Why the Alt-Right is Too Alt for Me

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Internet subcultures are so often exaggerated in scale and importance by the mainstream – offline – media that most reasonable folk tend instinctively to dismiss reports of their influence as hyperbole. Such was the case when Hillary Clinton devoted almost an entire speech to warning America of the insidious agenda of the ‘alt-right’, an internet coalition of racists, misogynists and Islamophobes allegedly in cahoots with the presidential campaign of Donald J. Trump.

Strangely, and unlike so many cyber phenomena reported in the media, the tribe to which Ms Clinton referred is notable for being very real, or at least very widespread. Though there is no single agenda or set of principles agreed upon by the alt-right, there is certainly a general Weltanschauung strong and clear enough to gravitate like-minded people towards it. This worldview is well-described in the following YouTube comment taken from under a video of the Clinton speech: “We (the alt-right) are anti neo-libs. That is the only reason we are alternative. Neo-libs/cons have been the conservative mainstream since 9/11. We are a backlash against that. Neo-cons are not real right.”

By ‘neo-libs’ and ‘neo-cons’ (Neoliberals and Neoconservatives) the commenter is likely referring to a consensus known elsewhere as the ‘New World Order’, the 1%, or (vaguely) as ‘Zionism’.

Rumours of a ‘New World Order’ have gained currency on the right-wing fringe in recent years

These labels, although having little to do with each other in fact, are used as synonyms for the force that is actively shrinking the world into a liberal, multi-racial, multi-cultural free-trade zone, in yet another word – the force and ideology of globalisation.

The idea that conservatives should be pro-globalisation is actually a very recent one. Traditionally, as the alt-right notes, right-wing political thinkers have been strongly nativist and culturally protectionist. The shift in conservative thought, beginning during the Reagan-Thatcher era, to laissez faire globalism is attributed retrospectively to the influence of non-native forces, often (predictably) to that of the Jews (sometimes referred to in euphemism as ‘capitalists’/’big business’/’bankers’/’the banks’).

The alt-right wishes to return the conservative movement to where it was before that transition; before economics became more important as a right-wing principle than blood, soil and culture; that is, before paleo became neo.

The alt-right has no single birthplace, but there are nevertheless a few websites and forums indelibly associated with it. Prime among these sites is the Japanese-cultural forum 4chan and in particular the /pol/ (politically incorrect) messageboard. Here, a right-wing political consensus has become entrenched, often (but not always) expressed with dark humour, that has subsequently bled out into the wider internet universe, evidenced by the broad use of memes like Pepe the Frog as well as words and phrases like ‘degenerate’ and ‘dindu-nuffin’ (the latter invention being used to refer sarcastically to African-American criminality).

The English-language messageboard 4chan is commonly associated with the alt-right

The alt-right is connected to, but distinct from, the ‘Dark Enlightenment’ phenomenon I have written about previously. Unlike the latter, the alt-right is more realistic and less philosophical. While the Dark Enlightenment recommends absurd initiatives like the abolition of democracy and the return of divinely-appointed’ Kings, the alt-right prefers to concern itself with more achievable and substantial ideas, such as the abolition of third-world (non-white) immigration, building an opposition to political Islam and degrading the influence of certain varieties of feminism. This down-to-earth-ness is a large part of the reason the alt-right, unlike the Dark Enlightenment, has become a force to be reckoned with.

I have no idea whether this site would or should be considered part of the alt-right blogosphere. I only know that it has never been so described – and certainly not by me. I am, in my estimation, far too moderate, too much of a bleeding heart, to integrate smoothly into that crowd.

Though I recognise that races exist, I have never been a racist or a racial nationalist. Though I accept that certain varieties of feminism have inflicted great damage upon Western civilisation, I am not opposed to the idea of sexual equality, nor dismissive of the disadvantages women still face around the world on account of their being female. Though I recognise that he has joined the right side of the Syrian civil war and made constructive and wise comments about the bombing of Libya, I do not support or make excuses for the authoritarian, anti-democratic administration of Vladimir Putin. And so on…  The alt-right is simply too alt for me.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is beloved by many on the alt-right

Is the movement as dangerous as Hillary Clinton is making out? The answer depends almost entirely on who is asking the question. If you’re a white, Christian, heterosexual male resident in the Western World, then the risk this movement presents to you is minimal. If, however, you are Jewish, homosexual, black, south Asian or atheist, I would be very cautious about taking the movement to heart.

There are decidedly ugly currents within the alt-right that are not adequately represented by its spokespeople. Milo Yiannopoulos, a Jewish-Greek homosexual, may well be regarded as the crown prince of the movement at present, but it does not follow that the general masses huddled under its banner agree with his lifestyle or look kindly upon his ethnicity. On the contrary, more often than not, the alt-right foot-soldier is loudly hostile to both Jews and homosexuality. If you require evidence of that, just spend an hour or two browsing the /pol/ board on 4chan yourself.

Anti-Semitism in particular runs through the alt-right like colours run through a stick of seaside rock. It is both below and behind it, providing a vital support to the worldview espoused by its adherents. The West is being taken over by foreign elements, they agree, because a hostile elite is conspiring against the natives. One need not refer to the hostile elite explicitly. Innuendo will do. Innuendo did the job in the thirties, too (sorry, Godwin).

A variant of the anti-Semitic ‘happy merchant’ meme

I do admit that the alt-right is correct on some very important issues. On Islam, for example, the movement is reliably clear-headed and refreshingly consistent. On the virtues of a Trump administration, too, the movement is providing a much-needed counter-force to the almost universally anti-Trump mainstream media. The problem is the movement doesn’t seem to possess any kind of intellectual brake. It swerves habitually all over the place, sometimes finding itself on a main road and sometimes blindly ploughing through a field. This youthful unpredictability might make hopping on-board an attractive prospect for political thrill-seekers, but not for anyone else.

I suppose, if we must manufacture labels for ourselves, I am more of an alt-liberal than an alt-rightist. And I am not alone in that. There must be millions of people like me, scattered around the political spectrum, living unhappily in temporary ideological accommodation. It is high time we had a real home to go to.

D, LDN

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Why are Mass-Shooters Usually White?

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As the world sought to digest the frightening news from San Bernardino last Wednesday, a consensus swiftly arose on social media arguing that the shooters were most likely of ‘Caucasian’ descent. They were wrong, it turns out, very wrong, but their presumption is nonetheless easy to explain.

From Columbine High to West Nickel Mines, Jokela High to Northern Illinois University, Sandy Hook to Lindhurst High, a frightening and probably disproportionate number of gun massacres are committed by young White men.

Why are they doing this? It’s a question that Leftists and Islam-panderers love to ask after shooting events like that at Planned Parenthood. They think (but are mistaken in thinking) that this will absolve Islam of its violent reputation, or that it will ‘put things into context’ with something like the same effect. “Perhaps Islamists are just the Middle East’s jerks, and school-shooters are America’s jerks? Perhaps we both have the same jerk-minority” etc… This is bullcrap, of course. Even if we entertained such logic, what would it make of the hundreds of millions of Muslims who are merely sympathetic to the Jerks – ‘Jerk-sympathisers’? ‘Ideological Jerks’? What would it make of the Islamic God who recommends such jerkish actions in the first place?

But apart from liberal mischief, the question is nonetheless valid and must be answered. Why are mass-shooters usually White? Could it be that White people are more violent generally than non-Whites?

No, it couldn’t possibly be that. African and Hispanic Americans commit crimes at a far (far) greater rate than American Whites do, and yet there have been very few Hispanic or Black mass-shootings in recent US history.

Are Whites in thrall to an extremist ideology of some kind – like Nazism or White supremacism etc..? No, not really. While membership of far-right organisations in America continues to grow (having been given new life after the election of Barack Obama), the proportion of Whites interested in head-shaving, dressing up in hooded pyjamas or saluting with an outstretched arm is tiny overall, and wouldn’t even make for a single percentage point.

What can it be then? The answer I believe involves the great unspoken, unexamined crisis of the modern world – namely, the dire condition of the White working class.

White decline as a phenomenon is not limited to America, and nor is (or will be) the fallout from it. Rather, it affects every European-majority nation on the planet. In England, America, Canada, Germany and elsewhere, White working class communities are falling into social disrepair and economic oblivion. With the death of Western manufacturing (due to China’s monopoly on exports), the growth of prescription drug abuse, and the academic impacts of mass immigration (especially from Asian nations), White working class men are finding it impossible to compete, to find a place for themselves in modern society.

If that weren’t bad enough, working class Whites find themselves the butt of popular culture. In Hollywood, satirical cartoons and internet memes alike, White working class men are portrayed as idiotic, aggressive, overdosed on religion and habitually racist towards all other social groups.

None of that could possibly excuse the kind of random cruelty under examination, but the context is nonetheless screaming out to be understood. A young white male – say, 16 years old – today, has a future of nothing but decline to look forward to. He is aware of the lofty position his race enjoyed until very recently. And the fall – as well as the corresponding rise of ethnic competitors – hurts. Blacks are stronger, faster and cooler. Asians are smarter. Hispanics are more numerous. etc… And all such minority groups are openly celebrated in the media, with only Whites left to construct pride out of nothing.

While there is a still a White power class, fat with wealth and armed with influence, the White ‘community’ itself has torn in two, with the White elite flying away into a cosmopolitan world of champagne and racial ambiguity. University-educated Whites care more about Tibetans than Texans; Palestinians more than Minnesotans. Poor Whites have literally no-one to protect them apart from gun-manufacturers, other disenfranchised Whites and the tattiest extreme of the Republican party.

The social condition of working class Whites is beginning to have shocking results quite apart from rates of crime. A report published last month (which stunned the medical community) revealed that mortality rates among poor whites are not diminishing (as in all other cases) but rapidly increasing. Addressing these findings The Atlantic magazine noted: “All-cause mortality among middle-aged Americans with a high-school degree or less increased by 134 deaths per 100,000 people between 1999 and 2013, but there was little change in mortality for people with some college (education). The death rate for the college-educated fell slightly.” Elsewhere the same article added the “reasons for the increased death rate are not the usual things that kill Americans, like diabetes and heart disease. Rather, it’s suicide, alcohol and drug poisonings, and alcohol-related liver disease.”

The ‘drug poisonings’ referred to in that quotation are part of a much larger epidemic of Heroin, Benzodiazepine and Oxycodone abuse in White American communities. The New York Times reported that “prior to the 1980s, whites and non-whites were equally represented among first-time heroin users. But that’s changed as heroin use has expanded across other parts of the country… Now, nearly 90 percent of the people who tried heroin for the first time in the past decade were white.”

Here in England, White working class decline is most noticeable in the field of education. Numerous reports (the most recent study was published earlier this year) have revealed a massive and still growing disparity in academic achievement between poor Whites and those from foreign backgrounds. Martin Beckford wrote in the Telegraph that “only 48 per cent of the poorest white boys met (government) targets in English and maths at primary school last year, compared with 82 per cent of Chinese pupils…This makes it less likely they will go on to university or well-paid jobs, and has consequences for their own children. The National Audit Office has claimed that white working-class boys are “‘significantly under-represented in higher education'”.

In October this year, the same newspaper reported that “White boys from poor backgrounds have the lowest attainment levels at GCSE (compared to) any other social or ethnic group… Just 28.3 per cent of white boys who were eligible for free school meals (Note: a significant signifier of poverty in the UK) achieved five GCSEs at grade A to C.”

Reacting to a different report with the same findings, Claire Crawford, an academic at Warwick University was quoted in the Guardian as saying: “We were particularly surprised to find that ethnic minority groups which have relatively low school attainment, such as those of black Caribbean, Pakistani or Bangladeshi ethnic origin, are, on average, more likely to continue into higher education than white British pupils.”

White decline of this kind is a precondition for White nihilism, the rejection of society and all its boundaries and values. If you allow a community to be poked at, robbed of hope and then left entirely to its own devices, the consequences can be shocking. I am not excusing violence. But in a world in which we rush to examine the societal causes of all wrong-doing by minorities, we should sometimes do the same for the majority as well.

D, LDN

On the Shooting at Planned Parenthood

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It didn’t take long for the shooting at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado, Oklahoma on Friday to be exploited for cynical political ends. After three bodies were carted away to the morgue Colorado Springs, memes began to spring up everywhere (on facebook, twitter, reddit and other places) comparing the shooting to Islamic terrorism, and in doing so downplaying the suffering of its victims. A truly shocking exercise in cold, emotionless manipulation if ever there was one.

The memes, though multitudinous, differed from each other only very slightly. The most popular ‘Willy Wonka’ variant was typical: against the backdrop of a smiling Gene Wilder (taken from my favourite childhood movie), the text read as follows: “Christian extremist kills 3 people at an abortion clinic…Tell me again how Syrian refugees are a threat.”

You don’t need more than a few operational brain cells to perceive the startling un-worldliness of this sentiment. Indeed, many people on social networks have recoiled from the image in revulsion or responded to it with loud mockery. How on earth can one tragic, stupid action – the first of its kind in years – measure up to the daily bloodbath of Political Islam? How can one action – brutal, awful and yet discriminating – be placed in the same ethical category as the bombing of market-places, funeral parades, Parisian restaurants and concert venues?

Since the outrage in Colorado was committed, Christians across America have disowned the force behind it, branding him ‘psychopathic’, ‘crazed’, ‘lunatic’ and (most crucially) ‘un-Christian’. Compare that to the icy silence and tacit approval of Muslims communities after outrages in the West.

Let’s be clear – there has been no major Christian terror attack (that is, a terror attack committed explicitly for Christian theological motivations) in Europe or America for the last 100 years. There have been murders, random and cruel all, but nothing of the same malevolent grade as Islam manages to inspire on a daily basis.

The attacks in Norway in 2011 were not Christian. I don’t believe Anders Behring Breivik had a Christian bone in his body. The troubles of Northern Ireland don’t count either (despite the enthusiasm with which Islamic apologists bring them up). The Catholics of Ulster do not hate the Protestants of Ulster for religious reasons, but for ethnic and national reasons. Ulster Protestants are descendants of British colonisers and remain loyal to their imperial sponsors. The Catholics are native Irish who wish to have the northern corner of their island back under Irish control. Whichever way you lean on this, you can surely agree that religion plays no part (apart from the total coincidence of the religious divide between Scots-Irish and Irish which serves as an excuse).

Adherents of Christianity have certainly been violent at various points in history, but the period since they behaved in a way comparable to the adherents of Islam is measured in centuries. Let no one deny reality, or history, or seek to deform them into a reality or history synchronisable with their bigotries.

Islamic violence has no equivalent in other faiths.

D, LDN

Europe is Suspended Until Further Notice

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The picture above was taken in Belgium just a few days ago. That’s right, Belgium: the reassuringly boring, eternally peaceful expanse between France and the Netherlands, home of world-class chocolatiers, breweries and waffle-makers; the scene of history’s most peaceful civil conflict over land; office space of the European Union.

In this photograph, what can we see? Well, as far as I can make out, it shows heavily-armed soldiers interviewing a Muslim woman on the cobbled streets of the capital city, Brussels; a scene and scenario reminiscent of the darker days of the former Soviet Union, or perhaps an upmarket area of the modern Middle East.

Though this is happening in Europe, this isn’t Europe. Europe as we know it is suspended until further notice. And with great sadness, I must speculate that this notice may not come for some time.

We have grown so used to the majority of Islamic violence taking place in the Middle East that the near future is likely to be very traumatic. Whilst the Israelis have found a way to continue their coffee and croissant culture in the midst of military checkpoints, barbed-wire fences and back-slung rifles, Europe is entirely unaccustomed to that reality. How will we cope? How will we explain the changes to our children?

It is necessary that we think about this. The explosion of Islamist activity that began with the establishment of ISIS in Iraq and which opened a broad European theatre with the attacks in Paris is not going away any time soon. This is merely the beginning, the opening act. If you were thinking the fire would die down in a few weeks, after which you could go back to worrying about the next Manchester United match, or the prospects of Andy Murray at next year’s Wimbledon, you are greatly mistaken. I predicted many months ago (in my post “ISIS and the Coming Terror Wave”) that a massive campaign of Islamist violence would be inflicted upon European cities in retaliation for the bombing of ISIS territory in Syria. I was right, as were many others. We knew that ISIS could not be contained with airstrikes. We knew that ISIS wasn’t weak or disorganised enough to be broken up by police raids or rudimentary border controls.

To repel an organisation of this kind will take bold and ruthless action – not only by the West, but Russia and allied Middle Eastern states (Israel and Jordan) also. Tens of thousands of bombs must fall. Thousands of missiles must be fired. It will take years, not months. It will cost billions, not millions.

As to the home-front, attacks like those in Paris will be attempted across the continent. Expect them. Prepare for them. Obey government orders to stay inside when they are made. Do not launch vigilante retaliations. If you do so, emergency measures enacted to deal with terrorists may be extended to contain you as well. While governments are (by their very nature) untrustworthy, our militaries are surely on our side. Put your trust in them, even if in no-one else.

For all the Islamic State’s storm and bluster, they cannot challenge the West at its peak capabilities. Our weapons are better and more plentiful than theirs. A jeep cannot repel a Raptor. An RPG cannot outwit a Tomahawk. Let’s be sure to impress the bastards, even as we dispose of them.

Let’s also take the prompt of the moment to regain pan-civilizational solidarity. Here in England, we often consider the continental nations to be slightly ridiculous, their eccentricities entrenched so deep that they limit the rationality of their general population. We consider France, for example, to be hopelessly Left-wing, prone to post-modern philosophy and addicted to leisure. We see the Dutch as pot-smoking, laid-back liberals; the Swedes as naked, free-loving Feminists; the Germans as militaristic work-robots etc… But despite these bigotries, we all secretly value the traditions of our continental neighbours. Our rivalries are friendly; our prejudices are light-hearted. This is why the descent of a state like Belgium into a ‘den of terror’ (as it has been shockingly branded since Paris) is and will be hard to take for all of us.

This is a sad time, but not yet a hopeless one. Strength lies in numbers. We are all in the same boat. And if we combine our efforts and efficiently apply them, Europe – as we knew it – will one day resume.

D, LDN

Saudi Arabia: The Brat Country

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As you’ll be aware, two major disasters have afflicted Saudi Arabia in the past fortnight, each causing multiple fatalities. First, a crane ‘inexplicably’ crashed onto the most sacred Mosque in Islam, killing dozens. Then, a stampede during the traditional ‘stone the devil’ ceremony (not far from the site of the first incident) killed hundreds more.

On the off chance anyone finds this incompetence surprising, let’s build a context for it. In the first case, the Saudi construction industry is globally regarded as an institution of thinly disguised slavery. The workers, usually imported from impoverished areas of the Indian sub-continent, are provided with little training, guidance, insurance or protection. In this sense, the only wonder is why cranes aren’t falling on the hour.

In the second case, this is far from the first time that Saudi security forces, in total numbering barely 100,000 men (and only men, of course), have found large-scale co-ordination projects impossible to manage. A wave of animal chaos condemns countless families to an early, pious demise every year.

And this dysfunction, of course, is not isolated but general. Saudi Arabia is plainly not a developed country. Not by any measure. Though the Human Development Index continues to mistake wealth for sophistication, the nation is merely a third world state splashed with unlimited resources.

Like any crackpot regime, the Saudi government – knowing no better – wastes every dollar of (unearned) revenue on a bloated military and on spreading propaganda abroad (the result of which has been the rebirth of Sunni Islamic militancy and the deaths of thousands of Western citizens). Security and policing are brutal, often savage and yet also notoriously inefficient. The education system is appalling. Illiteracy is rife. Women are granted no rights whatsoever. Obesity is a national characteristic. Despite all the investment available, the national life expectancy is the same as in penniless Libya. The hospital system, while slightly better than the school system, is little more than a crude institutional plagiarism from the civilised world, and one that would collapse without that world’s continued instruction. Agriculture is non-existent (though, as other barren countries have shown, not impossible). If oil is subtracted from the equation completely, the economy is less productive than Jordan (a country with population of 6 million to Saudi’s 31 million).

Saudi Arabia is a brat country. A spoilt, lazy, bloated brat. Unaccustomed to ever working for a living, a brat never develops intelligence or a worthwhile skill. Money comes in whatever the case. So why do anything other than grow fat and play computer games? Why move with the cultural times at all? Why not freeze the clock at the very moment black gold first ejaculated from the ground?

I am an Islamophobe, admittedly. But I do nevertheless feel bad when innocent people die. Saudi incompetence has cut short the lives of a great number of people this week; people with futures, dreams and histories. They firmly deserve the blame of their co-religionists, as well as our unending contempt for their staggering lack of competence, compassion and innovation.

D,LDN

Asia Bibi and the Muslim View of Multiculturalism

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Last week a reader drew my attention to the suffering of a young Christian Pakistani girl called Asia Bibi. Ms Bibi, as you may already be aware (it is to my shame that I was not), is currently in prison facing the frighteningly common charge of ‘blaspheming the Prophet Muhammad’, a charge she denies.

According to ChristianToday: “Bibi was accused of blasphemy in Pakistan for sharing her faith in God to other women… She was then sentenced to death, although an appeal has been filed at the Supreme Court with no news yet on when her case will be heard. But time is running out for the Christian woman since her health has been steadily declining… She’s suffering from internal bleeding. She requires urgent medical treatment. She vomits blood. She suffers terrible pain, and she can hardly eat.”

Though pressure is being relentlessly applied by Christian organisations and charities in the West, Ms Bibi’s fate remains uncertain. Many have been punished viciously for the same ‘crime’ before, and since Ms Bibi herself is surely aware of this, one can only attempt to imagine the mental torment she must be experiencing. In July of this year, Pakistani authorities announced that the death sentence is ‘suspended’, but this is subject to challenge from the country’s powerful religious establishment. As of the time of writing, Ms Bibi is in limbo.

Of course, this story will not surprise any regular visitor of this site. We all know well enough the reality of Islam and its relations with competing belief systems. Those who wish Ms Bibi to die are being entirely faithful to the commandments of Islamic law and follow a precedent dating back to the Islamic Salaf (the early companions of the Prophet). This is what Islam does. We have no right to recoil in shock anymore.

But it is nevertheless worth remarking – in case there remains any doubt – that cases like this wholly exonerate the West from any obligation to uphold or respect ‘multiculturalism’ for the benefit of Muslims. Since Muslims themselves reject and despise the idea of multiculturalism, why on Earth should we allow them to enjoy its privileges?

Years ago in America, during the white heat of the ‘Ground Zero Mosque’ controversy, the host of Fox’s satirical ‘Red-eye’ show was dead on the nail when he proposed that the mosque should only go ahead if a Synagogue was built in Mecca (the source of much of the project’s funds) first.

It really is as simple as that. Quid pro quo. Like for like.

Multiculturalism is not the natural state of the world. It is a modern invention, the product of a warped and unaccountable academia. It is unique to the industrialised West and considered bizarre and self-destructive to every nation outside of it. Japan wouldn’t allow a Mosque to be built in the shade of a Shinto Shrine. Saudi Arabia wouldn’t allow a Synagogue to be built in the shade of a Mosque. Only the West remains open to all and sundry. Is that fair?

No, simply put, it isn’t, and so a shift in policy is long overdue. No more Mosques in the Western World. If the Muslim world will not tolerate Christianity, the West has the right to expel Islam wholly from its midst.

D, LDN.

In Praise of Black People

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I’ve just finished reading a lengthy article on the ethno-nationalist website American Renaissance (Jared Taylor’s organisation) entitled ‘What I don’t like about Blacks’. It was written by a Black intellectual named Zora Wheatley and is presented as a polite and self-deprecating rebuke to Jared Taylor’s (uncharacteristically diplomatic) essay the prior month – “What I like about Black People”.

Here are three defining paragraphs from Wheatley’s article:

“The discontent you feel with yourself and blackness as a whole can be crushing. You discover that aside from the tall African tales of Alex Haley, Underground Railroad figures, and peanut proprietors, there’s not much there (in terms of Black historical achievements). And on top of that, these historical footnotes arise from a new world that is leaps and bounds beyond the stone-age existence in which your ancestors were found. As (Black academic James) Baldwin put it, ‘It is quite possible to say that the price a Negro pays for becoming articulate is to find himself, at length, with nothing to be articulate about.’….

“Mr. Taylor finds the way blacks speak English entertaining, and I would agree in part, though most modern black English is so dumb and vulgar that I wouldn’t be surprised if clicks and grunts will be making a comeback….

“One of the things that I don’t like about blacks (is) their tendency to lay claim to the building and resulting greatness of the West. Picking cotton, tilling soil, and whipping up sweet potato pies were helpful and important in their own way, but were nothing like the establishment of private property rights or the implementation of Enlightenment-era ideals in the New World, which guided the nation for generations. It would be akin to a Native American claiming that, because his ancestors shared corn and turkey with early European settlers one fine November day, they are as important as the descendants of those white settlers who would fight the British and build the America in which we live today.”

Though I admire greatly the intellectual detachment and personal bravery it must have taken to say these things about her own ethnic group, I must disagree with Ms Wheatley’s argument entirely.

It is sadly accurate that most Black contributions to history were enabled by contact with Europeans (and their technology), and that before this, Black history was a long and largely blank expanse of time. But since that great encounter with Europe, and the subsequent incorporation of Black people into European culture, Black accomplishments have been multitudinous and often dazzling.

Perhaps the reason racists feel comfortable in denying these achievements is because they are not various and widespread but concentrated in a few particular areas, compact and neat enough to kick under the nearest cupboard and pretend not to have seen them. One can then focus on the map of absences – the absence of a Black Darwin, Brunel, Newton or Shakespeare etc…

But this is incredibly unfair and intellectually dishonest. Every racial group and culture has a speciality – something they do better than anything else. Austrians are better at composing music than they are at writing. English people are better at writing than they are at painting etc… A speciality should never be considered a limitation.

And what are the Black specialities? Well, the obvious starting point is music. Since the abolition of slavery, there has appeared no musical discipline that cannot be traced back to Black innovation. Rock n’ Roll, Jazz, Soul, Blues, Southern Folk, Disco, Hip-Hop, Swing – all of these are Black inventions, and very influential ones at that. They have changed our tastes, fashions and social norms, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. They have all been cheerily received by other races, understood and celebrated by all the varieties of mankind.

In the connected field of entertainment, Black people have also proven sublimely capable. Through their extroversion and wit, African-Americans have conquered the fields of comedy, film and presentation. Every facet of modern Western humour is informed by Black sensibilities. Their urban parlance has penetrated deeply into our vocabulary and can never be excised from it.

And in Sport, Black athleticism inspires the mind and spirit, dazzling, humiliating and surpassing our view of human capability. Through their determination, Blacks have even conquered sporting disciplines for which they have no natural advantage, like golf and tennis. And whatever sports the future may withhold, Black people will surely eventually dominate these too.

I write this in part to clarify my earlier posts about Black demography. We in Europe reserve the right to maintain a cultural balance favourable to our traditions, but this does not (or need not) imply a dislike of Africans themselves. Despite the contemporary plagues of violence and anti-aspirational politics afflicting the Black community, the fact remains that over the last two centuries, this great and gifted race has scaled the peaks of the Western world. Let that never be forgotten.

D, LDN.

Defending Materialism.

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America, America 911, American Liberty, BBC, Capitalism, cheeseburgers, Christianity, Christopher Caldwell, Civilisation, consumerism, decadence, Decadent Western World, Defend the modern world, Hollywood, Leftism, Materialism, materialistic, Muslims, products, Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, rightism, supermarkets, United States

“Materialism – ma·te·ri·al·ism \mə-ˈtir-ē-ə-ˌli-zəm\. noun, a way of thinking that gives too much importance to material possessions rather than to spiritual or intellectual things.”

Far too often we are told by spiritual types that the Western world is ‘decadent’ or overly ‘materialistic’. Islamists especially delight in badmouthing our ‘self-indulgent’ way of life as soulless, meaningless and amoral, usually with specific reference to the UK and America.

It is high time someone shot back at this tired old critique. Materialism, properly considered, is wonderful. Consumerism is enlivening. Capitalism is ingenious. We should rejoice in these things, even as we preserve our higher beliefs. There is no contradiction to be found here, nor is there a choice to be made. Abundance and refinement can coexist. We know this because they have done for decades.

While it’s perfectly true that I sometimes enjoy leafing through Carlyle’s French Revolution or Huysmans’ À rebours, this is not to say that I don’t also value the cheeseburger or the Dyson Vac. Shopping centres mean more to me than opera houses. I find more worth in shiny electronic goods than in old, overrated paintings.

Being modern is something to be proud of. Technology separates us from the barbarian far more effectively than art or ‘ideas’ do. You can’t repel a Muslim with a sentiment, but you can make short work of him with a stinger missile.

Indeed, Muslims make themselves look even dumber than usual when they use the word ‘decadent’. Perhaps, my Muslim friends, if you spent a little less time indulging your own cultural biases, you might have developed the means to match our economies or resist our militaries. Is it not also decadent to spend every day reading the same book, or commentaries upon that book? It is certainly lazy. It is lazy (and obnoxiously arrogant) to presume you can get ahead in a world of infinite variety by stubbornly remaining the same.

As it turns out, our vulgar materialism, our worldliness, our ‘decadence’, our devotion to the modern and to the future has won through.

Hurrah for our side! 

Ramadan Mubarak to the losers.

D, LDN.

Take Them Seriously.

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American Liberty, BBC, Blog, Christianity and Islam, Christopher Caldwell, Civilisation, Coffee, Counter-Jihad, Defend the modern world, DTMW, ISIS in Europe, Islamic State in Europe, Multiculturalism, Muslims in Europe, Race and ethnicity in the United States Census

Today, Western-located affiliates of the Islamic State (aka ISIS – aka ISIL) have posted onto the internet photographs (taken by themselves) of tourist spots in various European cities. In the picture above, the card held in front of the camera warns that “We (ISIS) are in your streets” and was taken in the Italian Capital, Rome.

This (in my opinion) should be enough to trigger a state of emergency, one that allows for drastic police actions and the suspension of normal order. Given the nature of the enemy and its ambition, the presence of ISIS-affiliated fighters in Europe demands serious and immediate precautionary measures from our security services.

None will be forthcoming of course, and the reason? We can never take a threat seriously anymore. Our defensive reflexes are worn out, drained of their former vitality.

I write this fully aware that it is futile. I do it simply because I don’t want to feel any guilt when the treasures of Rome become like the treasures of Nineveh.

D, LDN.

Why Aren’t They Screaming?

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Christianity and Islam, Christopher Caldwell, Civilisation, Counter-Jihad, Counterjihad, Cultural Marxism, Defend the modern world, Europe, Feminism, Feminism and Racism, Multiculturalism, Muslim, Muslims, No to Turkey in the EU, Why Don't Women rebel?, Women's rights

Residents of London and other major European cities will be increasingly accustomed to the sight of a fully-veiled Muslim woman strolling awkwardly down a modern high street. Perhaps the only more depressing sight is that of a fully-veiled Muslim woman with a hijab-wearing daughter, in whose unsmiling eyes one sees a recognition that she too will one day be hidden from view.

And witnessing this sight, a European man in particular may suffer a predictable series of emotional reactions. At first, a potent, uncomfortable disgust and a stupid urge to condemn his own sex; and then after this, a foggy confusion which evolves into a question – As Philip Larkin asked of the old and dying:

“Why aren’t they screaming?”

Do Muslim women realise their condition? Do they care? Do they think the smiles of unbelieving women are painted on, or that the laughter and light-footed calm they exude is merely the symptom of a toxic soul? How do they rationalise themselves?

It is very easy for Leftist commentators to presume such women dress this way because of a personal, independently arrived-at religiosity. This at least allows for a quieting of their conscience. In reality of course, it cannot simply be a coincidence that those veiled women we see are usually the product of hyper-devout families structured according to a patriarchal social tradition; that they are the daughters of long-bearded fathers and house-bound mothers; that they often know no more about alternative ways of existing than someone raised in a cult. Whatever this may be called, one cannot call it a choice. It is a mould into which they were forced to grow, and for which their desires have been forced to deform themselves into enthusiasm.

Every day, a news story from the Muslim world demonstrates the lowly position afforded to the females of that region. Recent weeks have been especially hard-hitting. In Pakistan a woman was stoned to death by her own family for marrying without parental consent. In Sudan, a formerly Muslim woman, having converted to Christianity, was due to be stoned to death whilst carrying inside her body an unborn child. There was also a ‘corrective’ gang-rape in Pakistan, the sentencing of an Iranian actress to 100 lashes, and a brutal sexual assault in rural Malaysia.

Do Muslim women really believe (and with a sincere, non-fearful mind) that they are better off on that side of the cultural divide? And if they don’t, then why don’t they rebel? I could ask these questions all day long, but that would be pointless. Let’s try to consider an answer.

As you’ll be aware, the penalty for apostasy from Islam is death. Despite international efforts aimed at halting the practice, this ruling is still enthusiastically enforced in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Sudan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Libya and Yemen, and occasionally even in ‘moderate’ states like Turkey, Tunisia and Morocco.

The fear of this – that is, of death is obviously an effective deterrent for any human being and requires no further analysis by itself. It might not be however the most effective.

Another deterrent, this time particular to women, is the judicial theft of children. Even in the most moderate and Europeanised Muslim countries, a female apostate will almost certainly lose access to her progeny. Her appeals – if she survives long enough to make any – will be denied. In such situations, her offspring will be placed in the care of the father or a conformist grandparent.

These deterrents, the threatened destruction of both life and motherhood, are easily sufficient to explain female conformity in the Muslim world. They are not sufficient however to explain the behaviour of their sisters resident in the West.

Imagine if a North Korean defector moved to the West with a devout guard of the regime in tow, having been unable to shake him off at the airport. After a day or so on Western soil, the defector would flee into the protective arms of the majority, letting the regime guard be damned. What is different in the case of Muslim women?

Perhaps it’s actually our fault. Whilst we’d surely welcome a North Korean defector to our ways of liberty with a warm smile, we’d be more suspicious of a Muslim woman rejecting her own culture. Why?

The answer is Cultural relativism. Our official policy on minority cultures is that they are like Pandas and Whales – precious species vulnerable to the brutal heat of modernity and therefore in need of protection from it.

Language alone is incapable of portraying the damage this belief has done to individual liberty and individual happiness.

D, LDN.