Politics

Random Thoughts for December

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Hate to say I told you so

We must not therefore reproach each other with our mistakes and errors, but must guard against the only danger which peoples who have reached a high level of civilisation and knowledge need fear, the danger of false doctrines which imperceptibly undermine laws, morals and institutions. When Europe emerges from this violent crisis, she cannot perish except by wasting away. The day when the atheistic dogma of the sovereignty of the people replaces in politics the sacred dogma of the sovereignty of God; the day when Europe ceases to be Christian and monarchical, she will perish, and the sceptre of the world will pass to other hands.

This from Louis de Bonald writing in 1799, one of the defining figures of the Right, now called the Old Right to distinguish it from its contemporary pretenders. Is anyone giving this thought the consideration it deserves?

Rebellion, Tradition and Loud Music

This Traditionalist web site considers Black Metal music as the harbinger of tradition. Hardly the last word, it is not even the first word on the topic. Tradition is the opposite of rebellion, it is submission. We are left wondering what the Black Metal and Neofolk people are willing to submit to.

Republican Debates

  • Apart from Ron Paul, why do the Republican Debates sound like a meeting of the Gorillas in Planet of the Apes?
  • Michelle Bachman would be much more convincing if Iran threatened to wipe Florida or Colorado “off the map”. She needs to decide for which country she is running for President.
  • While most of us contribute money to the Federal government, Newt Gingrich can give us lessons on how to suck money out of it.
  • Rick Perry bobs his head when he talks just like George Bush. Must be a Texas thing.

V-I Day

  • The USA celebrated Victory in Iraq day this week. Except there was no pubic celebration. I don’t think there has been a victory celebration since 1945.
  • No Triumph for a General or President. Hussein and bin Laden should have been paraded around like Vircengetorix.
  • Mission Accomplished. That means we have deprived Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction and that it is safe to fly commercial airlines without begin searched…. Doesn’t it?

7 comments for “Random Thoughts for December”

  1. Boreas
    2011-12-18 at 6:12 pm

    “This Traditionalist web site considers Black Metal music as the harbinger of tradition.”

    Among single and separate individuals, subjectively, this may be the case. These people might just be the ones that have unerstood the traditional concept that “knowledge is better divuldeg than forgotten”. There are some individual cases that are promising and serious in their endeavours, and to take a symbolic an expression for this, they are “the scapegoats” in the eyes of both ordinary people and in the eyes of the “traditionalists”. Reminds me somewhat of Evola, actually.

    On a larger scale, black metal and the corresponding phenomena is far too chaotic, anarchic, rebellious, and revolutionary to be anything else than just another juvenile expression of frustration, hatred and nihilism.

    Reply
    • Graham
      2011-12-19 at 4:45 pm

      Boreas, who are these promising individual cases? If you could name a few and describe what makes them traditional or at least moving in that direction, I’d appreciate it.

      Reply
      • Enda Miller
        2011-12-26 at 4:02 pm

        http://www.hessian.org

        Anyone interested in “promising cases” may find this site interesting.

        Reply
  2. Graham
    2011-12-19 at 5:00 pm

    Here’s a topical essay by James O’meara:

    http://www.counter-currents.com/2011/11/white-rock/

    I asked him a similar question: “What trends within these genres [metal, new age, and alt folk] are working to meet Tradition’s standards?”

    Reply
  3. Michael
    2011-12-19 at 5:51 pm

    But isn’t Ron Paul about as far from the Old Right as you can get? I am not really a fan, but wouldn’t Santorum be closer to the Old Right (although still very far from it). Do you think that a return of Christianity and monarchy is desirable?

    Reply
    • Cologero
      2011-12-20 at 1:10 pm

      Please don’t confuse description with prescription. Perhaps you never saw the movie. The allusion was to the bellicosity and bloodlust of the candidates that was reminiscent of the gorillas.

      As for the Bonald quote, take it a sentence at a time. First of all, not everyone thinks Europe is in decline because its progressivist and liberal worldview is correct. It is addressed to those such as The Brussels Journal and similar sites who believe otherwise. Let’s be clear about what Bonald is saying.

      • The focus should not be on errors in execution in contingent things, but rather on higher principles.
      • Europe has reached a high level of civilisation and knowledge. Hence, what can destroy the civilisation is an attack on knowledge, which Bonald calls false doctrines.
      • The effects of these doctrines (e.g., the philosophes, the jacobins) take time, often longer than a human lifetime, so their effects in undermining order may be imperceptible.
      • In the aftermath of Revolution, the only danger to Europe is a “wasting away”. There is no, and there hasn’t been in several centuries, an existential threat to Europe from an external enemy.
      • The rallying cry of Jacobins and Bolsheviks is “power to the people”. Revolution is always atheistic, as Tomberg points out.
      • The true source of order is transcendental

      Bonald’s prognosis has come to pass, or appears to be. He offers a diagnosis. He doesn’t offer a cure.

      Reply
      • Michael
        2011-12-21 at 10:24 pm

        Thanks for elaborating on the post. I am new to many of concepts here and on Gornahoor so the additional background was very helpful.

        Reply

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