Chapo Trap House, the highly popular and lucrative socialist Bernie-bro podcast, recently did a review on the book White Fragility. The Chapos are opponents of “identity politics” which they call “idpol” because they believe it is a neo-liberal weapon to destroy class solidarity. White Fragility is written by a professional “diversity consultant” who gives “anti-racism” seminars to Fortune 500 companies. The thesis of White Fragility is, essentially, that when you call white people “racist” they sometimes get mad and deny it, which is not just proof that they are in fact racist but they are “fragile” when called racist which is a way of maintaining white supremacy. When a white woman breaks down in tears after being called “racist” that is violence against people of color because white women crying triggers while male violence against black teenagers because of Emmet Till.
It’s not supposed to make sense as the Chapos admit. They do a good job deconstructing the book by pointing out the author literally makes money from holding “anti-racism” workshops for Fortune 500 companies and she’s bad at her job because she claims she always gets hostility from white people who attend her Human Resources mandated classes. But her real job isn’t “anti-racism” – her real job is union-busting. The Chapos have it figured out, “diversity” is divisive and the opposite of “solidarity” and corporations use “diversity” to stop union organizing.
Unfortunately, like the environmentalist Derrick Jensen of Deep Green Resistance, their “leftism” is precisely what prevents them from seeing the obvious ramifications for their own supposed causes. Jensen believes the earth is under attack and urban civilization and capitalism must be destroyed. Yet Jensen cannot drop the anti-whiteness and university feminism to even attempt to appeal to the very people most amenable to his message: rural working class whites.
Chapo Trap House, despite their understanding of how “idpol” is a tool of the corporate ruling class to prevent class solidarity, nevertheless is still stuck in a 1960’s “civil rights” Hollywood fantasy of evil Bull Connor southern sheriffs turning the hose on innocent Black marchers – a Hollywood fantasy that didn’t exist then and even less so now. The United States could in fact be a Scandinavian Socialist Paradise except for the fact that America is racially “diverse.”
Jensen complains that early 20th century Irish workers couldn’t show “solidarity” with indigenous black workers but seems to believe this was because of “white supremacy” somehow. He never asks why indigenous black workers couldn’t show solidarity with Irish immigrant workers because that might lead to some dangerous thoughts about race and diversity.
Similarly, the Chapos do understand that “anti-racism,” at least of the corporate variety, is simply “anti-whiteness.” But nevertheless they still believe the problem lies in “white supremacy” which is somehow a tool of capitalism. Like Bernie Sanders, they understand perfectly well that mass immigration is meant to depress worker’s wages and destroy worker solidarity. But they will quickly back down at talk of restricting immigration. Because after all, what kind of socialism works in the context of nationalism?
Oh. We can’t have that now can we?
Both the Chapos and Jensen believe they are speaking truth to power when the exact opposite is true: they are power-speaking. They use the language and ideology of the ruling class to attack white working class and rural people. They are on the side of the big corporations, they are on the side of capital. They are warriors for neo-liberalism and are used quite effectively by neo-liberal capital against working class solidarity.
It’s quite easy to see it because all the biggest corporations use their language, “anti-racism” and “environmentalism” and are opposed to “far right” ideas.
Alphabet’s Google Inc., one of the most powerful corporations on the planet, are funding Black Lives Matter and not only do they endorse the current protests and riots which are destroying small businesses that are their competition, they are enforcing this “anti-racism” regime on their own employees. When the social media busybodies find a “Karen” or a “racist” they tag their employers on Twitter and then celebrate when they get someone fired. They are literal corporate tools.
Just today Google has banned ZeroHedge.com and TheFederalist.com from their ad network, labeling these websites “far right” who were profiting from “hate.”
ZeroHedge and The Federalist have become well known in recent years for publishing far-right articles on a variety of subjects. On the recent protests, ZeroHedge published an article claiming that protests were fake, while The Federalist published an article claiming the media had been lying about looting and violence during the protests, which were both included in the report sent to Google.
Google bans two websites from its ad platform over protest articles
Describing either site as “far right” is simply gas-lighting. Both are neo-liberal and uber-capitalist, that occasionally express mildly socially conservative notions and engage in counter-narratives to the major mass media’s narratives. Hence, they are described as “fake news” for questioning the reporting of the mass media.
Occasionally, the Chapos and Jensen notice that their own talking points are used by capital and the ruling class. But they simply assert that the ruling class “doesn’t really mean it” and that the ruling class is really composed of “white supremacists” and “the far right.” To the extent they really believe this they are simply gas-lighting themselves.
Of course, the organized ruling class is, absolutely, composed of an ethnic group that is typically described as “white” and do have a religious and ethnic culture that claims they are “superior” than all other peoples. But Chapo Trap House and Derrick Jensen will never, ever say their names because they know, on some level, that to do so would actually be “speaking truth to power” and they are simply too cowardly to do so.
Derrick Jensen knows he can go after some mid-level CEO of a lumber company who is white and face no consequences but in fact get invited to speak at elite universities. Jensen knows he can attack historical German fascism, or southern segregationists, and get nothing but praise.
Chapo Trap House knows that they can make a few noises here and there about Israeli apartheid but would never dare to speak of Les Wexner or Arthur Stark. To do so would be to speak truth to power and it would have consequences. Joining Democratic Socialists of America is 100% compatible with the Human Resources departments of the Fortune 500. Does it ever occur to these people what a contradiction that is? Does the irony of having a “socialist” organization, full of the white upper-class and completely devoid of the working class of any color, ever occur to them?
Is it possible for them to even comprehend these contradictions?
It’s difficult for me to believe these people are completely cynical, although it’s quite obvious that Derrick Jensen understands far, far more about race then he’s willing to admit. The Chapos seem like typical white people who know a few “white-presenting people of color” thus believe “we can all get along” if it wasn’t for those “far-right racist capitalists.”
Does it ever occur to these people that they are allowed a platform on capitalist social media while people like yours truly can’t even be allowed a popular WordPress blog, much less a Twitter account?
I know all these e-celebs compulsively search for their own names, so on the off chance any are reading this, let me tell them why:
It’s because you are not speaking truth to power, you are acting in the interests of the capitalists and are, in fact, ideological enforcers of neo-liberalism.
You don’t threaten them. But I do. That’s why capitalists literally pay for your websites but not mine.
Stop hating your own people. Stop working for the neo-liberal capitalists destroying your own people and the earth itself.
Come to the white side.
Related: “Leaked internal documents from Amazon-owned Whole Foods reveal the company rates their stores using a “diversity index” and determined the threat of unionization is “higher” at stores with “lower diversity.”
….
This should give you a clue as to why our Woke Capitalist rulers are so eager to preach the mantra of “diversity.”
…
It appears it’s nothing more than a union busting tactic to divide and conquer their own workforce so they’ll be easier to control and accept lower wages.”
via http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=61403
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@guest
I do believe that.
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And people think communism and capitalism are different things…
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“Both the Chapos and Jensen believe they are speaking truth to power when the exact opposite is true: they are power-speaking. They use the language and ideology of the ruling class to attack white working class and rural people. They are on the side of the big corporations, they are on the side of capital. They are warriors for neo-liberalism and are used quite effectively by neo-liberal capital against working class solidarity.
It’s quite easy to see it because all the biggest corporations use their language, “anti-racism” and “environmentalism” and are opposed to “far right” ideas.”
Yes. But are they conscious of it? At least with Jensen, any aiding and a bedding is more cognitive dissonance via trauma. The guy is sincere albeit misguided.
Never heard of Chapos. Bernie, with his mansions, millions, and exotic Audi sports car is clearly a good neo-liberal soldier, bought and paid for like a cheap whore. If the Chapos boys don’t see that they’re in active denial. Bernie is clearly in on the gag.
As for Jensen, I’ve read a number of his books and watched enough of his vids to have a somewhat informed idea on where he’s coming from. His ‘problem’ is that he sees everything through the lens of his childhood. He was traumatized by his father, rapped by him, watched as his dad violated both his sister and mother. Sounds like his father was a successful WASP with a decent reputation in the community, etc. So Jensen is fixated on abusers, domination, and control. In the dry video here he says, ” You know you’re superior because you violate others.” He’s drifting into autobiography here and conflating the male image of his father with all white men when he states, “Those in power, by which I mean men.” His dad was the left’s text book caricature of the duplicitous evil white male running the show.
To sayJensen uses the language of the ruling class or, vice versa, that all the big corporations use his language when it comes to “environmentalism” is also somewhat of a stretch. It’s the difference between Ebonics and the Queen’s English.
Jensen would say the biggest corporations are about “greenwashing” so they do it for show. Jensen actually means it. His Deep Green (…with the goal to crash the modern world in toto) is in stark contrast to the powers that (shouldn’t) be with their “bright green” utopia, where technology solves all the world’s environmental issues.
Jensen is clearly a victim of his own confirmation bias. Agreed, he is safe in his language, as you say, he isn’t speaking truth to power but rather power speaking. Doubtful that he sees it though. I didn’t catch that till you mentioned it here. Though once it’s stated, again, it seems obvious.
The fact that he has a platform makes it clear he’s a zero threat to the establishment. That he’s welcomed on universities and loved in Portlandia makes it pretty clear he’s at least a useful idiot to the establishment. Doubtful he sees it that way. He’s in bed with the unhinged left in that both he and them have daddy issues.
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@Lyon
I agree Jensen has daddy issues and that is why he’s not a serious environmentalist nor a serious activist. He’s just reliving his abuse and projecting it onto “right wingers” or whatever. It’s sad, as he is clearly a smart guy and could be useful if he wasn’t so hung up on his childhood abuse. All the ridiculous “feminism” nonsense is clearly just him upset at his abusive father. He even understands patriarchy in bears and prisons – he knows, intellectually, reality. But he’s so hung up on his abuse and his whack-job “leftism” he’s not a serious actor.
I discovered him by searching for Ted Kaczynski but after watching hours of his video – he’s no Ted Kaczynski. In fact, Jensen is exactly the type of “oversocialized” leftist that Kaczynski has so much disdain for.
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Admittedly, I had until about a year ago, conflicting thoughts on Derrick Jensen.
Jensen is a decent writer. He can wield decent enough dialectic and rhetoric, leaning heavy on the latter, with just enough of the former to seem sound enough. Impressive, given his solution is radical to the extreme and involves the complete destruction of the Western World as we know it. Somehow he manages to take all that and envelope it within engaging storytelling. No easy task. The video you posted in your blog, while representative of his work in general, is not Jensen at the top of his game. His appeal is in the written word and in that he has his moments. I read him long before I ever saw the guy speak. He has far more credibility in print.
I first encountered Jensen through my fringe involvement with permiculture design, which has its roots in Rudolf Steiner’s 1920s published lectures coupled with biodynamic agricultural practices linked to small scale organic family farms. I have a couple of friends that are investors in a “Permaculture Ecofarm” in Costa Rica. A lot of environmentalist and tree huggers from across the US and Canada intern on “The Farm” for a couple of weeks, giving free labour in exchange for a hands-on experience of permiculture design in action. Anyhow, Derrick Jensen was a guest speaker there a couple of times.
“The Farm” also offers a PDC–Permaculture Design Certification. Having grown up on a small family farm on the Eastern Seaboard I have an interested in organic farming. I think small town living and some degree of biodynamic farming are part of the solution to what ails us as folks of a Northwestern European heritage.
Last year I spent some vacation time doing a 21 day PDC course on the Left Coast. The course was littered with sincere tree huggers, college students, and naive New Age types (…the back to Gia mother Earth crowd). Half the class were under the age of 25 and completely indoctrinated in “intersectionality” and various other Marxist red herring (…surprisingly I got along well with everyone by befriending a few age-appropriate soccer moms that were into organic gardening).
That entire crowd is Jensen’s constituency. And he’s not above biting the hand that feeds him. Pity, if he wasn’t so fucked up psychologically, he would be a natural alley to his fellow “Whites” and Americans, who are one in the same.
Yo, Derrick, it’s OK to be White.
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Were there any hotties at your PDC vacation?
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Typo above… my final remarks should read, “That entire crowd is Jensen’s constituency. And he’s not about biting the hand that feeds him.” Initially I used “above” instead of “about”…oops.
I tend to proof read after I hit send. Ready. Fire. Aim.
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Great article
Listen to this podcast by Aimee Terese and Angela Nagle. It is a much more radical marxist critique of the cancel culture and anti-racism as tools for the elites to destroy all the healthy values of the proletariat (end of the family and economic nationalism)
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@Terreblanche
Thanks I’ll listen to the podcast.
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@Terreblanche
Listening right now – it’s fantastic.
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Very glad you like it. There are still valid people on the left who are not anti-white but unfortunately the StupIDPol crowd are few
https://www.reddit.com/r/stupidpol/
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This isn’t it, Chief. This take is NOT very good. I’m worried about you, Aimee. Had to bail around the 21 minute mark as Angela has legit shitty opinions. This sucks LMAO. Comrade Nagle is a racist. She’s so bad, she’s an evil Nazi, I’ve always known it.
Thanks for the podcast link. So far, so good.
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@George Henry
Re: Were there any hotties at your PDC vacation?
Of the two soccer moms that took me under their wings, one was a hot mama, recently divorced, and a real sweetie. She was a fit blonde natural beauty with a heart of gold. Alas, we live on opposite ends of the country. She wasn’t the only cutie but she was the only one flirty with me.
Anyhow, my point was permaculture/biodynamic farming is part of the solution to what ails us. My advice to any young folk of an Old World Northwestern heritage is to find a healthy good looking partner of the opposite sex, get outta Dodge and move out to the country, get land and make beautiful babies.
It’s Okay To Be White.
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Nice.
Good advice. Too bad money is way fscking harder than it has any right to be.
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