Find the cost of freedom
Buried in the ground
Mother Earth will swallow you
Lay your body down

– Stephen Stills

My last blog entry inspired a response from my friend Lucius Svartwulf Helsen.  We differ on a few things, but he raised some very interesting points which warrant further exploration.  Before we continue, I would like to clear one thing up.  Lucius said:

I think Kenaz and others still hope for a peaceful resolution and a unification of our country. But you cannot unify with a people that desires you dead, and only pleads peace when they themselves are injured. Vae Victus, woe to the conquered, is the only attitude left at this point.

I do not hope to stop the bloodshed to come.  History has never consulted me on its inexorable march. There are many ways things can go from here but in the long term all of them are violent. That is how it always has been: that is how it will always be.  I do not even believe that more violence can be averted in the short term.  Both sides have staked out their positions and neither seems willing to budge.  To be in the center is to be attacked from both flanks by very angry people. And once weapons have been introduced into the fray, neither side wants to be the first to give them up.  I will not be able to stop the fighting.   All I can do is to remind people of its terrible cost.

Robert Bowers was quite clear on his motivation: the ongoing support of refugees and immigrants by HIAS, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society.  Bowers believed HIAS and other Jewish organizations are deliberately involved in White genocide (or in actions which will lead to White genocide regardless of their intent).  If this is mental illness, it is a  folie à plusieurs.  As Masha Green writes in The New Yorker:

In the fiscal year of 2018, which has just ended, only 22,491 refugees have been admitted to the U.S., and forty-two of them came to Pittsburgh. The refugees have been coming to Pittsburgh from Burma, Iraq, Syria, the Congo, and other countries. The alleged Tree of Life shooter, Robert Bowers, wasn’t entirely misinformed when he posted invectives against HIAS: the organization really is doing what it can to bring as many refugees as possible to the U.S.

Once we understand what motivates terrorists, we can try to address how much they can rely on community support — and community indifference.  Are White Nationalists recoiling in horror at Squirrel Hill, or are they greeting it with a yawn?  Says Lucius:

Another thing Kenaz does is go through the list of victims and talk about how they did not hate Bower. And while this is no doubt true on an objective level, since presumably they did not know Bower, they were Jews from a Reform temple. As a rule, Jews (especially those from a reform synagogue) are very, very Progressive in their political views. I have little doubt that these victims did hate things like white nationalism, and did support open borders, the rights of “migrants” and felt that the USA and world would benefit greatly from the reduction in power of white people and the increase of “diversity” in white nations.

So while they did not hate Bower specifically, I do suspect that they hated everything he stood for. Which, really, is much the same thing. If you do not hate the man, but hate everything the man believes in, is that not the same as hating the man?

He is not alone in his feelings. At American Renaissance one commenter noted “I have no obligation to weep, wail and tear my garments when people that are genociding me, receive the karma of their actions“: over on Counter-Currents Donald Thoresen opined:

[T]he chances of these Jews caring one bit about me had I been killed by the consequences of those population replacement policies that their people have inflicted on my country are close to zero. Not that that would even matter, however. My ultimate concern is for my own people, and I don’t care what Jews think about a damned thing. We, not Jews – and certainly not American Jews – are under attack. And I am sick to death of the world’s most privileged people claiming to be underdogs in any context whatsoever. So, no, I will not shed a tear.

Reformers have always loved the ad misericordiam.  Abolitionist narratives of whipped slaves; temperance pamphlets decrying women and children abused by drunken husbands; evangelist brochures emblazoned with wide-eyed emaciated children; dead immigrant babies washing up on the shore.  History shows that this approach is often effective. Targeting our compassion can work nearly as well as appeals to lust and rage in making us act in someone else’s interests rather than our own.  But manipulation becomes considerably less effective when the targets realize they are being played: compassion can quickly be misplaced by mistrust. Or by open hatred.

Rather than appeals to pity, I call instead on enlightened self-interest.  Many on both the Left and the Right are looking forward to the great war which will allow us to overthrow the current corrupt system.  For them Squirrel Hill, and the Squirrel Hills to come, are a few eggs to be broken on the way to a more perfect omelette.  I would encourage all these dreamers to contemplate the impact of escalating violence on their community.  Are you ready for the war to come to your churches, your schools, your homes? Are you ready to bury your children in the name of your cause and to sacrifice friends along with enemies?  Do you want to keep fanning the flames knowing you and yours may burn in the ensuing conflagration?  And if you find that unappealing, what alternate steps are you willing to take to avoid it?

The issues which drove Robert Bowers did not die with his victims.  Their blood serves as a warning, not an absolution.  Silencing legitimate criticism will not prevent another atrocity,  it will only make it inevitable.  If there is to be dialogue, let it be honest and frank: if there is to be negotiation let both sides engage honestly and protect their own interests whilst acknowledging those of the other side.  It will not be easy. At this point it may not even be possible.  Squirrel Hill shows us our alternative.