From Meccania to Atlantis - Part 5½: Music We Can Believe In
From the desk of Takuan Seiyo on Fri, 2008-12-26 21:32
In the 2008 presidential elections, 69.5 million Americans voted for Barack Obama campaign’s slogan, “Change we can believe in.” Others also believed that Mr. Obama would bring change, but since it would not be change they could believe in, they could not vote for the agent of that change.
The European Union too has promised, and already wrought, much change. The European Anthem is one of the main symbols of the change the EUrocracy and its enthusiasts can believe in.
“This is the anthem,” one reads, “not only of the European Union but also of Europe in a wider sense. The melody comes from the Ninth Symphony composed in 1823 by Ludwig Van Beethoven. For the final movement of this symphony, Beethoven set to music the "Ode to Joy" written in 1785 by Friedrich von Schiller. This poem expresses Schiller's idealistic vision of the human race becoming brothers - a vision Beethoven shared.”
There are three problems with Beethoven’s alleged imprimatur on the EU’s scheme:
First, it is doubtful that either Schiller’s or Beethoven’s vision of “the human race becoming brothers” included parts of Holland, France, England or Sweden becoming “no go areas” for Europeans. Yet it’s in Beethoven’s name that the EU insists on flooding Europe with people who cannot – for it’s anathema to Islam – become brothers to non-Muslims. Furthermore, when the EU was founded, Europeans were not told that the Holy Grail of “Unity in Diversity” included the Muslim Ummah and Africa, and excluded only those yahoo Americans with their noisy invasions of Normandy and pushy Marshall Plans.
There is further doubt whether Beethoven, fortifying himself daily for breakfast with those half-crescent pastries that Vienna had gotten inured to a century earlier in gratitude for – and to remember forever – its salvation from Muslims in 1683, could have planted a “kiss to the entire world” (in Schiller’s words, Diesen Kuss der ganzen Welt) also on the lips of the Ummah. After all, Europe had experienced the latter’s kisses for 1000 years, repeatedly, until it crushed jihad – temporarily, as we now know – just a few decades before Beethoven’s birth.
Second, even if Beethoven really meant to celebrate the universal brotherhood of all mankind, his musical genius hardly seeped into other areas of his life, including politics. Among others, Ludwig had applied the eraser to his dedication of Eroica to Napoleon with such violent embarrassment that he made a hole in the paper of his score. Alas, Amy Biehl, who also meant to celebrate man’s universal brotherhood, did not get a chance to rewrite her dedication.
Lastly, even sublime music can be used to embellish evil. Wilhelm Furtwängler, whom some cognoscenti consider the greatest conductor of all, conducted a performance of Beethoven’s 9th with the Berlin Philharmonic on 19 April 1942 to celebrate Adolf Hitler’s birthday. There was a time when Herbert von Karajan, whose visceral link to Beethoven we shall invoke below, used to open his concerts with the Horst Wessel-Lied, the hymn of the Nazi Party.
It is perhaps not coincidental that the same von Karajan was the arranger of the European Anthem: an instrumental version of the Ode to Joy, commissioned from him by the architects of Eurabia in 1971. To live, musicians must make music and eat, and often have to pipe for him who pays the piper.
Let us not forget the source. Beethoven’s last symphony, the 9th, marks one of the pinnacles of artistic and intellectual, perhaps even spiritual, achievement ever attained by man. That is was composed by a totally deaf man is a miracle at which, one with a brain and a soul, ought to be overcome with gratitude and humility. Even joy. It’s just EU’s choice of the Ode to Joy theme as its anthem that’s not joy-inspiring.
It’s a choice amounting to papering over with Beethoven’s sheet music open sores on Europe’s body, inflicted by the very people instructing Europe to sing for joy. Moreover, the Eurocrats’ choice of a rendition by the European Union Youth Wind Orchestra is troubling. One who intends to honor Beethoven by playing him ought to know, ought to feel, that any part of the 9th is no ground to be trod by youth. One who intends just to exploit Beethoven for propaganda purposes would not feel that, or bother to know it.
Indeed, the EU has now befouled Beethoven’s 9th even to the extent of slapping it onto children’s brainwash propaganda. But the EU cannot be faulted alone. Tens, perhaps hundreds of millions of Europeans, have been conditioned by now to believe in the Eurabian vision of “freedom, peace and solidarity for which Europe stands” [ibid.]. Perhaps the unofficial variant of the EU anthem, one with Latin lyrics by the Austrian composer Peter Roland, is a good portent of this latest Extraordinary Popular Delusion & the Madness of Crowds.
The latter is the title of a book by Charles Mackay. Mackay endeavored to show why otherwise intelligent individuals behave like blithering idiots as a collective. That he published his book in 1841, and adduced therein multiple examples of irrational social contagions, from medieval witch–hunts to the Dutch tulip “investment” mania, only shows how inadequate the teaching of history has been in the West.
For the West is now not only piloted by its ruling elite on a socio-political collision course with the ground, but is also reeling from a not-unrelated and still-developing burst-credit (burst tulip?) bubble that will soon be known as the 2nd Great World Depression.
Indeed, our mass idiocy in economics is surpassed by our mass idiocy in social governing -- what one might call True-Believer Progressivism and I chose to call Podism (1). And so, Mr. Roland’s Latin-lyrics version of Europe’s anthem reads as follows (with English translation in the right column):
This is, to put it charitably, not even the bull who hijacked Europa but the dreck of that bull. “Our unity in diversity” stands for Malmö going up in flames, and soon Paris, Rotterdam and Birmingham. “Contribute to world peace” is a euphemism for impotence in Srebrenica and limpness in Saint-Denis, for prostration before blood-crazed jihad, before nuclear Iran, before European “youth” bearing gifts of Molotov cocktails, before hard-pressing Turkey and assertive China and Russia. It also stands, as Fjordman has noted, for trading in the prospects of international wars for the certainty of future domestic wars.
The faith that the European Union has set up to “forever reign in Europe” is the Islamic faith, and the justice, sharia justice. With the founding stone of the Grand Mosque in Tours already lain and Charles Martel casting a curse from the beyond on his heirs, “the golden stars in the sky” will be harvested by the sickle of the half crescent – unless Europe wakes up from its “universal brotherhood of men” fata morgana.
All this hardly merits joyous paeans, let alone in Latin. Esperanto perhaps -- George Soros’s favorite language. Besides, I have heard the Ode to Joy theme from coughing stadium loudspeakers at a provincial football championship in Korea, from a telephone answering machine in Peru, and –- in a country that shall remained unnamed -- from one of those Oriental electronic devices used in discriminating Asian bathrooms to mask the sounds of what comes naturally. The Ode to Joy is cheap currency now.
Seeing how the West is saturated with Body Snatchers and “Progressive” retards, militant gays and children-averse feminists, Euro-Moroccan jihadists and American-Aztec reconquistadores, minority majority recidivist rapists and majority minority gangbangers, government commissars and career tax eaters, parliamentarians whose paychecks go up while the paychecks of their electorates disappear, banking princes who reap 8-figures bonuses while ruining the world and still getting a bailout from the rulers of the world, it’s clear that the singing for joy has been not so much premature as fraudulent.
One who wants to feel Europe’s current situation and be prepared for the future, cannot afford to listen to the Ode to Joy played by youth orchestras. What’s coming is no kids’ play. It’s possible that one day all men will be brothers, even with the Ummah, but it will take them another 600 years – roughly the time gap between the birth of Jesus and the birth of Muhammad. Meanwhile, we need musical inspiration for the next 60 years, not the next 600.
To feel where the next 60 years are headed, one has to go to the first movement of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, not the last. Allegro ma non troppo, un poco maestoso. How nice that one who manages to give the finger to Snatcher education and Pod “entertainment,” picks up some Italian while acquiring the gift of music.
This is not music we can believe in. This is (first 15 minutes). Moreover, it’s being conducted as though Beethoven himself had come from the beyond and entered another body.
Ludwig did need to redeem his own piloting of the 9th at the 7 May 1824 premiere, when he could no longer hear anything. Luckily, von Karajan could hear everything.
The Allegro has its lyrical passages, connoting hope for an idyllic future. But to get there one has to walk through heroic struggle, loss and suffering. And no musicians can play like von Karajan’s do here, except if they be grown ups who have struggled and suffered themselves, as all men must, even in the land of rubato.
Rubato (from the Italian rubare, to rob) is a musical term that means "robbed time." Time robbed from one tempo, for the sake of what a conductor might call “expressive retardation” or “expressive acceleration,” must be made up elsewhere in the performance of that piece of music.
Body Snatcher Utopia, bringing down heaven in the lands of whitey, has been all rubato. Our robbing ruling elite has been robbing the future in order to accelerate the present. A hundred million Third Worlders whose import will allegedly pay off the retirement costs of the boomer generation. As if sub-literate, sub-90 IQ “youth” from white-despising cultures could or would bail out in the next 20 years a generation of spoiled white geezers. Or that they would so save the West from itself in the next 200 years.
A mosque on every square, an imam on every city council – we take pride in our tolerance. A Blue-ray on every shelf and Olay on every face – all charged to your Visa card, no payment for 90 days. No-money-down mortgage on a house you can’t afford, should not have bought, and will never repay. Tropical vacations instead of birthing future generations. Multi-trillion bailouts of crooks and nincompoops, as though money fell from the sky. Global Warming taxes in the coldest year on record.
It’s all rubato. And the long, cold slowdown is coming, the pain and the settlement of accounts for having robbed the future for so long.
There are cosmic forces at play too: a giant swell of toxic yin that has risen and carried the West’s ruling elites to bring the pendulum back into balance from Hitler’s monstrous yang evil, American slavery, and other Western sins (2). All these, upon examination, could have been discovered as universal sins in all societies – for if there be a brotherhood of men in goodness, there certainly is one in evil. But instead, the Body Snatcher elites, carried blind as the bats by the same cosmic forces that bats obey, have pushed the pendulum to the farthest reaches of the opposite yin pole, thereby implementing the gradual destruction of humanity’s greatest civilization while singing an ode to joy.
That’s why the task before people who are unwilling to go down with Body Snatcher rubato paradise, who love and want to protect their families, their European autochthon peoples and their culture, will be difficult. It is, as well, why another Beethoven masterpiece is apposite: his Egmont Overture.
I know less about the Count of Egmont than, I imagine, any 11-year-old Flemish child does. But it’s what Egmont symbolizes that counts.
For 440 years now, Lamoral Egmont has been a symbol of the highest virtue and noble courage in the face of cruel oppression by an alien power. His people, prudent and prosperous Flemish burghers, could not bring themselves to risk all and rise in his defense, when Egmont was still alive and it still mattered. And so, when the Spanish oppressor, the Duke of Alba, arrested and executed Egmont in a public decapitation in Brussels on 5 June 1568, only shame and repressed anger lay thick in the air. But the injustice and cruelty of this murder lay heavy on the Dutch people. They would soon rise up, defeat the much-stronger Spanish military, and gain their independence. You can hear all that in the Egmont Overture.
Beethoven wrote Egmont as accompaniment to a performance of an eponymous tragedy by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Goethe had written and Beethoven composed Egmont as a political manifesto for justice and liberty and against despotic oppression.
I find this performance most touching: a young, fiery Romanian, Sergiu Celibidache, standing somewhere in the ruined Berlin of 1947 and leading an orchestra of German musicians, most, probably, non-Nazis who have just gone through a decade of hell on earth. Through the medium of three great Europeans: two Germans and a Fleming (3), they are conjuring a better future, little knowing that prosperity would come, but with it an Invasion of the Body Snatchers, with their Turkish and Moroccan proxies, screaming Green bendits in the halls of power, prancing transvestites and income tax investigating inspectors, all squashing Germany’s soul and future once again.
It’s worth adding that Celibidache was famous for his rubato. Indeed, I find his Egmont slow parts too slow, and his fast parts too fast. But Lamoral Egmont is smiling every time this performance is played, and that’s more important.
Celibidache was a +4 sigma genius with four doctorates, a deeply spiritual man and a musical legend. I can forgive such a man for his rubato. But not the +2 sigma fools who are robbing the future of their peoples.
Those who lose their parliamentary immunity and voting rights while life goes on for the rest of us; those who are hauled before Body Snatcher Justice with “racist” and “hate-speech” dunce-caps on their heads and confiscatory fines on their hard-won savings; those who lose their jobs for speaking out while others don’t walk out in solidarity: those who can’t get their books published while others continue buying books; those who live in hiding in fear of jihadi murderers, for our sake and we don’t care enough; those whose houses are set on fire because they published a cartoon; those who are butchered on the street of their forefathers’ town by the Snatcher’s Muslim proxy; those who step out to demonstrate and are beaten up by antifascist fascists while the rest of us watch on TV – for all those, Beethoven’s Egmont tells their story, and promises a future vindication.
-----------------------
(1) The basic analogy reverts to Part 1, where we cited the film Invasion of the Body Snatchers. In the film, alien “Body Snatchers” produce giant legume Pods that replace living people while appearing to be identical to them. From the Pods develop the new Body Snatchers who cultivate further Pods etc. I use these terms interchangeably, usually preferring Pods as a catchall term, and Antipod as the antithesis of Pod.
(2) Some point out to Sweden and Norway as countries that suffer from the most pernicious form of yin toxemia, yet don’t have – particularly for Sweden – the crushing burden of Hitler to compensate for. If one goes just a little farther back in history, say 300 years for the Swedes and 1200 years for the Norwegians, there are geysers of violent yang there. The pendulum that has swung so far to one side, always swings back too far to the other side, even if it takes 1000 years.
(3) A Fleming would probably say, one German and two Flemings. Ludwig van Beethoven was proud of that van; he was but two generations removed from Flanders.
See also:
From Meccania to Atlantis - Part 1: The March of the Body Snatchers, 28 October 2008. From Meccania to Atlantis - Part 2: From the Clenched Fist to the Raised Middle Finger, 1 November 2008. From Meccania to Atlantis - Part 3: From Encirclement to Breakout, 27 November 2008. From Meccania to Atlantis - Part 4: Tribe, 12 December 2008. From Meccania to Atlantis - Part 4½: Darkness in the Cranium, 14 December 2008. From Meccania to Atlantis - Part 5: From Screeching Cats to SDG, 19 December 2008.
Feed me Seymour!!
Submitted by Charles Martel 732 on Tue, 2009-01-06 19:34.
When is the next installment? I'm dying here man.
@traveller
Submitted by Takuan Seiyo on Wed, 2008-12-31 03:24.
Thanks for the fascinating info. I lived in France and they never told me Lille used to be a Flemish town. On the other hand, I have a friend from an old Dutch family of French Huguenot origin, so I am aware that not all old-time Dutchmen are of German origin. But then, most French Huguenots were of German origin too.
It seems strange that some readers here would bristle at the proposition that at a certain level, the Dutch are German. At a certain level, most of Western Europeans are German. I don't know why anyone would take space and time to argue that, except in a very narrow and highly specialist forum.
The way it looks to an outsider, Dutch is a West Germanic language, and the Dutch are descendants of Franks, Frisians and Saxons – with some talk about Batavians as well, but I don't know much about that. There are lots of exceptions and corrections that can certainly be made to this generalization, but as a broad brushstroke, it's true.
What is this good for? Among others, for the realization that there is more in common that the Milanese has with the Antwerpian than the EU passport, that past European wars were madness, and that, among others, a realization of kinship and blood ties ought to help in preventing future nation-centered wars.
It's also relevant to the specific case of Beethoven. Was he German or Flemish? It matters less when one realizes that even as a Fleming he would have been, in a way, German, even if he'd not been born in Germany.
@ Takuan Seiyo
Submitted by traveller on Wed, 2008-12-31 11:12.
It is not so strange that people here don't want to be called "Germans" for one simple reason: we are absolutely not German in our mentality.
I worked as plant owner/director in Germany and as plant director in Flanders. The difference was day and night, a bigger difference than between Flanders and Northern Italy to which we can be compared as the closest mentality.
There is also a very big difference in mentality between Dutch and Flemish. The Dutch are very capable businessmen and traders, the Flemish are much better workers with a hands-on industrial mentality. The word workers shouldn't be understood in the socialist sense, with workers I mean executors on all levels, capable of using their brains. It is no accident that the port of Antwerp has the highest productivity in the world for piece-goods and not for bulk goods for which they lack the depth for allowing giant ships, it is no accident that the Flemish car industry has the highest car productivity in the world for the same type of cars. Why do you think the Antwerp diamond industry stays in Antwerp, notwithstanding the stupid horrendous taxation in Belgium. Why don't they go to Amsterdam, New York, Tel Aviv, Dubai or Bombay? They have tried everything and can't get the same top quality they get from the average Flemish diamond cutter.
A good manager plus Flemish workers is an unbeatable combination.
Please read my article on www.lvb.net/item/6811
to get an idea of what I am talking about.
That's what I will talking about in further writings about the applications of your standpoints.
@Takuan Seiyo
Submitted by Capodistrias on Wed, 2008-12-31 06:55.
"At a certain level, most of Western Europeans are German. I don't know why anyone would take space and time to argue that, except in a very narrow and highly specialist forum."
I never heard an Irish pub refered to as "a very narrow and highly specialist forum," but if you are willing to pick up the tab I'm sure they'll let you argue whatever you want all night. I suggest you scout out all possible exits before last call.
Srebrenica
Submitted by Takuan Seiyo on Wed, 2008-12-31 02:30.
Christoph Poitiers' comment is again one of the instances I keep bringing up – the "rightness" of one side does not ipso facto deny the legitimacy of some aspects of the other side. Since I am myself a Slav, and from a country that for 500 years suffered the invasions and atrocities by the troops of Islam, I don't need any consciousness raising concerning which side was right in the Serbs' recent wars, in Kosovo etc. I am in Serge Trifkovic's camp on these issues.
At the same time, it's not necessary to try to paint the Serbs as the angelic forces of good, who could not and did not do wrong. They did massacre Muslim noncombatants, and when that happened, since the UN's military force was there "to protect," it was the duty of that force to protect. This is not tantamount to saying that Bosnian Muslims, Kosovar Muslims etc. have not committed their share of atrocities, or that one is on their side in that struggle.
The West's intervention in the Greater-Serbia conflicts, and the manner in which this intervention has been carried out, is a blot on West's history, and one for which history has only begun charging us its steep price. All this said, I have no problem accepting the prevailing version of how the Srebrenica incident unfolded.
Last on Srebrenica
Submitted by ChristophPoitiers on Wed, 2008-12-31 19:43.
I apologize if it came across in my arguments that the Serbs were all good and the Muslims (or for that matter the Croats) all bad, for it was not my intention, and had I more time I probably would have said as much.
It was however my intention for the other readers that using the same logic, the Serbs weren't all bad and their enemies all good. I took the opportunity to refute some of the nonsense about the Serbs who remain the most inconvenient nation in Europe despite what is an otherwise valiant history in defense of our civilization.
Evidence for the need of this in the west was capsulated by the '99 Newsweek Cover story titled "Bringing the Serbs to Heel". Have we heard some headline like that about tbe beheadings by Fallujah muslims or the recent antics of the Somali Pirates, who have been and will probably always be enemies of our civilization par excellence?
Certainly each party had legitimate goals in the conflict of Yugoslav secession. However only one party was not allowed its right to chose its successor state. Certainly the Croats and Muslims had a right after the fall of Communism to independant states. But not at the expense of Krajina, Eastern Slavonia and Eastern Bosnia (little more than unfinished business for the deliberate heirs to the Nazi proxies of WWII i.e. Independant State of Croatia and Muslim SS units), which should have had the equal right to remain part of Yugoslavia a la Northern Ireland.
My antennae go up about Srebrenica, since it was the raison d'etre for NATO "humanitarian" intervention, transforming the alliance from a defensive to an overtly offensive force. The template was again used in Kosovo, where civilian casualties were grossly and purposely misstated which triggered yet another round of attacks on Serbs. If you are in the Trifkovic camp, then that is good enough for me.
I greatly enjoy the articles and await the next installation in the series. Since we have already had a secession of the heart from the cultural marxists and multiculturalists, and because you seem to be advocating almost a de facto physical secession, (not yet de jure?) I am curious what something like this actually looks like. Is it a kind of pilgrimage, where en masse we emigrate to some region, create parallel institutions and plant our flag? I have my own ideas, but I'm curious and hope that it is addressed in some concrete fashion in the future.
EU anthem
Submitted by maigemu on Sun, 2009-01-04 07:51.
I hate the EU but love the tune.
Thankfully the English translation words cannot be sung to it, only the Latin.
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Anthem for Europe (Music we can believe in)
Submitted by Atlanticist911 on Tue, 2008-12-30 23:46.
My suggestion for the most appropriate piece of music for an anthem for the EU would be "Funeral March For The Obsequies Of A Deaf Man" by the Frenchman, Alphonse Allais.
(Allez, I say)
http://www.answers.com/topic/alphonse-allais
Can anybody else think of a composition with a title more appropriate?
Golden Flanders
Submitted by Sagunto on Tue, 2008-12-30 23:33.
;-) @traveller,
to unchauvinisticly paraphrase at a more specific level:
"..But at a certain level, one has to realize that the great majority of Flemings are Dutchmen.."
How does that sound?
Well "Lowlanders" would do nicely of course. Perhaps that broad container would also include some people in today's Germany; call the whole bunch "coastal Germans", or Ingaevones. But then again: of what practical use would such nostalgia be to the counter-jihad?
Sag.
Srebrenica
Submitted by ChristophPoitiers on Tue, 2008-12-30 20:44.
Takuan Seiyo seems to share the same blindspot that the rest of the west has in our civilational conflict with Islam. That is the Balkans in general and the Srebrenica "massacre" in particular.
It was most shameful that we sacrificed commonality with Christian Serbs and supported Muslims in Bosnia and Kosovo to establish our bona fides as "honest brokers" between the Israelis and Palestinians and to sread democracy amongst "moderate muslims".
It has been well established (but unknown in the west) that the 28th Division of the Muslim Army under the command of the notorius war criminal Naser Oric used the UN Protected Zone Srebrenica to launch raids against surrounding Serb villages. These raids took the lifes of around 3500 Serb civilians in the period '92-'95. The surrender of Srebrenica occurred twice previous to the aformentioned "massacre". The previous two were negotiated peace treaties, the first of which allowed Srebrenica autonomy in exchange for non-agression against Republic Srpska. The second established a UN Protected Zone. In each instance the terms were honored in the breach by the Muslim Army (a familiar tactic, sanctioned by the Quran I believe).
In fact the establishment of the UN safe area and the eventual deployment of DutchBat was conditioned on the total demilitarization of Oric's troops. A few rusty guns were turned over while regular raids coming from Srebrenica against Serb civilians were conducted by Muslims armed with modern German weapons smuggled in under the guise of humanitarian aid.
In regards the UN/Dutch role in Srebrenica there was dishonor but it lies in not demilitarizing the Muslim Army and securing the peace, failure of which made the final defeat of Srebrenica inevitable.
In contradiction to the Srebrenica link of this article, Muslims weren't taken to their deaths by school bus. Women and children were transported safely to Muslim controlled territory with buses provided by Serb troops. The men who were left behind, were despondant since they knew their ruse was up and that they would no longer be protected by civilians after their bloody raids(another familiar muslim tactic). It was a this point that they began fighting amongst themselves and even killed a Dutch soldier
Rather than defend the naturally fortified town, the 28th Division set out on a 100km flight through Serb held territory. Some of those survived and linked up with other units in Tuzla and Zepa as well as with their families. Some of those that "died" lived to vote in municipal elections and to become citizens of the USA. The ones that actually died did so in heavy fighting which also took the lives of many Serbs.
After the entire country was dug up by forensic experts it was established that only a fraction of the heretofor magic number of 8,000 muslim "men and boys" perished, and that of those only a small fraction were executed.
Takuan Seiyo has used every written word in these spaces to defend civilization against the very enemies that the Serbs found themselves up against (on at least 3 occasions in the 20th century). The Serbs are precisely the kinds of men that we are going to need if we are to preserve that which is worth preserving of what we broadly call Christendom. It behooves us to understand faraway conflicts, their actors and our own roles in them, rather than blindly repeating edicts that the very Pods and Bodysnatcher elites have created for us in order to turn our eyes from the truth.
We don't score any points for apostasy.
@ Takuan Seiyo
Submitted by traveller on Tue, 2008-12-30 22:08.
I knew that Sagunto was going to question your German Dutchmen. I am not going to interfere in it because if I do I would be obliged to point out that the Dutch have the Flemish to thank for their golden ages. Since I am not that chauvinistic I will stay away from that argument.
The North of France is also Flemish from Picardie to Dunkerque(old Flemish name Duinkerken, the church in the dunes). The present capital of the "département du Nord et du Pas de Calais" is Lille, old Flemish textile town "Rijsel".
The West of France, Normandie, was invaded by the Vikings, the old Flemish name for the Vikings was "Noormannen" or "Men from the North", name which was taken over and bastardized by the French into Normands.
When the Normands invaded and conquered England in 1066, one third of that army was Flemish, because they were neighbors in those days and they split the spoils.
Very wide common denominator
Submitted by Sagunto on Tue, 2008-12-30 19:38.
"..But at a certain level, one has to realize that the great majority of Dutchmen are Germans.."
"..There is a wide common denominator shared by all whites.."
"Certain level; wide common denominator.."
At what point beyond meaningful abstraction would that certain level lie, and how wide would be acceptable for this common denominator to retain any value in real life?
Compare a Dutch traditionalist with a progressive EUrocrate elitist; determine some sort of common denominator and see if it has any higher or even practical value.
To be more specific: @TS,
Exactly how has who[?] - and at what level exactly - to realize that Dutch are Germans? What kind of Germans? Germans as described by Tacitus? What would the specified realization mean for that person's contribution to the counter-jihad?
Sag.
Common denominator # 2
Submitted by marcfrans on Tue, 2008-12-30 17:38.
@ George2
I am glad to see someone else returning to the essential distinction between culture and 'race'. Ultimately it is values (i.e. culture) that matter, and not physical appearances. There is little doubt that, in the contemporary world, most 'white' societies on the whole still tend to embrace 'better' values than many other societies. But, there is nothing inevitable about that, which means it will not necessarily remain so, especially if "white multiculturalists, anarchists and lefty extremists" become more dominant in the internal culture wars within Western civilisation.
@ Capodistrias
Are you so sure that the 'Soviet Union' has died? In a narrow technical sense it has, but the essence of authoritarian government is clearly on a comeback in much of the (former) Soviet Union. Even Stalin appears to be on a comeback in the Russian 'nationalist mind'.
How could one doubt that today white Russia presents a much bigger threat, say, to western values surviving in Sweden than nonwhite Japan or multi-ethnic India could do? And, I am not just referring to a military threat, but to a cultural one.
@Marcfrans
Submitted by Capodistrias on Tue, 2008-12-30 19:04.
I am speaking strictly in the sense of the collapse of the Soviet Union as an historical entity.
My position has been for years that the West has been losing the broader conflict with the 'Evil' that Ronald Reagan identified within the Soviet Union, but was not and was never exclusive to it.
As for Putinism, Putinism is now in the ascent in the world. There are various forms in Russia and abroad. I would argue that W's America ultimately degenerated into a form of Putinism. W's America is an arbitrary, elitist thugocracy. He has espoused and trumpeted the greatest ideals in Western Civilization and betrayed everyone of them, though I'm comforted that he is well read, according to Karl Rove, and reads the Bible "cover to cover" every year. ( The cynical might ask if that entails actually cracking open the binding.)
Will Putinism in Russia be nothing more than Stalinism 2.0? It doesn't have to. There are other possible variants of Putinism which could emerge. Maybe one or two more reflective of the greatness which Russian civilization has shown itself capable of in the past.
common denominator?
Submitted by George2 on Tue, 2008-12-30 13:41.
"There is a wide common denominator shared by all whites, whether in Zeeland or New Zealand, Amsterdam or New Amsterdam"
Dear Takuan Seiyo, I agree with most of what you write but not with this. The only common denominator among all whites are some genes. I cannot see why someone of different color wouldn't be able to share a set of values. Furthermore, I feel much closer to many people living in different continents and cultures than for example with white multiculturalists, anarchists or any leftist extremists.
@George2
Submitted by Armor on Wed, 2008-12-31 02:32.
George(2): "The only common denominator among all whites are some genes. I cannot see why someone of different color wouldn't be able to share a set of values."
When do you think non-white immigrants will become more like us? Even if you theorize that they could be like us, you have to recognize that in the real world, most of them are not like us. And their children born in Europe are even more of a problem.
You could also ask why women can not be more like men. I don't think it is a question of "values" at all. Their behavior is different because they are not made in the same way.
Likewise, European society differs from Japanese society because the people are not the same. They differ in their genes. For example, I have read that shyness is more common in Japan than in Europe. I'm sure that even small psychological differences have a big impact on society as a whole, on relations between people, on culture, technical achievement, and so on.
"Furthermore, I feel much closer to many people living in different continents and cultures than for example with white multiculturalists, anarchists or any leftist extremists."
Every one can see that Africans and Chinese people who live in western countries do not behave exactly like white people. But a Portuguese living in Russia or an Icelander living in Italy will not stick out nearly as much. You don't have to like everyone in your own country, but you should be loyal to your people as a whole if you don't want them to kick you out to Botswana.
About the blank slate question (nature or nurture), it would make more sense to read a scientific book than to have a philosophical debate. (although I admit I haven't read a book on the subject yet).
@Charles Martel 732
Submitted by Takuan Seiyo on Tue, 2008-12-30 02:24.
Thank you for your kind comment. Not only are there too few anti-jihadis among the West's Christians and ex-Christians, but modern-day jihad is the creature of the West's decay. In other words, jihad is not our disease; it's a symptom of our disease.
I will get much farther into that topic, and many will disagree. But I trust that at least some will understand that to appreciate the true proportions of your house, you have to step outside and look at it from there. Similarly, my angle of view from faraway Japan may reveal something that he those who live in the West cannot perceive as clearly or as easily.
@Takuan Seiyo
Submitted by Capodistrias on Tue, 2008-12-30 16:21.
Thank you for both of the recent installments. They were welcomed respites during this Christmas season.
I think you are right on target in regard to the importance of great works of art, I believe that the death knell of the Soviet Union was first heard when the Russian classics were once again embraced in Russia by the regime in an effort to legitimize Stalinism in the mid 30s. Once a tyranny allows in the best of what a Pushkin, Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, etc., it has planted the 'mustard' seed of its own destruction, a power much greater than it could ever command.
@Charles Martel 732
I believe you seriously underestimate the numbers of 'good guys' ready to rally to the standard, the problem is there are very few standard bearers. Hence, the importance of what someone like Takuan Seiyo is writing and the need to support him and fend off the cheap shots.
@traveller
Submitted by Takuan Seiyo on Tue, 2008-12-30 02:11.
Part of the problem we've gotten ourselves into is that lawyers run our societies. For a lawyer, there is no truth; there is only legal and illegal. So, in our judicial process we have one side lying against the other; let the jury decide. And, remember, half-truth is the best lie.
It's a similar process with our difference here. Your comment is right and true; but it in no way invalidates mine. Of course our smaller ethnies matter; the languages, traditions, ties to local soil. But at a certain level, one has to realize that the great majority of Dutchmen are Germans, as is the majority of Englishmen ; and that the people in the north of France are Norwegians, as are many Russians and Ukrainians, and that the Romanians are Rome's valiant Dacians, etc.
Preserving local communities is as important as preserving biological diversity. But "world culture" is the BS's BS, whereas "European culture" is not. There is a wide common denominator shared by all whites, whether in Zeeland or New Zealand, Amsterdam or New Amsterdam. It's important to acknowledge that too.
Submitted by Armor on Mon, 2008-12-29 20:11.
@ Takuan Seiyo
Submitted by Charles Martel 732 on Mon, 2008-12-29 16:14.
I can never quite understand the carping that goes on within the anti-jihadist movement. Or perhaps some of the negative comments on earlier chapters were simply trolls. Absolute or even close correlation with one's own views is seldom possible and nuking the messenger doesn't make much sense. There are so few of us it serves us well to tolerate our differences.
Which raises another issue. How may anti-jihadists are there anyway? Surely more in the USA than Europe, but not many here either. I'm regarded as a bit of a crank whenever I venture into this topic. Just the other day I saw my first anti-jihadist, anti-sharia bumper sticker. I nearly had an accident waving encouragement at the guy. My guess, in the USA there are fewer than 1 million who will follow the truth whereever it takes them, who reject jihad and Islam, who reject the lies of multiculturalism, who accept the need for a civilizational resurgence, who reject Muslim and uncontrolled immigration, who recognize the inherent superiority of Western Civilization, who reject the notion of collective guilt particularly when directed at us pale-faces. Fewer than a million.
Sure, there are millions who nominally recognize the threat posed by Islam but a very small percentage have come to reject the toxic notions espoused by the left. A very small percentage who are willing to speak the truth no matter how politically incorrect. A very small percentage to resist the Siren's Song of multiculturalism, diversity, socialism, nihilism and relativism.
However few our numbers it is essential we maintain our solidarity. People like Charles Johnson have done great harm by excommunicating some of our most rational and truthful voices.
Please don't be discouraged by the naysayers. I for one am absolutely enjoying your writings. Please keep them coming.
George2
Submitted by Takuan Seiyo on Mon, 2008-12-29 12:56.
Beethoven did not speak the old language, but he did make a claim in court that his Flemish van was the equivalent of the German von.
Ultimately, at some level I agree with EU's idea. It no longer matters whether B. was German or Flemish, whether Handel was German or British, Churchill English or American etc. These are now all a common patrimony of the Euro people. It's just that it doesn't require a bureaucracy of thousands and budgets of billions to propagate this idea. And Eurabia has no part in it either.
@ Takuan Seiyo
Submitted by George2 on Mon, 2008-12-29 20:08.
We totally agree. And the EU does not require a policy that tries to govern a multitude of different cultures. It is the other way around: culture has a much higher influence on policy. This is called democracy. Finally, it is the people who decide on a policy. What we are seeing now is a EU constitution being pushed down the throat of its constituancy. This will backfire because it is unnatural. Culture influences policy. If one tries to turn this around, things get f***ed up.
@ Takuan Seiyo
Submitted by traveller on Mon, 2008-12-29 16:07.
It really does matter if somebody is Flemish or German.
I promised you a writing about the practical applications of your ideas. Regretfully I really have only time for short comments and I want to spend serious time on this.
But yes, people are different and I hope the European internal diversity does not disappear, notwithstanding the holy socialist uniformisation which is ongoing. They propagate diversity of worldwide "cultures" and ignore the real cultural diversity of their own continent.
Democracy
Submitted by Takuan Seiyo on Mon, 2008-12-29 12:47.
@Monarchist
Democracy does not work anymore. It's good in groups of up to 1000, and when all are fairly intelligent, well informed and adult. Alas, I am not convinced that monarchy works any better. We'll explore this issue further.
van Beethoven?
Submitted by George2 on Mon, 2008-12-29 01:15.
As a Fleming I didn't know that von Beethoven was two generations removed from Flanders. He still remains a very great German to me just as Louis Armstrong and BB King are great Americans and not Africans. And just as any Fleming, 'just' two generations removed from any part of the world, remains a true Fleming as long as he speaks my language and is willing to speak this language in Flanders.
I bet van Beethoven didn't understand 'godverdoemme'. If he did, I don't think his music would have been more magical.
re: Book by Charles Mackay
Submitted by Atlanticist911 on Sun, 2008-12-28 19:03.
Perhaps another book well worth the mention is "The True Believer" by Eric Hoffer.
Democracy is a competition of COLLECTIVE trends.
Submitted by Monarchist on Sun, 2008-12-28 11:06.
The latter is the title of a book by Charles
Mackay. Mackay endeavored to show why otherwise intelligent individuals behave like blithering idiots
as a collective
Pure genius
Submitted by Atlanticist911 on Sat, 2008-12-27 14:45.
A simple 'Antipod-aeon' quote that passes the test of time and should be remembered and acted upon by antipods the world over.
"Say what you know, do what you must, come what may".
Sofia Kovalevskaya.
@ Takuan Seiyo
Submitted by traveller on Sat, 2008-12-27 11:15.
A merry and definitely christian Christmas to you.
Beethoven, Egmont as original, today unacceptable for not fitting the uniform mold, Europeans!!!
You are spreading fantastic wings my friend.
BTW 11 year old Flemish children don't learn about Egmont anymore. You want to make our children open minded thinkers? No way!!!