Sohrab Ahmari (Persian Muslim converted to Catholic Conservative and Culture Wars Hawk), in the Spectator, argues that the nation-wide BLM outbreak of hysteria is not so much a Revolution, as it is a reactionary putsch.
America is not in the middle of a revolution — it is a reactionary putsch. About four years ago, the sort of people who had acquired position and influence as a result of globalisation were turfed out of power for the first time in decades. They watched in horror as voters across the world chose Brexit, Donald Trump and other populist and conservative–nationalist options.
This deposition explains the storm of unrest battering American cities from coast to coast and making waves in Europe as well. The storm’s ferocity — the looting, the mobs, the mass lawlessness, the zealous iconoclasm, the deranged slogans like #DefundPolice — terrifies ordinary Americans. Many conservatives, especially, believe they are facing a revolution targeting the very foundations of American order.
But when national institutions bow (or kneel) to the street fighters’ demands, it should tell us that something else is going on. We aren’t dealing with a Maoist or Marxist revolt, even if some protagonists spout hard-leftish rhetoric. Rather, what’s playing out is a counter-revolution of the neoliberal class — academe, media, large corporations, ‘experts’, Big Tech — against the nationalist revolution launched in 2016. The supposed insurgents and the elites are marching in the streets together, taking the knee together.
They do not seek a radically new arrangement, but a return to the pre-Trump, pre-Brexit status quo ante which was working out very well for them. It was, of course, working out less well for the working class of all races, who bore the brunt of their preferred policy mix: open borders, free trade without limits, an aggressive cultural liberalism that corroded tradition and community, technocratic ‘global governance’ that neutered democracy and politics as such. …
Does anyone seriously believe the American establishment — Walmart, Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, the trustees of Ivy League universities, the major sports leagues, even Brooks Brothers, for God’s sake — would sign on to a movement that genuinely threatened its material interests?
OneGuy
It’s a race riot / socialist orgasm.
Those people you see looting stores and running out with the TV don’t know who George what’s his name is. Those people burning cop cars could care less who or what George the home invader/rapist is. This is about what has been allowed for years and what these far left ignoramuses think they can get away with.
Hunt them down using social media and rewards that encourage their friends to turn them in. Then prosecute and jail for ten years.
Jerryskids
Something to think about. I don’t know that I agree with the diagnosis, but it adds to the mix. I just don’t understand why the business community bows to the Left, this adds an explanation.
Mike-SMO
The “business community” wants to be friends with those who hold power. The politics, they think, is irrelevant. They think that they are essential and will always continue to prosper. Their equivalent groups in 1930s Germany allowed the Nastional Socialists to take power and, in truth, unless they were unlucky enough to be sitting at the impact point of an American or Bitish bomb, they made out quite well, although “their” country was devastated. “Politics”, like “The Law” is for the little people. “They” don’t really care if their office is in a corporation or in a State Agency. Paper in and paper out; The essential “They” will prosper. As always. Even when the new mob breaks into their private preserve (as in Saint Louis), “They” are immune and perfectly safe. Your wife and children in the family shop are another matter completely. But that is not of their world.
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