United States Professor David Azerrad Verbally Owns American Conservatism

LordsFire

Internet Wizard
If you mean personally engaging in story-telling? I'm not, and if I did it would at best be fanfiction that explores themes favorable to my political leanings.

If you mean personally taking action in the culture war?
I have real, serious, non-confrontational conversations about these topics with family and friends who trust me enough to listen. For those within the leftist media bubble, I provide them with sources for information they often find strange and unfamiliar.
I fund right-wing advocacy organizations which I have seen get results, such as the NRA.
I fund right-wing media organizations that I have seen generate quality content, even when they're not as ethno-nationalist as I would wish, such as the Claremont Institute.
I have adopted the tech lifestyle changes I advocate, dogfooding enthusiast software and operating systems on both computer and cellphone in an effort to get them to a state fit for mass adoption.
I fund alt-tech software and hardware.
I'm working on a model for productive alt-tech advocacy, to create a straight-foward and reasonable syllabus for non-nerds to escape and disempower left-tech, and a rhetorical model for instilling the necessity of doing so in spite of the sacrifices involved.

Good. That's the sort of stuff that makes a difference in the long run, if enough people get gbehind it.
 

CarlManvers2019

Writers Blocked Douchebag
Good. That's the sort of stuff that makes a difference in the long run, if enough people get gbehind it.

Some businessmen who are already right wing like that Red Bull dude might decide to do investments and give a public embrace, both for the money and the other just to spite the people who’ve been annoying them for decades

And may have essentially been planning a sort of coup de’tat against their un-PC bosses
 

Free-Stater 101

Freedom Means Freedom!!!
Nuke Mod
Moderator
Staff Member
Giving money to groups like the Federalist Society is like giving money to Saruman expecting him to fight against Sauron. Why are you asking me to give money to Saruman?
That's a false equivalent and a different situation, as Saruman is directly set against Rohan, and while set to fight Mordor later if he wins you will have to be defeated for that battle to even take place, making funding either meaningless.

Lobbyist and conservative think tanks while regularly betraying Conservative idea's or throwing the common man under the bus are useful because they stall the enemy primarily as the main objective, while we watch them both bleed for it and are thus intrinsically useful, as while they aren't our friends they are better than the non-existent alternatives or are other enemies.
No, I'm saying we don't hand our weapons to the enemy. You are saying that we should.
Everyone is your enemy in some way in politics and your definition of 'enemies' is foolish because of it, all politics is about playing your enemies off one another, first and foremost, to sustain the least damage yourself.

The bottom line is that giving up everything for nothing is foolish, and you are looking foolish because despite all your talk you haven't provided not even a theoretical outcome of how that somehow leads to conservatism surviving, much less winning.
 
Last edited:

The Name of Love

Far Right Nutjob
That's a false equivalent and a different situation, as Saruman is directly set against Rohan, and while set to fight Mordor later if he wins you will have to be defeated for that battle to even take place, making funding either meaningless.

Lobbyist and conservative think tanks while regularly betraying Conservative idea's or throwing the common man under the bus are useful because they stall the enemy primarily as the main objective, while we watch them both bleed for it and are thus intrinsically useful, as while they aren't our friends they are better than the non-existent alternatives or are other enemies.
Those groups are like the Outer Party in 1984 then. People who pretend to be our friends while doing the work of the enemies. They will fight against "right-wing extremists" (read: those who want to actually push back against the Left) with as much fervor. Worse yet, they exist to legitimize what changes the Left did before.

I think Edward Feser has summed up the dynamic pretty well:

Edward Feser said:
To the charge that liberals are (or, given their principles, should be) in favor of X [where X = legalizing abortion, liberalizing obscenity laws, banning smoking on private property, legalizing “same-sex marriage,” outlawing the public advocacy of traditional sexual morality, etc. etc.], the standard liberal response goes through about five stages (with, it seems, roughly 5-10 years passing between each stage, though sometimes the transition is much quicker than that). Here they are:

Stage 1: “Oh please. Only a far-right-wing nutjob would make such a paranoid and ridiculous accusation - I suppose next you’ll accuse us of wanting to poison your precious bodily fluids!”

Stage 2: “Well, I wouldn’t go as far as X. All the same, it’s good to be open-minded about these things. I mean, people used to think ending slavery was a crazy idea too…”

Stage 3: “Hey, the Europeans have had X for years and the sky hasn’t fallen. But no, I admit that this backward country probably isn’t ready for X yet.”

Stage 4: “Of course I’m in favor of X - it’s in the Constitution! Only a far-right-wing nutjob could possibly oppose it.”

Stage 5: “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can be used against you in a court of law…”



Fortunately, though, we can rely on conservatives to hold the line, and indeed to turn back liberal advances. Right?

Well, no, of course not. (You can stop rolling your eyes, I was being facetious.) For conservatives - or maybe I should say “conservatives” (since there’s very little that they ever actually manage to conserve, unless money is somehow involved) - seem to go through five stages of their own. Here they are:

Stage 1: “Mark my words: if the extreme left had its way, they’d foist X upon us! These nutjobs must be opposed at all costs.”

Stage 2: “Omigosh, now even thoughtful, mainstream liberals favor X! Fortunately, it’s political suicide.”

Stage 3: “X now exists in 45 out of 50 states. Fellow conservatives, we need to learn how to adjust to this grim new reality.”

Stage 4: “X isn’t so bad, really, when you think about it. And you know, sometimes change is good. Consider slavery…”

Stage 5: “Hey, I was always in favor of X! You must have me confused with a [paleocon, theocon, Bible thumper, etc.]. But everyone knows that mainstream conservatism has nothing to do with those nutjobs…”

You seem not to understand: that money could be better spent on more effective strategies and movements (or creating new ones) than on funding something that does little more than slow down and legitimize the enemy. The Left is most effective because of the controlled opposition of the establishment right.

Everyone is your enemy in some way in politics and your definition of 'enemies' is foolish because of it, all politics is about playing your enemies off one another, first and foremost, to sustain the least damage yourself.

The bottom line is that giving up everything for nothing is foolish, and you are looking foolish because despite all your talk you haven't provided not even a theoretical outcome of how that somehow leads to conservatism surviving, much less winning.
Giving up everything for nothing is foolish, yes. And that's exactly what you're doing. Because what you are advocating for isn't conservative in the slightest. It's liberalism minus twenty years.
 

Lanmandragon

Well-known member
Here's something that is an effective way of fighting the culture war:

Produce high quality cultural media. Tell stories that teach real values and morals, not the degenerate substitutes for such the left has been pushing for decades.

Or do like Jordan Peterson has, and teach people that taking responsibility, and trying to be a constructive rather than destructive person, will both be rewarding for them and help society at large.

What are any of you doing personally in this regard?
Speak to young men and discuss thier beliefs. Then lay yours out and hopefully you'll have an impact. Young dudes need guidance from older men especially with the lack of father's
 

Free-Stater 101

Freedom Means Freedom!!!
Nuke Mod
Moderator
Staff Member
Those groups are like the Outer Party in 1984 then. People who pretend to be our friends while doing the work of the enemies. They will fight against "right-wing extremists" (read: those who want to actually push back against the Left) with as much fervor. Worse yet, they exist to legitimize what changes the Left did before.

I think Edward Feser has summed up the dynamic pretty well:
1984 Has nothing to do with our present reality as despite things being bad, I wouldn't label things as bad as a complete dystopia yet.
You seem not to understand: that money could be better spent on more effective strategies and movements (or creating new ones) than on funding something that does little more than slow down and legitimize the enemy. The Left is most effective because of the controlled opposition of the establishment right.
No they are more effective because the right is a hodgepodge of idealist who don't know where the idealized ends and were reality starts, furthermore ask any conservative what they want and you will get nine different answers.
Giving up everything for nothing is foolish, yes. And that's exactly what you're doing. Because what you are advocating for isn't conservative in the slightest. It's liberalism minus twenty years.
Stop putting words into my mouth in a vain attempt to make your idea's sound more intelligent, I have already told you I am fine with looking into other options for conservatism, however it should be done while manning the defensive line that we know rather than while in a blind retreat.

In other words, if you want me or most other conservatives to even listen to your idea you had better come up with a strategy first beyond, "Abandon the constitution and 'somehow' it will work out."
 

The Name of Love

Far Right Nutjob
1984 Has nothing to do with our present reality as despite things being bad, I wouldn't label things as bad as a complete dystopia yet.

I'm not calling it a dystopia, and you know what I meant.

No they are more effective because the right is a hodgepodge of idealist who don't know where the idealized ends and were reality starts, furthermore ask any conservative what they want and you will get nine different answers.

That's what makes the Right controlled opposition, my friend. They are led around by the nose into accepting whatever the Left has cooked up ten years ago as what conservatism has always been.

Stop putting words into my mouth in a vain attempt to make your idea's sound more intelligent, I have already told you I am fine with looking into other options for conservatism, however it should be done while manning the defensive line that we know rather than while in a blind retreat.

In other words, if you want me or most other conservatives to even listen to your idea you had better come up with a strategy first beyond, "Abandon the constitution and 'somehow' it will work out."

"Abandon a losing strategy and try to find something else" isn't a bad idea. You aren't manning a defensive line when you defend the Constitution. What you're doing is dancing the Ghost Dance and expecting the spirits to give you immunity to bullets.
 

Free-Stater 101

Freedom Means Freedom!!!
Nuke Mod
Moderator
Staff Member
I'm not calling it a dystopia, and you know what I meant.
No I really don't your point being?
That's what makes the Right controlled opposition, my friend. They are led around by the nose into accepting whatever the Left has cooked up ten years ago as what conservatism has always been.
Bull, Libertarians are not libertarians because the left told them, the constitutionalist are not constitutionalist because the left told them, and most definitely the facist types aren't facist because the left told them.

Blaming the left for the right being a hodgepodge of different meanings is beyond idiotic as differences are natural between individual's.
"Abandon a losing strategy and try to find something else" isn't a bad idea.
Right it's a idiotic one.
You aren't manning a defensive line when you defend the Constitution. What you're doing is dancing the Ghost Dance and expecting the spirits to give you immunity to bullets.


Okay...

Don't avoid the question, explain to me what this 'offensive' is supposed to achieve? Explain to me how it will politically achieve these goals? and furthermore explain to me how it can realistically save conservatism?

I have just given you the complete honest to god benefit of a doubt in the above statement, now prove your position beyond the typical excuse of 'It will be worth it!.' If you can't your only speaking in the terms of idealism rather than reality.
 
Last edited:

The Name of Love

Far Right Nutjob
No I really don't your point being?

As in, the mainstream Right gives the illusion of a debate occurring between Left and Right, when in reality it's between Left and Left minus a decade or two.

Bull, Libertarians are not libertarians because the left told them, the constitutionalist are not constitutionalist because the left told them, and most definitely the facist types aren't facist because the left told them.

Blaming the left for the right being a hodgepodge of different meanings is beyond idiotic as differences are natural between individual's.

What are acceptable libertarian opinions and acceptable constitutionalist opinions IS controlled by the Left, however. The Right doesn't fail because it's a "hodgepodge" (the Left is too!), but because the Left has power and it doesn't.

Right it's a idiotic one.

I'm convinced you aren't serious.

Don't avoid the question, explain to me what this 'offensive' is supposed to achieve? Explain to me how it will politically achieve these goals? and furthermore explain to me how it can realistically save conservatism?

I have just given you the complete honest to god benefit of a doubt in the above statement, now prove your position beyond the typical excuse of 'It will be worth it!.' If you can't your only speaking in the terms of idealism rather than reality.

I don't want to "save conservatism." I want to save what conservatives actually need to save and build what needs to be built. Conservatism as a movement is a walking zombie that needs to be put down at this point.

I don't know the answer yet, but I'm searching for it. What I DO know is that YOUR way won't accomplish anything but helping the Left win. Why do you want the Left to win? What do you have to gain from that?
 
D

Deleted member 88

Guest
Personally I’m of the opinion the only way the left can be defeated for any substantive length of time is for it to be entirely extirpated with bullets.

Of course that’s very unpleasant in practice and doesn’t always work.

(It would need to be a transnational dictatorship encompassing all the west-to prevent leftist exiles escaping).

We’d need to destroy their literature entirely, and their cultural production, and we’d need to systematically eradicate every leftist on planet earth we can get our hands on.

Anything else is just swinging by the daisies.

We’d need to reverse 1789 entirely. And make sure to ensure a proper hierarchy was reforged, with blood and steel.

If we aren’t willing to do this, or any steps in this direction then we may as well throw in the towel now.
 

Free-Stater 101

Freedom Means Freedom!!!
Nuke Mod
Moderator
Staff Member
As in, the mainstream Right gives the illusion of a debate occurring between Left and Right, when in reality it's between Left and Left minus a decade or two
Yes, but you have no way of changing that fact yet so it's irrelevant.
What are acceptable libertarian opinions and acceptable constitutionalist opinions IS controlled by the Left, however. The Right doesn't fail because it's a "hodgepodge" (the Left is too!), but because the Left has power and it doesn't.
The left has more power because it is the more challenging of the status quo in a always changing world, a thing that any type of conservatism will never posses, be it of any type.
I'm convinced you aren't serious.
I am, your 'strategy' lacks any though behind it so why wouldn't I?
I don't want to "save conservatism." I want to save what conservatives actually need to save and build what needs to be built. Conservatism as a movement is a walking zombie that needs to be put down at this point.
As a movement? Yes. As a ideology? No. In putting down conservatism the 'zombie' which was previously your only defense abet a unreliable one leaves you wide open with no defense.

You want to raise your kids in a Church? Good luck when their tax exempt status is revoked and a majority of smaller ones in small communities shut down.

You want to homeschool your kids so you can teach them a more religious or illiberal oriented education? good luck when that's outlawed in place of a more 'standardized and unbiased education.'

I don't know the answer yet, but I'm searching for it.
Then stop trying to tear down the un-functioning alternative it's all we have.
What I DO know is that YOUR way won't accomplish anything but helping the Left win.
Bull, giving up on conservatism won't stop them, especially when you flat out admit you have no answers as to what to replace conservatism with in fact killing it will only accelerate the issue as they will be free to do as they please without anything slowing them down.

I am not pretending my answer is a solution unlike you but I can say my method at least slows the liberals down while we think up something which is more than you can say about yours.
Why do you want the Left to win? What do you have to gain from that?
I don't get anything, If conservatism dies the left advances unchecked and can do whatever the flip they want, as soon as they want, the real question is why do you want to give them the keys to the country?

At most, the thing we all gain for supporting conservatism is stalling time, and at the moment, that's all we can hope for.
 
Last edited:

The Name of Love

Far Right Nutjob
We're at an impasse then, @Fallout-Man101. I'm convinced that you are just the shadow following the path to perdition. You believe you are some brave hero making a heroic last stand, defending the line. In other words, you think you are the status quo. You are not. The people behind you that you are defending? That's the Left. How do I know this?

This:
The left has more power because it is the most challenging of the status quo in a always changing world a thing that any type of conservatism will never posses be it of any type.
The Left IS the status quo. So if you are trying to conserve it, you are merely slowing it down. And slowing it down helps it. It convinces people there's nothing wrong with it.

As a movement? Yes. As a ideology? No. In putting down conservatism the 'zombie' which was previously your only defense abet a unreliable one leaves you wide open with no defense.

You want to raise your kids in a Church? Good luck when their tax exempt status is revoked and a majority of smaller ones in small communities shut down.

You want to homeschool your kids homeschooled so you can teach them a more religious or illiberal oriented education? good luck when that's outlawed in place of a more 'standardized and unbiased education.'
Removing tax-exempt status from churches and outlawing home-schooling will be mainstream conservative positions within your lifetime. I guarantee it.
 

Bigking321

Well-known member
The Left IS the status quo. So if you are trying to conserve it, you are merely slowing it down. And slowing it down helps it. It convinces people there's nothing wrong with it.

No offense, but this really sounds like accelerationist kinda stuff. You know, burn it all down so we can rebuild. We have to have something REALLY bad happen so people wake up.

If that's not what you're saying I apologize but that seems to be the position you're at?
 
D

Deleted member 88

Guest
This whole discussion seems somewhat overblown?

Conservatism in the William Buckley sense isn’t something people on the street believe in. But it never was?

Generally I think we’re at a point where we’re going to consider what we are willing to do, both collectively and personally.

But that’s neither here or there.
 

Free-Stater 101

Freedom Means Freedom!!!
Nuke Mod
Moderator
Staff Member
We're at an impasse then, @Fallout-Man101
Yes it seems we are.
I'm convinced that you are just the shadow following the path to perdition. You believe you are some brave hero making a heroic last stand, defending the line.
No, I am a person born of Iron, Hot Blood and strict Machiavellian pragmatism, and we are on a last stand, otherwise you wouldn't be complaining about our constant losses otherwise.
In other words, you think you are the status quo. You are not. The people behind you that you are defending? That's the Left. How do I know this?
The Left IS the status quo. So if you are trying to conserve it, you are merely slowing it down. And slowing it down helps it. It convinces people there's nothing wrong with it.
This is complete nonsense on so many levels, although it would actually help me to know what your interpretation of conservatism is exactly and why It isn't the status quo when all evidence says that the force that's constantly demanding changes in or society at every level is what's changing things up?
Removing tax-exempt status from churches and outlawing home-schooling will be mainstream conservative positions within your lifetime. I guarantee it.
Oh, I don't doubt that, but better to somewhat support the conservatives now while they are still useful to me and ditch them later when they aren't.

Still the above doesn't ruin point,
 
Last edited:

The Name of Love

Far Right Nutjob
No offense, but this really sounds like accelerationist kinda stuff. You know, burn it all down so we can rebuild. We have to have something REALLY bad happen so people wake up.

If that's not what you're saying I apologize but that seems to be the position you're at?
I'm only an accelerationist in the sense that I want the Left to burn itself up, because that's the only thing that will defeat it at this stage. I follow the passivist strategy of Curtis Yarvin: the Left is only able to carry on because it has an "opponent," a stuffed dragon that it can puppeteer and use to rile up its minions. Most of what passes as Leftist ideology consists in scapegoating people for their lies. Don't act in a way that will allow Hollywood to cast you as the villain of one of their propaganda films, and you'll deprive them of scapegoats. And then, they'll start defaulting on their debts.

This is complete nonsense on so many levels, although it would actually help me to know what your interpretation of conservatism is exactly and why It isn't the status quo when all evidence says that the force that's constantly demanding changes in or society at every level is what's changing things up?
There's a sense in which conservatism is just "preserving the status quo." But in that case, that's not what I believe in. I don't want to preserve society as it is. I want it to change, possibly radically, into something that better reflects my values. If the status quo is always changing, then the people who are doing the changing are the status quo. You can call me a reactionary, if you wish, but the core idea is the same.

My idea of conservatism is pretty much laid out in this blog here. It's about upholding the natural law embodied in virtuous communities. It's about being loyal to legitimate authority - to patriarchal family, to organized religion, to tradition, and to just governments.
 
D

Deleted member 88

Guest
Leftism can endure without reality, modern leftism in particular is axiomatically opposed to reality. It won't endure forever. And even a total leftist hegemony with no opposition will collapse sooner or later.

Problem is...this might take a century or seventy years. If the current left assumed total undisputed power now and we all disappeared, they'd endure for at least a few generations.

Eventually the degeneracy, inter racial strife, and war against reality and truth would hit a brick wall and it would totter. Though the whole of civilization would go down with it.

(Which is the goal anyway).

Allow them total victory without even the stopgap of conservatism, they'll rule for a long time.

When it falls, there will be no one to pick up the pieces, just rats and worms and gnawing ugly creatures to pick over the ruins.
 

LifeisTiresome

Well-known member
Leftism can endure without reality, modern leftism in particular is axiomatically opposed to reality. It won't endure forever. And even a total leftist hegemony with no opposition will collapse sooner or later.

Problem is...this might take a century or seventy years. If the current left assumed total undisputed power now and we all disappeared, they'd endure for at least a few generations.

Eventually the degeneracy, inter racial strife, and war against reality and truth would hit a brick wall and it would totter. Though the whole of civilization would go down with it.

(Which is the goal anyway).

Allow them total victory without even the stopgap of conservatism, they'll rule for a long time.

When it falls, there will be no one to pick up the pieces, just rats and worms and gnawing ugly creatures to pick over the ruins.
Leftism as of now is a western societal creation. Its is a western society sickness. If western society dies, then sickness dies with it maybe?
 

Curved_Sw0rd

Just Like That Bluebird
Leftism as of now is a western societal creation. Its is a western society sickness. If western society dies, then sickness dies with it maybe?
That isn't something you want to happen. Especially when there's no replacement for Liberalism available. Creating a new philosophy takes time, after all.

And that's assuming people are willing to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Top