Dymphna and I have written recently about the reasons why we’re not covering the American presidential primaries on our blog. Since every other sentient being in our solar system (not to mention quite a few from Alpha Centauri) is following the antics of Barack Obama twenty-four hours a day, why aren’t we doing the same thing?
Well, for one thing, other people are doing a better job than we ever could. We don’t have a TV, and if you want to cover hot political issues on your blog, a TV is a must-have item. Otherwise how do you know whom to ridicule and what to fisk? Those who keep three TVs on all the time — permanently tuned to CSPAN, CNN, and FOX News, respectively — are the ones who really know what’s going on.
So, for excellent election coverage, we recommend a visit to Gateway Pundit, Fausta, Atlas Shrugs, American Thinker, or NRO. For commentary (on the election or anything else), nobody beats Gagdad Bob. In addition, you can find new political discussions on PJM every day.
One blogger that you might not be familiar with has a listing of everything from Real Clear Politics to Pollster. Take a look at Hank’s Eclectic Meanderings. He plans to leave all the links to relevant data up on the top of his page until November.
But I’m going to leave Barack Hussein to his own devices, despite the fact that our blog has been reduced to maybe seven readers (six of them in Denmark) as a result of our neglect.
The discussion about all this has made me think about our mission here at Gates of Vienna.
We’re not in this for pleasure — it’s way too much work for that — and we sure as hell aren’t in it for the money.
We’re not aiming for increased traffic, obviously, or we’d be posting six or eight times a day about Obama and Hillary.
So what are we trying to do here, and why?
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Dymphna and I could have kept our blog pure. We could have posted an essay every day or two, and left it at that. But instead we’ve chosen to open our space up and allow a bunch of strangers in to tromp all over our pristine floors with their muddy boots.
I’ve said before that this blog is a group effort, and it has become even more so in the last few months. We are blessed with a dedicated team of volunteer translators, a host of foreign correspondents, and innumerable tipsters who keep us informed about jihad-related issues all over the world. We can’t use more than a tenth of the material that comes our way, but we try to post as much as possible that is pertinent and not well-covered elsewhere in English.
More importantly, we’ve decided to maintain an open comments policy within the bounds of civility and temperance. The ferment of ideas, arguments, quotes, and links is absolutely essential for what we’re attempting to do.
As has been noted many times here and elsewhere, the most important part of the struggle against the Great Jihad is the information war. If this war could be won by the Marines and smart bombs, it would already be over.
And the heart of the information war is within the West itself. The Jihad is adept at exploiting our communication systems, and the information jihadis manipulate our media to their own advantage. But they couldn’t be successful without the passive (and sometimes active) assistance of the elite establishments in our various countries. Our elected leaders, the apparatchiks of our permanent bureaucracies, the administration and faculty of our universities, members of the media, and the nomenklatura of our chattering classes — all of these are riddled through with people who have for all practical purposes ceded the information battlefield to the mujahideen.
It is this internal struggle, the civil war within the communication systems of our culture, to which we are obliged to address ourselves.
To achieve success, there’s no point in looking for any heroes in this field.
No famous people will be of any help.
Establishment politicians won’t come to our aid.
Most prominent writers and commentators, even sensible conservative ones, are entrenched in a system in which they will be required to pull their punches or risk losing their own livelihoods.
If we are to be successful, the solution will come from ordinary people who have discovered the issue and decided to do something about it. They are amateurs in the original sense of the word, engaged in the struggle for the love of it. They realize the importance of what’s happening, and have dedicated themselves to do their part in it.
The solution will not be devised by one person or organization; it will emerge distributively within an immense network that has arisen on the internet and in other means of electronic communication.
The best responses will be hammered out in the conversations of thousands of people on sites and forums, a huge community of mutual interest in which Gates of Vienna is just one minuscule contributor.
I’m optimistic about the outcome of our efforts because of the brains and talent being contributed to the task by ordinary people via the various remaining media of free communication. Our goal is to facilitate this process in our own small way for as long as possible. A crackdown on internet dissidence is all but inevitable, but until then the thousand flowers will bloom.
The winning strategies that emerge will not be the ones we expect. Many of the ideas that float around are disturbing and unappealing, but some of them may become part of the eventual solution — there’s no way to know in advance.
They’re like the recessive genes in our collective political organism. In normal times they are of no use; they are shunned or forbidden by the culture at large, and remain unexpressed. But when environmental circumstances change and the species is stressed, recessive traits that have a selective advantage will emerge to ensure the survival of our cultural DNA.
It reminds me of the story of the old redneck guy who fills the front yard of his house with all kinds of junk — car motors, tires, transmissions, fenders, bumpers, bathtubs, refrigerators, washing machines, broken power tools, and even the battered landing gear of an old Cessna airplane. One day his wife decides she’s had enough.
“Sweet land o’ Jesus, Mercer!” she says in exasperation. “It’s about time you got rid of some of that crap. You could at least take the damned lawnmower to the dump, since we ain’t got no more grass to mow anyway.”
“But I can’t get rid of any of that stuff, Beulah, honey,” he replies.
“And why the hell not?”
“Because I never know when I might need it.”
The arguments here will continue, and the suggested solutions — quarantine, expulsion, outlawing the Koran, arming a militia, boycotts, and many others — will seem repugnant to some people, acceptable to others, and an obvious necessity to a third group.
We don’t yet know what the necessary solution is.
We don’t yet know whether the necessary action can be taken lawfully. In some countries, such as Britain and Sweden, it seems unlikely that any meaningful resistance can emerge without widespread civil disobedience.
We don’t yet know whether the necessary changes can be achieved through mainly peaceful means. The governments of European countries and Canada — and some localities here in the USA — have disarmed their citizens while turning a blind eye towards violence committed against non-Muslims by Muslim immigrants. When governments cannot or will not protect their citizens, the people will be obliged to take steps to defend themselves, regardless of the law.
We don’t yet know whether the necessary steadfast resistance against Islamization can occur without civil insurrection. None of us advocates it, but before the struggle is over it may become a necessity:
…whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
Some combination of all these ideas will work, but we don’t know ahead of time what will be the most effective. As different approaches are tried, their effectiveness can be assessed, and the results fed back into the system through the network to generate yet more ideas.
The Danish cartoons, public demonstrations, visual propaganda, the push for legislation against sharia finance, insistence on rights for women, Geert Wilders’ film, Lars Vilks’ Art Project — all of these are being tried, and their effect will cause imitation or elaboration if they are successful. If they don’t work they’ll be discarded and something else will be tried.
The solutions are to be found right here, in the recessive genes of the culture. The recombinant DNA of the Counterjihad is being formed in a manner that is impossible for any individual within the system to comprehend or predict.
All we can do is endeavor to provide the means to nurture and strengthen the new forms that must eventually emerge.
Well said.
Wilders twice in danish TV tonight – Ill provide you with the links
Bravo. You are doing great work – keep it up.
Thank you for the good work, and for the good word!
“our blog has been reduced to maybe seven readers (six of them in Denmark)”
uh hun …?
so you mean I am your only reader this side of the pond now? And I’m not even the genuine article, being an immigrant …
Frightening!
First programmer here – from min 8:24
http://dr.dk/DR2/DR2%20Udland#
probably recorded yesterday. Yet I have only seen the second
That’s why we’re here. Because what you say is true and the action (counterjihad) necessary.
Btw, I always wash off my boots before I come inside!
Baron
Thanks for the link
Boots?
You people have boots?
Why am I first learning of this now?
Mental note: Start boot fund.
Awsome work. I’m really impressed.
However, I find this frightening: “Most prominent writers and commentators, even sensible conservative ones, are entrenched in a system in which they will be required to pull their punches or risk losing their own livelihoods.”
True for France, but has it got so bad in the United States?
And this: “A crackdown on internet dissidence is all but inevitable.” Do you mean, notwithstanding the First Amendment and all?
We have a similar site here, although of a lesser quality (and comments are often disappointing).
http://www.fdesouche.com
It is currently down, apparently due to an attack by politically-motivated hackers. I understand it has been hosted in the US in order to minimize the risk of censorship.
In regards to readers and or commenters. I have always been fascinated as to why people who seem to comment quite often for a long time seem to drop of the face of the earth. For instance what happend to Con Swede or Zionist Youngster just to name a couple.
Havent heard from these guys in months? I am not judging. I guess life just happens. Or God forbid bad health. But as you know Baron and Dymphna, these things come in waves. Right now readership may be low but next month? who knows? Keep up the good work.
spackle–
Good question. For some, I know the reason is they’ve started their own blogs, so then it becomes a time crunch.
Others wander to different blogs. I see some of our former commenters at Belmont Club, but in some cases they were there already.
I believe that lgf’s smears didn’t help, but that affected us only at the margins. Some have now decided we’re “racists” — choose your definition. However, the good that was done at the Conference continues on and lgf’s attempts to do it damage didn’t have the intended effect. CVF Europa is alive and well.
Readership is off because we’re not doing the primaries. Too much of a circus. But we knew that decison would be about the same rate of fall-off as we experience during the big holidays. Experienced bloggers warned us about that.
Also, since I’m so busy I hardly ever have time to comment on other blogs. When we didn’t have a blog I could be a gadfly…no time for that now…I’m lucky to even read them. Sometimes I look at our blogroll and get frustrated because there’s not time to go to some old hang-outs.
I *think* ZY stopped his blogosphere work entirely. Not sure.
And Conservative Swede — bless him for that comments page — is busy with other things. I miss him too.
Robert Marchenoir —
Yes, I personally know writers in this country who have had to restrain their public utterances or face consequences from their publishers. These are people who dare not reveal their counterjihad sympathies, all because of the leftist orthodoxy that holds sway in the publishing world.
As for the crackdown — yes, notwithstanding the First Amendment. The Supreme Court, by not striking down McCain-Feingold, proved that the First Amendment is just a worthless piece of paper. None of the possible presidential candidates is a friend of free speech. Hillary has spoken of her intention of instituting a “fairness doctrine” on the internet. Once that happens, right-wing sites will suffer, because “fairness” always means more liberalism and less conservatism.
As for fdesouche — I know him (or at least one of the bloggers there, if there’s more than one); he emails me occasionally.
I truly hope you are not discouraged. The cause may be discouraging, but your work in it is really without compare.
Russell Kirk–The conservative who hopes to spare society an age of misery needs must endeavor to resuscitate the political faith which is not mere political interest, that wisdom beyond physical facts which surplants doubt by assent.
Carlyle–The work an unknown man has done is like a vein of water flowing hidden underground, secretly making the ground green.
Mallock–Arguments are like the seed, or like the soul, as Paul conceived of it, which he compared to seed. They are not quickened unless they die. As long as they remain for us in the form of arguments they do no work. Their work begins only, after a time and in secret, when they have sunk down in the memory, and have been left to lie there; when the hostility and distrust they were regarded with dies away, when, unperceived, they melt into the mental system, and becoming a part of oneself, effect a turning round of the soul.
“Well, for one thing, other people are doing a better job than we ever could.”
Well, you could was well, being exceptionally kind towards your readers, offer links to good blogs over especific matters in a simple post with or without your opinions.
Not only would Gates of Vienna be improoved, the other blogs would got more trafic and the “people” could be better informed.
Think about it! Why not?
“informed about jihad-related issues”
Yes, I understand that your blog is concearned about jihad. But what makes it wonderfull is that it transceds jihad, it fights the E.U. and you could say much more.
One shall not be defined as being anti, one shall be pro. You should not be anti-muslim because, being anti musmim means that you are to the muslims what the Moon is to Earth, just a satelite. You should become pro European and fight for the European Civilisation, everywhere.
May it be in Los Angeles, in New York, in Brussels, London, Paris, Kosovo, Moscow, Colombia or Sidney.
The muslims are just one of our problems. Just an opinion though, keep the good work.
By the way, I HEARD AT A GLANCE THAT THE MACEDONIAN GOVERNMENT HAS FALLEN DUE TO ALBANIAN MUSLIMS, I did not went back to check it, I am hoping Baron to do it for me. If it did happened, then its a contionuation of the Third World War that started in the Balkans: Europe against the World, everywhere, anytime.
We do live in interesting times. And they may as well be our last times.
“The ferment of ideas, arguments, quotes, and links is absolutely essential for what we’re attempting to do.”
Indeed. And I can only praise you for that.
“We don’t yet know what the necessary solution is.”
It is one and only one: Militant Nationalism.
Not skinheads or hammerskins but brilliant people who love their country, who “know the rules” and the next step is to put all that brilliant Gramascian strategy at work. This time, for our Nationalism. If needed, that hard line of morons could be used to get the power in the streets, to prevent situations like those that turned Paris a third world city like Kinshassa or Jakarta.
“In some countries, such as Britain and Sweden, it seems unlikely that any meaningful resistance can emerge without widespread civil disobedience.”
It will get much worst before there will be a chance for it to get better. Put this in your heads! We will hit a new low.
Y’all do excellent work.
I check in at least once each day, and that varies from during the day to late at night. Life intrudes.
This repeated concern over not discussing the primary race obviously concerns you, but I don’t think it should. There are so many that do that incessantly, I don’t think there is any need to feel competitive about it. I get tired of it myself, as I have done my own research on all the candidates, including the ones no longer in the race.
I come here for enlightenment on what is happening with the efforts to halt the Global Hirabah, and to see what new nonsense is coming out of European capitols for us to be on the look out for here in the U.S.
I have debated leftists that support B-HO and Hillary, and those who support B-HO are actually followers of a messianic movement, rather than rational beings.
I prefer reading and chatting with rational beings, personally.
As for how we are to effectively counter the hirabah, I don’t know, but I do think mocking them helps keep them off balance.
I am reminded of the famous Ronald Reagan speech, A Time For Choosing, and though the enemy has changed, I believe his words were valid then and pertain to today’s enemy. Unless or until another leader comes along that can energize and mobilize the forces of good in our nations, I will be doing what I can, and sharing cyberspace with like minded citizens is a good place to start.
I just saw this reader comment at View from the Right, and it’s so great, I have to share it here, and then I promise not to say anything else about the election for a while. Robert in Nashville writes:
I have followed thoughtfully your observations about the candidates.
We can choose between Obama, the (we now know) white hater who is otherwise a nice man with a warm smile; Hillary, so jaded as to be beyond human understanding; and McCain, the end-America-now-and-fight-a-thousand-years-for-universalism candidate.
All would end America, though in slightly different ways.
It seems to me that to participate at all would make one a collaborator.
Can you imagine Solzhenitsyn or Sakarov supporting or campaigning for one party candidate over another during the Soviet era?
How about: encourage the dialogue within Islam, by encouraging posts from reformist Muslims? We know they’re out there. We know there’s a intra-Islam debate going on. Mansoor Ijaz is only one example. How about shifting focus, and trying to aid/abet this discussion?
What you do, you do well. The MSM don’t mention riots in Denmark in the UK, or anything else about Denmark for that matter.
The only thing we can know about Denmark is “country of origin” on packs of bacon, and Lurpak Danish butter.
Your first hand contributors from elsewhere give us an insight we would not get otherwise.
Great post, Baron. I have to wonder why it is that so many people are more interested about reading about an election that will barely change anything one way or the other, than discussing the really important issues. It’s very sad to have seen so many blogs turn to nothing but election coverage, which has made them boring to me — but I suppose I’m in the minority.
One of the few blogs I’ve found interesting of late is Unqualified Reservations, in which the author tries to nail down where power really lies in the West, and why the Right’s strategy of focusing on winning elections seems to be failing so badly. I don’t really agree with the author’s solutions, but for those as “tuned out” as myself, his diagnosis is worth a look.
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I just wrote a piece (my first) on a Romanian blog dealing with similar issues as you. The post had exactly the same questions: what are we trying to do, and why? does it has any point? is there any chance that something could change? And just before posting the article I found your article. Mine was ending in a bit of a more pessimistic manner and I linked your post at the end to balance the pessimism with a bit of a more optimistic view. ( http://patrupedbun.net/ce-facem-noi-aici-ce-nu-ti-vezi-bre-de-treaba/#more-276 )
Your are doing great job! I became addicted of GoV in the last months. Keep it up!
Your blog is great and even though I am often confused about some of the situations you tackle (i.e. kosovo), I always learn.
Now if you could just figure out a way for me to not see certain commentors’ comments, it would be perfection.