identity and subcultures


On various right-leaning forums people are always expressing their bewilderment that whites today don’t have a sense of white identity, or a sense of national identity. People seem to be especially surprised that white elites lack such a sense of identity. How can anyone not have an identity?

In fact white elites and aspiring elites (or wannabe elites) do have a sense of identity but it’s not based on ethnicity, race or tradition. Elites and wannabe elites identify as being members of the elite. They may also identify as members of the gay community or the arts community or the activist community. They may identify as antifa, or as Democrats or Labour supporters. They may even identify as belonging to the vegan community.The only ethnic identity recognised among the elites is Jewish identity but even that is not as strong as some on the alt-right suppose it to be.

What stands out about these identities is that they are mostly strongly class-based and they are artificial. They are not based on a shared history or culture. They are not even based on a clear-cut ideology. You will find a few who will tell you that they are marxists but you’ll soon discover that they know nothing but Marxism. They’ll you they believe in social justice but you’ll find that this is mostly status and/or virtue signalling. They will have great difficulty explaining exactly how social justice is going to work – social justice just means blaming white people and/or heterosexuals for every problem.

These are identities based on feelings. They allow people a sense of belonging but the main attraction is that they offer a feeling of moral and intellectual superiority and self-righteousness. They offer a warm inner glow.

It’s tempting to blame relentless propaganda in schools and the media. This is of course a major cause but this is not the only factor and the roots go back quite a long way. As far back as the 1950s we saw the beginnings of youth subcultures. There were the Teds or Teddy Boys in England, and later the Mods and the Rockers and later still the Skinheads. In Australia there were the Sharpies. And of course there the Hippies, followed by the Punks and the Goths. These were all attempts to create synthetic communities and they were an obvious sign that traditional communities were breaking down.

Interestingly enough the early youth subcultures were heavily working class, which may be an indication that working class communities were the first to begin to disintegrate. Teds and Mods were very much working class. This started to change at the end of the 60s. The Hippies were much more likely to be middle class. The Punks, despite their image, were often drawn from the middle class art school set. Goths seemed to have been predominantly middle class.

The two world wars obvious played a part in dissolving traditional communities but it may be that government policies in the post-war period also contributed. in Britain longstanding communities were broken up and the people relocated into new housing estates which soon became high-rise slums. Employment patterns were changing also with people more inclined to move to seek better jobs. Women were now a substantial part of the workforce with catastrophic results for the family. The nuclear family reigned supreme with extended families seen as old-fashioned and oppressive and boring.

There was of course a huge emphasis on consumerism while religion continued to decline.

People lost the connection to the places in which they were born and raised, and they lost the sense of wide-ranging family ties.

If traditional family and community ties start to decay it’s hardly surprising that people will also find it more difficult to feel a sense of regional identity, ethnic identity and national identity. People become alienated and without religion they become isolated individuals. It’s hardly surprising that they then try to construct artificial identities.