“It will change you”: proxy parrhesia, bad feelings, and the far-right's brave reader

This essay introduces the concept of proxy parrhesia, a rhetorical act that parallels more familiar forms of parrhesia while producing distinct effects, particularly within far-right contexts. I argue that proxy parrhesia operates through an assemblage of forces—including bravery, risk, bad feelings, and appeals to the marketplace of ideas—to cultivate the figure of the “brave reader.” Such self-fashioning positions the brave reader as virtuous through their willingness to endure discomfort in the name of intellectual bravery. Through an analysis of promotional discourses surrounding several popular White nationalist texts, I demonstrate how this dynamic reflects the far-right's broader valorization of pain as a mechanism for reinforcing violent and oppressive rhetorical structures. Understanding how the elements of proxy parrhesia are mobilized is crucial to countering far-right rhetoric, as it reveals how certain forms of self-constitution do not liberate but instead amplify White nationalist and far-right affinities. Reckoning with these effects, I suggest, is a necessary step toward disrupting their hold on public discourse.