United States Professor David Azerrad Verbally Owns American Conservatism

Curved_Sw0rd

Just Like That Bluebird
I think this video by Distributist would be a good start. It's a bit long, but it's good.


I have seen it. I just feel so damn frustrated with all this. My understanding of being an American is that it invokes a certain promise. And that promise is being withheld, not just to us, but to future generations by people that you can't simply vote out.

And that pisses me off so damn much.
 

The Name of Love

Far Right Nutjob
I have seen it. I just feel so damn frustrated with all this. My understanding of being an American is that it invokes a certain promise. And that promise is being withheld, not just to us, but to future generations by people that you can't simply vote out.

And that pisses me off so damn much.
Broken promises do hurt. They hurt so much. But the America that you were promised doesn't exist anymore and trying to get it back is a wasted effort. It's time to move on, to find newer, better ideas. What those would look like, I'm not sure. I'm still searching. But spending your time searching for ideas and pursuing virtue is time better spent than devoting yourself to a broken promise that the other side will not respect.
 

Whitestrake Pelinal

Like a dream without a dreamer
I have seen it. I just feel so damn frustrated with all this. My understanding of being an American is that it invokes a certain promise. And that promise is being withheld, not just to us, but to future generations by people that you can't simply vote out.

And that pisses me off so damn much.
As well it should. It was a cruel thing that the leading generations of the twentieth century did. They received a posterity of incalculable worth, experienced it, benefited from it -- and then chose not to pass it on! Those of us who came later, the gen-x 'firewatchers' got to experience much of it. Millennials got to taste it in their youth, and Zoomers 'got' to sniff the scraps.

It's infuriating.

Unfortunately it's also normal. Civilizations typically go through such cycles. All we get to do is choose how we use the times we are born in. Fighting an intense holding action over every inch of Constitutional territory might even be the right choice for some of us, at least until the ground is obviously lost.
 

Largo

Well-known member
Our Faith. Our traditions. The cozy things. Things we want to move forward with and can help us resist nonsense. This isn't about what the ideal government we're going to set up in some hypothetical conservative paradise. It's about what will actually help us ride out the storm.
Oh. The boring, pointless stuff.
 

Curved_Sw0rd

Just Like That Bluebird
Broken promises do hurt. They hurt so much. But the America that you were promised doesn't exist anymore and trying to get it back is a wasted effort. It's time to move on, to find newer, better ideas. What those would look like, I'm not sure. I'm still searching. But spending your time searching for ideas and pursuing virtue is time better spent than devoting yourself to a broken promise that the other side will not respect.
The thing is, one can do both, in a sense. Advancing current political theory and doing everything in your power to halt the doomed theories pervading modern culture aren't mutually exclusive.

As well it should. It was a cruel thing that the leading generations of the twentieth century did. They received a posterity of incalculable worth, experienced it, benefited from it -- and then chose not to pass it on! Those of us who came later, the gen-x 'firewatchers' got to experience much of it. Millennials got to taste it in their youth, and Zoomers 'got' to sniff the scraps.

It's infuriating.

Unfortunately it's also normal. Civilizations typically go through such cycles. All we get to do is choose how we use the times we are born in. Fighting an intense holding action over every inch of Constitutional territory might even be the right choice for some of us, at least until the ground is obviously lost.
I can't say I'm willing to give up on it. If there's a chance, however slim, I think we owe it to ourselves to fight tooth and nail. Even the small victories matter.
 

Lanmandragon

Well-known member
The thing is, one can do both, in a sense. Advancing current political theory and doing everything in your power to halt the doomed theories pervading modern culture aren't mutually exclusive.


I can't say I'm willing to give up on it. If there's a chance, however slim, I think we owe it to ourselves to fight tooth and nail. Even the small victories matter.
If you have babies teach them what America is supposed to be. If not have some and do so then maybe I'm day. Once the fight is won it can come back but give them a warning. To guardThe values they hold or it will fall again.
 

Free-Stater 101

Freedom Means Freedom!!!
Nuke Mod
Moderator
Staff Member
Our Faith. Our traditions. The cozy things. Things we want to move forward with and can help us resist nonsense. This isn't about what the ideal government we're going to set up in some hypothetical conservative paradise. It's about what will actually help us ride out the storm.
So what does this have to do with abandoning the constitution to the liberals or hundreds of millions of dollars spent on it? Because as far as I am concerned, I can't see why we can't focus on those things while defending the constitution.

The problem with your point is you fail to acknowledge that the constitution is capable of being weaponized against us or worse, rewritten to benefit those who stand against the same virtues your holding before our eyes. In abandoning the Maginot line you open the door to a Hindenburg line being built against you and furthermore in abandoning the government to your opponents you open the door to other's subverting those same things you swear to protect.

In the end you speak of a ideal world were you can do whatever you want and people will ignore you, but the fact is by giving up, you give up your right to choose and if you give that up, you give it someone else, it's the law of equivalent exchange after all.

So in short unless you have a distinct answer as to how we make something new, why go beyond complaining that we give up what we have for nothing in return? After all, that's goes against common sense, never give up something if their is no means to replace it and especially if your ideal replacement is just your 'ideal' of what it should be.
 
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The Name of Love

Far Right Nutjob
So what does this have to do with abandoning the constitution to the liberals or hundreds of millions of dollars spent on it? Because as far as I am concerned, I can't see why we can't focus on those things while defending the constitution.
Because that's millions of dollars down the drain? No, worse, it's millions of dollars given to your worst enemies. Imagine instead: those millions of dollars spent on people who try to uphold the constitution while selling us out. I think John Zmirak put it best. Commenting on the then-recent Bostock case, he said the following:

John Zmirak said:
But a highly placed source in the Christian legal community told me that Leonard Leo, co-chairman of the Federalist Society, was fully aware of this ruling by Gorsuch. If that were true, it would mean that religious liberty is not really that important to the Federalist Society. So what exactly is?

Thanks to either blatant incompetence, or a hidden agenda, the Federalist Society has helped unleash a wave of vicious litigation against millions of Christians in America. Tens of millions that could have been spent feeding the poor, saving babies, or teaching the Gospel will now go to … lawyers. Probably to members of the Federalist Society.

Well played, Mr. Leo. Well played.

I mean, with friends like these, you don't need enemies. So why would you give your money to them?

The problem with your point is you fail to acknowledge that the constitution is capable of being weaponized against us or worse, rewritten to benefit those who stand against the same virtues your holding before our eyes. In abandoning the Maginot line you open the door to a Hindenburg line being built against you and furthermore in abandoning the government to your opponents you open the door to other's subverting those same things you swear to protect.

In the end you speak of a ideal world were you can do whatever you want and people will ignore you, but the fact is by giving up, you give up your right to choose and if you give that up, you give it someone else, it's the law of equivalent exchange after all.

So in short unless you have a distinct answer as to how we make something new, why go beyond complaining that we give up what we have for nothing in return? After all, that's goes against common sense, never give up something if their is no means to replace it and especially if your ideal replacement is just your 'ideal' of what it should be.

As opposed to the ideal of... fighting the same losing battle in the same way over and over again and expecting a different result? If you don't like my suggestions, then come up with your own. But falling back on losing strategies like "defending the Constitution" because they are comfortable is intellectually lazy and won't get you the results you want. You might as well spend your time dancing the Ghost Dance.
 

Free-Stater 101

Freedom Means Freedom!!!
Nuke Mod
Moderator
Staff Member
Because that's millions of dollars down the drain? No, worse, it's millions of dollars given to your worst enemies. Imagine instead: those millions of dollars spent on people who try to uphold the constitution while selling us out. I think John Zmirak put it best. Commenting on the then-recent Bostock case, he said the following:
The love of money is the root of all evil and in this case it isn't going anywhere else, so why act as though it's a huge net loss? (Unless your going to make the but if we eat less meat! Vegetarian logic.) The reality is that if it wasn't going to them it would be going to something as equally useless, even if we could stop people from donating to the cause.
I mean, with friends like these, you don't need enemies. So why would you give your money to them?
Because they are useful, love or hate them. I do the later every second of the day, after all like all politicians they are liars with empty promises, the sad thing though is that's how it will be till our death's and like all sin we have to face it one way or another.
As opposed to the ideal of... fighting the same losing battle in the same way over and over again and expecting a different result?
When your fighting a defensive war against a overwhelming opponent staying in your fort is a far better idea than leaving or surrendering and sometimes their is no clear way to win. This is one of those cases, liberalism and younger voters are drifting leftward, like it or not and their movement is on the rise, love it or hate it. We have no real winning strategy at the moment so we must do what we can and hold until a situation present's itself that we can win or a concrete strategy present's itself.



The above, (And I mean no real offense) is the strategy you are proposing, the situation is lost and because you are desperate you are saying we should do the one thing that sounds the most stupid when the most logical thing is to hold are ground as it's all we have at the moment.
If you don't like my suggestions, then come up with your own. But falling back on losing strategies like "defending the Constitution" because they are comfortable is intellectually lazy and won't get you the results you want. You might as well spend your time dancing the Ghost Dance.
Says the man who doesn't even have a plan himself.

In any case, mine is as above a simplistic 'Hold our ground' strategy' you may say it is intellectually lazy and yet yours falls even farther in that regard, as you have no plan beyond 'abandon the system' and 'it's flawed.' It's the same lazy excuse 'true anarchist' and 'true communist' use to promote their want to tear down the system everytime.

Your plan and mine are similar in every regard, they are both 'wait and see type plans' the main difference between them being that mine relies on doing the logical thing, staying put with the weapons we have while studying our options and hoping for a change in the weather, yours is just abandon everything and just hope 'somehow' it works out.

The fact is like it or not their is no 'winning strategy' at the moment and we have to just hold onto what we got until we see a opening in the storm, not sail aimlessly into it.
 
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Whitestrake Pelinal

Like a dream without a dreamer
Says the man who doesn't even have a plan himself.
If his plan is to stop funding mainline conservative initiatives and think-tanks, and his priorities are family and faith, wouldn't that imply shifting said funding to faith-based initiatives and direct spending on family needs? That seems to be what he's getting at.

There's a lot of money going into the conservative establishment right now, billions of dollars every year, and these are the cocksuckers who sold out America to lower labor costs. Sure, most of that money comes from a donor class that cannot be expected to change what they do -- they like the results they got. Not all of it does, though, and spending money on local faith-based initiatives and improving homeschooling infrastructure (or expanding private schools) would be better than throwing more money at the Heritage Foundation, National Review, or the Federalist Society.

Or at least give money to organizations with winning track records like the NRA-ILA. That bit about the Federalist Society and Gorsuch really drives home how stupid this situation is. A strict textualist would have been great... seventy years ago. Time has marched on and the sun now sets on rule of law in America. We need people today who live in the now, not a fantasy where they can use votes and rulings to roll back America to something that the electorate of 2030 will reject and discard without a second thought. People who fight to win.
 

Largo

Well-known member
Did you plan on having monarchy or fascism without tradition? Or morals without faith?
I don't plan on having either, thank you very much. I'm just amused at the radically different perspectives. People like you go on and on about cultural issues while perhaps the most singular strain in my political thought going back to my childhood days is "cultural issues are boring, geopolitics and economics are the things which really matter."
 

Whitestrake Pelinal

Like a dream without a dreamer
I don't plan on having either, thank you very much. I'm just amused at the radically different perspectives. People like you go on and on about cultural issues while perhaps the most singular strain in my political thought going back to my childhood days is "cultural issues are boring, geopolitics and economics are the things which really matter."
Something along the lines of "money talks, bullshit walks"?
 

Cherico

Well-known member
I don't plan on having either, thank you very much. I'm just amused at the radically different perspectives. People like you go on and on about cultural issues while perhaps the most singular strain in my political thought going back to my childhood days is "cultural issues are boring, geopolitics and economics are the things which really matter."

culture really only tends to matter when things have gotten really bad.
 

LordsFire

Internet Wizard
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?
 

The Name of Love

Far Right Nutjob
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?
This is a really good point, I feel. But there is a catch that people like Peterson always miss: the importance of the community. High quality art comes from a community of artists. People are more likely to be virtuous in communities of virtue. This is what we should be spending our money on.

The love of money is the root of all evil and in this case it isn't going anywhere else, so why act as though it's a huge net loss? (Unless your going to make the but if we eat less meat! Vegetarian logic.) The reality is that if it wasn't going to them it would be going to something as equally useless, even if we could stop people from donating to the cause.
[...]
Because they are useful, love or hate them. I do the later every second of the day, after all like all politicians they are liars with empty promises, the sad thing though is that's how it will be till our death's and like all sin we have to face it one way or another.

When your fighting a defensive war against a overwhelming opponent staying in your fort is a far better idea than leaving or surrendering and sometimes their is no clear way to win. This is one of those cases, liberalism and younger voters are drifting leftward, like it or not and their movement is on the rise, love it or hate it. We have no real winning strategy at the moment so we must do what we can and hold until a situation present's itself that we can win or a concrete strategy present's itself.

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?

The above, (And I mean no real offense) is the strategy you are proposing, the situation is lost and because you are desperate you are saying we should do the one thing that sounds the most stupid when the most logical thing is to hold are ground as it's all we have at the moment.

Says the man who doesn't even have a plan himself.

In any case, mine is as above a simplistic 'Hold our ground' strategy' you may say it is intellectually lazy and yet yours falls even farther in that regard, as you have no plan beyond 'abandon the system' and 'it's flawed.' It's the same lazy excuse 'true anarchist' and 'true communist' use to promote their want to tear down the system everytime.

Your plan and mine are similar in every regard, they are both 'wait and see type plans' the main difference between them being that mine relies on doing the logical thing, staying put with the weapons we have while studying our options and hoping for a change in the weather, yours is just abandon everything and just hope 'somehow' it works out.

The fact is like it or not their is no 'winning strategy' at the moment and we have to just hold onto what we got until we see a opening in the storm, not sail aimlessly into it.
No, I'm saying we don't hand our weapons to the enemy. You are saying that we should.
 
D

Deleted member 88

Guest
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?
Okay problem with this is it needs to be objectively good. Media anyway.

I could write and have thought about writing pulpy novels with a protagonist and plots that go out of their way to trigger leftist bugaboos.

That may be fun. But it’s not going to work in terms of being culturally useful.

And you need a platform for this-you need studios, art houses, and yes academic and cultural institutions. The local art center or writing workshop is likely a cultural Marxist organizing and training center.

You can have your own movies and universities but then just you just get the bubble effect of “Christian” media that no one actually cares about outside of those Christians in said bubble. That’s designed as a cocoon from the outside world rather than to challenge the outside world.
 

LordsFire

Internet Wizard
Okay problem with this is it needs to be objectively good. Media anyway.

I could write and have thought about writing pulpy novels with a protagonist and plots that go out of their way to trigger leftist bugaboos.

That may be fun. But it’s not going to work in terms of being culturally useful.

And you need a platform for this-you need studios, art houses, and yes academic and cultural institutions. The local art center or writing workshop is likely a cultural Marxist organizing and training center.

You can have your own movies and universities but then just you just get the bubble effect of “Christian” media that no one actually cares about outside of those Christians in said bubble. That’s designed as a cocoon from the outside world rather than to challenge the outside world.

If your material is good enough, it'll break out of bubbles. The Left Behind series did, Christian music has history of doing so, and I've done so with my own writing.

It isn't easy, but it can be done.
 

Whitestrake Pelinal

Like a dream without a dreamer
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?
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.

The focus on tech is deliberate -- it's what I'm trained in professionally, where I can have real credibility, and the greatest potential for large-scale impact.
 

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