What Is History? Part 19
The fact is that New England has been so busy writing history that it hasn't had time to make it, while the South has been so busy making history that it hasn't had time to write it. —Henry Tucker Graham
Never attribute to malice what is more obviously due to stupidity or sloth. —Oscar Handlin
Nothing doth more hurt in a state than that cunning men pass for wise. —Francis Bacon
Past epochs never vanish completely, and blood still drips from all their wounds, even the most ancient. —Octavio Paz
A historical event is not the sum of its component factors but an indissoluble reality. —Octavio Paz
As societies grow decadent, the language grows decadent too. Words are used to disguise, not to illuminate, action: You liberate a city by destroying it. —Gore Vidal
It takes money to make money. —Proverbial
In war, men are nothing; a man is everything. —Napoleon
Empires crumble. There are no exceptions. —Oscar Wilde
If you can't do it with one shot, don't do it at all. —H. Ryder Haggard
Did you know that hundreds of black people attended the funeral of General Bedford Forrest in Memphis but black people (and also Jews) were not allowed at Lincoln's funeral in Springfield? —Clyde Wilson
Nothing is so difficult as life, nor so strange. —Mary Johnston
An American president can wreck his country and blow up the world, but he cannot recreate either of them. —Chilton Williamson, Jr.
. . . if immigrationists truly believe that all American land today is rightly Indian land, then they should cease advocating immigration. After all, more people coming here will increase the number of "thieves" who are stealing Indian land! —John Vinson
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Dr Wilson these are great pearls of wisdom, but most of them are too much to put on a bumper sticker. I like Oscar Wilde's quote, but most Americans are in denial about our imperial status. There are way too many bromides about spreading democracy.
Perhaps the black people attended Gen. Forrest's funeral to show their gratitude for his activities as a slave dealer (a pariah class in the ante-bellum South by the way). Illinois in those days was mostly controlled by the Democratic Party (which was why Lincoln was unable to realize his ambition to attain a seat in the national senate). Their beau ideal was Stephen Douglas, an alcoholic racist of the crudest sort and a plantation owner on the side (via his marriage into a southern slave-owning family). Lincoln admitted to his chagrine that the racial laws of Illinois were actually harsher than those of the reconstructed states of 1865 (those who applied for re-admission to the Union under the so-called 10% plan).
Mr. Van Oosbree @ 2
The blacks who attended General Forrest's funeral, having known the real man and not the one recast by the anti-culture, did not attend his funeral because they were compelled to or because they hated him, but, to the contrary because they respected or loved him.
Given what Lincoln held, said and acted out about Africans, one moment of "chagrin" could not have undone it. Yes, Union Louisiana was a hellhole for Africans compared to Confederate Louisiana. If that is what Lincoln meant, then there might have been some essence to it. Lincoln, as you know, also had a connection to slavery through his wife.
The spokesmen for the anti-culture cannot tolerate a "normal moment" in which men and women of one race pay their respects to a man of another. They cannot comprehend, yea, they cannot tolerate that there is in men Something which transcends our differences - not destroying, over coming them or even denouncing them. To admit that would be to admit that there is no need for "noble causes" in which men who believe in their own superior moral goodness, actually a profound evil, can make "righteous" and destructive war against others. Playing the Marxist narrative card of "race" and "slavery" is one of the weapons in that war.
I first understood the South in 1974 in the navy. I was in a boiler room with a Georgia boy, when someone called down the hatch announcing the arrival of a Georgian. My co-worker ran back to the fantail and asked "who's from Georgia?" A young black fellow raised his hand amidst the noise. When the helicopter had departed the next question was,"What river ya fish in?" The answer was some Indian name that sounded like loosy or hatchee. My buddy replied AWrahht, and went back to work.
There were no black sailors in the boiler room, and apparently all the racial tension that I had heard to be common in the South, simply evaporated.
robert m. peters @3 HEAR! HEAR! Well said sir.
The war on terror involves Saddam Hussein because of the nature of Saddam Hussein, the history of Saddam Hussein, and his willingness to terrorize himself.
-George W Bush
"Dictatorships start wars because they need external enemies to exert internal control over their own people."
- Richard Perle
"If the people only understood the rank injustice of our Money and Banking system, there would be a revolution before morning."
- Andrew Jackson
"The real rulers in Washington are invisible, and exercise power from behind the scenes."
- Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter, 1952
Very scary, George, but I believe it is a reality and we're just the pawns in the game. Even here on this blog site, we're just pawns in a fishbowl being watched with some semblance of humor.
@J Meng
I don't mind being ruled by an elite, elite's are a natural thing in society but it depends on who the elite are and people like Henry Kissinger who openly talk about a NWO and global government essentially are no Thomas Jefferson’s or the founding fathers or share the views of Kucinich and Ron Paul.
Although most Americans seem to share the viewpoints of Pearle, Kissinger, etc rather than constitutionalists like Ron Paul.
George, @8: I guess, George, it depends upon who is defining the word elite.
There was a time (during the 6th and 7th Centuries) when Irish monks were collectively the smartest and bravest men in the west. Alas the discipline, learning and reflection of their day education has been replaced with athletic scholarships to branches of state government and mechanized Six Sigma diploma mills to cater to a nation where every lower middle class child is a slovenly, ill-mannered genius. The modern university, college or school has no use of knowledge, in fact smart people are very scary. Maybe it's the large number of women and girly-men allowed into the professoriate.
Anyway we have an elite, but it's more like the one in Idiocracy.
The fact that blacks attended the funeral of Forrest illustrates that the reality of relations between blacks/whites, masters/servants in the antebellum south was a bit more complex than the simplistic picture usually portrayed in "history" books. For example, we almost never hear about free blacks who themselves owned slaves. In spite of slavery, the agrarian society of the south allowed for much normal human interaction even between masters and slaves, often resulting in a strong bond (I would even say love) between masters and slaves. Yes, there were bad masters and bad slaves (original sin knows no race or class), but the institution itself did not preclude the development of personal affection. By contrast, the industrial system viewed blacks and lower class whites pretty much as cannon fodder.
"An American president can wreck his country and blow up the world, but he cannot recreate either of them." —Chilton Williamson, Jr.
There is much that can be derived from this incisive observation. For me it is further evidence of the mystery of iniquity; of the bitter fruit generated by fallen human nature. It is a theme recurrent in history: destruction and the attempt to recreate, but it can never be. I can see it in my own flawed life.
"The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places, but still there is much that is fair; and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater."
--J.R.R. Tolkien
E. Gervaise @ 10
"The modern university, college or school has no use of knowledge; in fact smart people are very scary."
I don't know if you are a teacher, Mr. Gervaise, but if you aren't you are quite clairvoyant. What you have said is absolutely true.
If you so much as express a rational and conservative thought at a faculty conference, everyone else gets a terrified look on their faces, as if you had just suggested a round of arsenic. I grew tired of the Grand-Guignol aspects of it all, so I stopped attending these stupid meetings years ago.
I know what you mean Mr. Salemi. The cowardly irrelevance to real learning that is now the norm has to be seen to be believed. It is on such that billions are spent.
Remember in this age of irresponsibility that "facts are fascist" and average student will skate by.
Whoops! The average student will skate by...as long as he/ she is culturally sensitive.
It is actually the conscious position of some faculty members that every "fact" is socially conditioned, and therefore totally subject to revision or oblivion if the purposes of a social or political agenda are thereby furthered.
At an interview for prospective faculty members, one candidate gave a completely asinine, politicaly correct interpretation of the work of a particular poet. A thoughtful conservative faculty member (no, it wasn't me, guys) pointed out that this wasn't the work's meaning at all, if one understood when and where it was written.
The candidate answered -- I kid you not -- with these words: "It's what the work means TODAY." That's the kind of merde that's coming out of our graduate schools.
What do you expect from public education? It is just formal brainwashing. I learned more from just reading on my own than from grad school. Not to say that I didn't learn a lot in grad school, but there is just as much if not more conditioning in higher education anymore than actual teaching/learning going on.
#19, Robert Bruce
I heartily concur, Mr. Bruce. I got so fed up with the garbage being taught in my political science classes (this was in the early 1970's) that I started skipping class and going to the library to read. As my grades went down my real education improved. What is wrong with that picture? Years ago I learned the truth of John Randolph of Roanoke's remark that his education was "from my library at Roanoke and from intercourse with the world." So was mine (my library, of course, not his).
123
@J Meng
I’ve noticed there seem to be family dynasties in the global political spectrum especially in the US that have senior positions in government and media so much that it can’t just be coincidence.
There’s the infamous Rothschild’s and Rockefellers but also the Bush’s and the Brezinski’s.
Then there these senior people who have also been advisors for decades like Henry Kissinger and Arnies pal George Schultz who helped but Pinochet into power in Chile and international Rothschild front man George Soros who has been meddling in Europe for more than 2 decades.
There’s also global companies these guys are senior shareholders of like the Carlyle group and probably oil companies as well like Unocal and there dealings with the Taliban.
It has been said that the CIA owns AA airline and uses chartered flights to transport drugs from Florida.
Then there is there support of international Islamic terrorism created by Brezinski in 79 which western intelligence uses as mercenary forces as a proxy to fight against geopolitical and economic rivals which was evident in the show trail against Milosevic in The Hague.
George, @21: Are you sure you have the right person, because your comments don't follow anything I said here. Unless, of course, you are insinuating my membership in these infamous families, groups, and indiviudals. Which is it to be?
@J Meng
It was a response to comment @9 that I posted a couple of days ago that I was never published got a "Your comment is awaiting moderation" message.
So I reposted without the link to the news site about the CIA and drug trafficking and it got posted straight away.
I was basically pointing out that theses family clans seem to be at the forefront of political, financial and media some for generations like the Bush family and the fact they occupy senior positions in media and government policy.
George Bush’s brother Marvin was even running security WTC complex who’s contract ended on 9/11.
If democracy was what we are told it was then the likes of Pearle and the other Neocon’s would not have any platform or draft any foreign policy objectives at the AEI after there disastrous Iraq war fiasco.
People like Ron Paul can’t possibly come to the forefront of political spectrum as the system is set up for him not to.
You would need billions of dollars in political financing just to run for president plus the support of the media which is not independent and unbiased that’s pretty obvious in the run up to the Iraq war and how they cover the Balkans and if you do a basic review of the facts on 9/11 it is pretty obvious it was an inside job.
They finance and control the universities giving us distorted views on history.
The number of media moguls, journalists, judges and politicians that are members of CFR alone is amazing.
Yes, I have recognized that with the new format web links are not allowed to be posted. This is from recent personal experience. I agree with your thesis. The elites, whose governance we suffer from, are rich and powerful families who have usurped legal powers for their own ends. But, it seems history is redolent of these perverse actions in all forms of political organization. In other words, fallen human nature acting on its own will always lead to an elitism that is self-seeking and self-perpetuating and tyrannical. Of course, this has been detrimental to the majority of men. Until we submit to the teaching of Christ, this will be the road that nations will continually hoe and it leads to disaster, socically and spiritually. The question is: why do we continue to cooperate with their game plan?
I have a very brief comment here on this thread (without any internet links) that has been awaiting moderation for TWO DAYS. Is Miss Manners running the show now? I though we were hard-boiled right-wingers.
@14 Joseph
I am not officially a teacher. I work in construction. My opportunities to teach (and learn) are purely conversational, and occasionally involve adult beverages. I gave up meetings when I got out of project management, it had to do with the onset of Six Sigma and other forms of impersonal statistical quality control.
@25 Joesph
I think the obnoxious muck-rakers were given the boot. Leo and slim are two names that come to mind.
#18 Joseph Salemni writes about college faculty:"It is actually the conscious position of some faculty members that every “fact” is socially conditioned, and therefore totally subject to revision or oblivion if the purposes of a social or political agenda are thereby furthered."
Yes, this is too true and is based upon further facts such as the following poem. I am happy that three of the five good professors I had during my college days have now died before seeing their prophecies fulfilled in their own departments. It is exactly as you describe here:
A Job Interview at the English Department
They’re troubled that you lecture to the class.
You answer: “Students do not know a thing—
When dealing with a freshman who’s an ass
You can’t expect him suddenly to bring
Sharp insight to the study of a text.”
The Chair harrumphs and shuffles up some papers;
The others seem intolerably vexed
As if they had dyspepsia, or vapors.
A harridan from Women’s Studies asks
If you’re committed to transgendered readings.
You smile, and say the class has major tasks
And no time for such trivial proceedings.
They all looked pained, but someone keeps his cool
And thanks you for your visit to the school.
Mr. Meng, I don't claim to know for certain. But it seems to me that we cooperate simply to protect ourselves and our families against the possible consequences of criminal acts : job loss, bad reputation, public shame, jail sentences, maybe even death threats. I'm not saying this to blame anyone, or to sound contumelious. If you haven't read The Morality of Everyday Life yet, I would recommend it; parts of the book deal with topics related to the point you make, although in a different context.
29 Mr Ezzo:
There is always passive resistance as advocated by Gandhi.
This can take several forms depending on the circumstances:
1) With an objectionable superior (boss, manager) simply carry our his instructions to the letter; if necessary write down the instructions and read them back to get confirmation on the instructions.
With incompetent managers this action will bring any organization to a screeching halt, or get you fired which is just as well.
2) System change, government. I'm sure most people are aware that the root of all evil in our society is that the populace, most of which doesn't have 2 cents to rub together, refuses to buy, Buy, BUY, crap they don't need with money they don't have to impress people they don't like.
At least that's what all the talking heads would have us believe, parroting government flunkies most of which are unelected. Business types are whining and moaning when sales are down .5 or 1 or 2%.
Just imagine what would happen if the middle and upper middle class, those with a few dollars left for discretionary spending, did not heed the admonition to spend but simply stuffed the surplus coin into the proverbial mattress? And carried on with this treasonous action for say 2 to 3 years? Any speculation as to what would happen?
H.F. Wolff
Mr Gervaise, I have seen Six Sigma 'in action', and I cant say that it accomplishes anything at all. It's more like some minor pagan god that the bigwigs pay homage to in their corporate emails, but which in fact does not exist, or if he does, has no power to accomplish anything. In my experience, it has no impact or relevance in the day-to-day activity of getting the job done. I wonder why they even bother with it, and how much it may have hurt companies when it has been 'implemented'.
Actually I have to come back to this site because I happen to like those who write here, and find them generally sympathetic and correct on most points. Also, I find myself able to express opinions which I would not be able to elsewhere. Although I get angry when people like Mr.Allen make sweeping generalizations that non-whites are out to destroy America.
I am not European. Neither am I Christian. Our future is also here, as my fiancee points out and our children will be brought up amidst the values of this society, so I take an interest in the political debates going on in this country.
And no, we are not against Western Civilization. We mind our business and work hard to make a living like everyone else. There is no divorce in my family, no abortions I was ever aware of, and everyone has a college degree. This is so without being Christian. WE are not against Christians or Western Civilization, nor are we beneficiaries of affirmative action. Why should we be? Although my work is in economics, my actual degrees were in Classics and Philosophy. In fact, I see no problems with prayer in schools in a majority Christian country. This is so much better than handing out condoms in public schools which is the extent to which this country has descended to.
And I agree that Universities have become scary in silencing people who often speak the truth. I myself have gotten into trouble for some opinions I expressed in class, when I opposed a professor who was telling us that Rumi was gay. I mean who cares even if he were so? That does not diminish the greatness of the poet.
And while I agree with the fact that America cannot have open borders, I also see the difference between an Anne Coulter type of hacks who say olive complexioned people are inferior and a true conservative.
I want to know Mr. Allen how are we planning for the destruction of "White America."?
I mean our "future children" as I will be married at the end of the month.
@32: You and your husband and children may indeed be decent non-Christians. I say "may" only because I do not know you, but perhaps you may even be people I should like to know personally. I have close friends who are Jewish and atheist. That does not stop me from believing that Judaism is false and that atheism is a plague rotting away at Christendom for over 200 years. I deal with the world as it is.
But if American society was truly a Christian society, you and your family, being non-Christians, could never fully be a part of it, any more than I could be a part of Hindu society. If the U.S. is indeed a European and Christian civilisation (less and less so these days) then anyone who becomes part of it must embrace Christianity and European culture.
Sweeping generalisations are perhaps unfair to certain individuals, but it is nevertheless true that many people would like to partake in the benefits of Western Civilisation without truly becoming a part of it due to the sacrifices involved. To this end they often join forces with those attempting to make us less Christian and less European. They want it both ways: a large, "inclusive" society parasitically feeding off the capital of thousands of years of European civilisation while having their own little exclusive alien niche.
Of course they cannot be blamed too much for exerting this natural tendency. The fault lies more with cowardly Occidentals who do not stand up for what belongs to their own people and allow people to invade them.
P.S.: I just finished university in May 2008. I learned a lot in university, although almost everything I learned in my four years of undergraduate was completely negative; i.e., good examples of how NOT to do something. I will never pay to attend a university ever again and I will never let my children attend university unless a) it is something akin to a theological seminary, or b) there is a completely cynical reason. A total waste of my time, energy and brain power.
May 2007!
Yes there are some aspects of what I see in White America I am against–divorce, dysfunctional families, dropping out of college, the porno culture of mass media, producing children out of wedlock…But I fail to see how this makes me plot the destruction of “White America.”
Robert @ 28
Thank you for quoting my poem. Dr. Fleming also quoted from one of my poetic attempts a few weeks back. I guess when you are a poet you leave a big paper trail.
Gargi @ 38
No sane person believes that you are part of a plot to destroy White America. In fact, what you have said here over the last few weeks proves that you are a serious and intelligent person, and that America is lucky to have you here.
What many of us are concerned about is cultural and racial identity. This concern is not peculiar to us; all over the world one finds groups passionately anxious to maintain the things that historically define them. This is certainly the case with many Jews, and in India, at least until very recently, it would have been unheard-of for anyone to marry very far out of their caste. Indeed, isn't the product of a union between very separate castes called a "chandala," and isn't he one of the most despised of persons in traditional India? In Africa, tribalism is very intense, and will probably explode in this new century into frightful irredentist wars, as Africans grow increasingly fed up with the arbitrary boundaries of 19th-century colonialism.
All white people in America are asking is for the right to maintain their cultural and racial identity, and not be subjected to incessant and venomous propaganda that tries to shame them and ostracize them if they so much as mention these concerns. That is a human right as elemental and basic as any in the UN Charter.
Unrestricted immigration of non-Western peoples, when combined with the very virulent anti-Christian, anti-Western, and anti-traditional hostility of the left-liberal elites who dominate the media, academia, and most cultural institutions in this country, is a de facto recipe for our disappearance. Nobody voluntarily disappears.
NGPM, @34: well stated and I agree.
Everyone knows in my family that when people are here for more than a few generations, they tend to adopt the culture here and disappear here, perhaps not all, but most do so--we accept this as a fact for all those who have emigrated here. Kashmiri Brahmins and other Brahmins of the North can be blue or grey eyed, everyone has some of these types in their family, but it does not mean that the ones who look like this or are red haired are more intelligent than the black haired and dark eyed ones and the dark ones. My cousin's wife who is green eyed and red haired is really dumb; they live in Alabama and look like a mixed race couple when both are Brahmins and are not mixed in any way. I know they are not the norm but an exception. Appearances can be deceptive in this sense. So this whole whiteness business is ridiculous. Moreover, I cannot speak for all Kashmiri and other Brahmins. Some have married Christian Whites, some have married non-Brahmin Hindus, non-Hindu Asians and some have (very few) have married Brahmins or Kashmiris. So their identity is determined by their marriage choices. If I were to have children, my concern would be more will they be with someone who has traditional values, can last in a marriage, who has an education and comes from a family that values one and values marrige?
And as for making sacrifices for this culture, I have not met anyone from our community who does not not have a higher degree (mostly doctorates); it is a source of pride in our community to have doctorates even if it might be useless in the modern world. And it is a source of pride to be educated than to be a businessman. No one lives off the dole of the system here, and I think as responsible citizens who work hard and earn a living in a decent way, they give back plenty in this respect. I can only speak of our small community. So I fail to see what other sacrifices they are to make.
It is true that no country can have open borders or can rationally be expected to have one, everyone knows that the dominant civilizational ethos here is the Christian Western one.
Gargi @ 41
"Whiteness" has nothing to do with skin color or complexion. It is merely a term of convenience for certain cultural patterns and attitudes. Indeed, the people of Northern India are "Aryan" (another term of convenience), in the sense that they descend from the Indo-European conquerors who entered that great subcontinent millennia ago. The languages of Northern India are clearly derived from the same Proto-Indo-European source as most of the languages of Europe.
When you say "everyone knows that the dominant civilizational ethos here is the Christian Western one," you are correct in one sense. But surely you also know that there is a conscious and deliberate and sustained effort on the part of many persons in academia and the media and to change this given. Many of the persons involved in the effort are self-loathing white persons who will do anything to denigrate and debase their own hated heritage. You have been to a university, and you have said that it was "scary." Well, you're right. The faculty in most universities today are as frightening as the original Thugs in India. Think of the horrendous influence that they have in American society.
If the intellectual heritage of India in terms of Buddhism and Hinduism are mostly the work of Brahmins and there was a Sanskritization of peoples such that while Brahmins are hardly left there, the culture and intellectual ideals remain to a great extent, why cannot this be so in America? Most educated immigrants here I think respect the dominant heritage of this country and do not wish to subvert it, if not all immigrants.
Moreover, if the only woman that the conservatives here can come up with is Sarah Palin, then many people will be put off. Moreover, if a conservative movement does not have the support of wealthy Americans, it is not going to be a major movement. Most of the rich I see at work, do not have traditional values. It seems the wealthier you are here, the looser the values it seems to me from what I have observed.
@NGPM
"I will never pay to attend a university ever again and I will never let my children attend university unless a) it is something akin to a theological seminary, or b) there is a completely cynical reason. A total waste of my time, energy and brain power."
I would not say this of my University career and it has been a long one. I find my humanities education was mostly useless not in content but having to listen to stupid professors, but I learned something from even my stupid classes. You can get a bad grade if you do not agree with the professor--which is why I liked my Math classes and science classes--you either know the material or not, and Math sharpens and disciplines your mind. Also, I would encourage my kids to study Math and Science but make sure they get a proper humanities education by making them read a lot. The worst thing about college education here is how expensive it is. Especially how they make profits out of textbooks. It is a big business. The Diamond Sutra, the first printed book, says at the end: "Give it to whoever wants it." This is how education should be: free, of good quality, and available to whoever wants to and has the discipline to learn.
Gargi, @44: "The Diamond Sutra, the first printed book, says at the end: “Give it to whoever wants it.” This is how education should be: free, of good quality, and available to whoever wants to and has the discipline to learn."
As you probably know from your university education, Johannes Gutenberg invented a metal mold by which to cast movable type in 1439 and the first book printed was the Bible.
I absolutely disagree with the teaching of the Diamond Sutra which recommends free education. Education is the responsibility of the parents; they pay for it. Why should a Catholic parents who pay expensive tuition, uniform costs, books, etc., to send their children to a Catholic school be obliged to also pay for his neighbors' childrens' education at public school via the property tax? It is unjust and oppressive.
And, what do you mean by good quality? That phrase has been bandied about for decades. What does it mean? In this nation, for the most part, it means teaching our children how to be less loyal to their parents and more in tune with political correctness.
@Meng
The first printed book was the Diamond Sutra. It was brought to London by Aurel Stein from China; he lost several toes from frost bite for his dedication to scholarship during his expedition. Please correct me if I am wrong. It is still in the British Museum.
@Meng
Well I know that City College used to be called the Poor Man's Harvard. The standards have declined when they began open admissions, but if they had been able to maintain such a quality institution why is that a bad thing? Bye the way, City College once produced the greatest number of Nobel Laureates. Stop open admissions and have students take entrance exams and you will recover the quality. If students are not fit for college, have vocational schools.
Parents who do not want to send their kids to public schools do not have to. That is why there are private schools. I went to both Public and Private schools. I personally saw very little difference except in cosmetics--students who want to study will study.
@Meng
I think children turn out the way they do because parents do not give them a beating when they deserve it. Now kids can call 911 for child abuse if they are slapped.
Gargi, you clearly misunderstood. I did not mean to imply that non-whites are out to destroy America, nor was it a sweeping generalisation. That statement was aimed at the elites who manipulate ethnic groups and use immigration to advance a mad social agenda. AS I thought I made clear in that post, non-whites are often used as cannon fodder in this, and are thus also victims.
There are some however, who seem to harbor a malice toward whites, and are willing participants in the culture war.