiki.[10][15] Nagle and her publisher both issued detailed statements rebutting the accusations, andThe Daily Beast adjusted some of the article's wording.[10]
In November 2018,American Affairs published Nagle's essay "The Left Case againstOpen Borders", in which she voicedopposition to immigration from a left-wing perspective.[16]The Nation responded with an essay in which authorAtossa Araxia Abrahamian critizes Nagle and others who, according to Abrahamian, hold similar views, like economistLarry Summers, authorJohn Judis, andHillary Clinton. Abrahamian states that "it’s hard not to think that it’s arguments like [Nagle's] that damage the left by legitimizing the idea that someone arbitrarily born on the wrong side of a line is less deserving of a good life."[17]
Writing inThe Independent, Slovenian philosopher and academicSlavoj Žižek commented on the "ferocious attacks on Angela Nagle for her outstanding essay."[18] American cultural theorist and authorCatherine Liu defended Nagle, considering her to be "one of the brightest lights in a new generation of left writers and thinkers who have declared their independence from intellectual conformity".[19] In the summer of 2020, Nagle andMichael Tracey co-wrote a long-form piece in the journalAmerican Affairs.[20]
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