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.