In asymmetric wars, one’s base is often beholden to others, and one is therefore handicapped by unwanted ideology and rules. So Islamic State decided it just plain needed to grab its own base area. Islamic law is that you cannot claim the Caliphate unless you have your own base area – because you cannot be Caliph if you are beholden to others. So, needed a base, took a base. So Islamic State chooses to fight symmetrically. In an asymmetric war, the weaker side is a muppet for somebody powerful, usually the London School of Economics, which is itself a muppet of Harvard. Islamic State is nobody’s muppet.
If you’ve the stomach for it: Gay families bang their children. If not, that’s fine, but don’t dare pretend gays are normal. “Feel the hate, young Jedi!”
In an ☀“Official” #NRx Best of the Week Honorable Mention☀, Harold Lee returns to The Future Primaeval with a gem of an article: Why Methodists don’t go to heaven. (It was a repost, but it was new to me.) Methodist “Divinity” students are just little bit too business-like for the religion they ostensibly espouse to be taken seriously:
Methodist Founder: John Wesley
[I]f market forces can mold churches towards particular amenities [e.g., Bingo, or cappucino], they can mold teaching as well. If people are deciding between different churches, all things being equal they’ll look for a church whose preaching resonates with them, one that they find congenial. In other words, pap.
It’s important to realize that none of this necessarily involves any ill will on anyone’s part. Normal devout people can disagree in all good faith. The problem lies in having a selection mechanism over this normal range of variation in beliefs. If the market rewards populist preaching with bigger congregations, greater revenues, and heightened influence, then it will be the preachers who preach the popular fare – again, in all good faith – who get outsized influence over the content of the religion. From the next generation, raised with the popular interpretation of the religion, the most palatable preachers among them gets additional weight. Round and round we go, and at the other end of this process: market-optimized pap. And because this process doesn’t require ill intent, “examine in your conscience whether it’s true” and other ways to internally guard against mendacity won’t work. As long as people do vary, there’s enough grist for the mill.
This precisely describes the state of religion in the West. It stems from “low church” conceptions of Christianity, but it has pretty much infected the whole. The religious instruction of a people is a commons. And the only way to protect that commons is for it to be formally owned.
What’s needed is a counterbalancing force, not accountable to the people, and charged with maintaining the integrity of the faith. While the elders of a church can theoretically serve this role, it makes it more difficult when they themselves are drawn from the pastors who won the populist competition. To put it puckishly, if you don’t have an Inquisition, get ready to lose your church.
Amen, Brother. Preach it! Nick Land very much approves:
Filed under What Could Possibly Go Wrong, Atavisionary breaks down the Obama Administration’s insane plans to basically make it impossible to buy geographical distance from people who look like Obama’s son. It is of course always wise to evaluate the buy|rent decision calmly and rationally. Certainly buying is always more of an “investment”, but not one that is always a very good one. And the Obama Administration’s hubristic plans to essentially federalize suburbs is virtually certain to make it even worse. “Buy or Rent” earned an ☀“Official” #NRx Best of the Week Honorable Mention☀.
Malcolm Pollack has his own take on the Obama Administration’s war on disparate impact in housing: a new and perfect version of the ol’ Catch 22. That “Content of their Character” stuff really was compelling. For about 20 minutes. 50 years ago. Also this was pretty funny: Bongo-Bongo! or how logical consistency is probably maladaptive in today’s political climate. Also mind officially blown
The general theory, that simply moving lower-class people of ethnic group A into proximity of middle-class people of ethnic group B, and that somehow the traits of group B will rub off on group A, is ludicrous. Perhaps the policy might work to some extent, if ethnic group B had strong institutions and rules that it could impose on group A. It might work if ethnic group B had churches teaching old-school morality; schools where nuns could slap your wrist for misbehaving; respected neighborhood cops who could deal a little tough-love street justice; and welfare officers who would require strong household discipline in return for handing out checks to those on welfare. But none of this is allowed in the modern world. So when ethnic group A moves in, they continue to engage in the same unruly behavior as before, and there is no force that shape them up, no force to forge them into well-behaved members of society. It is magical thinking to assume that the traits of ethnic group B will rub off on A, without giving group B any tools to enforce their values and mores.
Tools… like indentured servitude. The principal villain in here, however, is the growing gray intellectual mono-culture of modern academia, the severe constriction it enforces on the bounds of discourse. The boneheadedness of Section 8 Housing is only one of many possible unintended consequences. Mr. Detox’s fantastic effort this week earns him the ☀☀“Official” #NRx Best of the Week Award☀☀
If NRx has one serious task — and in fact, an overwhelmingly intimidating one — it is to contribute to the establishment of an alternative principle of political legitimation. To imagine that significant steps had yet been taken in this regard would be to court extreme self-delusion. The road ahead is hard.
Also from land this quote from Razib Khan—filed under If-You-Believe-This-I’ve-Got-Some-Prime-Real-Estate-in-Florida-for-Ye.
Antidem decides to monetize some of his talent and popularity this week: Here is The Begging Post. If you’re looking for more value for you dollar: The Sponsoring Post.
Neocolonial has up some brilliant notes on Valuing Place. The egalitariansim inherent to democratic politics kills off (or buys off) the aristocratic caste, and in so doing hamstrings any real force interested in the long-term conservation of land as resource and good of the commons.
West Coast Reactionaries are quickly becoming a top new read. This week Adam Wallace reaches pens a gem—and ☀“Official” #NRx Best of the Week Honorable Mention☀: The Trouble with Culture War—the trouble being that it is not merely about culture, but about transcending it.
We must, therefore, position ourselves for something, not just against. And I hear fellow alternative Right-wingers now: “We are for quaint villages, patriotism and heteronormativity!” But I say to you: “These are a given! The question is: what validates them? What provides them with life and value? What sustains those things? For that is what you ought to be for!“
Nydwracu has more from Autobiography of an American Communist: The primacy of the racial question, 1931. Clearly the American version was quite a bit more advanced than the Soviet version at the time.
And Donovan Green has Friday Frags— TSA-as-make-work-program-as-incense-to-the-gods-of-pattern-non-recognition-Frogs-in-the-socialist-pot-Based-Solzhenitsyn-etc Edition.
Mark Citadel covers the execrable antics of some anti-manosphereans in We Hunted The Mammoth – Psycho Whores Gone Wild! These pathetic low-T male feminists are actually attempting to get Roosh V banned from Canada on his rapidly up-coming tour. Canada, where all the women are strong, and all the men have boobs I guess. It is obvious that this sort of appeal, for the mere avoidance of discomfort (“Roosh V breathed our air, ewwww…”), is beneath the dignity of any man of normal testosterone levels. So by nature it should fail. But in an age of universal victimhood, one cannot be too sure. Good luck, Roosh.
Then Citadel turns his attention to a new series: The Authentic Reactionary. In this Part I, he provides running commentary on some excerpts from the incomparable Colombian reactionary Nicolás Gómez Dávila’s 1995 essay by that name.
CWNY’s missive this week: The Inhumanity of Utopian Europe—that being the primarily anglo diaspora that founded North American societies, and outcompeted its progenitors to take over the world.
Money honest meant that a politician would not take a direct bribe for a government contract, but if you placed business with his private business, he would make sure government contracts came your way. This is the basics of the Clinton Foundation corruption scheme. They take in money for their foundation, magically your business or policy desires get shepherded through the system, and the Clintons can claim there was no bribery involved. What the American government has going on with the Sinaloas looks to be a similar situation.
Things do seem to be going well for the Sinaloas. So too with ISIS. Becoming an “enemy” of USG has never been berry berry good to them.
Very few people are saying D.C. is in bed with the Sinaloas. Reputable media outlets say the American government is not in bed with the Sinaloas. If there is an out for the Feds, it is the “money honest” concept. The Feds are not giving the Sinaloas guns to help them – wait, they are. The Feds are not moving the drugs for them, but they do restrict border agents, do not inspect all large containers, and never secure the border. The Feds are not setting up the Sinaloas in cities, but they have poorly enforced all immigration laws in order to flood our cities with Little Mexicos for easier cover.
On Monday, David Grant takes libertarians to the woodshed for their advocacy of State-Society. I.e., a society in which the state is ultimately an inorganic, rules-based, entity. Which cannot of course exist, but the ideology
The ideal of state-society allows the Left to summon hordes of imaginary hobgoblins to constantly menace their followers and keep them in a state of alarm. This confers advantages in democratic politics, as people with more mundane motivations than immanentizing the eschaton lack the same fervor and interest, but it also distracts from more practical concerns. It does not matter to the Left that introducing women into combat arms will reduce their effectiveness, nor are libertarians much concerned with demographic replacement brought on by open immigration. The Constitution must embody their ideology; the functioning of society is a lesser concern.
David Grant’s article was a ☀“Official” #NRx Best of the Week Honorable Mention☀
Mexico is a borderline failed state that without the pressure release valve called America would have to deal with its problems. This has nothing to do with starvation (they are fatter than us) or misery (happiest nation on Earth). This is just the humane way to handle a situation where 40 million Mexicans live in America (Mexico population is 122 mil), with a large quantity of them living along the border and sending remittances back, propping up the Mexican economy. This also would be America embracing the reality that it is an empire and changing administration of its empire.
SoBL envisions a new united Hispanic/Amerikaaner class becoming a dominant political group. Tho’ this is would be far less than ideal, it’s probably a lot better than what America actually has coming.
Here he helpfully rewrites the Piña Colada Song for the Ashley Madison generation. I found the original disturbing enough, thanks.
This is in NY Magazine, a pretty prestigious platform. Note the author Michael Sonmore returns nothing on Google, has no LinkedIn, no other hits but this one article. Either NY Mag is printing a known author under a pseudo or they are crafting a fictional story to push a desired social goal. Strategically, this is to push poly on married people who read NY Mag, those who say they read Ny Mag and people who want to be like those who say they read NY Mag. Most normal human beings will scoff and mock this story, and Amerikaners wont even read it, but stupid SWPL types will. Even more specific, who reads stupid “Lifestyle” essays? This is to push it on SWPL married women. Remember the prog goal: break the nuclear family, push decisions and norm enforcement to the tribe, break down tribe identities except for the big government approved tribe.
Heartiste has similar theories regarding the article’s (lack of) authenticity. Perhaps NY Mag speaks to us in parables, because the moral content is more important than historical accuracy. A Modern Day Jesus!!
Finally from Crassus: Obama sucks balls. And we wouldn’t expect anything less.
This Week in Evolutionist X
Evolutionist X begins the week with a lesson on Not all European alcohol tolerance is created equal. When it comes to unbelievably violent people groups, perhaps If you can’t say something nice, maybe you could give a distinct whistle or something. And while your at it, avoid giving them tools that evolved in civilized societies like machetes. Or forks.
Filed under Acts of Oppression Where You’d Never Expect to Find em: White Women’s Tears are apparently an avoidance technique for honest dressings down “conversations” about race. Who knew?
Next: Two Kinds of Dumb. And yet moar on the subject of IQ. It looks like societies evolve to accommodate well those who are within a certain range of mean intelligence for that society. This can be bad news for both kinds of outliers.
Finally, Evolutionist X feels really let down by Disney’s (post Walt) and anthropological white washers’ Obvious Lies about Gypsies.
Over at The Orthosphere, Kristor has a delicious meditation on The Cuisine of Sacrifice. A taste:
There is a striking contrast between the social contract theory of the origins of society and the sacrificial theory. The latter is clearly much more tightly linked to the hunting and sharing practices of primitive hominids. The hunt is socially coordinated – men hunt in packs – and the kill is brought back to camp, placed “in the center” as goods to be offered to the god, shared, dealt out equally to the band. Among the Greeks it was critical that every member of the polis share in the fruits of the altar.
Thus it really is literally true that if there is no altar of sacrifice, there is no people, and a fortiori no civilization.
Also this was quite good: The Moral Imperative of Beauty. “Beauty and ugliness then are moral imperatives. They tell us how we ought to live—not just we ourselves individually, but we together, communally.”
Resistance has crumbled. There is no longer any major issue open for debate. As soon as an issue can be framed as a “civil rights” issue, the illiberal side loses all legitimacy, and indeed all claim to immunity against the persecution of its members. (Although, in accord with the 1st Amendment, the state is careful to deliver heretics over to the private arm for punishment.) And—what do you know!—it turns out just about every issue can be framed as a civil rights issue.
Liberalism means tolerance. Tolerance means no intolerance. Therefore, to be perfectly tolerant, liberals must eradicate all dissent.
Jim Kalb called this the Tyranny of Liberalism. That was probably my first “Red-Pill” Book.
Sonic also takes a close look under the hood of the now largely accepted story that red states are net beneficiaries of federal largesse. Statistics are caught in the act of being worse than Damn Lies.
Imagine a brand such as Lexus utilizing a contrarian technique. One that instead mocked its most loyal customers when they pointed out the product line’s persistent shortcomings. One that made no offer of contrition, improvement, or even platitudes in observance of their concerns. But instead bitterly challenged its supporters with: What are you stupid shits going to do, buy a Chevy? It would be a breathtaking gambit, if so.
As I said on Xenosystems: Cuckservative is a memetic weapon, a crass insult that resonates with proles and amps them up. It’s inflammatory, it’s powerful, and it gets results. Hell, I just found out today that the Daily Beast linked me. In that sense, it’s an overwhelming success.
That being said, I think NRx needs to have some standards and decorum in our own spaces, mostly to prevent another Anissimov incident. If we’re not careful, our intellectual space can degrade into another prole mosh pit and a lot of the seriously important work we do is lost. I know it sounds a little elitist and pretentious, but I really think Dampier’s popularizing of “conservakin” and our critique on the mainstream right really did help us set the stage for the cuckservative meme. Guys like Doolittle and Dampier are really high-level thinkers and writers and as fun as it is to see Kurt and you shoot the shit on the Daily Shoah, we need to keep that formal atmosphere if we want NRx to remain as the intellectual powerhouse of the disaffected right.
I wish Bacevich’s name wasn’t up there. He’s a solid dude. Raimondo, on the other hand, got me shit canned from writing for Takimag, because he hearts drugs.
FreeNortherner wasn’t so based. When I got there three (out of three) commenters had already figured out the flaw in his cunning plan about the NRA.
A stroll through Sipsey Street’s blog turns up MANY references to “NRA weenies”. Not least of which was the NRA’s refusal to block Holder’s bid to be Attorney General.
Thanks for linkage Nick
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As I said on Xenosystems: Cuckservative is a memetic weapon, a crass insult that resonates with proles and amps them up. It’s inflammatory, it’s powerful, and it gets results. Hell, I just found out today that the Daily Beast linked me. In that sense, it’s an overwhelming success.
That being said, I think NRx needs to have some standards and decorum in our own spaces, mostly to prevent another Anissimov incident. If we’re not careful, our intellectual space can degrade into another prole mosh pit and a lot of the seriously important work we do is lost. I know it sounds a little elitist and pretentious, but I really think Dampier’s popularizing of “conservakin” and our critique on the mainstream right really did help us set the stage for the cuckservative meme. Guys like Doolittle and Dampier are really high-level thinkers and writers and as fun as it is to see Kurt and you shoot the shit on the Daily Shoah, we need to keep that formal atmosphere if we want NRx to remain as the intellectual powerhouse of the disaffected right.
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I wish Bacevich’s name wasn’t up there. He’s a solid dude. Raimondo, on the other hand, got me shit canned from writing for Takimag, because he hearts drugs.
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“And while your at it”
ugh
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Geez Max. Why don’t YOU try writing 3700 words in an html editor without a typo slipping thru…
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FreeNortherner wasn’t so based. When I got there three (out of three) commenters had already figured out the flaw in his cunning plan about the NRA.
A stroll through Sipsey Street’s blog turns up MANY references to “NRA weenies”. Not least of which was the NRA’s refusal to block Holder’s bid to be Attorney General.
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