By Ehud Would
Joel Salatin is a farmer and prominent Agrarian writer. The ostensible tip of the spear in the return-to-the-land movement, the man has mentored a new generation of budding Agrarians in how to make traditional Agrarian life sustainable in and out of a money-based economy.
Enter Chris Newman, the (solitary?) Black (okay, Mulatto) who identifies as an Agrarian. No sooner had this freedman entered the farmers’ market milieu than he condemned the movement’s leading light as — you guessed it — a “racist”, and began leaning on Salatin’s publishers and customers to blacklist the leader of their own movement.
*sigh*
We are told this pronouncement against Salatin comes in response to Salatin’s unprovoked ‘racist’ screed against Newman. At least, that’s how the latter describes it.
But look at Newman’s initial article to which Salatin was responding, Small Family Farms Aren’t the Answer . The propositions there leveled are that the Agrarian movement is fatally flawed because:
1- It isn’t as lucrative as corporate farming, and needs therefore to be communized.
2- It’s based on the sovereign family structure of White Christian colonists rather than the communistic-herd model of BIPOC hunter-gatherers.
3- It’s too straight, patriarchal, and White.
So we see ‘twas Newman, not Salatin, who fired the opening salvo on matters racial. Yes, this Commie breezes into Agrarian circles condemning all the morals and objectives thereof on the grounds that it’s all too, well, … traditionally Agrarian. The sheer audacity.
Independent Patriarchal Christian clans serving in their own communities — the lifeway handed down from our Christian European ancestors, and undergirt by Holy Writ — Newman denounces as inherent White Supremacy and ‘Racism’.
Not only are the Police racist, Law and Order, itself, is racist.
Having a racial preference is racist.
Having no racial preference is also racist.
Correct English Grammar is racist.
The English language, itself, is racist.
Classic Literature is racist; so is talking about the racism thereof.
Classical music is racist; big time; so is Rock; Country too.
Classic architecture is racist.
History is racist, and therefore, must be banned.
Science is inherently racist; even the Scientific Method, itself. Especially when it draws conclusions minorities dislike; things like Quantum Mechanics.
Standardized Testing is racist; especially IQ tests.
Moving away from minorities is racist; but so is moving close to them.
Disapproving of minority cultures is racist; but so is liking them.
Togetherness and warm socks are racist.
Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches are racist.
Picking your own fruit is racist; so is paying others to do it for you.
Craft Beer is racist; so are pubs.
Coffee is racist; so are Coffee shops.
Cameras and photography are racist; especially security cameras; and Police body cameras.
Pattern recognition is racist.
Daylight Savings Time is racist.
Rational thinking and hard work are racist.
Anti-racism training is racist.
White people owning dogs is racist.
That one is especially choice as the United Wildlife Union describes White people as “filthy white savages”. So, that’s fun. But definitely not racist.
Bird watching is racist; so are birds, themselves.
Single family homes are racist.
Libraries and Librarians are racist.
Museums are racist and must be abolished.
Nice White people are racist. So are “good anti-racist White people”.
Making a good first impression is racist.
Having a White family is racist.
Reading to White children is racist.
Protecting your child’s innocence is racist.
“See Something, Say Something” is racist.
Wearing a Corona mask is racist. So is not wearing one.
The Electoral College is racist.
The National Anthem is racist.
The historic Church is inherently racist.
The Great Commission is Colonialism, and therefore, racist.
The Doctrines of Grace are racist.
Unlike Newman’s view, Salatin’s paint-by-numbers practicality is not founded on Economism, nor any noble savage mythos. Rather, it is subservient to certain moral ideals — the pastoral Familist *gasp* mode of life everywhere assumed in Scripture.
And that, as handed down principally from Anglo-Saxon settlers *double-gasp* — the nation of White yeoman farmers by, through, and for whom the land was settled; and the republic established under Christlaw. This is the incontestable backdrop of Agrarianism in America and the normative worldview of American Agrarianism. Has this freedman never read I’ll Take My Stand?
Underlying Newman’s demand for a BIPOC revolution and redefinition of Agrarianism is denial of the independent family demesne as the ideal way of life and moral mandate. Which bespeaks not just an alien axiology, but an alien ontology, and even an alien epistemology. Which amounts to a repudiation of not just Agrarianism but the whole worldview from which it springs: it is a denial of the moral superiority of Western civilization; and, what’s more, Christianity back of it.
And I’m not engaging in any wild extrapolations here. I mean, really, the guy’s stated objective is the overthrow of the Agrarian movement (which remains stubbornly WASP to this day) to BIPOC and LGBT values. It is a demand of total redefinition of not just economy, but property, inheritance, community, family, gender, and ultimately, Christianity. Because Newman deems all the aforementioned ‘racist’.
As D. C. McAllister aptly states, White People Will Always Be Racists because the whole paradigm places upon Whites the burden of trying to prove a negative. Which is, short of divine affidavit, impossible.
But whatever its dictionary definition, from the time of its coinage, the term ‘racism’ has in practice, always been a synonym for Christendom, which also happened to be White. And not just as respects the American scene, but from the dawn of the Christian age.
And I take the title of Newman’s article, Everything I want to Do is Racist as underscoring this point, because he is attributing that sentiment to Salatin. And for no other reason than Salatin maintaining conviction for the basic framework of Christian life.
But for the sake of argument, if Newman’s side were right, his entire endeavor would be in vain. That is to say, that if everything Whites think, touch, and are is ‘racist’, and it blinds us to the whole question (as the Multicult insists), then there’s no point in talking about it. For such a state would form a truly impenetrable epistemic wall between Whites and all others. And so it is that CRT regards Whiteness as total reprobation and damnation. So to whatever extent we grant the “woke” thesis, we only further preclude the possibility of any common values, or even civil dialogue between Whites and BIPOC. That’s a grim prospect, indeed.
But thanks be to God, we ‘racists’ are more optimistic in regard to interracial peace. We rather accept that God has commissioned us to stand as a light unto the nations, as His witnesses even to the benighted tribes of earth; and that Christ’s atoning covenant (consonant with His law order) is our peace.
So when obsidian eyes are at last opened to the goodness of His Lordship, we shall rejoice. But when those dusky ethnoi are truly converted, they will not come demanding a redefinition of family, gender, and property, nor condemning our “privilege” (blessedness) and Whiteness. They shall rather embrace His law, lay down their animosities against historic Christendom, and finally be content in the King’s pastures.
The Truth is, your political opponents call you curse words (racist, sexist, Islamophobic, etc.) in order to crush you.
It is the pugil stick over the pen,
the sucker punch over intelligence,
brutality over reason —
the purpose is to dehumanize without any requirement for logic.
Calling a white man a racist is no more — or less — legitimate than calling a non-White a racial epithet; to allow a man to call you a “racist” isn’t any more acceptable than a black man allowing someone to call him a denigrating name.
The Black would take offense — as they should. It’s time for Whites to take the same offense an be willing to respond appropriately.
We are done tolerating this abuse. Either this works both ways or it doesn’t work at all.
What they fear is that we wake up and realize this, and that’s what is happening now, and it is revolutionary.
This demonstrates the futility of defending yourself against the latest charges of “racism” or “White supremacy” or whatever. When you no longer worry about what people call you, they cease to have rhetorical power over you and that is incredibly freeing. Sure you can get all morally outraged and claim it is unfair but it won’t change anything so why exert yourself getting wound up about something you can’t fix anyway?
“alien axiology, … alien ontology, and even an alien epistemology” — I think that captures the whole story. Which is why it is so difficult to talk to “normal” people about the real issues. Thanks for this well-written and insightful essay.
Leaving comments is racist, so it not leaving comments. At first I noticed “Responses,” and I thought “ah, good – I can leave a “response” and not be a racist!” But, alas, the little box is titled “Leave a Reply” and then “Comment” and then I have to click “Post Comment.” I don’t know what to do.