Sean McBride wrote:
You know, this reply is so emotional, so irrational, so unscientific,
that I am beginning to wonder whether Kevin MacDonald has any reasonable
defenders at all.
Sorry - that was meant to be over-the-top in a light-hearted and
humorous way - not a personal attack. These are highly emotional
issues, and that was a bad time for a bad attempt at humor. I sincerely
apologize.
I didn't charge MacDonald with being a "white supremacist militant
murdering racist" -- I asked, framing my language carefully, if he was a
white (or European) ethnic nationalist, in the same way that many
neocons are Jewish ethnic nationalists. Why should this question provoke
so much consternation? A simple yes or no answer should do.
The answer is a qualified yes. MacDonald's works are scientific rather
than polemical. In a scientific article you present a theory, and then
present data. Then you consider whether or not the data supports your
theory or if it is more in accord with other theories. Finally, at the
end the author usually expresses opinions about the implications of his
work, but this is not part of the scientific work per se.
In MacDonald's case the theory is that Jewish ethnocentrism and
antisemitism are both expressions of inherent evolutionary drives. This
is tied into theories of evolution that consider the ethnic group in
addition to the individual as a center of gravity driving natural
selection (Group Selection Theory, Genetic Similarity Theory). Almost
the entirety of MacDonald's three books on Jewish issues consists of a
careful consideration of this thesis.
Regarding the implications, MacDonald briefly considers what might be
done to improve a troubling situation. He discusses two possiblilities.
First there is a multicultural approach in which the government might
try to enforce ethnic equality through initiatives such as affirmative
action and quota systems, to ensure that groups do not for example try
to take over the mass media and the government to run things for their
own advantage. He does not think this approach is realistic. Secondly
he considers the possibility that other ethnic groups might emulate the
Jewish model and consciously compete to advance their own ethnic
interests. MacDonald holds out more hope for this approach, while
acknowledging that there are many problems here as well.
However, it would be perfectly possible to disagree with MacDonald's
opionions in this respect and still whole-heartedly support his
scientific work - i.e. 99.9% of what he has written on this very
important subject.
Tim Howells
> The Nazis produced a great deal of "science" about Jews and races in
general which was motivated by an ethnic nationalist and racialist
agenda. This is a familiar genre of pseudo-scientific literature, one
that is largely motivated by resentment. See, for instance,
>
> .{book; Alan E. Steinweis; Studying the Jew: Scholarly Antisemitism in
Nazi Germany; Harvard University Press; 2006}
>
> A full description is available on Amazon.com:
>
> http://www.amazon.com/dp/067402205X/
>
> Is MacDonald coming out of this tradition?
>
> I've also tried to raise some important questions about the dangers of
ethnic nationalist politics in general in the age of WMDs, without much
success.
>
> tim_howells_1000 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> Sean McBride wrote:
> 1. Is Kevin MacDonald a white ethnic nationalist? Is he attacking
Jewish ethnic nationalism from the standpoint of European (white) ethnic
nationalism?
> ARRRGGHHHH! Man, this is just too incredibly frustrating. Our
"conversations" when it comes to MacDonald always go like this: First I
post something by or about MacDonald - then you say
> Sean: Hmmmm .... but isn't this Kevin MacDonald a white supremacist
militant murdering racist? I think I heard that somewhere. I'm not sure
I really like that.
> Me: Well, why don't you read the article I posted and respond to that?
If you read his books on antisemitism what he says is ... (see my
previous post, for example).
> Sean: Hmmmm .... but isn't this Kevin MacDonald a white supremacist
militant murdering racist? I think I heard that somewhere. I'm not sure
I really like that.
> Me: Can't you respond to something specific that MacDonald has said,
or to my very own very brief summary?
> Sean: Hmmmm .... but isn't this Kevin MacDonald a white supremacist
militant murdering racist? I think I heard that somewhere. I'm not sure
I really like that.
> ====================================================
> AARGGHHRRGGHHHRRR!!!?!!?!?! It's like trying to talk to a brainwashed
bot android with extremely primitive programming! Very unlike your
normal self I might add. In any case I give up! I'll let my previous
post be my last word on the subject for now.
> Tim
>
