For a gathering of people devoted to denouncing the inferiority of blacks and sounding the alarm about civilization-threatening Muslims, the biannual conferences thrown by the New Century Foundation, publisher of the racist newsletter American Renaissance, are decidedly genteel affairs. Men dress in suits and ties, women in formal business attire, and there are no uniformed skinheads or Klansmen to be seen. Large plasma television screens, Starbucks coffee spreads and fancy linens adorn the hotel meeting hall.
Man, it used to be so easy to know who to hate. Life was so much simpler then. Yeah, being a northern European male still places us at the very pinnacle of the genetic food chain, but now it seems as if there are so many lesser humans out to do us in. Whatever is a good, God-fearing Caucasian to do these days?
Damn, now it seems as if the bigots and the knuckle-draggers can’t even agree on who to despise these days? What is this world coming to when we can no longer even agree on a proper enemy to blame our sorry lot in life on? It used to he so simple: if not for [insert name of desired and hated “Other” here], life would be great for us good and righteous God-fearing White folks.
Nope, it sure isn’t as easy being a race warrior as it used to be, is it?
At the latest edition of the conferences that began in 1994, held this February at the Hyatt Dulles hotel, a nasty spat broke out that upset the gathering’s decorum — and may even shape the future of the radical right.
It began when David Duke, the former Klan leader and author of Jewish Supremacism, strode to a microphone after French author Guillaume Faye wrapped up a talk vilifying Muslims entitled “The Threat to the West.” Duke thanked Faye for remarks that “touched my genes.” But then he went one further.
“There is a power in the world that dominates our media, influences our government and that has led to the internal destruction of our will and spirit,” Duke said, according to an undisputed account in The Forward newspaper.
“Tell us, tell us,” someone in the back yelled.
“I’m not going to say it,” Duke replied. Laughter began to fill the room, until a short, angry man leaped from his seat, walked up to Duke and began to curse.
“You fucking Nazi, you’ve disgraced this meeting!” he said.
And with that, Michael Hart, a Jewish astrophysicist and long-time attendee at American Renaissance conferences, headed for the door. As many as 50 people at the conference began to jeer and point at the rapidly disappearing Hart.
Wow…it would seem that racial and ethnic bigotry isn’t the monolithic scourge it used to be. Here in the South, it used to be so simple: blame African-Americans for everything, and you would be treated as a heroic Race Warrior and defender all that is Good and Righteous. Since 9.11, though, there are those determined to make Muslims Public Enemy #1, and they apparently will do whatever it takes to push their self-interested agenda to the fore.
Man, hatred used to be SO easy….
This extraordinary incident marked the beginning of an open rift between those on the radical right who see blacks, Hispanics and Muslims as the primary enemy, and those who say “the Jews” are ultimately behind every evil — a split that has usually stayed just below the surface but now threatens a leading institution of American extremism. While in the past he has managed to bridge this divide mainly by ignoring it, American Renaissance founder Jared Taylor now must finally come to terms with the split. His dilemma boils down to this: Throw out the anti-Semites and try to build a larger movement with electoral possibilities like those increasingly seen in Britain and Germany; or openly join hands with the very energetic neo-Nazis, even though that means the loss of any remaining shred of respectability.
There are those who would consign Nazism and the philosophies of groups such as the KKK to the ash heap of history. The problem with that sort of historical complacency is these philosophies, while perhaps not as “mainstream” as in times past, have by no means disappeared. They’ve simply gone underground as they have morphed with the passage of time. Hatred has merely become less obvious…albeit no less sinister and dangerous.
When bigots and fear-mongers wear designer suits and formal dresses, you know that their philosophies and fears have gone mainstream. Though they might not yet be in the majority, these folks have the money, the patience, and the connections to move the political center closer to their hatred-fueled belief system. They’ve watched and learned over the years as the Far Right has succeeded in replacing moderated voices in the media with those more suitable to their agenda. The Racist Right knows that what they want to do is eminently attainable, because the GOP has done it themselves…and if people like Michael Savage, Ann Coulter, and Michelle Malkin can become “mainstream”, how long before people like Jared Taylor will accomplish the same thing?
It probably will not be nearly as long as you might think.
