I had the idea to write this much earlier this year but like many ideas it remained a (very short) draft and nothing more. With problems with computers, family and a recent return to my homeland, many posts that would have been have not been. Recent events, particularly those in Charlottesville got me thinking about it again.
I will class this as a ramble because as I write, I know where I want to go but I’m not sure how I’ll get there. I do want to make clear that this is not a personal attack on Spencer himself. Read on as I elaborate on this and see where I go with it.
Now to start with Spencer himself, I have to say that I quite like the man and long have. I can say I’ve been following him off and on since around 2010. This was after he left Takimag and when he ran the long defunct AlternativeRight.com website. At the time, I found the ideas published on the site very interesting although I wasn’t necessarily in agreement with a lot of them at the time. They were a breath of fresh air to me at the time though as I had become totally sick of the dominant political narratives and the asinine quarrels that made up mainstream political discourse. Reading about race, culture and identity was far more stimulating and then, as now, much more important though it is only now beginning to be the focus.
Spencer was one of very few people at the time writing about and more importantly, creating platforms where these things could be discussed in an open way. This also included digging up barely known books, articles and personalities from much earlier that had relevance today. Whatever you may think, this was important work and he has been courageous if only for being out front and open with views that will get you ostracised from mainstream society.
As of writing, there is a lot of infighting going on in the Alt-Right. Some of it is needed but a lot is unhelpful. Richard Spencer himself is not innocent in this regard but it is better for all that this sort of thing is avoided. As far as criticism of Spencer goes, I am generally in agreement with those who say he is naive about the media and has had made a series of tactical errors of late. I also have to add that I disagree widely with him about a number of very important issues. I have long felt that these a battles to be waged later though.
I have taken perhaps too much time here without getting to the point. A disagreement in particular I have with Spencer is with regards to his idea of pan-European society or societies. This is the mirage I am referring to in the title. There isn’t much to argue with Spencer about this as he frankly hasn’t been very coherent with this idea. The rhetoric has been decent such as his call to “become who we are” but the concrete ideas are really lacking. I have never read or heard him state with any clarity how this vision might work when given the opportunity.
One might say he is naive about the media but he is definitely naive about the idea that all white people can join together in any sort of concrete society. This may be possible in the United States but only because of the large populations of other races that make differences between European nations seem trivial. But this is the kind of thing you might see on a global scale were we to be invaded by aliens too. It would be an alliance born of an extreme situation and after a long period of inter-marrying.
Speaking from personal experience, I can recall minor ethnic conflict in Australia growing up between people of Greek and Italian decent and the Anglo-Irish majority. But I don’t just use my experience as before this there were conflicts between Irish and English which had origins in historical animosity and sectarianism between Catholics and Anglicans in Australia. That the relatively small (in hindsight) immigration of Greeks and Italians saw their integration through marriage and assimilation after a few generations is not itself proof that there can be a pan-Europeanism. Because despite the relatively small numbers, these people did change Australia and not necessarily for the better.
The point is, that even among white nations there are significant and readily observable differences. Just the way the experiment with the European Union has gone should be enough proof of this. However insignificant these differences might seem with the Western worlds current immigration woes, they will quickly come back once these woes are behind us.
This is why I support nationalism for all countries. Even the geographical and political arrangements as they are do not work well. Many countries (including the United States), would do well to split into smaller nations. And I hope and pray that this can be done peacefully rather than through bloody conflict. Of course, there is nothing wrong with loose confederations but I’d prefer this be done through the church (as in historical Europe) than through any secular body.