March 26, 2026
Mustache vs Machine
The Cassandra of 'The Machine'
Internet pile‑on: Is faith the fix for “The Machine” — or just new chains
TLDR: Paul Kingsnorth’s new essay collection warns modern life—“The Machine”—is quietly unmaking us and urges a return to faith, place, and limits. The comments split hard: atheists torched the spiritual turn as fantasy or worse, while others echoed his critique of urban tech culture, igniting a faith‑vs‑modernity brawl.
Agatha Christie meets doomscrolling: a new essay collection by Paul Kingsnorth warns that modern life is a slow, silent poison—“The Machine”—and asks if we’ll take the train to stop it. The book, drawn from his Substack The Abbey of Misrule, leans spiritual and localist, blasting big‑tech life, pandemic “pure technique,” and endless urban growth. And wow, did the comments explode.
On one side, atheist fire. cyclopeanutopia thundered that it’s 2026 and “all gods should be dead,” while nathan_compton vowed to be “ground up by the machine” before bowing to an “imaginary god.” For them, swapping algorithms for altars is just a new boss in old robes. On the other side, an intrigued crowd (channeled via xg15’s pull‑quote) nodded along to “The Machine is the liberal anticulture made manifest,” arguing the city itself feels like a runaway conveyor belt. Then came the flamethrower: rexpop blasted Kingsnorth’s “tradition, place, people” vibe as “blood‑and‑soil” reactionary cosplay.
The thread swung between existential dread and gallows humor. Some read the Poirot analogy as a clapback: ignore the slow poison and you miss the train—again. Others called it melodrama for nostalgists. In short: Is the antidote spiritual roots and small‑scale living, or is that just a velvet‑gloved throwback? The room is split, the takes are scorching, and the mustache vs Machine meme basically wrote itself.
Key Points
- •The article uses Agatha Christie’s “The Cornish Mystery” as a metaphor for recognizing slow, subtle harms.
- •It presents Paul Kingsnorth’s book “Against the Machine” as warning that modern technology and technique are dehumanizing society.
- •Kingsnorth’s recent essays, compiled in the book, stem from a period of crisis and spiritual depth.
- •The piece notes increased censorship of some Covid-related reporting in late 2020 and highlights Substack as an outlet for dissenting writers.
- •Kingsnorth launched his Substack, The Abbey of Misrule, in 2021, which provided the basis for the book and his critique of pandemic-era control.