Mytheos Holt explains why
Donald Trump appeals to so many dispossessed and disadvantaged whites, as well
as why white
nationalism is on the rise:
This brings me to the
first and, arguably, the most important lesson that Sylvia taught me about what
drives people into the arms of white nationalism: that urge comes not from
economic dispossession, nor spiritual dispossession, but cultural dispossession.
No, I don’t mean the sort of “where has my country gone” ignorance that I and my fellow coastal cosmopolitans like to mock over cocktails. I mean the sorts of people who are attracted to white nationalism are people whose own communities have been hollowed out by economic and cultural forces beyond their control, and who are now adrift in a society they perceive to be universally hostile to their heritage for no good reason.
No, I don’t mean the sort of “where has my country gone” ignorance that I and my fellow coastal cosmopolitans like to mock over cocktails. I mean the sorts of people who are attracted to white nationalism are people whose own communities have been hollowed out by economic and cultural forces beyond their control, and who are now adrift in a society they perceive to be universally hostile to their heritage for no good reason.
That heritage, as white nationalists in America see it, is the
heritage of Western civilization. If you wonder what that means (which is
reasonable), let me spell it out: It means historically Western European
cultural norms. Specifically, norms like respect for agents of the law,
aspirational pride in work, willingness to accept the consequences of one’s
actions, disdain for laziness and welfarism, and reproductive responsibility
(i.e., not having children you can’t afford to keep).
They respect these norms
not merely because these are what their own communities follow, but also because
they think these norms make constitutional government, liberty, and classical
republicanism possible. If you have to pick between the two, defend the norms
every day, since temporary cessations of liberty will naturally recover if
they’re still in place, whereas the institutions without the norms will become
meaningless: the Constitution will become a pointless scrap of paper to which
people pay only lip service, and constitutional government will become
bureaucracy hiding behind the fig leaf of a separation of powers.
Where this otherwise perfectly respectable, conservative pride in Western culture atrophies into white nationalism when the person holding it comes to believe that respect for liberal Western civilization is inextricably tied to one’s race. One particularly irreverent white nationalist YouTube songster sums this attitude up in a video mocking libertarians: “It’s not that freedom is bad/But only whites think it’s rad.”
Where this otherwise perfectly respectable, conservative pride in Western culture atrophies into white nationalism when the person holding it comes to believe that respect for liberal Western civilization is inextricably tied to one’s race. One particularly irreverent white nationalist YouTube songster sums this attitude up in a video mocking libertarians: “It’s not that freedom is bad/But only whites think it’s rad.”
Moreover, and this cannot be stated enough: these people
genuinely believe that to be proud of the history of Western European
accomplishment, and one’s own descent from the people responsible, is taboo in
modern America. If you look at what cultural studies departments, much of
modern media, left-wing college students, and the crazy wing of the Democratic
Party says, this is probably at least partially accurate. Unfortunately,
however, it’s not just leftists who are responsible for the rise of white
nationalism in communities like Sylvia’s. We conservatives bear some blame too,
though in this case, largely because of misunderstandings of how our own
behavior is perceived.
It's a fairly honest assessment, although I would say that it is
not a misunderstanding of how conservative behavior is perceived, but rather a
straightforward failure of conservatism to defend or conserve Western
civilization. Conservatism is not, as
Red Eagle and I chronicled in Cuckservative: How "Conservatives"
Betrayed America, a set of principles or a coherent ideology. It is an
attitude, and more, it is an attitude that is intrinsically incapable of
holding its ground against the forces that assail both Western civilization and
the various white nations that built and value it.
Now, I am not a white nationalist for the obvious reason that I am a red nationalist. Also, and more importantly, there is no white nation; only in America can anyone even contemplate the concept. When one lives in Europe, it is considerably more clear that the English nation is not the German nation is not the Dutch nation is not the Italian nation.
However, just as the Jews who historically considered themselves German discovered that it didn't matter what they considered themselves to be, many Americans of various European descents are learning that in the eyes of those who hate and envy them, they are nothing more than "white". And, as Holt observes, it should be no surprise that they are beginning to band together and respond to the tribalist attacks on them with a tribalism of their own.
But whether it is intellectually coherent or not, white nationalism is entirely Constitutional. Freedom of Association is an unalienable and Constitutional right. Diversity, imposed and involuntary, is intrinsically anti-Constitutional, anti-American, anti-human rights, and anti-Western Civilization.
Perhaps it takes a Jew to understand that if white nationalism is immoral, so is Jewish nationalism and the State of Israel.
Now, I am not a white nationalist for the obvious reason that I am a red nationalist. Also, and more importantly, there is no white nation; only in America can anyone even contemplate the concept. When one lives in Europe, it is considerably more clear that the English nation is not the German nation is not the Dutch nation is not the Italian nation.
However, just as the Jews who historically considered themselves German discovered that it didn't matter what they considered themselves to be, many Americans of various European descents are learning that in the eyes of those who hate and envy them, they are nothing more than "white". And, as Holt observes, it should be no surprise that they are beginning to band together and respond to the tribalist attacks on them with a tribalism of their own.
But whether it is intellectually coherent or not, white nationalism is entirely Constitutional. Freedom of Association is an unalienable and Constitutional right. Diversity, imposed and involuntary, is intrinsically anti-Constitutional, anti-American, anti-human rights, and anti-Western Civilization.
Perhaps it takes a Jew to understand that if white nationalism is immoral, so is Jewish nationalism and the State of Israel.
Full text at: http://thefederalist.com/2016/03/30/the-intellectual-case-for-trump-i-why-the-white-nationalist-support/
