Kampfism

A variant of Boghossianism-Lindsayism-Pluckroseism emerging from the "Feminist Mein Kampf" incident, where the core tactic is changing words to subvert meaning—and then using the acceptance of the resulting text as proof that a field is intellectually bankrupt. Kampfism is not limited to any particular field or political position; it can be deployed against anyone, anywhere, by anyone. The technique is simple: take a text, replace key terms with their opposites or with politically charged substitutions, and submit it to journals, blogs, or publications associated with the target group. If accepted, declare victory: the field is exposed, the ideology is hollow, the critics were right. The classic example involved replacing "National-Socialism" with "Israel" and "Jews" with "Hamas" and submitting to Zionist publications. But Kampfism is infinitely adaptable: replace "white supremacy" with "cultural preservation" and submit to conservative magazines; replace "capitalism" with "freedom" and submit to libertarian journals. The point is not to engage with ideas but to demonstrate that with enough word-substitution, any text can be made acceptable to any audience—and that this proves something about the audience, not the text.

Example: "He took a passage from a Marxist tract, replaced 'workers' with 'entrepreneurs' and 'capital' with 'opportunity,' and submitted it to a libertarian magazine. When they accepted it, he declared Kampfism victorious: libertarianism was just Marxism with different words. His critics pointed out that this proved nothing about libertarian ideas, only about editorial sloppiness. But Kampfism had done its work: sowing doubt, provoking outrage, generating content."

by Abzugal March 8, 2026