Nothing to fear but...
0 comment Saturday, June 14, 2014 |
I've been reading some discussions around the conservative blogosphere, and there are a couple of interesting ones at Gates Of Vienna, such as this thread on Fjordman's latest article.
Commenters Diamed and kitmanic make noteworthy comments on that thread. However there are the usual comments which decry the political incorrectness which seems to be the main object of fear for some people on the right, but especially among the counterjihad right.
Not that I am singling Gates of Vienna out. It happens in many places around the conservative blogosphere. Even on this blog, one of my former commenters (who has since disappeared) seemed alarmed at some politically incorrectness on my part and as if to cover over it, hastily reminded me of the wonderful contributions our minorities have made, and how many of them are very nice people. Actually I conceded that many individuals among minority groups are nice people, and many seem friendly and pleasant. But again, we have to look at general patterns not at individuals. And I will not resort to politically correct disclaimers every time I make a non-PC statement. It seems to me to be an appeasing, defensive gesture, and that's the last attitude we need, in our situation.
The politically correct liberals are easy to spot, and predictable in their behavior. But the politically correct on the 'right' are a little harder to spot sometimes; they will go just so far in their political incorrectness. For example, it's easy for many on the right to have negative feelings towards Moslems because of 9/11. But for many, that's as far as their heresy goes; thus far and no farther. Even then they often couch their negative statements about Moslems with phrases like 'but I am sure there are many more who are peaceful people who want the same things we want'.
Then there are the people who will say critical, angry things about illegal immigrants, but hasten to add that 'I don't have anything against legal immigrants.' Or there are those who will admit that even legal immigration is not always good, but who will then say 'but the Hispanic Americans I know are good family people and good Christians.'
What is it that underlies this nervous, defensive behavior? It does seem to me to be a nervous, fearful kind of thing. Are these people afraid of their fellow Americans? Do they feel they have to talk the rest of us out of our 'hateful' impulses, sort of act as the little angel on our shoulders telling us not to be 'racists'? It seems so. I sense a real distrust of other White Americans on their part.
Or can it be that it's self-talk, that they are afraid that they, too, have a hidden 'racist' nature that must be fought every step of the way?
Are they afraid that the politically incorrect dissenters will bring down the wrath of the 'Others' on us? If so, then they at least realize, if only subconsciously the threat we are under.
I think that many Americans, and judging by the Gates of Vienna commenters too, many Europeans have thoroughly internalized the belief that people of European descent are somehow inclined to be natural oppressors, perpetrators of 'genocide' against innocent nonwhites. They have bought the liberal/leftist propaganda which has dominated the textbooks of the last half-century or so, and which of course is hammered into people's consciousness by the mainstream media all over the West.
Many Americans have come to accept unthinkingly the common view that American history was one long dark episode of 'genocide' against the poor Indians, and oppression of the poor blacks via slavery, Jim Crow, and other such 'atrocities'. This caricatured image of America is very much the dominant one in our media, such as in Hollywood movies, and it goes essentially unchallenged, because no one wants to try to defend things like slavery or segregation, except for a few unreconstructed Southerners, and they are becoming pretty thin on the ground these days, as many Southron people are as PC as the rest. So we simply accept that our ancestors were the bad guys, generally guilty of everything of which they were accused.
I suppose if we accept that, as the majority seem to do, then we really ought to keep ourselves in check, and keep our fellow Americans under close watch, lest they revert to their evil natures and start oppressing the downtrodden again.
Some of the younger generations might -- might -- be excused for harboring these delusions, because they have been indoctrinated steadily from day one. But for those who are old enough to remember, there is no excuse for buying this warped version of our history. I suspect that those old enough to know better, but who still accept the PC version of history, somehow rationalize it by thinking, 'well, I and my family never oppressed any minorities, and I never saw these atrocities we hear about so often, but maybe in some other area it was as bad as they say.'' Northerners, I think, are inclined to think this way, and though they themselves feel no personal guilt, they hold the South accountable for every evil the White man is accused of.
I was only a child during the days when forced integration happened, and the Civil Rights revolution played out, but I was aware of what went on around me, aware enough that I don't accept the popular, PC interpretations of our history. I know better.
But even those younger have the responsibility to investigate things for themselves, to go to older sources such as old history books, old newspapers, and above all, to the older generations who have clear memories and who have not themselves been brainwashed. The truth is available to everybody who cares to seek it out. But it most assuredly will not be found in our mainstream media, either the 'news' media, so-called, or the 'entertainment' media.
We have to find ways to get across to our fellow 'conservatives' who are still somewhat under the PC spell that this is no time to worry about little niceties like whether we hurt somebody's feelings -- especially when those somebodies have not the least regard for our feelings -- or whether we look like 'bigots' to someone else, or whether someone calls us a name.
It's painfully obvious that these 'conservatives' absolutely don't see the direness of our situation; they seem to think that in being polite and fair and considerate and 'tolerant', we will somehow deflect what is coming our way. They just don't see, can't see, or just plain refuse to see that our house is on fire, and this is not the time to worry about being genteel and inoffensive. It's not the time to show our magnanimity and our good nature by deferring to the enemies in our midst. Worrying about political incorrectness on our side is absurd at this late hour.
As I argued in a couple of posts before, there is a time for anger and yes, even a time for hate. That last phrase is in the Book of Ecclesiastes. And yet so many people today want to be holier than God himself and disclaim hate or even righteous anger. And what we are talking about does not even fall under the true definition of 'hate', a word which by the way has been overused and abused by the left. What is being called 'hate' all too often is merely a speaking of unflattering truths, or in some cases, an expression of righteous wrath at the wrongs being inflicted on us. It is an expression of outrage at the injustices which are multiplying every day. It's a cry of protest against the invasion of our country, the criminalization of free speech, the loss of our rights, and the loss of our homes. Are we to be silenced even in the face of those things?
Kevin Myers in his recent pieces in the Irish Independent spoke of the need for 'measured hostility' in our situation.
And so, not hating, I certainly don't want anyone to hate anyone else either. However, I know and feel and applaud measured hostility, the guardian of our civilisation, and the father of our laws. Measured hostility is what puts the gunman behind bars: it drives the mugger from the street and the burglar from our homes.
It also protects freedom of speech from those who would steal it from us -- most particularly in Ireland of today, the quango thought-police of doctrinaire liberalism, and single-issue vigilantes in the media. ''
Call it measured hostility,then. We need it. We cannot afford niceness and timidity and appeasement.
To the politically correct among us, what are you afraid of? Us? Yourselves? The Other?
As for me, I'm only afraid that we will go gently and politically correctly into that good night.
I don't welcome the dying of the light, and as long as there is breath in me, I will rage against it.

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