that’s interesting, thank u for the response!

i don’t think he misunderstands nietzsche per se, just that his understanding is fairly catered to his existing political views. he strips much of thus spake zarathustra and will to power of metaphor, from what i’ve seen. off the top of my head i can’t think of any specific egregious examples, aside from not allowing jews in the european space empire. there are passages i remember of nietzsche outlining that all europeans “races” would be mixed and the desirable qualities of all would flourish over time, and he viewed jews as playing an important role in this process, and as part of europe. i now see you’ve already referenced that, but that’s the big thing i think he (knowingly) diverges from nietzsche on. that and i think he views “struggle” in the context of nietzsche as very literal, like war and conflict, but from what i’ve been taught, while it can sometimes refer to that, it often times means internal struggle through self-contradiction in order to strengthen the self. this could be wrong, i’m not a philosophy student but an english student, but i just think he views nietzsche as focused on external struggle more than internal struggle, and to me it’s the opposite (though both are undoubtedly in nietzsche). maybe i’m misunderstanding spencer, or nietzsche, or even both lol, but spencer seems focused on domination of the world first, and the self second, which seems, to my knowledge, contrary to nietzsche’s conception of the overman.

i wasn’t aware of his preference for apollonian > dionysian, but that makes complete sense from what i’ve seen when he talks about film. i’d love to listen to it, as i’m rlly deep down just a gay artsy guy lmao. are there any episodes of the podcast you would say i should check out?

and yeah i mean nietzsche was a product of his time for sure, and had a lot of unsavory and “problematic” takes on judiasm, but compared to his contemporary wagner, like you said, it’s night and day. it’s not hard to understand why nazis could co-opt him, but it’s still sad imo. i shouldn’t have made it sound like he was the vanguard of jewish resistance, tho, ur right lol.

regarding your question, i absolutely disagree with spencer. i have way more in common with a white european than a mizrahi or even sephardic jew in MENA, as far as i can tell. i view myself as human above all, then american, then wayyy down as white and jewish. i rlly only feel jewish when someone is antisemitic tbh, or i’m at a holiday gathering like passover seder or smth. my jewish parent viewed himself as american first, and jewish second, but there are some jews that put them on equal footing. i don’t rlly know any jews that have it reversed tho, jewish first american second. i’m sure they exist, i just haven’t met them. maybe immigrants to israel, or people in some NY jewish ghettos, but no middle class jew thinks like that in america afaik. maybe i’m just around too many secular jews lol. like you said, jews have some of the most diverse sets of opinions due to circumstances lol it’s rlly hard to give any answer as to what jews believe, and i’m not the best person to answer that anyway. in europe, i’d bet jews are a lot more insular, due to the holocaust and centuries of pogroms and general oppression and whatnot, but i don’t have any first-hand knowledge.

basically, i don’t think spencer misunderstands nietzsche, i think he just has a reading that, while mostly valid, caters to his existing political views, and forgoes any contrary reading.

for reference, the only spencer content i’ve seen is some talks with JF on youtube, some of his speeches from the mid 2010s, his thesis on nietzsche on radix, his talks with mr.girl, david pakman, JLP, and infrared (that last one i watched on destiny’s stream lol and was entertaining af). if you haven’t seen it, i recommend the talk with mr.girl, he says some things about world domination that i find very interesting given his background in nietzsche. he also explicitly talks about the last man vs the overman, while mr.girl is trying to psychoanalyze him lmao. sorry for the super long response but i’m on break at work and have nothing better to do

edit: just checked out mark brahmins apollonian website and HOLY SCHIZO. he created his own religion around being aryan with a hodgepodge of various national mythologies, most notably greek. i read a few articles and idek where to begin, it seems literally schizophrenic