Summary: Martin van Creveld warns about the consequences of alienating lower class white males from US society. It puts America at risk in ways we should see, but don’t – because our elites enjoy doing it.
“White Trash“
By Martin van Creveld. From his website, 5 September 2019.
Posted with his generous permission. Links added.
America and elsewhere, what has not been said about right wing “extremists”? That they are ignorant (which many are). That they are bigots (which many are). That they are boorish (which many of them are). That they are racists (which many are). That they are anti-Semites (which many are). That they are Nazis and supporters of Adolf Hitler (which some of them are). Also, that their number and penchant for violence, including lethal violence, is increasing. To the point where, the FBI claims, it now presents a serious threat not just to the victims and their neighbors but to society in general.
What is not often said is that, practically without exception, they are white men. People who, following over half a century of civil rights, women’s lib, gay lib, and immigration (both legal and illegal), have been turned into the most denigrated, most marginalized, most abused group in America. Nigger and Dago and Chink and Greaseball and Kike and queer and poofster (and butch) are out and may, if those who use them are unlucky, lead to legal action.
But Honkey, a derogatory slur meaning, originally, “white devil,” is in. So are “Hick,” “Hillbilly” (“often used as an insult and racial slur against White folks who live in the country”) “Redneck” “a poor white person without education, especially one living in the countryside in the southern US who has prejudiced, unfair and unreasonable beliefs”) and “White Trash.” To engage in homosexual, or lesbian, or “transgender” sex is chic, and anyone who considers it revolting had better hold his or her peace. But for a man of any color to have or merely try to have normal sex with a woman is to invite accusations of harassment, exploitation, abuse, and rape.
Every time a black person or a gay person or a woman have problems at school or at work, then that is because they are discriminated against. Every time a white one does, then that is because he (or, less often, she) has personality problems. One reason why all this is permitted is because straight whites have long turned into a minority in their own country. And whereas middle-upper middle- and upper class white men generally know how to defend themselves against such slurs if they really want to, blue collar men, whether because they do not have the necessary education or for other reasons, often do not. The emphasis, which in many places had been turned into a legal requirement, on “positive discrimination – as if discrimination could ever be “positive” – and “diversity” ensures that, when it comes to finding work, they are often relegated to the end of the queue; the consequences of this for their income and prospects hardly have to be pointed out.
Psychological research {e.g. here} has “discovered” that many right-wing extremists are thrill-seeking, impulsive, inflexible, obsessive, angry, have problems in facing anger, Above all, they have a desire to hurt others. In short, they are walking compilations of evil qualities. As so often, academia contributed by providing the necessary footnotes, thus causing the hunt to become respectable. What is hardly ever asked is whether the people in question may possibly have some reason to be what they are supposed to be – and whether some of the reasons in question are in any ways based on fact.
All these trends, and others like them, got under way in the 1960s and accelerated in the 1970s. In the 1980s they were to some extent held in check by Ronald Reagan; since then they have turned into a Niagara, particularly under Barak Obama. What might have happened if Hillary Clinton had won the 2016 elections hardly bears thinking about. Concentration camps for whiteys (said to be a “derogatory ethnic slur”), perhaps?
The outlook? As a Jew, I have no reason to sympathize with the kind of “white trash” I am referring to. Still, unless there is a radical change, “white trash” unquestionably will continue drinking beer, buying weapons, and chewing their wrath. A few, no doubt, will go off the rails and engage in terrorism, fourth-generation war, or whatever it is called.
Culminating, more likely than not, in something like The Handmaid’s Tale
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Editor’s afterword
The growth of America’s underclass is one of our most serious problems. It has many causes, with the most severe being collapse of our schools in poor neighborhoods, increased inequality, massive immigration, and cultural decay (which affects the poor most).
But, as always, the moral dimension is the most important. Poor minorities can console themselves as victims of oppressions past and present. These days status as victims gives them the highest of moral superiorities.
What about while males in the underclass? No matter how poor, or how abused they have been by our society, they are told to consider themselves “privileged” and “oppressors.” They are told that even women and minorities far above them on the social ladder are their victims. They are told that they are unworthy of pride and self-esteem. We have alienated them from America.
These young men are underbrush in our society, piling up against our fine McMansions and corporate campuses. We should wonder if a new group will arise to offer these young men pride and something to believe in. Perhaps also sharp-looking uniforms and spectacles – torches, marching, inspiring music, etc.
The Left has enjoyed creating this situation. Minorities and women loyal to them, their grievances exacerbated by Leftists stoking hate against an outsider group. It is a classic tactic, used across history because it works. But we might find the cost of their success to be high.
About the Author
Martin van Creveld is Professor Emeritus of History at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and one of the world’s most renowned experts on military history and strategy. See his Wikipedia entry.
The central role of Professor van Creveld in the development of theory about modern war is difficult to exaggerate. He has written 24 books about almost every significant aspect of war. See links to his articles at The Essential 4GW reading list: Martin van Creveld.
OF more general interest are his books about western culture: Men, Women & War: Do Women Belong in the Front Line?
To better understand our future, see his magnum opus – the dense but mind-opening The Rise and Decline of the State
His latest book is Hitler in Hell
For More Information
Ideas! For shopping ideas see my recommended books and films at Amazon.
If you liked this post, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. See all posts about racism, and especially these …
- The pilgrimage of Martin Luther King: an antidote to amnesia about our history.
- Eco-activists benefit from white privilege. Black protesters get gas & tasers.
- Left and Right use race as a way to divide America.
- America’s unspeakable problem: African-American’s crime rates.
- About a cause of America’s rising tide of hatred. We can still stop it.
- An anthropologist explains white privilege: what it is & does.
A warning from the past
Hitler in Hell.
By Martin van Creveld, professor emeritus of history at Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Hitler in Hell is the extreme version of an unauthorized autobiography. Let’s learn from “Hitler’s” insights as interpreted by one of the foremost historians of our time. From the publisher …
“After his death in the Berlin bunker, Adolf Hitler finds himself in Hell. To his surprise, he finds it to be a place of more tedium than torment, although he is depressed to learn that he will never see his beloved German Shepherd Blondi again because all dogs go to Heaven.
“With nothing better to do than to pass the time, Hitler reflects upon his life in light of the post-World War II world. He is boastful, unrepentant, and absolutely determined to tell his side of the story, set the record straight, and get even with his enemies – both his contemporaries and those who abused his legend since his demise. In Hell, Adolf Hitler is finally free to tell the true story of the Nazi Party, World War II, and the final solution that eventually came to be known as the Holocaust.
“Dr. Martin van Creveld is a military historian who is a major contributor to the literature of war. Professor Emeritus at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Dr. van Creveld is one of the world’s leading writers on military history and strategy, with a special interest in the future of war. He is fluent in Hebrew, German, Dutch, and English, and has authored more than twenty books.”
