All the Secrets of the Universe and Some Really Important Stuff Too!
Government is a true religion: it has its dogmas, its mysteries, and its ministers. To annihilate it or submit it to the discussion of each individual is the same thing; it lives only through national reason, that is to say through political faith, which is a creed.
Joseph de Maistre
I was glad to get some interesting comments from both the civic nationalist and dissident right perspectives during the last few days. And I’m especially glad that the writers were level headed and thoughtful individuals. I visit various sites with all kinds of commentors who don’t always react to each other with, let us say, tolerant open mindedness. And I understand that verbal combat may be more of a feature than a bug at some of these sites but truthfully, I seldom learn anything useful from the sort of mental arm wrestling that goes on during these exchanges. So, kudos to all involved. We’ve raised the level of internet discussion by several orders of magnitude. Bravo.
I’m especially glad about this situation because I’m personally located somewhere on the border between the civic nationalist and dissident right factions. While I consider myself a civ-nat I recognize that for whatever reason my political cohort has been guilty of incredible gullibility for decades and I’m tired of being part of a conspiracy of the ignorant. So, I’ve been listening in on what goes on at the cool kids’ table and learning their lingo. And I’m not afraid to admit that they’ve got a lot of things figured out. But I also know that I’ll never be cool enough to sit at their table. I just believe too deeply in the decency of most people when they’re all treated fairly. I feel that if we run the game fairly, we can get people, all kinds of people, from the dumbest to the smartest and from the meanest to the most naïve to at least act decent.
But that’s why I’d like to have the discussion with people whose hearts are in the right place. If you ever see the comments section of a Fox News article it’s remarkable. There are some thoughtful comments. But they’re drowned out by a flood of rage-aholics. You could say that any site that has the traffic that a large outlet like Fox gets is bound to attract a goodly number of deranged individuals but from my point of view it renders the comments almost useless as a venue for the exchange of ideas. So that is why I’ve been trying to find people who straddle that same line on the political spectrum and set up a dialog. Because that political border is where I think the reality of our future lies.
We need to toughen up the civic nationalists to where they won’t let themselves be rolled by the progressives, while at the same time lure the dissidents back from the fringe where things get pretty dark. My dream would be to have a space where a guy as tough minded as the ZMan would be willing to have a good faith conversation with civ-nats like Michael Anton or Chris Rufo.
Now this might be terribly mistaken. As I’ve said many times, people must be allowed to select their own enemies and it’s ridiculously presumptuous of me to think I can judge whose interests are served by discussion and with whom. These are all grownups and they get to decide which playground to play in.
So, let’s not use those names. Let’s just use regular folks who inhabit the internet and try to see if the information flow serves any purpose. I’ve heard lots of interesting perspectives. And all of the talk has been quite cordial, which makes my life easier. So, keep up the good work.
I took Zman’s assertion that natural or individual rights do not exist as the affirmation that these concepts originate in Western Civilization, and are not universal. Throughout my military career traveling the globe, this resonated with me as our ideas are just that – ours. One would receive blank stares from Indonesian bush folks if you began to try and explain these. This is why the dilution of Western countries by mass immigration (invasion, really) puts these abstract conceptions of natural and individual rights at risk under our supposed Democracy. For example, look to the polls of Muslims in the US and UK who overwhelmingly agree with the notion of living under Sharia law if they could. Or how varied the customs, cultures and traditions are in the Middle East compared to the West.
My biggest appeal to the DR side is seeing the world as it is and not how people ‘wish’ it were. This means that differences should be acknowledged and a sane and serious approach to societal ills should be employed in the areas of crime, immigration, and the well-being of the citizens in our nation.
The dissident right (DR) certainly has an appeal to anyone who has watched the disintegration of American society and culture over the last sixty years (I am currently 62 years old). I found the DR critique of many of the United States current problems to be very insightful. In the end though, I think the proposed DR solutions to our problems will cause more problems than they solve.
I agree that Heritage Americans have been reviled and treated with a hatred that has surprised me. The question is: is that hatred solely an ethnic hatred? I would say that it isn’t. “White people” are strongly associated with being Christian. I don’t think that’s particularly true anymore but that is the stereotype and lefties love them some stereotypes. The BLM website at onetime listed both stable marriage between a man and a woman and deferred gratification as being examples of white privilege. No, those are examples of Christian morality. Of course ethnic differences are used as a wedge to fracture our society and it has been wildly effective.
Can different ethnicities live side by side peaceably? I don’t see why not in theory but in practice it may no longer be possible. The well has been poisoned and there may be no way back to what we were, the old culture looks to be gone. What is the DR solution then? After giving it a lot of thought I think the DR has settled on some type of ethnic caste system. One set of laws for thee and one for me. Anyone who believes in objective standards of right and wrong (that apply to all people) will find that to be a real problem. I know I do.
I would also like to ask: how should ethnicity be defined? Even in the founding of the United States the English weren’t as homogeneous as we’d like to imagine (see Albion’s Seed). Add in all the immigration that has already happened and can’t be reversed, it’s a hopeless mess. Lines will have to be drawn in the new system but no one will say how this will happen.
The thing that finally tore it for me is when Zman declared that there is no such thing as “rights.” Declaring rights to be an abstract concept that don’t actually exist, he dismissed them out of hand. If there is no such thing as individual rights then there is no such thing as personal liberty. Everyone nowadays seems to want to put a leash on me. Zman’s statement reminded me of a quote by communitarian Alasdair MacIntyre:
“From this it does not of course follow that there are no natural or human rights; it only follows that no one could have known that there were. And this at least raises certain questions. But we do not need to be distracted into answering them, for the truth is plain: there are no such rights, and belief in them is one with belief in witches and in unicorns.”
― Alasdair MacIntyre, After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory
I am not familiar with the work of Professor Özkırımlı but the title of his book seems to indicate that his is a “critical theory.” This country is dying from too much Hegelian theory, do we really need more?
photog – Welcome back. While you were watching that fascinating laxative/ADHD commercial my guests were comparing notes on libel cases they had going on. President Trump was discussing the slander that has been making the rounds on the cable channels and other cesspools of the mainstream media. Mr. President, are the accusations and fantasies about you setting up a fascist dictatorship in your next term something you’d be likely to pursue through a lawsuit.
Donald Trump – Negative, photog. All of that chatter is protected by the first amendment. I’m a public figure. They’re allowed to say almost anything. I’m reduced to just waiting until I’m in office and then we’ll see what’s what.
Cthulhu – I disagree Donald. You’re really limiting your options.
Donald Trump – What do you mean CMan? How can I get around the prerogatives of the press?
Cthulhu – Well, for instance if someone blasphemed against my eldritch self, I’d start by forcing nightmares of cosmic horror to haunt his every sleeping and waking moment. In these nightmares he would experience the sensation of his flesh being slowly eaten away by a corrosive bath of slime that started at his feet and worked its way up to his head. Then when he hadn’t had a moment of peace for two weeks, I’d send a parasite to crawl into his ear one night and begin slowly to gnaw away at his brain. Eventually only his skull would be left. It’s a fan favorite I highly recommend.
Donald Trump – Well, that was my plan B. But this is network tv and I don’t like to let the cat out of the bag, so to speak. But tell me CMan, doesn’t the FBI come looking for you when you say these kinds of things in public like this?
Cthulhu – They used to Donald back in the good old days. And it was very exciting because with all the diversity and inclusion that the FBI has been practicing the variety has been amazing. They’ve even added capon to the menu.
photog – Capon?
Cthulhu – I think they call them post-op trans-women agents. But potato/puhtata. They’re wonderful with a tobacco sauce marinade. I like them cold with beer so I pop them in the fridge for a day or so. I just wait for them to stop screeching and I know they’re ready. And then I put them in a bowl and watch some old favorites on TCM. I’m a sucker for those old screwball comedies. Or a good old adventure story like Gunga Din or Kim. But they must be running out of capon, uh agents. None have shown up for months.
Donald Trump – CMan, not being a Great Old One I don’t have the leeway you do with respect to the criminal justice system. I’ve got to admit it sounds kind of exciting. Well, not the cannibal stuff, but the brain eating bug thing. That probably solves a lot of problems. There are at least a half dozen or so prosecutors and judges that would really benefit from having about half their brains eaten away.
Cthulhu – I tell you what. I’ll FedEx my copy of the Necronomicon with a post-it on the page with the spell for the brain bug and you see what you think. No pressure. I’ve got a website that’ll only charge you by the amount of brain that gets eaten. You can stop whenever you want and you won’t even get a lot of spam bugging you for more business.
Donald Trump – That would be great CMan. I doubt that any of them has more than a few ounces of brains anyway so I’m sure I’ll be able to swing the payments. Although I will say, things have been kind of tight lately. I had to sell off the gold toilet and downgrade to silver.
Cthulhu – Damn shame. Sorry to hear it. Well don’t worry. I read the other day that you’ll be instituting a fascist dictatorship once you’re reelected. I’m sure you’ll recoup your losses afterwards.
Donald Trump – Well, I hope so, but these things are tricky. For every Franco there are probably ten Pol Pots so you never know.
photog – I’m sorry to break up this discussion but we’ve got to go to commercial. Take it away, Study-Lax.
Burke said with a depth that it is impossible to admire enough that art is man’s nature: yes, undoubtedly, man with all his affections, all his knowledge, all his arts, is truly the man of nature, and the weaver’s web is as natural as the spider’s.
Joseph de Maistre
I used to believe in civic nationalism and the idea of the global populace buying a ticket to the (American) story and ideals. Funnily enough, around the time I held these beliefs was 30+ years ago in an America that had a firmly entrenched demographic majority of Heritage Americans. (Roughly 80% IIRC)
See, that’s kinda of the paradox of the idea of a successful nation operating under civic nationalism in that you still need a majority ethnic population who puts their full faith in the mythos of said nation’s founding, institutions, and ideals. Once it hits a certain fracturing of population and becomes majority-minority, with no one group asserting dominance – this gives rise to overt tribal tendencies. Diversity is not a strength. If it were, nations like Japan and China would be importing as many diverse groups as possible to get an edge on the global economic competition.
Still, if we lived in a reality based sane and serious nation that spoke the truth on differences a la Lee Kuan Yew’s Singapore, it could have worked. This would require media, academia and gov’t to cease the relentless attack on the historical figures actions and events that led to the creation of the USA. No, not celebrate outright the dark corners of a nation’s history (that all nations have, Western and non-Western), but understand that each apology, every condescending remark merely removes another brick of the foundation of American mythos and her founding.
This is part of how I found myself admitting more and more that I am a part of the Dissident Right. I will vote for Trump-not as a faithful belief that he will be our Red Caesar but more as a wrench into the leviathan machine that hates me and my people.
“Since all nations lay claim to a unique place in history and to certain boundaries, all national identities are exclusionary. In that sense, all nations are ethnic nations […] Brubaker elaborates on this, claiming that there are two different ways of mapping culture onto the ethnic-civic distinction. Ethnic nationalism may be interpreted narrowly, as involving an emphasis on descent. In this case, Brubaker argues, there is very little ethnic nationalism around, since on this view an emphasis on common culture has to be coded as a species of civic nationalism. If, however, ethnic nationalism is interpreted broadly, as ethnocultural, while civic nationalism is interpreted narrowly, as involving a cultural conception of citizenship, the problem is the opposite: ‘civic nationalism gets defined out of existence, and virtually all nationalisms would be coded as ethnic or cultural’. Even the paradigmatic cases of civic nationalism, France and America, would cease to count as civic nationalism, since they have a crucial cultural component.”
— Umut Özkırımlı, Contemporary Debates on Nationalism: A Critical Introduction, pp.24-5
Little Evil Dog (LED) is now about four months old. And still in the midst of a teething frenzy as her milk teeth are falling out. Sometimes Camera Girl even bleeds from the bites of this insane little basset hound. There has been some improvement. Lately she only draws blood once a week rather than daily. Everything is relative.
Today I noted that Camera Girl was watching the Dog Whisperer on Nat Geo. It’s that Mexican guy Cesar Millan who trains dogs. Of course, there is nothing more absurd than Camera Girl trying to train her dogs. They completely dominate her and systematically ignore all her commands. It would be accurate to say that they have trained her.
I tried to imagine her attempting to use Millan’s techniques but I know that she could never assert authority over the dogs. It just completely clashes with her babying of these canines. And yet with her children and grandchildren she has always been able to maintain good discipline. I think it’s the fact that intellectually dogs are like permanent infants. They never reach a point where they can be responsible for their misdeeds. Training always has to be a matter of dominance. And so, she forever treats them like babies. Even if the animal outweighs her.
And so, the problem of Camera Girl’s bad dogs can never be fully solved. I have in the past had to force obedience from some of the larger male dogs on my own just for safety’s sake but she will never be their boss.
But as I watched the episode that Camera Girl had on it occurred to me that a wife whisperer would be an interesting show. If some guy developed a format where he had men come to him with wives who behaved poorly and he came up with a regimen for bringing them back in line. And of course, it should be a humane program. No shock collars or whips; nothing like that. It could all be done using positive reinforcement. Even a muzzle probably would be unnecessary, although I could see where it would make life better sometimes.
I’d guess it would work with treats and gifts used to encourage good behavior and verbal cues to point out bad behavior. I started to think how I could work some of these things into my home life. I could use small rewards like buying her a turtle or a lizard if she behaved herself. But I realized that my house would probably overrun with pets within a few weeks. And since there weren’t any other treats, I could provide or withhold, there wasn’t a way forward with my wife whisperer idea. It was a dead end.
But I did watch how often food was the treat that Millan used to train his dogs. How he used it to reinforce good behavior or withheld it to show displeasure. And then some things came together in my mind. Grocery patterns and other aspects of my life. And I was aghast. She has been using Millan’s program on me! Tonight, we’re having a pork roast. That only went on the menu after I performed the winter yard close-up yesterday.
To Serve Man, it’s a training book!
