AltRight and “mud people”

Timothy A. writes:

The level of discourse at Alternative Right is discouraging. The comments section of an interesting article by a Greek writer on cooperation between Greek leftists and illegal immigrants immediately degenerates into a discussion of whether Greeks and southern Italians are “mud people.”

Unless Spencer changes direction, AltRight looks like becoming a slicker Stormfront.

- end of initial entry -

Bruce B. writes:

Actually, I keep thinking it’s becoming more like Majority rights and keep wanting to ask Spencer how it’s different from that site other than being geared towards a younger crowd.

I’ve followed Altright somewhat regularly since its inception. Spencer tags posts under various labels e.g. “multiculturalism,” “race,” “Eurocentric” but it seems to me like greater than 95 percent of what he posts is essentially “white-right” stuff regardless of what tag he gives it. He throws in economic doomsday posts from time to time which makes it seem even more like Majority rights. From what I can tell, Kalb, Gottfried, etc. have withdrawn from the site. Scott Locklin, the fellow who wrote articles on the different social classes, isn’t there anymore. Trifkovic isn’t there anymore—he’s back at Chronicles. Brimelow doesn’t appear to have ever done anything for the site. Even the weird blue-collar men’s issues guy is long gone. Majority rights also had some traditional conservatives early on that I suspect left because of its monomaniacal views (e.g. Mark Richardson, Jim Kalb, John Ray). [LA replies: I’m not aware that Mark Richardson ever wrote there.]

So it seems to me the Altright has become Majority rights for twenty-somethings.

Bruce B. continues:

Regarding my last comment, in Spencer’s partial defense, I don’t think his site is as blatantly anti-Jewish as MR. He had a post by a professor named Byron Roth defending the Jewish perspective.

It’s just that the monomaniacal view, the slick webpage look with embedded videos and the economic doomsday posts reminded me of MR.

April 13

Bruce B. writes:

“I’m not aware that Mark Richardson ever wrote there”

You are or at least were aware of this at one time. You once gave a qualified endorsement of Majority Rights (that’s how I found it I think) because former VFR alumni Mark Richardson and Fred Scrooby (this was before he became monomaniacal) posted there (Fred as a commenter only I think).

LA replies:

Sorry, I mistakenly thought the reference was to Alt-Right, where Jim Kalb has written; Kalb was referred to in the previous comment as being a contributor at AltRight and at Majority Rights. But now I have to say that I’m not aware of Jim Kalb ever writing at Majority Rights.

Yes, Mark Richardson has discussed at VFR his participation at Majority Rights before he stopped commenting there, and his important insights into the MR view of things. However, I don’t think that I have ever endorsed Majority Rights in any manner.

Bruce B. replies:

I think you endorsed Mark Richardson’s writing over there )MR) not the site itself.

MR had a post a long time ago called “Jim Kalb’s Transcendence.” I saw it and did a search on Kalb there to see what else they had written about him. I found a couple of posts by Kalb very early in MR’s history.

Kalb said at Turnabout that he only “cross-posts” things at AltRight. I think this was his way of saying that he is very casually connected with the site (despite being listed as an “editor”).

Richard Spencer writes:

I just saw your post on me.

A few things:

I just went through the comments section and culled a number of “mud people” comments. First off, I love the Southern European culture of the Spanish, Italians, and Greeks (though it’s not my own, of course). Secondly, I’d never publish “mud people” in an article, as it’s a brainless slur.

At the moment, I’m overwhelmed editing a book, re-organizing a couple of different organizations, and launching a new store. I wish I could monitor all the comments, but I simply can’t.

Moreover, all those people who, your readers claim, have broken with AltRight, haven’t. I’m still on great terms with them—indeed, I’m still involved with most all of them in my position with The Mencken Club. The AltRight “crackup” is wishful thinking on the part of resentful people.

John McNeil writes:

I commend Richard Spencer for his proper actions against such bigots. I’m also glad to hear he’s still on good terms with many of the writers I admired back when I frequented the site. I only hope that he’s been equally merciless with the Nazi brigade that trolls the comment section.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at April 12, 2011 08:13 AM | Send