Friends, you may have noticed that lefties love to protest injustice and boycott anything and everything that offends them. President Trump says we conservatives need to get in on all the fun. I'm not so sure. I propose an alternative to the politics of (feigned) outrage... It's all in my latest article, soon to appear at Townhall. Enjoy!
How Conservatives Can Avoid the “Nice Guys Finish Last” Trap
Left-wingers have always had a knack for activism. In the 60s and 70s, they were the ones flooding the streets, protesting civil rights violations and the Vietnam War. Now, they're conjuring Twitter mobs out of thin air, organizing boycotts galore, and hectoring politicians, celebrities, corporate CEOs, and even their family members, friends, and neighbors, in response to any and all perceived violations of wokeness. Leftists seem always to be poised on a hair-trigger, ready to pounce on their enemies, and when they do...God help whomever bears the brunt of their searing wrath.
Often, we hear the argument on the right: why can we be as organized, as shrill, and as relentless as the Left? Why are corporate boards and advertisers, for instance, seemingly unafraid of offending us, when they blanch in terror at the first sight of a progressive with an upraised fist?
The answer, as usual, is staring us in the face: no one is afraid of us because we aren't scary in the least. Conservatives are mild-mannered (by and large), law-abiding, church-going, family-oriented, and usually polite and deferential. Heck, most of us even have jobs, which makes throwing rotten produce, or hurling digital invective, at those we find disagreeable difficult to reconcile with our busy schedules.
President Trump recently encouraged conservatives, and not for the first time, to follow the Left's playbook and begin boycotting companies that publicly condemned Georgia's new voting law. Let Coke, Delta, and Major League Baseball have it! “Don’t go back to their products until they relent.”
And, in response, you guessed it: Coke, Delta, and baseball didn't bat an eyelash. In fact, the MLB Commissioner wasted no time in moving the All-Star game from Atlanta to Denver. Meanwhile, have Coke, Delta, or Major League Baseball's profits withered overnight? Hardly. In fact, we have no reason to suppose even that President Trump has given up his beloved Diet Coke, which for him is the elixir of life.
The lesson here? Conservatives will simply never be as ruthless as progressives. We don't believe in the politicization of every consumer decision. We don't seethe with rage in our spare time, waiting to be told who and what to hate next. Besides which, we're not naive enough to believe that, if Coke, Delta, and Major League Baseball occasionally knuckle under to leftist intimidation, that makes Pepsi, or United, or the NFL any better. Give them time: they'll disappoint us with their cravenness too.
The answer, I suggest, is to organize conservatives as much as possible not around protests, boycotts, and upsurges of outrage, as around positive demonstrations of solidarity with those rare — very rare! — politicians, celebrities, corporations, organizations, and ordinary citizens who make themselves conspicuous by their decency, their rationality, and their patriotism. If the symbol of leftism is the clenched fist, then why not make the symbol of conservatism the high five?
The most successful demonstration of such constructive conservative “activism” in recent years was the failed leftist boycott of Goya Foods, and the much more effective right-wing “buycott” that followed it. When Goya CEO Robert Unanue, a Hispanic, triggered liberals with his praise of President Trump in July 2020, they vowed to bring his company to its knees. Conservatives, however, rallied, and many, including me, bought Goya products for the first time in our lives. Goya sales soared.
Americans of all stripes already know that leftists can be powerful, implacable, and vicious enemies. There's no need for conservatives to demonstrate the same malice and fanaticism. Instead, let's show that we can be loyal and generous friends to those who have the courage to stand up to the Left's incessant tirades and bullying.
After all, as Ben Franklin once reminded us: you can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar.
Dr. Nicholas L. Waddy is an Associate Professor of History at SUNY Alfred and blogs at: www.waddyisright.com. He appears on the Newsmaker Show on WLEA 1480/106.9.
And here it is at Townhall:
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In other news, I've spoken on many occasions about how deluded leftists are about race in America. The less prevalent racism is, the more breathless their condemnations of omnipresent white supremacy become. Here's a landmark study that deconstructs the Left's narrative on race and racism...not that a single progressive will ever read it, of course.
https://www.manhattan-institute.org/social-construction-racism-united-states
Tucker is giving United Airlines a rhetorical broadside for its declaration that future pilots will be hired partly on the basis on race and gender. Good for him.
https://video.foxnews.com/v/6247341243001#sp=show-clips
The Republican Party is growing! The GOP has a golden opportunity in Nevada, where the Dem party apparatus has been captured by socialist radicals. Let's turn Nevada red!
Things keep getting worse at the border, because...Trump! That's the line the Biden administration is taking anyway. Good luck with that. I learned something new from this article: Mexico is unwilling to accept the deportation of "family units" including children under 7. That means it's not just "unaccompanied minors" that we are saddled with nowadays. Any toddler will do as a "Get-Into-America-Free" card for his parent(s), guardian(s), or kidnapper(s).
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-sky-high-border-numbers-blame-trump-administration
Lastly, at least in a political sense, this story is among the most important you will read today, or this week, or this month. Our democracy is largely in the hands of avuncular, folksy Joe Manchin, the Democratic Senator from West Virginia. If he and Krysten Sinema from Arizona agree to ditch the filibuster and pass a cornucopia of extremist bills, well, we're boned. Manchin is a bit mercurial, but he's still making noises about how devoted he is to the filibuster, and thus to bipartisanship and respect for his Republican colleagues. As long as that remains the case, most of the "Biden agenda" isn't going anywhere. That's good! Above all, we need to keep Sleepy Joe's approval numbers on the downslope, because if we do Manchin is highly unlikely to cave.
https://www.newsmax.com/politics/manchin/2021/04/07/id/1016756/
Anyone can talk about Conservative, Liberal, Progressive, Red State, Blue State, and so on, but in reality, all of the institutions in our country have been taken over by The Left. After all, The Left has been very busy for the past 60 years.
ReplyDeleteThe best example of this is the education system, the primary means for indoctrinating people in various forms of a Neo-Marxist ideology. Again, this has been going on for at least 60 years and has infiltrated sports, religion, the media, and so on, and is nation-wide regardless of whether of not any given state is designated Red or Blue politically.
Governor whoever can be as Red as a fully ripened strawberry, and the legislature in his/her state can be the same, but the education system in that state is usually as Left as Left can be. This would include most of the school districts in a Red State. In addition, the universities and colleges in most states are decidedly Left no matter how bright Red the state is depicted on a political map.
Professional sports are played in every state, so if some of the players kneel during the national anthem, Red State or not does not really matter. Clearly the solid Left film industry permeates every home in every state. National Corporations are of course everywhere, so they can promote whatever ideology they want, which is mostly Left.
The Republicans can take back The House, The Senate, and The White House, but the reality is that the major "organs" of real control remain in the grip of The Left, everywhere.
Clearly, a large part of the federal bureaucracy is dominated by Leftist thinkers. And above all, the majority of Americans have been brain washed in an educational system that is Left.
Finally, we have millions of Americans who say they are Red, but they think Blue. And don't forget that even under Trump, the major social etc. institutions remained in the almost absolute control of the Left.
Dr. Waddy from Jack: I fully agree with your proposal of conservative rally around those organizations and persons who have embodied our concerns. These leftists are NOT superhuman. We beat their darling in 2016 and we came close to consigning them to the marginal gutter in 2020. That objective is still very much in sight.
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy from Jack: Maybe hard to figure Manchin. He represents real America W.Va. Why does he remain a Dem?Maybe because he was elected as such and considers it a moral obligation. That reflects well on him. Does he see himself as a brake on Dem leftist captured intent? Perhaps! It may be incumbent upon we in the anti Marxist opposition to a neoMarxist dominant Dem faction which Joe knows full well, to trust and support him. He needs our support to continue his principled heresy!
ReplyDeleteThe Left wins as long as the fight remains Cold, until they have sufficiently disarmed and demoralized the Right. If the fight gets Hot before the Right is disarmed and demoralized the Left loses, every time.
ReplyDeleteThe only historical examples of Right-wing success involve the Left overplaying their hand and the Right immediately curb-stomping them with actual violence (as opposed to the verbal sort the Left is so concerned about). Chile, 1973, Spain 1936, Germany 1918, in every case the Left jumped the gun and was promptly brutalized when it came to a real fight. Even in Russia, the fragmented, outnumbered, and outgunned White Army still managed to pose an existential threat to the Reds for several years, because the Left is, by it's nature, WEAK in any direct confrontation, but STRONG in indirect confrontations which revolve around narrative control.
Nick, as you know, while I hope for some miraculous political solution, I'm sufficiently convinced that the course forward inevitably terminates in Civil Strife and/or Totalitarian control, thus it is preferable to prepare for direct confrontation while holding out for alternatives.
Of course, any action must fall within the bounds of Just War, but I suspect that the GOP may yet contain a few men with the spine to call forth the Unorganized Militia when the time comes.
- Lee
Ray, all that you say is true...and horrifying. What it means, then, is that retaking the White House, Senate, and House is but a preliminary and insufficient step in the right direction. We need a comprehensive plan to displace leftists from these key institutions, or else we're sunk.
ReplyDeleteExcellent point, Jack, and very much in line with my article. We need to support Goya, because Goya supports us. In the same vein, we ought to support Manchin. He's a Dem, yeah, but he's showing considerable courage in bucking the radicalism of his own party. If we play our cards right, someday he MIGHT flip. That's not necessary, though. What's necessary is that he pierce the Bolshevist illusions of his fellow Dems and bring them back down to earth. And the more they fume at him for it, the more we should embrace him.
Lee, I'm not absolutely opposed to the use of violence (only a fool would be), but I am opposed to futile violence, which I think accurately describes almost all violent resistance by right-wingers since the 1930s. That's because the two forms of struggle you describe -- physical and mental -- are connected. When the Left can ensure that BLM violence is overlooked or excused, but Trumpers running "riot" are insurrectionists and seditionists, well, the outcome of the struggle as a whole is a foregone conclusion. I don't hold out much hope for a bottom-up right-wing revolution. Force may play a role in the rebirth of America and the West, but I suspect it will be force directed from the top down. Like Ray said, we control NONE of the key institutions. Ergo, unless we control the federal government, it seems to me that any civil war is likely to lead to (and justify, in the minds of many) our obliteration.
Dr. Nick
DeleteWhat some of the Red States are doing to thwart some federal policies is certainly a step in the right direction, no pun intended. As it is, dodging all those executive orders, is like dog owners following their dogs around with those little bags and cleaning up poop, and lots of it. What's tragic about all of this, is that a majority of Americans have to endure this Leftist bullshit, and any gains made by the Right are swept away. However, and again, anything the Red States can do to resist the Left, can and should be done. Certainly Texas now being a Sanctuary States to protect 2nd Amendment Rights is a giant step in the Right direction.
Nick,
DeleteI agree, every successful revolution or counter-revolution has always been led by some defecting faction of the elites. However, I believe that the state governments have preliminarily shown their ability to take on that role. We're still several years removed from our 1936 moment, but the Requetés were formed, drilled and ready 6 years prior to their first operations, the Minutemen were formed and drilled a year ahead (though honestly much earlier considering conditions in the colonies). In both cases it was members of the elite, or closely associated individuals, 1-2 degrees removed and of local prominence, who began the mobilization.
I think Ray is right, the actions of Texas, Florida, and several smaller local units, demonstrate that there are plenty of elites outside of the Federal government more than capable of wielding efficacious authority athwart the ideological ambitions of whoever may be in control of the Federal apparatus.
It is funny though, when I think of the direct experience in the Propaganda War, the Right was actually winning by leaps and bounds between 2013-2017, Snowflake, Soy Boy, NPC meme, Pepe the Frog, "The Left can't Meme," etc, if it weren't for the fact that the Right was directly censored we were on track to winning the war for the Narrative. You can even read it in the mainstream news from that time, the pearl clutching terror at the, "Alt-right" was pitifully comic.
There may yet be a way out unlike our predecessors.
-Lee
Lee,
DeleteRequetes are (were) Spanish Carlists from Navarre. Am I correct? Seems to me that Franco let them fade out after The Spanish Civil War, as I recall. Of course The Falange was around for a while.
Dr.Wwddy et al from Jack:Texas and Florida exemplify real American defiance of dictwtorial leftist usurp
ReplyDeleteation ot Federal power! We cannot resist this oppression as individuals. At least for now we must resist through estabished institutions like states while we await the advent of Fox like social media, like a proposed Trump site.
Ray, I agree -- state-level "resistance" to federal overreach, especially if it gains a sympathetic ear in federal courts, can be immensely helpful. But, as you say, this is a way to minimize the damage progressives cause. It doesn't advance the ball.
ReplyDeleteLee, that's a good point that armed resistance might be organized at the local and state levels. I can just imagine the hysterical reaction from the feds, though. One wonders what loyalties the National Guard would have in any ideologically-based civil conflict... Are you anticipating a scenario in which the country splits in two, or in which conservatives "seize power" nationwide?
And I totally agree that, although we've never been more powerless and despised in the establishment media, the non-establishment media is thriving as never before, and much of it is very friendly to conservatism. There's also a point at which the public may dismiss the contrived analysis of the mainstream media, because its sheer unanimity will render it not only implausible but also, well, boring.
Jack, I would love it if Trumpbook or Tritter were to mount a serious challenge to the current dominance of left-wing social media. Bring it on! It's a herculean challenge, though, and so far we know very little about how Trump plans to tackle it. I hope he has a good team in place. He'll need it.
Nick,
DeleteThe country must inevitably divide or else reconstitute itself after a massive diminishment of Federal power following a short dictatorial period or a Junta. We're simply too large and diverse to govern like Chile or Spain in unqualified dictatorial perpetuity should the Right scrape out a win.
Essentially the object of the Right, at present, is to be allowed to exist unmolested, and to bring about the conditions which permit that. If that requires domination, the Right may yet reluctantly do so, but will forever lack the vicious certainty of the Left, whose object is domination itself, power for power's sake. It's why I think American Conservatism, in it's present form, needs to start to draw hard lines on where it demands to be left alone, and I mean, "hard," in the sense that there will be institutional backing from sympathetic governments, refusals to obey Tyrannical orders from Police/Military, and armed, "observers," should any attempt to contravene those lines occur. If the Left transgresses a hard line we are in a good position narratively, but only if we have made clear that the line exists beforehand.
If you lose the narrative war it doesn't matter how many battles you can win.
- Lee
P.S. I wish to make clear that I am not advocating FOR any of this, I'm merely commenting academically and what I find likely from a, "gamed out" perspective. Like Cato the Elder, I feel compelled to shout at the end of every speech, "Carthāgō dēlenda est." except I'm shouting, "War is inevitable, be prepared!"
Dr.Waddy et al from Jack: No matter what evolving perception moves our actions:the left has been RESOLVED since the 60s to a singular goal:far leftist totalitarian power over all political dynamics! This, mandating arbitrary reaction to and control of,all cultural, economic and political developments.
ReplyDeletel
Interesting picture you paint there, Lee. The temptation of dictatorship, as a means of cleansing the nation of neo-Bolshevism, is strong, but "temporary" authoritarianism so often becomes permanent, and how often does a dictator diminish centralized authority (regardless of his stated ideology)? It would be a dangerous game to play, but possibly, in the end, the only game left... Now, partition has its appeal too, but the complications are maddening. This isn't like the good old days when our political/cultural/economic divides were as simple as "North" and "South". At best, we'd face a contested and messy divorce like India and Pakistan did. Assuming conservatives would actually stand and fight, though, I'm not sure "narratives" would matter a whole lot. As far as I'm concerned, the Left can hate us as much as it wants...just so long as it leaves us the heck alone! That's the key, as you said.
ReplyDelete