Cathedral

English

Alternative forms

• the cathedral (rare)

Etymology

< cathedral. Coined by political blogger Curtis Yarvin, writing as Mencius Moldbug.

Proper noun

the Cathedral

1. (US politics, slang, Dark Enlightenment) A mainstream system or establishment in society, held to be liberal or leftist.
   • 2019 May 14, Michael Malice, “The Strike” (chapter 3), in The New Right: A Journey to the Fringe of American Politics‎^[1], →ISBN, from third sentence of third paragraph:

     The reaction from the Cathedral—the press, the political establishment, and everyone else who shaped acceptable opinion—was quick and unanimous

   • 2022 January 14, Rod Dreher, “Neckbeard Militias Are Not My Enemy”, in The American Conservative‎^[2], archived from the original on 2022-04-15:

     This is why grown-up men and women in the Cathedral (to use the neoreactionary term for the Establishment) actually believe that the MAGA yahoos of January 6 nearly overthrew the US government.

   • 2022 December 10, Ross Douthat, “A Political Theory of King Elon Musk”, in The New York Times‎^[3], archived from the original on March 23, 2024:

     [Curtis Yarvin] is forthright in his belief that the present order — to his mind, an oligarchy governed by a complex of elite institutions (like this newspaper) that he calls “the Cathedral” — should be overthrown

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:Cathedral.