The Gathering Storm; A Visceral Anger in the Heart of America

Fred Reed discusses the coming backlash to progressive fascism.  Anger is simmering, soon to boil over.  Or as Fred puts it, "Payback's a Bitch!"

He writes:

We are dealing with things visceral, not rational. Confusing the two is dangerous. Hatreds can boil over as syllogisms cannot. The banning of the flag infuriates, for example, me. Why? Although a Southerner by raising, I would far prefer to live in New York City than in Memphis. Yet I value my boyhood in Virginia and Alabama. My ancestors go back to the house of Burgesses, and I remember long slow summer days on the Rappahannock and in the limestone of Athens, Alabama.

When the federal government and the talking heads want to ban my past—here, permit me to exit momentarily the fraudulent objectivity of literature—I hate the sonsofbitches.

A lot of people quietly hate the sonsofbitches.

To them, to us, the Confederate flag stands for resistance to control from afar, to meddling and instruction from people we detest. It is the flag of “Leave me the hell alone.” And this Washington, Boston, and New York will…not…do.

Read it all here.

Federal Judge Cancels the Washington Redskins Trademark Name

This just in from the Washington Weekly News:

For the first time in a legal battle that has stretched over 20 years, a federal judge on Wednesday ordered the cancellation of the Washington Redskins’ trademark registration, ruling that the team name may be disparaging to Native Americans.

The team had sued in federal court in Alexandria seeking to overturn a ruling last year by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. It argued that the name honors Native Americans and that canceling the trademark infringes on its free-speech rights because it requires the government to judge whether the name is offensive.

In rejecting the team’s free-speech argument, Lee’s 70-page ruling cited a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last month allowing the state of Texas to bar depiction of the Confederate battle flag on specialty license plates sought by the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

Just as Texas could not be forced to issue license plates depicting a flag considered offensive, Lee said the Patent and Trademark Office cannot be forced to register a trademark that is deemed disparaging.

The censorship continues, and American Fascism advances in its Gramsci-like march through the institutions, thanks to federal courts of law.  I guess "the Washington Confederates" would be totally out of the question.

Here are the characteristics of these federally advanced fascistic censorship drives:
1.  They usually involve non-white ethnicities.  Great priority is given to complaining minorities, and little priority to white people's concerns.
2.  They are highly subjective.  What is or is not "disparaging" or "offensive" is in the eye of the beholder.  This is what gripes me most.  These decisions are not based on polls, or a democratic vote, or a finding of facts -- they are based on the subjective impressions and biases of government bureaucrats, who rule by decree rather than law.
3.  They oppress and suppress the freedoms of those with different opinions.  The current cultural cleansing going on is nothing less than thought control or even thought crimes.  Those who insist on a negative interpretation of symbols, flags and football team names are practicing "viewpoint discrimination."  They are using the force of law to enforce their subjective biases on the population as a whole.  

All of this results in thought control, the politicization of history and viewpoint discrimination.  It is far more divisive than unifying, and stokes far more hatred and resentment than it does peace and harmony.

Note to Robert Stacy McCain: Now I Understand Your Blogging Focus

Up until Barack Obama was re-elected, Robert Stacy McCain wrote excellent expository essays on the tyranny and destructiveness of liberalism.  Then he apparently gave up the general fight against the left, and just focused on the foolishness of feminism.

I regretted this, because feminism has limited interest for me.  I missed McCain's essays, which I found informative and educational.  After this past week to ten days, I began to understand why McCain more or less dropped out of the general fight.  Conservatism has lost the battle.  The Republican Party is weak and ineffective. The culture wars have been lost to the left.  America is now someplace else, something other than the country we all loved.

Perhaps McCain realized that there is little we can do to turn back the tide of progressivism.  The Supreme Court has become a farce.  Profound ignorance of history, particularly that of the South, grows by leaps and bounds.  The country has become increasingly intolerant of traditional Americanism, e.g., Christianity, traditional marriage, Confederate history, flags and symbols. It will probably get worse, not better. I no longer feel that I belong here, that I am a stranger in a strange land.  What's the point?

So McCain has seemingly picked one small front in our losing battle for freedom.  I now share this feeling of futility.  For the time being, I will cease the general battle as well, and concentrate on fighting the Northern Myth of history.  Will I help turn the tide?  Probably not in our lifetimes.

So I'll do what little I can on a smaller front.  And I will write about non-political subjects that interest me. For now, anyway.

Jonathan Chait: Political Correctness is "a Kind of Virtual Mental Prison."

Jonathan Chait has written a controversial essay for New York magazine on the subject of "political correctness":  Not a Very P.C. Thing to Say hat tip American Power.  Chait's explanation of this phenomenon is that it is a form of censure, thought control, permanent control of public discussion so that only certain memes and themes may be advanced, with any opposing views silenced and ostracized.  Political correctness is a new form of Stalinism (my description, not Chait's).

The goal of political correctness is to shut down debate on subjects beloved by the left.  Criticism, opposing ideas are forbidden.  The result is that in leftist venues like the college campus, a hostile culture and work environment holds sway over the populace.  A hyper-sensitivity to any imagined race or gender bias exists, and those who inadvertently trigger it are to be publicly humiliated, excoriated and socially and professionally ostracized.  This is the P.C, environment, which Chait has described as a "kind of virtual mental prison."

Political correctness is tyranny.  That's why I have been determined to say what I think in this blog, regardless of who it may offend.

If you have recently been enrolled in college courses, you probably noticed the strange culture that exists on campuses.  Attitudes about race, sex, gender and economics seem bizarre, odd and alien.  That is because of the intellectual bubble in which the left lives, the false reality they have constructed for themselves.  Their values are warped and unnatural.  You find yourself tip-toeing around crowds of weirdos to avoid giving offense and bringing down the anger of the strange alien masses.  Take a good look, for this is what America will look like if they have their way.

Cracker Barrel Reverses Itself: Restores Duck Dynasty Products to Its Stores

Spooked by the Duck Dynasty controversy, Cracker Barrel (a sponsor of the show) removed all Duck Dynasty products from its shelves.  In our highly-charged, leftwing culture, people and companies have good reason to fear an economic backlash for views not preapproved by leftist gate keepers.  Cracker Barrel, no doubt fearing an economic boycott from the left, panicked.

Now it seems a huge outpouring of public condemnation has changed the minds of Cracker Barrel Management.  They have apologized and report that all Duck Dynasty products are being returned to their shelves.

Wow, imagine that.

Read about it here.

The War on Christmas: Elvis and Antonio Gramsci

Christmas!  Think of the Elvis song, "Merry Christmas Baby!"  The lyrics go --

Merry, merry Christmas, baby 

Sure did treat me nice 

I said merry Christmas, baby 

Sure did treat me nice 

Gave me diamond rings for Christmas 

Now I'm living in paradise 

Well, I'm feeling mighty fine 

Got good music on my radio 

Well, I'm feeling mighty fine 

Got good music on my radio 

Well, I want to kiss you, baby 

While you're standing 'neath the mistletoe

I like this -- it's a bluesy song for Christmas.  Not too sentimentally sappy for my tastes.  Whatever you think of Christmas, however, it is a cheerful holiday filled with lovely songs, bright colors and lights, and reunions of family and friends.  Brotherhood.  Family traditions.  Good food.  Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, and all that.  I like it a lot.

So why the leftist push to ban Christmas from the public consciousness?  The ACLU has been suing schools and other institutions for years now, to prevent them from singing or playing Christmas carols, or even saying "Merry Christmas" in the spoken or written word.  Why does the left attack Christmas?  

I suspect it goes back to the Italian Communist, Antonio Gramsci, who believed that, before Communism could be instituted in any nation, Christianity must be suppressed.  As long as it exists, people will be more loyal to religion than they will be to the state.  Christianity was too much of a competitor for the hearts and minds of people, so it had to go.

Even modern day "progressives," who may not be raging Communists, still oppose Christianity, as it interferes with their social and political goals.  Christians tend to believe that homosexuality is sinful and undesirable.  They are thus more apt to oppose leftist initiatives like gay marriage and changes to the military -- not to mention forcing employers to violate their faith by providing birth control as part of their medical insurance for employees.

Christians are also apt to see the unborn as human beings and thus oppose abortion.  The "right" to an abortion is considered a holy sacrament to the left.  It is an effective means of population control, and controlling the populace is what the left is all about.

Finally, Christianity supports the traditional, nuclear family, where anti-progressive beliefs are fostered and passed from one generation to the next.  The left hates the nuclear family.  Before man can be remade and remolded into an obedient servant for the state, the nuclear family must be ended.  

Christianity can't be abolished overnight, so  the left seeks to dilute its power over time.  They do this by substituting "Happy Holidays" for "Merry Christmas," and by banning Christmas carols, creches and manger displays in the public square; and lately, by attempts to de-Christianize the military by warning soldiers that Evangelical Christians are actually subversives or extremists.  In the U.K., the de-Christianizing also includes welcoming millions of Muslims into the country, the financing of mosques, and public pressure to avoid "offending" them by displays of crosses and other Christian symbols.  

Anyway, that's how I see it.  One of the best ways to combat the Gramscian war on Christmas is to wish everyone you meet a a Merry Christmas!  And if someone is "offended" by this?  TOUGH.

That also explains my Christmas-y blog banner, which will be up through December.

Surviving Progressivism: Sultan Knish Explains How

If you read nothing else today, read Daniel Greenfield's essay at Sultan Knish:

Winning the Demographic War and the Cultural War

Daniel describes an emerging concept within traditionalist circles, that of cultural secession and the formation of tight-knit communities to eliminate the progressive programming of children.  This programming occurs by exposure to the mainstream media, academia and the entertainment industries.  He gives examples of existing communities where this is already happening, with encouraging results.

I have a more expansive post on this topic at Confederate Gray.

Has America Passed the Point of No Return? Have Progressives Finally Won the Future?

John Hinderaker at Powerline has a rather sobering post today:  Why Is This Election Close?

John believes that the country may have passed a point of no return.  He writes:

On paper, given Obama’s record, this election should be a cakewalk for the Republicans. Why isn’t it? I am afraid the answer may be that the country is closer to the point of no return than most of us believed. With over 100 million Americans receiving federal welfare benefits, millions more going on Social Security disability, and many millions on top of that living on entitlement programs–not to mention enormous numbers of public employees–we may have gotten to the point where the government economy is more important, in the short term, than the real economy. My father, the least cynical of men, used to quote a political philosopher to the effect that democracy will work until people figure out they can vote themselves money. I fear that time may have come.

Hinderaker quotes Andy McCarthy at National Review, who implicitly believes that the Gramsci vision has been realized, that the "long march through the institutions" has been accomplished, and that a large part of our country's culture and institutions, namely the media and academia, are in the firm control of the Left.  What's worse, is that the Republican establishment cannot fight them because it has accepted the Progressive framework, not arguing for its abolishment, but only that it be better executed.  McCarthy writes:

It has always been possible to run against elite opinion and win — if you make a compelling counter-case...Today’s Republicans do not. Indeed, they cannot, because they have accepted the progressive framework. Their argument is not that the welfare state, deficit spending, federalized education, sharia-democracy promotion, and the rest are bad policies. Their argument is not that Washington needs to be dramatically downsized. It is that progressive governance is fine but needs to be better executed.

My friend Lawrence Auster at View From the Right has long argued the same thing -- that the Republican establishment seeks a slightly different approach to liberalism, but not its defeat.  This is a very pessimistic view, but no doubt it contains a lot of truth.

If we do indeed lose the nation to another four years of progressive destruction, it may be time to consider some radical alternatives, e.g. a new political party, state nullification of unconstitutional laws, and even secession.

Read Hinderaker's article here.

Read McCarthy's article here.

Stogie Art: Piss Andres (Andres Serrano)

Andres Serrano is the "artist" who created the "Piss Christ" art, depicting a crucifix immersed in a jar of urine.  Donald Douglas has a post about this nasty little man at American Power today.  Check it out.

I decided to make my own art.  It's called "Piss Andres."  See below.