Sargon of Akkad - Carl Benjamin - An Honest Look at the Alt Right

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March 23, 2016 - Sargon of Akkad - Carl Benjamin

30:05

An Honest Look at the Alt Right

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	I have enjoyed several conversations with individuals and groups of people who identify as alt-right, with the intention of understanding what this movement is.
	The following is an attempt to examine honestly and objectively what I have discovered, to present an accurate description of the movement's main concerns, methods and goals.
	The phrase alternative right was coined by Richard Spencer in 2010, and has become an umbrella term to describe a neo-reactionary movement to push back against progressive domination of political and social spheres.
	This is done by creating an idea space, in which issues such as race and nationalism can be discussed without considering left-wing positions on the subject.
	This puts the alt-right outside of mainstream conservatism, which is dominated by left-wing philosophies on the subject of race, nationalism and gender relations, which is summed up in the alt-right by the pejorative label COGSERV, which in many ways is a mirror of the liberal use of regressive left.
	In many ways, the alt-right seems to be a reaction to the lack of conservative doctrine on subjects dominated by left-wing points of view.
	This new idea space is not radically different from the idea of a progressive's safe space, and functions much in the same way.
	It's a place for certain ideas and attitudes to be cultivated and honed, without their fundamental premises being challenged, in order to establish a more concrete understanding and adherence, and ensure that these ideas can be discussed in comfort.
	These spaces are not usually open to ideas and participants outside of the alt-right, and can result in the same kind of intellectual protectionism that takes place in the regressive left when concepts that undermine the precepts of the discussion are introduced, and this can result in similar calls to no-platform proponents of these ideas.
	Under the umbrella of alt-right is a conglomeration of individuals that broadly agree on a set of core ideas, but hold to a wide variety of ancillary beliefs.
	These disagreements are rarely, if ever, points of genuine contention, and seem to operate on more of a sliding scale between uncontested to zealously believed, but apparently not including categorically wrong.
	This laissez-faire attitude towards points of ideological disagreement is certainly vital to the cohesiveness of the alt-right, and would probably cause its disintegration into many splinter movements if one ideological position became dogmatic and gained hegemony over all potential alt-right idea spaces.
	This is important because the alt-right is not, as they will tell you at great length, a single homogeneous movement with a streamlined set of beliefs, although there are a certain select set of issues on which there is common agreement.
	1. White or nationalist identity politics The most common thread that seems to run across the entire spectrum of the alt-right is the concept of an international white genetic and social identity, which can be subdivided from broad categories such as white European down into Northwestern European, Southern European, Eastern European, and these categories can doubtless be drilled down into even further using national borders and local regions.
	The white race is often considered to be an expanded family unit.
	As one adopts a collectivist attitude towards the family, it's considered that one should do so towards the nation and then the white race as a whole.
	This of course begs the question, who exactly is white?
	With people of mixed race ancestry generally being accepted as white if they appear to be white.
	This is however not an issue on which there is universal consensus.
	But there is a general consensus that appears to be that since the regressive left has decided to make racialism a key issue and have decided to back one side of it, the side that can accurately be termed as anti-white.
	My concern is doing away with whiteness.
	Whiteness is a form of racial oppression.
	Sure.
	The suggestion is that it is somehow possible to separate whiteness from oppression.
	And it is not.
	There can be no white race without the phenomenon of white supremacy.
	If you abolish slavery, you abolish slaveholders.
	In the same way, if you abolish racial oppression, you do away with whiteness.
	Treason to whiteness is loyalty to humanity.
	White Europeans can and should naturally adopt the pro-white side, with these people often naming themselves as white advocates due to the negative response commonly received by white nationalist or racialist.
	Other than this, there is nothing new or unusual about the identity politics practiced in the alt-right.
	It's the same brand of racial, religious, and nationalist tribalism that is practiced in the regressive left, except that it's approached from the opposite direction.
	Instead of condemning Christianity or whiteness and denouncing white history, the alt-right instead thinks very highly of white culture and history and believes that it should be preserved at all costs, and that there should be a focus on the survival of the white race.
	2. White genocide.
	Across the alt-right, it is common to encounter the idea that there is currently, in progress, a genocide taking place against white people.
	This is, of course, the essential date point used by an overwhelming majority in the alt-right to create a narrative of white victimhood that fuels and justifies white nationalist identity politics.
	The existence of a white genocide is established by an interpretation of the UN definition of genocide.
	This is defined as any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy in whole or part a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group, such as killing members of the group, causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction, in whole or part, imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group, and forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
	The most common alt-right interpretation of this definition means that there is currently, being perpetrated, an ongoing genocide of the white race.
	According to most, many influential groups in society are knowingly acting to eradicate the white race through demographic destruction over an extended period of time via the use of mass immigration.
	This is established by population projections derived from comparisons of birth rates between native populations and recent immigrant groups.
	According to some forecasts, in the UK and the United States, there are birth rates that are below the replacement rate.
	There are projections that non-Muslims will be a minority in some Western countries, such as Britain, by 2050.
	Many in the alt-right therefore believe that the native white population will not compete with non-white immigrants who have a greater birth rate on average.
	It's important to note that these demographic trends are not necessarily false, but are certainly exaggerated and exclude key factors.
	Studies have shown that Muslim fertility rates are high in recent immigrants, but reduce over time to normalise with the native population, a phenomenon which is probably directly connected to a rise out of poverty.
	Trends show that as populations become wealthier, birth rates drop dramatically.
	The Pew Research Centre asserts that by 2030 the Muslim population of Britain will have grown from 4.6% to 8.2% with the majority of the increase due to immigration trends, undoubtedly exacerbated by the recent migrant crisis, and not birth rates.
	Germany is usually the most frequently cited example of extermination by demographic change, as Germany's birth rates among native Germans is one of the lowest in the world at 1.4 children born to every German woman, compared to the commonly cited ideal replacement rate of 2.1.
	It is important to note that Germany is the exception in Northern Europe and not the rule, as the United States, Britain, Australia, France, Norway, and Sweden all have 1.9 or greater replacement rates and do not face demographic collapse in the foreseeable future.
	The alt-right argument for white genocide is therefore strongest in Germany, but even then the definition of genocide is based on intent, specifically the acts listed done with intent to destroy the white race and European culture in whole or part.
	Opinion within the alt-right obviously varies on this point, ranging from perhaps not deliberate to a direct plot with malice of intent.
	However, the outcome, the predicted extinction or reduction to minority status of the white race, is more important than the intentions of those who enact policies that are perceived to be causing this eventuality.
	The groups considered to be responsible for the genocide are comprised of Marxist academics and consequently their students, many of whom are openly racist against white people.
	How so?
	Why does white life have value?
	Well, I think white.
	For who?
	Excuse me, for who?
	Our argument is that white life is wrong.
	Why?
	Our argument is our argument is that we should never affirm white life.
	That your argument of just affirming all life in general is not good, especially not good for black people when white life itself is based on my life.
	You're probably white.
	I am white.
	Why shouldn't we reaffirm my life?
	I don't say, well, I have to care about your life anyway.
	There's no ethical reason that's why white people deserve to live white.
	Affirmative black life means that means that white death has to occur.
	That's why you should lose this debate and why your life ain't worth affirming it.
	So who should OB kill himself?
	I don't see one.
	Why should we do that?
	How does that help?
	It's ethical.
	How is it ethical?
	We all have some form or another of privilege.
	Why does that mean we should kill ourselves?
	Because you have white privilege.
	Why does having white privilege necessarily mean I should kill myself?
	Why shouldn't I struggle against the structures that you're doing?
	Sure, struggling against the structure means putting yourself on the line, putting your body on the line.
	Do it.
	Affirm your suicide.
	That's what that one.
	That's very good.
	I mean, it's, you know, it's one little form.
	It's one little step in the right direction.
	The self-hating European political class and the Jews attempting to force multiculturalism on white populations.
	One of them is Barbara Spector, a former American who made Aliyah and then 10 years ago, with the help of the government of Sweden, set up a non-denominational institute of Jewish learning with the Greek name of Paideia.
	I think there's a resurgence of anti-Semitism because at this point in time, Europe has not yet learned how to be multicultural.
	And I think we're going to be part of the throes of that transformation, which must take place.
	Europe is not going to be the monolithic societies that they once were in the last century.
	Jews are going to be at the center of that.
	It's a huge transformation for Europe to make.
	They are now going into a multicultural mode, and Jews will be resented because of our leading role.
	But without that leading role and without that transformation, Europe will not survive.
	It is generally considered that the white genocide is being perpetrated by one or more of these groups to a greater or lesser degree.
	Even proponents of the idea of a white genocide understand that the term is hyperbolic and does not reflect what people usually understand to be a genocide.
	However, the term genocide is justified by proponents using these arguments.
	This is usually as of a deep concern with the future projections of the white race, because one of the most common alt-right beliefs is that without the white race, there can be no Western civilization.
	3.
	Race is culture.
	Almost all of the alt-rights believe that there are certain types of high-level advanced cultures that are capable of being created and sustained only by certain biological groups of humans.
	Influential race-focused thinkers like Jared Taylor believe that Western civilization is a direct result of IQ and dependent on a certain average level being maintained.
	Western culture is also considered to be a direct expression of white genes, which is not strictly connected to IQ, though it is, to some extent, which is never substantiated but assumed to be correct.
	Each different culture is usually considered to be directly representative of the genes of the population that expresses it, although there is a lot of flexibility in this and very little of substance to confirm or deny this argument.
	Some in the alt-rights believe that there is an inherent altruism to white nature.
	The migrant crisis and mass immigration is often considered to be part of the innate goodness of white people and is not found outside of the white race.
	In addition to this, there is a common belief that first world countries are white countries and you cannot have a first world country with a white minority and a non-white majority.
	4. National segregation Naturally due to the previous factors, the alt-right is consistent in the desire for racial segregation by nation, to an overwhelmingly large percentage, with some demanding zero non-white citizens and others being accepting of 5-10% non-white.
	However, it is always desired that this figure be as low as possible.
	This is based on the principles of nationalism and self-determination, presumably using Westphalian sovereignty as the moral or legal impetus, although I am yet to come across a self-identified alt-right person who has elucidated it in this way.
	It's important not to conflate this desire for white national integrity with white supremacy, as many in the alt-right will make it explicitly clear that they are not advocates of genocide or oppression of any race and simply want distinct racial groups separated from each other.
	I want to go on record because a lot of people are confused.
	They say, Paul, are you a white supremacist or you're a white nationalist or whatever?
	Okay, I just want to go on record.
	I fucking hate white supremacist.
	I hate them.
	I have nothing to do with white supremacist.
	I don't have anything to do with any supremac group.
	I'm a nationalist.
	It's totally opposite from a supremist.
	And if you're going to be a supremist and carry pictures of Hitler and dressed in a Nazi uniform, you ain't going to make it with anyone anyhow.
	Kind of like the Beatles say.
	So what's the difference between a supremist and a nationalist?
	It's easy.
	Being a nationalist, I love it when people have like their 150 bullet points what it means to be a nationalist.
	No, it's two things, two things only.
	This is simple.
	This is like the creed.
	Remember it.
	To be a nationalist is, do you believe a people have the right to exist as a people and do you believe they have a right to self-determination, meaning maintaining their culture and their identity?
	That's it, that's all it means.
	However, there is a vocal minority within the alt-right who are white supremacists and do hold to supremacist beliefs, although even they understand the point of good PR.
	5. Anti-immigration.
	The alt-right is categorically against large-scale non-white immigration to white majority nations.
	Certain racial groups might be considered by some to be preferential to accept as immigrants due to IQ and social factors, but it is still assumed that they will not be genetically predisposed to sustaining Western culture and will change the cultural character of any nations to which they emigrate, regardless of intent.
	6. Collectivism.
	The alt-right is a collectivist movement that is concerned primarily with the survival of Western culture and the white race.
	There are adherents that believe that preferential treatment and rights should be expanded to native groups over immigrant groups, but it is unknown as to how many people hold this view or in what degree.
	7. Authoritarianism.
	The alt-right contains a strong current of authoritarianism, and many of the policies people in the alt-right actively promote require it in some way.
	The alt-right is in favour of social engineering.
	Statistics can be used heuristically to create an understanding and advocacy for policy determined on innate characteristics.
	These ideas often take the form of legal or financial incentives.
	The impetus for this is a common perception that white or western culture has degenerated, and to restore it to its once former glory will require a firm hand.
	8. Traditionalism.
	The alt-right is broadly traditionalist, with almost all adherents being traditionalist to some degree, although there is certainly a great deal of variance from person to person, and non-traditionalists are a part of the community.
	Many desire what would be considered an actual patriarchy, and consider the loss of this system as a major contributing factor to the decline of society.
	It's almost universally accepted that feminism has played a major role in the destruction of the nuclear family, and this is a detriment to Western civilization.
	Many in the alt-right believe that this is part of a Jewish conspiracy, and a return to traditional values will help prevent the decline.
	The amount that alt-right adherents seek to turn back the clock in this regard varies from person to person, with some seeking just an end to the demonization of men in popular culture, to others seeking to rescind suffrage from women altogether.
	9. Anti-Enlightenment Values There is a distinct strain of thought within the alt-right that objects to concepts produced or valued by Enlightenment thinkers, either in part or in whole, such as secularism, egalitarianism, democracy, individualism, and more modern concepts such as human rights.
	While this is a position espoused by some, it's not a universal characteristic, and is often deeply divisive within the community.
	This is usually referred to as the dark enlightenment.
	Combined with previous factors, this leads to occasions where people in the alt-right community will advocate for mildly anti-meritocratic ideas in pursuit of the goal of group protection.
	Meritocracy certainly has an importance to many, but it is rarely considered the most important value, always coming second to the needs of the group.
	10. Religion.
	Most in the alt-right consider religions other than Christianity, especially Islam, to be an enemy out-group.
	However, this does not mean that, in the case of Islam, members of the alt-right don't have severe disagreements with specific aspects of Islamic dogma.
	Christianity is broadly considered to be the traditional religion of Western culture, and white people, as a cultural node reaching back into history and anchor white people to their past.
	The depth of this belief varies according to religiosity, with some inclined towards atheism or agnosticism, and others considering Christianity a fundamental part of traditionalism.
	There is a significant number of neo-pagans who promote a revival of indigenous European religious rights as a more authentic representation of European religious expression, although these are not a majority.
	Some consider Christianity itself to be a foreign influence that should be expunged.
	11. Homosexuality and drug use.
	A significant number of people in the alt-right believe that the use of any type of intoxicants is degenerate, but many others are quite accepting of alcohol, nicotine, or drug use.
	It's not a consistent feature, but it is discussed.
	Homosexuality and its gradient expressions is another controversial topic, with many on both sides of the issue.
	However, it's viewed in a slightly negative light, probably due to the prominent traditionalist bias, and that the overwhelming majority of the members of the alt-right are heterosexual.
	12. The Jews.
	While anti-Semitism is not universal in the alt-right, it does find strong expression with a large number of adherents.
	There are a small number of Jewish people who identify as alt-right, and the acceptance of these people varies, with some considering them to be white.
	However, the question of Jews or a Jewish conspiracy is definitely a controversial and frequently discussed topic within the alt-right, with a significant variety of opinion held by many members to varying degrees.
	Some believe in a worldwide Jewish conspiracy to eradicate the white race, some do not believe in a conspiracy but are still deeply anti-Semitic.
	Some people believe Jews are simply overrepresented in certain vocations because the Jews work as an effective racial group, demonstrating in-group preference and should be competed with in the same way.
	13. Economics.
	Many people who identify as alt-right find the movement coming from a libertarian economic position, and as such these people have a strong focus on libertarian economic theory.
	There seems to be a divergence of opinion on the subject, but not along pro- or anti-lines, but instead along interested or disinterested lines.
	Many alt-right members do not care about economics as a discipline, and therefore pay it little attention.
	Economists that are popular with the alt-right include Murray Rothbard, who is Jewish, and Hans Hermann Hope.
	How popular these economists are is unknown, but Rothbard probably receives substantial criticism due to his ancestry.
	14. Racial Purity.
	Racial purity is certainly an issue across the alt-right, although, as with other subjects, the degree of importance placed on this varies widely.
	100% racial purity is certainly prestigious, but it is not something that disqualifies one from being a member of the alt-right, as the Jewish adherents demonstrate.
	Racial purity is more likely to be used as a method of pride or a source of mockery towards any individual of unusually pure or impure ancestry.
	I have been informed that there are apparently one or two black individuals within the alt-right, although I have not seen any evidence of this, and it would certainly be the exception.
	The white race is not necessarily considered to be superior to other races.
	The prime example of this is that East Asians regularly perform better than Europeans on IQ tests, and some consider this to be a sign of the racial superiority of East Asians, although this will often be offset by the assertion that East Asians are less creative than Europeans.
	15. Vague generalities.
	As the alt-right is a collectivist racial identitarian movement, there is a distinct inclination to think in terms of groups instead of individuals, and make judgments and decisions on that basis.
	The use of statistical averages is key to almost every alt-right argument, and the application of these averages to determine what solutions should be promoted universally is generally considered to be an acceptable form of decision-making.
	There are certain circumstances that some members of the alt-right are willing to compromise on this over.
	However, for the most deeply held beliefs, this is not the case.
	Individual rights are considered less important than group rights, due to the perceived imminent danger of a white genocide and Muslim conquest of the West.
	This is not to say that members of the alt-right do not consider individual rights important, it's that the impending dangers override the importance of individual freedom.
	It seems that there is a common sentiment that individual rights are a good idea, but the danger is too great to take anything other than an authoritarian approach to the problem.
	16. Feelings are important.
	Although I suspect few in the alt-right would admit it, there is a deep will of emotion behind the alt-right as a movement, and their feelings are important.
	It is considered a moral imperative to preserve the white race, and the greater the size of the immigrant non-white communities in Western countries, the more pressing that imperative becomes.
	Many people in the alt-right, probably more specifically white nationalists, but not limited to them, believe that the nation or the white race is an extended family and would simply be more at home around white people, even if these people severely disagreed with them on an ideological level.
	The foreigner is the other, a competitor, and are therefore held in lower regard than a member of one's own race, in the same way that one might be more inclined to hire a family member than a complete stranger.
	Much of the energy behind this attitude is subjective and emotively rooted in the identity politics of white nationalism.
	Like all identity politics, it is irrational and tribal, and seems to take on an almost spiritual dimension.
	Justification for this position usually involves describing the history of the white race and the passing on of one's patrimony to future generations for them to inherit.
	This idea is lacking in detail and appears to be the high-minded ideal that many alt-right members hold as the greatest good.
	The fear of the reduction and eventual minority status of the white race and subsequent loss of white power over Western countries is the major driving force that keeps the alt-right politically active.
	Although there is a great depth of hatred for political correctness and anyone who promotes it, this would on its own probably not be enough to galvanise enough people to form a political movement.
	The emotional force generated by this fear, bottled up in the idea space of the alt-right and rejected from mainstream social dialogue, combined with the perceived attacks against not only the white race, but also individual members of the alt-right who conduct various types of activism on social media, make adherents to the alt-right particularly passionate about their cause.
	17. Fanaticism Put simply, there are many people who consider themselves a part of the alt-right who could accurately be described as fanatical.
	They love being a part of their in-group, they love fighting with other ideological groups on social media through memes or shitposting, and they are convinced beyond a shadow of the doubt that their cause is just and their methods apt.
	Functionally, these people are no different to social justice warriors.
	In many ways, the alt-right is the ideological mirror of the progressive left, believing that all the same issues are valid political topics to be approached from a different direction using the same tools such as collectivism and authoritarianism.
	Those politically partisan to their cause use many tactics that are employed by SJWs.
	Name-calling, mislabeling, cherry-picking, narrative crafting, mobbing on social media, and extreme bias are all found in the more die-hard alt-right activists.
	However, this is not a description of all or necessarily even most of the alt-right.
	It's hard to judge how many people there are involved in this kind of activism, but it's probably a very loud minority drowning out the more reasonable voices with exceptionally polarised and inflammatory rhetoric.
	Often these methods are deliberately chosen to grab attention and make people listen, but it is understood by most that in the long run, this probably does more harm than good.
	Conclusions: The alt-right is a movement of people who think they are justified in what they're doing.
	It is ideologically outside of mainstream political discourse for now.
	It has gained strength through the pathological altruism of the Western political class, particularly in Europe, and the popular undercurrent of resentment against political correctness.
	Ironically, social justice warriors, the strongest advocates for political correctness, are opening the door to the alt-right becoming a mainstream political event.
	By framing the argument as the progressive left advocating for minorities against whites, they have set the stage for a group to become the antagonist for this position, which is precisely what the alt-right is.
	Entertaining the complaints of the progressive left has made arguments from identity politics a legitimate area of discussion, and the alt-right are capitalising on that by presenting the anti-white agenda of the SJWs as proof of an attack on white people because it is.
	The question of whether this attack has teeth is irrelevant.
	The progressive left have used liberal guilt to advance an agenda that is focused largely around racism and advocacy against whites, and that has been instrumental in the coalescing and growth of the alt-right to position themselves as advocates for whites.
	Needless to say, the alt-rights are not liberals or conservatives, and nor do they claim to be.
	They are as radical as their counterparts on the authoritarian left, as they both desire massive changes to the system.
	The formation of these two ideological positions, both in opposition to liberalism, is reminiscent of the ideological divide between Nazis and communists in 1930s Germany.
	That one side are avowed Marxists and the other demands racial nationalization and takes serious issues with Jews is surely not a surprise.
	Collectivism is once more on the march.
	It considers itself justified and it is manifesting itself in its old Marxist and racialist forms.
	The intellectual history of the West is repeating itself.

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