Squid Ink

If you scan the so-called conservative sites these days, the remarkable thing is the dullness of them. The writing is mediocre, at best, and the arguments are mostly washed-out ideas from the 80’s with a heavy dash of libertarianism. The major issues of this age, immigration, identity, populism, and nationalism are largely ignored. When they bother to pick them up, it is to take swings at the growing army of people to their right. The main role of so-called conservatism is to confuse and discourage the rank-and-file conservatives.

This old column from Jonah Goldberg is a good example. It is in the style that he has become mocked for of late. It is where he lards up his text with Borscht Belt gags, along with a bunch pointless dissembling. The post is supposed to take a stab at defining conservatism, but he just does a bunch of name dropping, while making a hash of the subject. His jocular style is intended to put the reader at ease, while his hemming and hawing is supposed to make it seem like conservatism is up for debate.

Now, Goldberg is just an affable guy, who does not want to cause any trouble, while pretending to be an intellectual. I am surely giving him too much credit for suggesting his incoherence is intentional. His latest book is so bad that I suffered from vicarious embarrassment while reviewing it. Even so, he is not alone. If you look around the so-called conservative intellectual space, it is a parade of mediocrities spouting banal nonsense that mostly defends the status quo against criticisms from the Right.

One argument against mediocrity is Ben Shapiro, who is pitched to us as a pint-sized wunderkind. He has a billionaire backer for his web site, a perch at National Review and the full support of Conservative Inc. If that stuff does not impress you, Shapiro did manage to get into Harvard at 16 and graduate at 20. Even the Left has started promoting him as the conservative voice of his generation. Here he is explaining the core principles of conservatism at a Young Americans Foundation event a couple of years ago.

In that speech, he starts out by claiming conservatism is about fairness of opportunity, rather than fairness of outcome. Then he says conservatism is about individual rights and individualism. He makes the point a few times that group identity is invalid, which is rather amusing coming from a guy who sports a yarmulke all the time. He actually says we should target people who discriminate and use the law against them. Not so long ago, conservatives warned that this was the ultimate goal of the Left. Now, here we are.

Individualism sounds fine, especially if you are a member of a small group hoping to topple the large group. If you can convince the large group that it is immoral for them to stick together, then you can pick them off one at a time. That is why there has never been a military organized around individualism. It is also why conservatism never embraced individualism. Deracinated and atomized people are easily conquered, which is why his people have made group loyalty their defining characteristic for a thousand years or more.

Shapiro is a smart guy, so he surely sees the contradictions. That means he says things about conservatism that he knows are false, or at least at odds with what has been the core of conservatism for centuries. Maybe it is just what sells, and he is just an ambitious person willing to do anything to get ahead. None of that really matters because the net effect is the same. The well-meaning young people who look to guys like Shapiro to put structure around their temperament are swimming in squid ink.

One reason conservationism is now a dog’s breakfast of libertarian nostrums and reworked liberal platitudes is that conservatism is short of conservatives. The people carrying the banner for Official Conservatism do not know the first thing about what it means to be conservative. It is as if they have spent their lives trying to avoid the great conservative thinkers. There is no trace of intellectual giants in the ideas of the modern conservative. Take for example the great quote from the philosopher Michael Oakeshott.

To be conservative, then, is to prefer the familiar to the unknown, to prefer the tried to the untried, fact to mystery, the actual to the possible, the limited to the unbounded, the near to the distant, the sufficient to the superabundant, the convenient to the perfect, present laughter to utopian bliss.

Now, it takes immense talent to write something so powerful and insightful with such an economy of language. No one can be blamed for not having that skill. On the other hand, how is it possible to read that, as a conservative, and not immediately understand that being on the Right is not about individualism or anti-racism or any of the other ridiculous fads popular on the Left? The answer is they are either too dumb to see it or they hope their readers don’t see it. In other words, the squid ink is intentional.

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Drake
Drake
6 years ago

My general observations on “conservative” writers and TV commentators.

If you:
– live in DC, New York, or Los Angeles
– are embarrassed by Trump or his supporters
– can’t find anything to cut in the federal budget
– believe we can compromise on gun control (as if we haven’t already)
– think the FBI, DOJ, IRS, CIA can be reformed from the inside
– worry about being labelled racist, Islamophobic, or anything else by your liberal friends…

…you probably aren’t conservative and I will be highly skeptical of anything you say.

Primi Pilus
Primi Pilus
6 years ago

Are there any examples from Western Civilization of a people rising up to correct the error of their own elites? Do we have any real control oover what the elites conceive and work to bring into being? Does our own founding represent such an act? Can we even reorient our own “conservative” elites toward original conservatism as described above? It’s obvious that Conservative Inc is a dead end, and that the Republican party has nothing to offer. Sobering realization for a registered Republican like myself to have gradually recognized over the past five years or so. As to their inability… Read more »

Saml Adams
Saml Adams
Reply to  Primi Pilus
6 years ago

Well there are examples, but generally these are “heads on pikes” (or the more modern equivalent) affairs.

Shane
Shane
Reply to  Primi Pilus
6 years ago

Maybe the Reconquista buts thats unclear. I think its something that Z has mentioned before but any successful coup requires an elite patronage at some point. If you consider the Nazi party it was only with the decapitation of the S.A that the support of the traditional German elite was cemented. The Bolsheviks in reality owed much of their success to the German Army, providing shelter for Lenin, then loading him into a train and dispatching him Eastwards like a guided missile to undermine an enemy in a state of crisis. Its debatable whether Apartheid would have fallen, or if… Read more »

Karl McHungus
Karl McHungus
Reply to  Shane
6 years ago

” it was only with the decapitation of the S.A that the support of the traditional German elite was cemented” — source please

Shane
Shane
Reply to  Karl McHungus
6 years ago

Night of the long knife, take Ernst Rohm’s quote ‘ Hitler has betrayed our proletariat’ at face value. Michael Burleigh The Third Reich. The S.A were effective street fighters but repellent to normies. Our situation throughout the West is very different to an extent. We’re more late Roman Empire or Ancient Athens. The concept of citizenship has been devalued so much that it’s as useful as a Happy Meal Badge.

Lineman
Lineman
Reply to  Primi Pilus
6 years ago

Without organization, we cannot hope to succeed. Following the existing leaders (excepting, perhaps, Trump) we are doomed to failure. Without a plan, we will be extinguished. Yea I agree wholeheartedly the thing is Brother that the people who understand that are still in the small minority because everyone is still too comfortable…My plan is still the same and that is to be Building Community because that’s where it starts and has the most impact on your daily life…Just imagine not paying any income taxes because all your trade and services were done with gold, silver, copper, lead… Imagine not paying… Read more »

A.B. Prosper
A.B. Prosper
Reply to  Lineman
6 years ago

First, the entire “Liberty Minded Community” precludes you getting it, Its a stupid idea on its face and just a variation of the run away from responsibility flogged these days as the Benedict Option If you are going to avoid being destroyed you must take power and you will use it. You aren’t avoiding paying for taxes and you are not going to live and let live. You are going to make people behave in a moral fashion, regulating marriage, the economy, media and a lot of things. This isn’t a Right Wing Christian nation and if it is one,… Read more »

LineInTheSand
LineInTheSand
Reply to  A.B. Prosper
6 years ago

Your critique of the “Liberty Minded Community” is spot on. Liberty only exists in a mostly white community. To advocate for liberty while ignoring its necessary preconditions is like advocating for a healthy diet for cadavers. Libertarians are either too unobservant or too cowardly to acknowledge this.

Shane
Shane
Reply to  LineInTheSand
6 years ago

Suburban White Boy Astrology

Karl McHungus
Karl McHungus
Reply to  Lineman
6 years ago

We have at least 16 years of (a) Trump!

rented mule
rented mule
Reply to  Primi Pilus
6 years ago

How about this for a plan, identify every player on the left, including financiers, intellectuals, judges,, professors national down to local politicians any and all apparatchiks. publicly identify them where they live family etc.. publish this information with something like a wiki type site that can be added to & modified as needed. Just the existence of a “list” so to speak might go a long way in heading off any violence the leftists have planned.

Karl McHungus
Karl McHungus
Reply to  rented mule
6 years ago

the person trying to do that, would end up dead before the site went live.

Shane
Shane
Reply to  Karl McHungus
6 years ago

Not necessarily. TOR seems pretty uncrackable. It’s more about who’s putting in the info and determining who’s side they’re on. Our’s (Gnon/God/Reality) or Dildolech.

Alzaebo
Alzaebo
Reply to  rented mule
6 years ago

Horowitz’ “Discover The Network” at FrontpageMag.com

Karl McHungus
Karl McHungus
Reply to  Primi Pilus
6 years ago

Every fukking time it’s tried. The “elite” are always a tiny minority, and therefore are always dependent on a praetorian guard — who are going to be natives/citizens. Our own political overclass has fukked themselves good this time. I think they are going to end up swinging or fleeing; they won’t be allowed to stay (or take their wealth with them).

Primi Pilus
Primi Pilus
Reply to  Karl McHungus
6 years ago

Could you elaborate a bit on why you think they’ve “done” themselves good this time (real question, not sarcasm)?

Duke Magoo
Duke Magoo
Reply to  Karl McHungus
6 years ago

Which elites are you referring to. There are so many.

imnobody00
imnobody00
6 years ago

To be conservative, then, is to prefer the familiar to the unknown” This is the problem. Conservatives prefer the versions of leftism that were popular when they grew up (the familiar) to the current’s year brand of leftism (the unknown). This way conservatism is only the rearguard of leftism. This is why Saphiro asks to use the law against discrimination As Chesterton said:”The business of progressives is to keep on making mistakes. The business of conservatism is to keep mistakes from being corrected” This is why conservatism is only a fake oposition, a valve of escape of the system, so… Read more »

dad29
Reply to  imnobody00
6 years ago

You mis-read Oakeshott. “Familiar” in his context means family, church, village. You also grant Leftism far more credit for insinuating its ‘values’ into society than Leftism deserves. If Leftism’s tenets were accepted by all, Trump would still be doing real estate deals.

Tax Slave
Tax Slave
Reply to  dad29
6 years ago

^this

Issac
Issac
Reply to  dad29
6 years ago

Famiy, Church, and Village in most of America are left of center by even thr standarda of the Bush era. Conservatives have absolutely moved to safeguard the Obama era liberal victories while continuing to distract their more resistant population with critical theatrics which amounted to nothing. One can plausibly doubt the left’s ability to hold court over all of society and that is precisely why the cons are still around. They soft sell a watered down version of the same swill to those who can see some of the problems with progressive ideation, but miss the larger paradigm shift. As… Read more »

imnobody00
imnobody00
Reply to  Issac
6 years ago

^^
this

tamaleman
Member
6 years ago

I’m wondering when Victor Davis Hanson will get the boot from NRO. He’s the only conservative left there.

james wilson
james wilson
Member
Reply to  tamaleman
6 years ago

That’s exactly why they are stuck with him. He’s the only one left. They have a foreboding of the snickering that would follow his dismissal. Meanwhile, VDH would not have described himself as a conservative in the past but he appears to be tweaking the Nancy boys at NR deliberately lately.

Saml Adams
Saml Adams
Reply to  tamaleman
6 years ago

The interesting thing about Hanson is he is the only one out there providing any historical context around why conservatism (for lack of a better term–maybe “classicism” would be better) matters. The rest are just chattering skulls just trying to knock out the next column, get another panel invite for shout TV and not say something that would knock them off the DC cocktail party circuit.

Epaminondas
Member
Reply to  tamaleman
6 years ago

I like VDH, but his asinine anti-Southern bigotry really grates. Where is that coming from?

Teapartydoc
Member
Reply to  Epaminondas
6 years ago

VDH was born and raised in California and spent most of his adult life in the university as a professor. There is a tendency for people to become creatures of their environments and he is not as exceptional as he would like to think.

Georgiaboy61
Georgiaboy61
Reply to  Epaminondas
6 years ago

Bigotry against white rural Southerners, especially conservative male Christians, is the last socially-acceptable prejudice in 21st-century America. They’re a safe target, so Hanson takes a potshot at them now and again.

Stck
Stck
Reply to  Epaminondas
6 years ago

Why California. If he were raised in Arizona this wouldn’t be a problem.

LineInTheSand
LineInTheSand
Reply to  tamaleman
6 years ago

VDH is a thoughtful and well-spoken gentleman. What I would give to hear his internal thoughts as he drives around his home town in rural CA that has been conquered by Hispanics. I suspect it would be less than genteel and make me somewhat uncomfortable.

Saml Adams
Saml Adams
Reply to  LineInTheSand
6 years ago

He does a podcast most weeks with the Hoover guys and often he talks in depth about the experiences around his farm. I’ve found his commentary in these to be the single most useful view into the impact of immigration in Califorinia.

Stick
Stick
Reply to  tamaleman
6 years ago

I would add Conrad Black to the list. Victor and Conrad are the only two reasons I visit NR. Once in awhile I will read McCarthy, but only to enjoy his recent maturity about the FBI and DOJ. Schadenfreude.

James LePore
Member
6 years ago

Small c conservatism is basically an attitude toward life: no debt, use your hands, understated living in all respects, obscurity as an ideal, fame as repugnant—a value system that is antithetical to any mainstream political ideology that currently exists, including large c Conservatism. The current political war is not between opposing ideologies but opposing ways of living and ways of thinking about living, the Dirt People vs. the Cloud People. This is becoming clearer everyday.

Bruce Charlton
Bruce Charlton
6 years ago

Surely the problem is that there is no such thing as non-religious conservatism – and never has been, nothing coherent – and that any genuine conservatism is subsumed by the religion of which it is a part? The major ‘political’ division is between theists and atheists (aka the Left) – those who believe that society should be structured in light of the divine; and those who believe that society should be structured in light of the hedonic states of mortal persons. Which, of course, means that all mainstream politics ( and public discourse) is on The Left (including all those… Read more »

dad29
Reply to  Bruce Charlton
6 years ago

You are absolutely correct in your major premise: atheism (or any serious deformation of Chistianity, such as Mohammedanism) is poison to genuine conservatism.

Oakeshott is, however, a good start for the un-informed.

Member
Reply to  dad29
6 years ago

Sorry to disagree. Christianity is only recently less destructive than Islam and then only in degree.

Rod1963
Rod1963
Reply to  erp617
6 years ago

The fact is they are not at all comparable. But it’s the typical view that most communists, progressives and militant atheists like Dawkins and his crew of “brights”. like to promote.

James Higham
Reply to  Bruce Charlton
6 years ago

“Surely the problem is that there is no such thing as non-religious conservatism – and never has been, nothing coherent – and that any genuine conservatism is subsumed by the religion of which it is a part? ”

Quite right, Bruce.

Shane
Shane
Reply to  Bruce Charlton
6 years ago

Hi, just wondering if you are the same Bruce Charlton of Bruce Charlton’s Notions. If so I’d like to say that I find your writings very interesting and would like to congratulate you on your work

JDN
JDN
Reply to  Shane
6 years ago

It is.

Dan Kurt
Dan Kurt
Member
Reply to  Bruce Charlton
6 years ago

Dear Z-man you have arrived. The Bruce Charlton has made an appearance.

Dan Kurt

Epaminondas
Member
6 years ago

Zman, your description of (((a small group))) makes me think you may have finally rounded third base. Or?

ronehjr
ronehjr
Reply to  Epaminondas
6 years ago

Zman has always understood the jewish question. He also understands basing a movement on this question is a loser, because of Naxalt, and the huge number of other problems with our people, and because it makes you look insane. I think Patrick little and Paul Nehlen are smart men. I wouldn’t vote for them over Paul Ryan or whomever Little was running against. They would eventually self-destruct because they are fundamentally not stable. Our movement should affirm our needs, not simply scapegoat other groups.

SidVic
SidVic
Member
6 years ago

I was listening to NPR and some photographer was discussing his photo of a child that had been set down and was crying. He was SHAKEN. This wasn’t a separation mind you. I started gagging so hard I almost had to pull over. Whatever you want to say about Trump, he has shaken loose the detritus. I have grown angry at the jewish ‘a tribe for me but not for thee’. Israel border- they shooting em. Israel black refugees they cutting deals with african countries and shipping them back. Our border…. well lets just leave it there. I would like… Read more »

ifrank
ifrank
Reply to  SidVic
6 years ago

why you listen NPR? bad for your mental health. i understand when libs in control, but why does our government fund NPR/PBS when conservatives in control…and don’t give me that crap about saving Big Bird!

Ursula
Ursula
Reply to  ifrank
6 years ago

Ah, the dulcet tones of NPR propaganda. So proper, so earnest, so easy on the ears.

David Wright
Member
Reply to  SidVic
6 years ago

Maybe whites should think tribally? You are aware of the Alt-Right and identitarian movements aren’t you?

james wilson
james wilson
Reply to  David Wright
6 years ago

Surely you read some HBD’ers? Tribalism has been, literally, bred out of northern Caucasians. Ironically, by the Church, who correctly saw the clan as it’s major threat to power. I do not dismiss the importance of white identity in a hostile environment, but that will evolve as other than tribalism.

Sidvic
Sidvic
Member
Reply to  David Wright
6 years ago

yes, i guess i should have expressed that more clearly. I would like to see a mainstream conservative ( eg republican senator) express that given that everything is identity politics now, that there is nothing wrong for whites to fight for their tribe. Essentially express some sort of support for the white identitarian movement. I don’t even catch a whiff of any republicans trying to shift the overton window. Maybe coulter come closest?

dad29
6 years ago

Perhaps Shapiro follows Levin’s very similar “individualism” (but NEVER tribalism, heh heh) line.

Levin is so individualistic that he screams his advocacy of unlimited no-tariff imports, which do not concern HIM as an individual, but only concern jobless US workers. Meantime, he spends quite a bit of time in a VERY tribal Israel.

DWEEZIL THE WEASEL
DWEEZIL THE WEASEL
6 years ago

There is an old saying: A Conservative is a liberal who has been mugged. Bromides and clichés aside, the whole Conservative-Liberal(Progressive Marxist rat bastards) arguments are moot at this point. Stop wasting time labeling and analyzing, for God’s sake. The enemy has been inside the gates for some time now. The gloves are off and the forces of darkness will stop at nothing to destroy our fundamental, God-given liberties enumerated in the BOR. It is all about prepping. PT, firearms familiarization and practice, storing needful things and other actions. Do not be like these fools in the Dead Elephant Party… Read more »

Lineman
Lineman
Reply to  DWEEZIL THE WEASEL
6 years ago

It is all about prepping. PT, firearms familiarization and practice, storing needful things and other actions.
That is all a good start Brother but like ferfal, Selco, and all those who have survived the chaos know and advocate for being in a Community of Self Sufficient People…

DWEEZIL THE WEASEL
DWEEZIL THE WEASEL
Reply to  Lineman
6 years ago

Thank you, my brother. I just started that building process with a new neighbor whose entire family are shootists. More to follow. Hope all is well with you and yours. I pray for all of you every day.

LineInTheSand
LineInTheSand
Reply to  DWEEZIL THE WEASEL
6 years ago

Conservatives were mugged but they ended up servicing their attackers.

Stick
Stick
Reply to  DWEEZIL THE WEASEL
6 years ago

I wish it were just Left to Right/Dem to Republican. The idea of a Left/Right continuum began during the French Revolution. What we face is something totally different – Nations versus Trans Nationalism. In an open border world both the Left and Right will be replaced by the bottom line. There will be no other metric other than profitability to measure success or failure and individuals will be ground down to mere gravel. That neither the Left or Right recognizes this outcome means we are in for interesting times. Trump gets the big picture and fights effectively for our civilization… Read more »

Dan Kurt
Dan Kurt
Member
Reply to  DWEEZIL THE WEASEL
6 years ago

bleib übrig. I was raised in a German speaking home, all four grandparents, until about age eight so I have some memories of the language. bleib übrig refers iin my memory to “left over” such as a left over piece of dessert such as a piece of pie. How are you using it.

Dan Kurt

DWEEZIL THE WEASEL
DWEEZIL THE WEASEL
Reply to  Dan Kurt
6 years ago

Mr. Kurt: The phrase “bleib ubrig” was used by Berliners in the waning days of WWII. They knew the Russian Steamroller would soon arrive. The most relevant translation would be: “survive”. It literally means: “remain whole” or “stay together”. My reference would be from Cornelius Ryan’s excellent book: THE LAST BATTLE. I also speak German.

Observer
Observer
6 years ago

An American or European conservatism based on tradition, religion, place, community & shared blood had no place for Jews. So Jews dismantled that conservatism & replaced it with one that they can control. For the slow, here’s how they did it. They established influence in Ivy League universities & mass media. Then they used that influence to change our perceptions of what was moral, intelligent & high status. Traditional, Christian, white-supporting behavior was stigmatized as stupid, lame & hateful. Conversely, pursuit of novelty, openness to outsiders, hostility to religion & harming white interests was lionized as cool, smart & moral.… Read more »

Ivan
Ivan
Reply to  Observer
6 years ago

I’ve always said being cool is just having the propensity for caring the least.

There are tales of WW2 about how cool the black GI’s were walking around leisurely under artillery bombardment while the white GI’s frantically took cover.

Wolf Barney
Wolf Barney
6 years ago

Little Ben Shapiro and Jonah Goldberg and others who believe——–er, scratch that, “preach” individualism, are going to be busy the next few years trying to swat down identity politics. The argument for whites playing identity politics because the rapidly-growing brown groups do, is catching on, and catching on fast. With multiculturalism and anti-white propaganda increasing, that’s going to continue. I don’t know how long Shapiro or Jordan Peterson will be able to keep dodging a debate (they’ll lose and they know it) with a competent pro-white guy. Also how long before a big name in the mainstream, say, a Tucker… Read more »

Tax Slave
Tax Slave
Reply to  Wolf Barney
6 years ago

The problem for Peterson is 1. He’s employed and gets his cred from academia. 2. He’s Canadian; a society that has wholeheartedly swallowed the multi-culti cult across the entire sociopolitical spectrum. If he were to relent and straightforwardly admit the truth about whites he’d not only be out of a job but he would face prison or exile.

Frolix 8
Frolix 8
Reply to  Tax Slave
6 years ago

Not all of us…sadly too many to count. Separation can’t happen soon enough.

Rod1963
Rod1963
Reply to  Wolf Barney
6 years ago

Peterson basically advocates for our side(minus the tribalism angle). He’s done more for getting young white heads on straight than our side could ever do. He does a far better job explaining the evils and dangers of PC/MC and feminism than we can. That said, no public figure is ever going to do what you want. First off it’s career suicide and they’d end up with needing around the clock security. As it is, people like Coulter and Carlson both get cussed at in public at airports, etc. Secondly it’s not needed. Ann Coulter does a excellent job just doing… Read more »

Frip
Member
Reply to  Rod1963
6 years ago

Rod: “Peterson’s done more for getting young white heads on straight than our side could ever do. He does a far better job explaining the evils and dangers of PC/MC and feminism than we can.”

From the last 2/3rds of your comment, you’re obviously aware that there has to be different roles for various parts of the Right. So no need to phrase it as a simple binary that depicts “our side” as sucking at this or that, compared to the soft Right.

Dan Kurt
Dan Kurt
Member
Reply to  Wolf Barney
6 years ago

My wife and I plan to take the 7 day Steyn Cruise this early Autumn. I will ask Steyn that question then.

Dan Kurt

LineInTheSand
LineInTheSand
Reply to  Dan Kurt
6 years ago

Give Jay Nordlinger a wedgie for me. [Correction: I thought you said “NRO Cruise.” I doubt Nordlinger will hang with Steyn if he isn’t required to.]

Anonymous White Male
Anonymous White Male
6 years ago

“In other words, the squid ink is intentional.” I think that you have titled this post Squid Ink is interesting. Squid ink is a very fashionable condiment these days. I personally think it is an excellent metaphor for the Emperor’s New Clothes. “Hey, let’s see if we can get these idiots to swallow squid ink. We’ll tell them that all the popular and educated foodies swear by it. Then we’ll be able to unload this 50 metric tons of squid ink we bought to sell to dye companies.” It’s just a matter of time before we see Shit Sandwich food… Read more »

Felix_Krull
Member
6 years ago

Hello. Master Pedant here!

That’s why there’s never been a military organized around individualism.

The anarchists in the Spanish Civil War were organized around individualism and had no formal command structures . Worked well for guerilla style action, not so much else.

Epaminondas
Member
Reply to  Felix_Krull
6 years ago

Whew! For a minute there I confused “pedant” with “pederast”. Getting old is alarming.

Joseph Suber
Joseph Suber
6 years ago

Andrew Anglin and Alex Jones get the living, breathing, laughing part of this thing we do; and they are just as persecuted by the establishment as anyone, but big enough to shrug it off, over and over. Our smart guys are smarter, AND our funny guys are funnier. That is my device for determining conservative, and not Conservative Inc; who is the squid ink trying to hide?

Member
6 years ago

A recent article at NRO is a perfect example of this. The article began by prattling about Sontag, et. al. and the destruction of the classical arts replaced with their post-modern drivel. Fair enough, but the article then went on to talk about how those proles on the right were following the same path and throwing away classical liberalism.

Observer
Observer
6 years ago

Although not exactly the slant of this article, conservatism is in tatters and retreat – free-fall actually. I’ve begun using the phrase Capitulation Conservatism. Author Jack Kerwick addresses that angle in many of his writings.

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2018/02/jack-kerwick/the-big-con-and-why-the-left-will-continue-to-win/

James Higham
6 years ago

Was talking to my mate about this:

“He has a very strange idea of conservatism, so does Vox Day – must be an American thing. Think he’s referring here to the McCains, Romneys, Ryans and to the good ole boys.

When I think conservative, I think of Z Man and Vox, of you, of a rollicking, dissident, satirical type.”

Z Man uses conservative as a pejorative, whereas I see it as Deplorable and good.

David Wright
Member
Reply to  James Higham
6 years ago

It is a pejorative in it’s present state and current media representatives.
The great conservatives or even good ones are all dead.

dad29
Reply to  David Wright
6 years ago

You never heard of Cdl. Burke? Pat Buchanan?

James Higham
Reply to  dad29
6 years ago

Yes I have, though I’m British.

LineInTheSand
LineInTheSand
Reply to  James Higham
6 years ago

Hang in there friend. Your people are in for a rough ride. We want you to win.

james wilson
james wilson
Reply to  James Higham
6 years ago

As your boy Chesterton warned a century ago a conservative often is the fellow doggedly conserving the liberal fads of two or three generations past as if they were his own while yelling stop to new forms of liberal creation. But in general, Z distinguishes between conservative and Conservative inc.

Karl McHungus
Karl McHungus
Reply to  james wilson
6 years ago

not to my reading. there are useful idiot conservatives who are ignorant of reality, and there are the knowingly traitorous “conservatives” that are enabled by the first group.

Haxo Angmark
6 years ago

the ink is kosher

Teapartydoc
Member
6 years ago

To a certain extent this reduction of conservatism to an ideology is not a new problem. When the Intercollegiate Studies Institute was getting started the first name proposed by the students was the Intercollegiate Society of Individualists. Russell Kirk talked them out of that. This is all about heresy. If you read early Christian history you find that heresy involves taking one part of the theological makeup of the Bible and putting it either out in front of all the others or ignoring the others altogether. In the first famous instance Arius had to ignore the first chapter of John’s… Read more »

Member
Reply to  Teapartydoc
6 years ago

“The finding of the Council of Nicea was that no, you can’t just ignore part of the Canon and then demand people go along with it. ” No, what you do is drop it from the Canon, problem solved. Or rather, slap together a “canon” in the first place (ironically, Marcion’s idea in the first place, then stolen and used against him by the future “Catholic” Church.

Severian
6 years ago

As much as I love him, Hobbes should get a lot of the blame here. His “social contract” can easily be read as an agreement between autonomous individuals (though doubtless he himself didn’t see it that way), and… well, there you go. The idea of the sovereign autonomous individual in the state of nature — which did not exist, and could never exist — gives a patina of legitimacy to a society of deracinated consumers. This is why the Leninist Left seized on “consent” and especially “democracy” to sell their snake oil, even though Marxism has nothing to do with… Read more »

fondatorey
Member
6 years ago

Overall the media is now 100% focused on flattering their payers: the individuals and foundations that fund media directly and indirectly (via “fellowships”, speaking fees, contracts for unread books etc). This stuff isn’t really for us, it’s for guys in their 70’s who never have to ask how much and want to believe they are an influence.

Observer
Observer
6 years ago

Hey Z Man, what are your thoughts on the disintegration of conservatism being assisted by left infiltration? Not the obvious false conservatives everyone sees, but on deeper levels?

Teapartydoc
Member
Reply to  Observer
6 years ago

Infiltration happens, but much of that is low level. One instance that comes to mind is Damon Linker in Richard John Neuhaus’ organization several years back. He worked as an intern and wrote a few articles, then came out with a hitpiece book on his experiences at First Things, which moved leftward after Neuhaus’ death. The lurch to the left was not by infiltration, but by establishment Catholics moving into the lacuna. Most of the problems start at the level of funding. Anytime someone wants to give money to an organization, they want some kind of quid pro quo in… Read more »

Swrichmond
Swrichmond
6 years ago

“Maybe it is just what sells and he is just an ambitious person willing to do anything to get ahead.”

This is the essence of politics as it is practiced.

Berty
Berty
6 years ago

I am impressed that Sessions found his testicles again in such a dramatic way. Now all he has to do is fire Mueller and I’ll have regained all the respect for him that I lost.

dmv gringo
dmv gringo
6 years ago

Fuck all of that nonsense!
America is supposed to be a Constitutional
republic and sovereign nation.
Fight for and defend it, on that basis alone,
or nothing else matters.
Purge it of illegal aliens, communists, and
treasonous shitbags, and it will most assuredly
give way to the beginning of America’s restoration
and a successful outcome.
Anything else is a waste.

dmv gringop
dmv gringop
Reply to  dmv gringo
6 years ago

FYI: Fighting does not involve phoning, writing,
or pathetically begging your Congressional
representative member of the treasonous Uniparty/D.C. dictatorship to do something.

Frip
Member
6 years ago

Goldberg: “An outfit called the Congressional Institute asked me to come speak to a bunch of Capitol Hill muckety-muck GOP aides on the question “Why Are You a Conservative?””

He wants to brag about being important enough to be asked to give speeches, yet give the impression that he’s still cool and not establishment at all, so he puts his square hosts and audience down. Reluctant hero schmuck.

David Wright
Member
Reply to  Frip
6 years ago

As Justin Raimondo would say, “are we to be spared nothing”.

Recusant
Recusant
6 years ago

I think we need to forget the Left:Right template. Conservatism is a disposition and not an ideology: Ideology needs to die.

Member
6 years ago

Apparently, I am not conservative if Oakshott’s definition is correct. I need to go back to calling myself a classical liberal and be done with it.

dad29
Reply to  erp617
6 years ago

Anybody who so carelessly slanders Christianity as YOU do can call yourself anything you want–but the best term is “Uninformed.”

Member
Reply to  dad29
6 years ago

I am informed, but most people have no idea of the history of Christianity, especially as preached by Jesuits. Some Protestant cults are less destructive than others, but all seek to control their adherents and promise, as does Islam, rewards in the next world and sublimation in this one.

dad29
Reply to  erp617
6 years ago

Your first mistake is equating the Jesuits with Catholicism.

Your second mistake is equating individual men with Christianity as a whole.

Other than that, you’re doing fine.

erp
Member
Reply to  dad29
6 years ago

I did neither.

Tax Slave
Tax Slave
6 years ago

That is indeed an excellent quote by Oakshott. A keeper.

Alois
Alois
6 years ago

Baby boomers are goddamn retards. The sooner they all die, the sooner we can have a real right wing party.

Ripple947
Ripple947
Reply to  Alois
6 years ago

That may be but Goldberg is Gen X and Shapiro is Millennial.

Stick
Stick
Reply to  Alois
6 years ago

Umm, the Millennials all think they are Harry Potter. The Boomers were at least creative and sometimes brave and self aware.

Frip
Member
6 years ago

The Oakshott quote, like many other iconic definitions of conservatism, always bring to my mind the image of the cautious grump. Some may imagine a Gary Cooper type. But I think of the sour faced uncle who’s always poo-pooing everything and is envious/afraid of anyone/anything dynamic, with personality, or charisma. “That’s not gonna work.”… “Overpaid show-offs!”…”This isn’t MUUUUSIC!” In other words, a simple reactionary. What’s admirable in the Oakshott quote is that he doesn’t try and disguise this, or dress it up with virtue. It’s matter of fact. He’s almost admitting that to be conservative is to be boring. If… Read more »

Duke Magoo
Duke Magoo
6 years ago

“To be conservative, then, is to prefer the familiar to the unknown, to prefer the tried to the untried, fact to mystery, the actual to the possible, the limited to the unbounded, the near to the distant, the sufficient to the superabundant, the convenient to the perfect, present laughter to utopian bliss.” If conservatism is comfortable stuck in a mud puddle, what does the author state about being a Liberal? The never appear comfortable anywhere, anytime … always angry or upset about things that have little to do with them personally. I think there is a lot more to being… Read more »

Member
6 years ago

“To be a conservative is to prefer … fact to mystery…” Well, I guess, there go the Catholics.

Frip
Member
6 years ago

Zman: “The people carrying the banner for Official Conservatism don’t know the first thing about what it means to be conservative. It is as if they have spent their lives trying to avoid the great conservative thinkers. There is no trace of the intellectual giants in the ideas of the modern conservative.” I think you’re exaggerating to the point of wrongness here. Even in the Goldberg article you link to, he’s saying truly conservative things all over the place. There’s lots of conservative thought in modern conservative writing/magazines, etc. But as you (elsewhere) and others say, it’s just lip service… Read more »

Harmonium
Harmonium
6 years ago

Ben Shapiro went to UCLA for undergrad actually, Harvard law. I detect a high decibel of jealousy against him at these sites. I believe it is because he is cute and he is Jewish. People don’t like Jews because they succeed.

dad29
Reply to  Harmonium
6 years ago

Whatever.

Ivan
Ivan
Reply to  Harmonium
6 years ago

Christians don’t like Jews because Christians raise their children to be good while Jews raise their children to be shrewd.