> "intellectual dark web," are being scapegoated by social media platforms for precisely the reasons Girard describes for picking scapegoats
This is a term that's meant to include both Ben Shapiro and Jordan Peterson. I suspect if she was alive today, it would also include Ayn Rand. If you're looking for complicated reasons why these figures are not taken seriously from an intellectual perspective, I suspect you are missing the simpler ones.
I consistently find something utterly amazing in people fear-mongering about, say, Quilette magazine, as if they were printing scary evil propaganda rather than a bunch of boring articles complaining about college administrators nobody liked in the first place.
It's not fear mongering, it's an attempt to label them as deficient/unworthy. Thus if you want to be SEEN as a serious intellectual (which is what most intellectually minded people actually want as opposed to interesting discussion) you don't pay them mind.
This is a term that's meant to include both Ben Shapiro and Jordan Peterson. I suspect if she was alive today, it would also include Ayn Rand. If you're looking for complicated reasons why these figures are not taken seriously from an intellectual perspective, I suspect you are missing the simpler ones.