Yep yookayaesthetics is one of the only things that honestly engages. I'm not blackpilled as I think the last 5 years has seen a lot of positive signs on the right. If nothing has changed in 10 years though then I will be.
It's interesting when people say 'built modern Britain', they appear to be thinking about current expenditures (NHS staff) than capital investments (buildings and infrastructure) that make up more of the lived environment.
During the industrial revolution, Bradford was richer per capita than Paris. We are living off the infrastructure of that time.
Yes, 'modern Britain' was largely physically built from the 1850s to the 1970s - the last truly national infrastructure project being the motorways. Suburban street names often show their Victorian to Post war origins. I'm always surprised by how commonly you see a group of parallel streets named after Victorian PMs, or battles from Second Boer War.
I guess parts of central non-London big cities (and some smaller ones) have been rebuilt (largely for the better) in living memory for those in their 30s and older, but to the benefit of mostly white British yuppie types and physically constructed by the also mostly white British building workforce.
I find myself despairing in the face of multiculturalist ideology. What can you even say to people who would cite immigration from within a radius less than the length of Great Britain as justification for immigration from the other side of the globe? No amount of crime or ethnic tension seems to dent their enthusiasm. They have all the unreasoned conviction of a cult.
I’m writing from Ireland, where the national broadcaster recently did one of those landmark, ‘story of the nation’ documentary series. There was minor controversy (but no more than that) when the producer and writer said, “We Irish were never homogeneous. Always hybrids, always mongrels”. What a coincidence that it should pop up right at the time that other Western countries are reimagining their pasts to accommodate mass migration. I wonder is this producer consciously engaged in propaganda or if she is just blissfully unaware of the ideological current that has swept her onto this topic.
The word mongrel would, of course, lose you your career if applied to any minority group. But, to be honest, I‘m sympathetic to her use of it. I’m a lifelong anti-nationalist in Ireland, railing against Anglophobia. The diversity of the Irish population is one of the arguments I would once have reached for. But now I find myself having to forge a path between Gaelic nationalists on one side and open-border progressives on the other (who, ironically, often overlap). One of the maddening things, therefore, about mass migration (the Irish population is now close to 25% foreign-born) is that it complicates how we talk about ourselves.
Yep it's been interesting to see the spread of the ideology in Ireland. I've seen the claim that because Ireland was a nation of emigrants, it must now become a nation of immigrants too.
Yes, that’s very common, and treated as the last word on the subject. You might be interested in these two examples from last month.
One newspaper column was headlined, “Irish people being against immigration is like Brazilian people being against football”.
The Irish story of emigration is generally treated as a tragedy. Comparing that to Brazilians’ love of a particular form of entertainment is bizarre.
Another concluded, “Since Irish people have been moving to other countries in their millions for generations, here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to shut up about it, completely, for fear we might all die of national embarrassment.”
A lot of Irish cultural conformity is sustained by a “don’t be a dick” mentality. The Irish reputation for amiability, etc, has the consequence that it’s especially disreputable to break from the consensus.
I was thinking of adding a paragraph on Ireland in the article, as an example of a country where people are trying to push the 'nation of immigrants' article from a completely different starting point. These would have been some good examples!
I would suggest repurposing the word 'fakelore' to describe these modern folk beliefs. One of the first ones you discussed was the dogma that nations were invented in modernity as a result of modern technology, which is not at all accurate (as Caspar Hirschi's "Origins of Nationalism" makes clear) but can be understood as projection. What was really invented in modernity as a result of technology and modern conditions is the pseudo-nation of the 'enlightened', defined by education, 'civil society' occupations and the set of beliefs you discuss, a sort of ruling noblefolk analogous to the Athenian demos or Polish szlachta (or perhaps rather some sort of transnational priesthood). Just as some lowborn usurper of a kingdom would have an interest in casting doubt on more legitimate lineages, as well as actually diluting them and breaking them up, this group has every interest in pretending that its subjects belong to 'nations of immigrants' and trying by hook or crook to make this a reality.
Half a million Irish emigrated to the UK ( mainly England ) in the 50s and 60s , amongst them my parents. My Dad got me jobs working with McAlpine’s and Wimpeys during my student holidays and I worked as a labourer on the M58 motorway and in various building sites in the North West . Nearly all the guys I worked with were Irish. It is no exaggeration to say that they played a large part in building the motorway network and in the construction and demolition industry in the UK during that period . Many of them set up their own businesses and some became very wealthy. That generation of Irishmen made a massive contribution to building UK infrastructure in the post—war period whilst the NHS recruited 30,000 Irish women to work as nurses ( 12% of the nursing workforce in 1971 ).
It seems bizarre to me that anyone with any understanding of English and British history could think that “we are a nation of immigrants” is anything close to historically accurate. It is amazing how far ideological activists will go to try to distort history to further their ends.
Great post and series. It is clear that changing the narrative and perception of history is being used to influence where the future should lead to. It also strikes me that progressives have suddenly started embracing tradition, history and identity by saying that 'Britain has always been...' as an argument! How conservative of them
Yep yookayaesthetics is one of the only things that honestly engages. I'm not blackpilled as I think the last 5 years has seen a lot of positive signs on the right. If nothing has changed in 10 years though then I will be.
why, just putting urself in a negative spiral
It's interesting when people say 'built modern Britain', they appear to be thinking about current expenditures (NHS staff) than capital investments (buildings and infrastructure) that make up more of the lived environment.
During the industrial revolution, Bradford was richer per capita than Paris. We are living off the infrastructure of that time.
Yes, 'modern Britain' was largely physically built from the 1850s to the 1970s - the last truly national infrastructure project being the motorways. Suburban street names often show their Victorian to Post war origins. I'm always surprised by how commonly you see a group of parallel streets named after Victorian PMs, or battles from Second Boer War.
I guess parts of central non-London big cities (and some smaller ones) have been rebuilt (largely for the better) in living memory for those in their 30s and older, but to the benefit of mostly white British yuppie types and physically constructed by the also mostly white British building workforce.
This is really great.
I find myself despairing in the face of multiculturalist ideology. What can you even say to people who would cite immigration from within a radius less than the length of Great Britain as justification for immigration from the other side of the globe? No amount of crime or ethnic tension seems to dent their enthusiasm. They have all the unreasoned conviction of a cult.
I’m writing from Ireland, where the national broadcaster recently did one of those landmark, ‘story of the nation’ documentary series. There was minor controversy (but no more than that) when the producer and writer said, “We Irish were never homogeneous. Always hybrids, always mongrels”. What a coincidence that it should pop up right at the time that other Western countries are reimagining their pasts to accommodate mass migration. I wonder is this producer consciously engaged in propaganda or if she is just blissfully unaware of the ideological current that has swept her onto this topic.
The word mongrel would, of course, lose you your career if applied to any minority group. But, to be honest, I‘m sympathetic to her use of it. I’m a lifelong anti-nationalist in Ireland, railing against Anglophobia. The diversity of the Irish population is one of the arguments I would once have reached for. But now I find myself having to forge a path between Gaelic nationalists on one side and open-border progressives on the other (who, ironically, often overlap). One of the maddening things, therefore, about mass migration (the Irish population is now close to 25% foreign-born) is that it complicates how we talk about ourselves.
Yep it's been interesting to see the spread of the ideology in Ireland. I've seen the claim that because Ireland was a nation of emigrants, it must now become a nation of immigrants too.
Yes, that’s very common, and treated as the last word on the subject. You might be interested in these two examples from last month.
One newspaper column was headlined, “Irish people being against immigration is like Brazilian people being against football”.
The Irish story of emigration is generally treated as a tragedy. Comparing that to Brazilians’ love of a particular form of entertainment is bizarre.
Another concluded, “Since Irish people have been moving to other countries in their millions for generations, here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to shut up about it, completely, for fear we might all die of national embarrassment.”
A lot of Irish cultural conformity is sustained by a “don’t be a dick” mentality. The Irish reputation for amiability, etc, has the consequence that it’s especially disreputable to break from the consensus.
I was thinking of adding a paragraph on Ireland in the article, as an example of a country where people are trying to push the 'nation of immigrants' article from a completely different starting point. These would have been some good examples!
I would suggest repurposing the word 'fakelore' to describe these modern folk beliefs. One of the first ones you discussed was the dogma that nations were invented in modernity as a result of modern technology, which is not at all accurate (as Caspar Hirschi's "Origins of Nationalism" makes clear) but can be understood as projection. What was really invented in modernity as a result of technology and modern conditions is the pseudo-nation of the 'enlightened', defined by education, 'civil society' occupations and the set of beliefs you discuss, a sort of ruling noblefolk analogous to the Athenian demos or Polish szlachta (or perhaps rather some sort of transnational priesthood). Just as some lowborn usurper of a kingdom would have an interest in casting doubt on more legitimate lineages, as well as actually diluting them and breaking them up, this group has every interest in pretending that its subjects belong to 'nations of immigrants' and trying by hook or crook to make this a reality.
Fakelore is a good word
Another great piece in this series Will. Are there many others planned?
Thank you. None planned at the moment, I wait for inspiration to strike me
Half a million Irish emigrated to the UK ( mainly England ) in the 50s and 60s , amongst them my parents. My Dad got me jobs working with McAlpine’s and Wimpeys during my student holidays and I worked as a labourer on the M58 motorway and in various building sites in the North West . Nearly all the guys I worked with were Irish. It is no exaggeration to say that they played a large part in building the motorway network and in the construction and demolition industry in the UK during that period . Many of them set up their own businesses and some became very wealthy. That generation of Irishmen made a massive contribution to building UK infrastructure in the post—war period whilst the NHS recruited 30,000 Irish women to work as nurses ( 12% of the nursing workforce in 1971 ).
It seems bizarre to me that anyone with any understanding of English and British history could think that “we are a nation of immigrants” is anything close to historically accurate. It is amazing how far ideological activists will go to try to distort history to further their ends.
Great post and series. It is clear that changing the narrative and perception of history is being used to influence where the future should lead to. It also strikes me that progressives have suddenly started embracing tradition, history and identity by saying that 'Britain has always been...' as an argument! How conservative of them
They know the only way to sell this dramatic and negative change is to convince people it's always been like this.
jews are the genociders
Excellent