Years ago I did a show on what it means to be on the dissident right, but it was long enough ago to revisit the topic. Back when I did the show, hardly anyone used the term so it was a different conversation than today, when lots of people use it. In fact, far too many people recklessly throw around the label. Just because you got booted from your Facebook group for using the N-word does not make you a dissident.
What you see is lots of people who used to claim the label alt-right having stopped using that now discredited term and picking up this new label. Their opinions have not changed and their understanding has not changed. They just needed a new label so they scanned around and found one that had not be ruined yet. In many cases, these people have no coherent politics at all, just grievances.
Labels are important, especially in politics. The words in the label bring meaning and connotation, but the label should have its own definition. The white nationalists are not simply people who are white and patriotic. Hitler was white and a nationalist, but no educated person would call Hitler a white nationalist. The label white nationalist has meaning that transcends the words in the label.
Therein lies the danger with labels. The white nationalists have allowed the bad guys to define the label they use. It was not all their fault, as the bad guys control the organs of cultural production, so they were able to define the label. That said, the many wackos who have been allowed to use the label white nationalist have made it easy for the bad guys to anathematize the term by soaking it with their vitriol.
That is why it is important to control your language. This was one of the many errors made by the alt-right. They never bothered to provide a clear definition of what they meant by an alternative right. This allowed every weirdo and goofball looking for a home to lay claim to the label. If they had put some effort into defining their labels and controlling who used it, they would have avoided the weirdo problem.
That is the gist of the show this week. What it means to be a dissident in this time and place, as well as what it means to be dissident right. I have also sprinkled in some of the things I talked about at AmRen, so the people who were there will recognize some of the things at the end. This is a topic that could probably be made into some useful posts down the road.
Source: Dissident Thoughts | The Z Blog
No comments:
Post a Comment