11/17/2005
[Recently by Dr. Ken Dombey: Multiculturalism And Medicine: A Deadly Combination]
I don’t know exactly why I did it. I had never met or corresponded with the man before. But somewhere on the late Sam Francis' computer is my unopened email wishing a speedy recovery from thoracic surgery. He died the next day, February 15, 2005.
Reading VDARE.com I came to realize the importance of Dr. Francis' ideas. Since his death I have been haunted by the news that he planned to begin an important book — a book about the role of race in culture — now left for someone else to write.
So I scoured his columns to see what might have been the crux of his argument and came across this profound quote which got me thinking:
"Breaking down the sexual barriers between the races is a major weapon of cultural destruction because it means the dissolution of the cultural boundaries that define breeding and the family and, ultimately, the transmission and survival of the culture itself." [Morality Not The Only Target on Monday Night Football, November 26, 2004 ]
And this really is our problem. Isn’t it?
Traditional Americans truly believe in ideals such as equality and freedom. These concepts are an integral part of our culture. But there is a conflict between believing in abstract universal truths and embracing a universal society, because of the constraints necessary to ensure passing on ideas through time. Unless a functional cultural unit is maintained, which in part is derived from strategic breeding rules, then ideas will likely be dissipated and lost.
Is this why America has appeared to have a double standard from the very beginning? Our Founding Fathers often spoke in universal language but really only practiced their beliefs within the context of European descendants. Thomas Jefferson claimed "all men are created equal" and then called Indians "savages" in the very same document. (He also cited as a grievance that Britain had ignored America’s pleas for justice despite "common blood" and "consanguinity". Although certainly relevant, I must defer Jefferson’s shocking, shocking acknowledgment of this higher law for another essay, another time.)
We have all heard ad nauseum about the victimization of blacks, Indians, Chinese etc. The left has bludgeoned traditional Americans with the guilt of not living up to our noble universal rhetoric.
But today the natural law premise that "all men are created equal" has been transformed by cultural Marxism into the messianic theme of diversity.
And diversity has formed the wedge of multiculturalism that threatens to break apart America, the West, and their ideas.
It is obvious that the Founding Fathers knew better than to travel down this road. But, unfortunately, they did not leave us with a rigorous defense of their position.
In his remarkable book on David Hume, Philosophical Melancholy and Delirium, Professor Donald Livingston describes the trap in which we have fallen.
According to Dr. Livingston’s interpretation of Hume, the true philosopher — and also civilization — mediates beliefs through custom. The false philosopher — and also barbarism — tries but ultimately fails to transcend culture with abstractions.
My favorite quote from Hume in the book: "Be a philosopher; but amidst all of your philosophy, be still a man."
But Dr. Livingston (more precisely, David Hume) leaves alone the vexing problem of race and its role in culture. Adam Bellow’s In Praise of Nepotism comes closer to addressing it directly.
According to Bellow, ethnic nepotism has historically been important to cultural achievement. In fact, he claims it is the "bedrock of social existence". He maintains, however, that long-term cultural success must strike a balance between not being overly exclusive nor too inclusive.
Bellow then goes on, seemingly at odds with his thesis, to suggest that America should no longer exclude any group (specifically blacks) from its nepotistic network. I infer from this that he recognizes that America has historically employed a (successful) nepotistic strategy of incorporating predominately European immigrants.
Bellow’s book is very insightful but ultimately supports the perpetrators of diversity and the destruction of America. He wants to "expand our definition of the national family." Does he ignore his own warning that: "nepotism, practiced badly, mainly ends up hurting those directly involved?"
(Of note: Steve Sailer’s review for VDARE.com offers no such criticism of In Praise of Nepotism. I guess in Steve’s "citizenist" model the entire country would strive to shine like the state with the highest white/black admixture — Louisiana! Pre-Katrina, of course.)
It seems to me that the social sciences need a grand unifying theory, reconciling the cultural need to believe in universal principles with the reality that exclusionary rules provide for the fragile health of all cultures, including our own. (I recommend, in this regard, Richard Weaver's book Visions of Order).
This is what is necessary to regain the moral high ground from the destructive left — and to replace the ineffectual right.
Tragically, I can only guess that this is what Sam Francis had planned for his book.
Dr. Ken Dombey is a practicing internist.
[VDARE.COM note: Sam Francis was not spared to write his book, but he did edit a collection of essays, including work by Kevin Lamb, Richard Lynn, Kevin MacDonald, Jared Taylor, and Marian Kester Coombs, which will be published by the National Policy Institute under the title Race And The American Prospect in early 2006.]
[UPDATE: Race and the American Prospect is currently available through Noontide Press.]
This is a content archive of VDARE.com, which Letitia James forced off of the Internet using lawfare.