Author: VD

Too woke for this world

James Delingpole laments the passing of Godfrey Elfwick, the truest social justice warrior and the wokest of them all.

To have your tweet singled out for praise by Godfrey was the kiss of death. It meant that you were a humorless, self-righteous, deluded, smug, sanctimonious, insufferable Social Justice Warrior. Just like Godfrey purported to be.

Which is why, of course, Twitter had to silence him. Sure, the official reason given for Godfrey’s permanent ban was because he had broken Twitter’s terms of service – apparently having upset a millionaire potato chip salesman called Gary Lineker.

But the real reason, as we all know, is that Godfrey Elfwick did the thing the totalitarian cry bullies of the liberal-left fear even more than facts and reasoned argument: he ridiculed them.

It is a truth universally acknowledged by anyone who has spent more than a moment glancing at social media that SJWs can’t do jokes. Or banter. Or memes. Given that social media is mostly about jokes, banter, and memes, this means that SJWs spend their every moment on the internet in a state of near-impotent pique. They cannot strike back with wit or charm or facts or evidence or amusing images of Pepe the frog, for these are all things they singularly lack. So every time they are forced to resort to the only weapon in their armory: censorship.

The reason they can do the censorship thing is because, by unhappy accident, most of the dominant tech sites – not just Twitter, Facebook, and Google but also ones like Patreon which recently cancelled Lauren Southern’s account because she’d committed the crime of being a conservative – are run by liberals who want the whole world to think and act like liberals.

This explains their appalling double standards.

In the case of Twitter, for example, anyone on the right who tried to belittle someone with an offensive racial epithet would undoubtedly be punished with an instant and permanent ban. But when Black-Lives-Matter-endorsing rapper Talib Kweli branded Breitbart’s Jerome Hudson a “coon” for the crime of being black and conservative, no action was taken by Twitter against the rapper.

He made us all better.

Pseudo-Patreon

As you may know, both Brittany Pettibone and Lauren Southern were kicked off Patreon this week. That’s one reason why I’ve never bothered with it; I knew that I wouldn’t last 24 hours there. However, there are several alternatives that have been founded, one of which is sufficiently trustworthy from both a philosophical and a structural aspect, and so I’m probably going to set up a Patreon account style there.

So, two questions:

1) What sort of rewards are of interest? Gab TV and a YouTube channel are all in the works.

2) Should I simply focus on project-related crowdfunding instead? You see, I do not wish to disincentivize people to support Infogalactic or ALT HERO, which will be launching its crowdfunding soon. On the other hand, simple observation dictates that more people are more willing to support an individual on an ongoing basis than a specific project.

Anyhow, share your thoughts, please. I have not made any decisions as of yet.

DO talk to the media?

Although I initially turned it down, after consulting with Mike Cernovich, I decided to accept a request from a Rolling Stone reporter to do an interview concerning “a profile of Castalia House—particularly its success in sci fi and fantasy.”

Why do this after repeatedly instructing people to not talk to the media? Isn’t it hypocritical? Allow me to explain.

First, there is a massive difference between being used as filler to support an existing narrative and simply marketing one’s products. I have turned down dozens of interview requests this year. I expect to turn down even more over the second part of the year. If this reporter tries to pull a bait-and-switch like other reporters, such as David Pakman and Amy Wallace, have done before, I’m simply not going to answer those questions. I am there to talk about Castalia House, its books, and its authors. I’m not there to discuss the Alt-Right position on immigration.

(That being said, I still enjoy this quote from Wallace’s piece: “Having a conversation with Day feels sort of like walking around a room designed by M. C. Escher.” If nothing else, that should suffice to explain the concept of the 2SD communications gap.)

Second, as the Lead Editor of Castalia House, I have a professional responsibility to talk to the media about our books, and given the 100-percent year-on-year growth we have averaged for three years, it’s not surprising that the media has begun to become aware of our existence. I am not personally interested in talking to the media or becoming a public figure, nor, as an editor, is that a likely consequence. It is the books that are the compelling subject, not me or my political, religious, or sporting beliefs.

Third, the most interesting narratives about Castalia House do not involve the fact that one of its editors are Alt-Right. We have world-class authors from across the political spectrum publishing with us, from Steve Keen and Martin van Creveld on the Left to Vox Day and Tara McCarthy on the Right. We have first-rate scientists, such as Dr. Sarah Salviander and Dr. Christopher Hallpike. We have authors from around the world publishing with us, everywhere from Israel and Japan and Singapore to the UK, France, and the USA.

Fourth, as Mike pointed out, Rolling Stone is one of the few media institutions that is sufficiently important to our potential readers to justify spending the time. Few media institutions are interested in books, after all.

And fifth, even if it is a hit piece, what are they going to say? That our books suck? That’s laughable, as even a cursory glance at the Amazon reviews will suffice to show. That they’re all Nazi Nazi tomes written by Nazis? That’s absurd on its face. Charles Stross alone publishes more about Nazis than all the Castalia House authors combined. That we’re a sophisticated institution of unmitigated right-wing evil run by highly intelligent individuals who are actively engaged in the literary cultural wars?

You know, I tend to think we can live with that, said the Supreme Dark Lord of the Evil Legion of Evil.

Criminalizing non-trade

This is, quite possibly, the most insane proposed federal law I have ever heard about. And it has bipartisan support from Republicans and Democrats alike.

THE CRIMINALIZATION OF political speech and activism against Israel has become one of the gravest threats to free speech in the West. In France, activists have been arrested and prosecuted for wearing T-shirts advocating a boycott of Israel. The U.K. has enacted a series of measures designed to outlaw such activism. In the U.S., governors compete with one another over who can implement the most extreme regulations to bar businesses from participating in any boycotts aimed even at Israeli settlements, which the world regards as illegal. On U.S. campuses, punishment of pro-Palestinian students for expressing criticisms of Israel is so commonplace that the Center for Constitutional Rights refers to it as “the Palestine Exception” to free speech.

But now, a group of 43 senators — 29 Republicans and 14 Democrats — wants to implement a law that would make it a felony for Americans to support the international boycott against Israel, which was launched in protest of that country’s decades-old occupation of Palestine. The two primary sponsors of the bill are Democrat Ben Cardin of Maryland and Republican Rob Portman of Ohio. Perhaps the most shocking aspect is the punishment: Anyone guilty of violating the prohibitions will face a minimum civil penalty of $250,000 and a maximum criminal penalty of $1 million and 20 years in prison.

The proposed measure, called the Israel Anti-Boycott Act (S. 720), was introduced by Cardin on March 23. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reports that the bill “was drafted with the assistance of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.” Indeed, AIPAC, in its 2017 lobbying agenda, identified passage of this bill as one of its top lobbying priorities for the year….

The bill’s co-sponsors include the senior Democrat in Washington, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, his New York colleague Kirsten Gillibrand, and several of the Senate’s more liberal members, such as Ron Wyden of Oregon, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, and Maria Cantwell of Washington. Illustrating the bipartisanship that AIPAC typically summons, it also includes several of the most right-wing senators such as Ted Cruz of Texas, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, and Marco Rubio of Florida.

A similar measure was introduced in the House on the same date by two Republicans and one Democrat. It has already amassed 234 co-sponsors: 63 Democrats and 174 Republicans. As in the Senate, AIPAC has assembled an impressive ideological diversity among supporters, predictably including many of the most right-wing House members — Jason Chaffetz, Liz Cheney, Peter King — along with the second-ranking Democrat in the House, Steny Hoyer.

It is becoming abundantly clear that it is not boycotts of Israel – or anything else – that should be outlawed, but rather, AIPAC. Those corrupters of the already corrupt seem to believe that forcibly preventing criticism is going to somehow magically make the badthink go away. But it doesn’t work like that; quite to the contrary, it intensifies existing hostilities and creates new enemies out of those who were previously neutral.

I don’t boycott Israel myself; one of our best authors is Israeli. But everyone, in every country, should be absolutely free to do business or not do business with Israeli organizations and individuals as they see fit. And every U.S. Senator or Representative who has endorsed this bill should be hounded out of the offices for which they are clearly unfit.

The ever-inept Republicans can’t repeal Obamacare but they have time for this idiocy? And even if you are the most philosemitic Christian Zionist who ever declared his willingness to shed the very last drop of American blood for Israel, you must be able to see that this proposed legislation is not just absolutely and utterly wrong, but completely un-American.

This is further evidence that direct democracy is not merely preferable to representative democracy, but a moral imperative.

Meanwhile, some co-sponsors seemed not to have any idea what they co-sponsored — almost as though they reflexively sign whatever comes from AIPAC without having any idea what’s in it. Democratic Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan, for instance, seemed genuinely bewildered when told of the ACLU’s letter, saying, “What’s the Act? You’ll have to get back to me on that.”

REVIEW: A Throne of Bones

This is a nice, detailed review of ARTS OF DARK AND LIGHT Book One, A THRONE OF BONES. 854 pages and free on Kindle Unlimited.

This is great a fantasy book and a insanely promising start to the series.

  • Great set of characters and their development. Unlike ASOIAF saga, there is no boring point of view in the book, and all the main characters are interesting and different between them. Very glad also that honorable characters are not stupid, and the “bad” ones have interesting motivations and aren’t just doing evil things so the good guys can fight them. My favorite is Marcus.
  • Attention to detail. This creates interesting, logic and spontaneous situation development. Unlike other books where it seems the author is cheating every time to move the pieces at his will, Vox moves pieces, but it seems he limits himself with some set of rules based on rational causes and effects, and this makes the narration more natural. It’s clear Vox is very knowledgeable about:
  • War strategy and tactics. No insta teleporting troops, or building entire navies like in GoT show. This creates interesting progression and great battle narration.
  • High Fantasy conventions and role playing games. It’s great to see interesting mages lore, and spells. Very important to give authenticity to the world.
  • Female psychology. The female characters are very interesting, especially Severa being her very enigmatic and humane at the same time, and not femme fatale, psycho, mother or strong woman boring templates.
  • World building. The setting is fascinating. From the more realist aspects like the roman empire-like territory, to the supernatural characters and lore. This last thing is obviously only teased, but can’t wait to read more about it.
  • Non-materialist human perspective. Shit happens in the book and people make bad actions, but most of them (not all) are not only moved by money, lust and power, and have religious convictions. I find this refreshing in a world full of nihilist fiction, despite some of it being very good, like the Abercrombie saga. Here the violence flows naturally although brutally, it has reason to appear more than shock value. No more rapes or tortures every 20 pages for the sake of it, like in Rape Rape Martin books.
  • Some powerful crafted scenes. And not only flashy and with shock value, but with real emotional power. Very good rhythm despite the amount of pages without neglect attention to detail.

I can’t recommend this book enough for Fantasy fans or people who wants a good novel. I’m going to start the continuation ASAP.

Border battles in the EU

Diversity and vibrancy suddenly don’t appear to be strengthening trans-European ties anymore:

AUSTRIA has warned it will send soldiers to close the border with Italy in 24 hours if Rome decides to take the “nuclear option” and grant visas to almost 100,000 migrants stranded in the Mediterranean country.

Austria is threatening to close the Brennan mountain pass border with Italy. Desperate Italian officials have said they are considering allowing thousands of migrants out of the country and into the rest of Europe, as they struggle to cope with the 10,000 people arriving every day.

Austria, which shares a border with Italy via Brenner, an Alpine mountain pass, has reacted to the proposals with fury, saying it would immediately introduce border controls in the region.

Yesterday during a border visit, Austria’s Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka said: “Italy granting humanitarian visas to migrants is unacceptable. In that case, we would immediately introduce controls in Brenner.

Let’s see. Option 1: border war with Austria. Option 2: send the invaders back. This really doesn’t seem to be a very difficult decision.

This isn’t an entirely new development. Switzerland already has troops in position on the border just north of Como; they sent a tank battalion to the Como-Chiasso border last year. Which, one assumes, is why we didn’t see pictures of invaders swarming up through Switzerland towards Germany despite it being an obvious route.

A conversation with the ADL

I had an interesting conversation with Mr. Marvin Nathan of the Anti-Defamation League this morning. He was genuinely curious about my connection with the Alt-Right, and I explained to him that while I am certainly of the Alt-Right, it is a much broader political philosophy than the mainstream media has generally attempted to portray it, and that the narrative being pushed by his organization’s “hit list” of 36 Alt-Right and Alt Lite individuals was not merely a false narrative, but one that was very easily proven to be false.

I explained that I wanted a public retraction for both me and the others falsely accused, and that while I take no personal offense at their overheated rhetoric, I saw no benefit to the ADL of engaging in rhetorical conflict with all of the falsely accused individuals. On his part, he agreed to take a detailed look into the matter, which at this point is really all that one can ask of an executive who was quite clearly not involved in the writing and publication of the article in question.

I don’t know if Mr. Nathan will rectify matters or not, but as it is often noted, I am a kind and patient man who believes it is always best to give diplomacy a chance. (I can hear the VFM howling “NOOOOOO” even as I type this.) And if, for whatever reason, the ADL elects to double down on its false narrative instead of retracting it, well, we can always bring the noise at our leisure.