thomas leverett weblog

Rise of Nazism II

I know two people who fell for the general resurgence of white nationalism as represented by the swastika, or the general blaming of Jews for problems of the white culture, or the nation, in this case the USA. I should say that there are plenty of white nationalists who are not Nazis, i.e. don't specifically blame Jews for everything, yet still attracted to the rigid order presented by a guy like Trump. There are also people who blame Jews for everything, i.e. Palestinians and Palestinian supporters, who are not so rigid in their idea of how a government should look, but who are simply anti-Zionist or firmly against the Israeli state.

But these two acquaintances give some idea of why we occasionally see the swastika these days: underground, of course, but spreading like a disease. You want to bring back Hitler? Simply kill people that aren't like you? That idea is not as unacceptable as it used to be. It's possible to say and think all kinds of stuff.

The first swastika I saw was on the site of a distant relative. He's white, uneducated, in sorry shape; in short, a kind of person who has fallen out of the system as we know it, with not much chance of making it. I don't know him well, not at all in fact, but that's all I know about him. How could he put that on his site? It was on a knife, as part of a picture of his dinner, but the message was clear: he's reaching for the times of Hitler. He's not ashamed to show that, or let us know.

The second is a guy I knew through Quakerism. He was a more complex case; he had joined the army, come back, sought out Buddhism and Quakerism both as ways to curtail the rage inside him. Who was he mad at? In the end he blamed the Jews. He just took on this whole conspiracy idea, that there are Jews among us, who want us to fall into decadence and dissension, who are behind everything from gay marriage (control of Hollywood) to the Democratic Party (George Soros, or whoever). I find this kind of thing unacceptable, but I kept him on my facebook; facebook itself would remove him occasionally, as he would forward things that were blatantly race-baiting, provocative, and untrue. He seemed to be attracted to the idea that the culture was crumbling, and something within it was at fault. That to be strong, and survive, we must seek our own tribe of like others.

White nationalism takes a different form in Europe, where each country has a distinct white identity, separate from the others, and takes measures to limit the degree that that identity can be compromised racially. In the US it's always been more of an open question; this place wasn't white originally, and was established on the idea that others could come here, as we, the white Europeans did. So there's a much more realistic chance that the white majority will cease to be a majority, and whites are seeing their majority slip away at every turn. Thus the popularity of a guy like Trump, who, in spite of his corruption and every other problem, turns around and curses the caravan, or even pays the caravan to keep walking, so he can win re-election. He stokes the white nationalist flames, and can't even say anything bad about a guy who walks into a temple and shoots people. He won't rally the country against white nationalism, or its rise, as he represents it, in a very direct way. He doesn't wear the swastika. But it doesn't matter; everyone knows what he represents.

posted by tom @ 7:58 AM