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The Ghetto Mind in 2020
Conservatives have probably never felt as criticized and condemned as they are now. We are called white supremacists, labeled Nazis, and are viewed as alien to a culture that expects everyone to toe the line of conformity to the Progressive cause. The ostracizing and censuring that the Right is experiencing goes far beyond the extremes of the past. Due to the level of malevolence, we are being marginalized and hated by the most radical of the Left. Even those who aren’t as radical are buying into the propaganda.
I believe the current environment is leading to the development of an unconscious mindset for Conservatives that is debilitating and destructive. I call it “the Ghetto Mind of 2020.” I hope that by shining a light on this mentality, we can make a conscious effort to free ourselves of this subtle yet pervasive mindset and use this awareness to strengthen our roles in, and our impact on, America.
To provide some background, I base this mindset on the Jewish ghettos of Europe. (Although blacks in America have also lived in areas called ghettos, now the inner cities, the Jewish example is much older and creates a clearer model.)
The first ghettos were formed in the 12th century, but the one created in Venice is one of the best known and was used as a model for the ghettos established by the Nazis:
The ghetto in Venice was enclosed by a wall and gates that were locked at night. Jews had to observe a curfew, and were required to wear yellow hats and badges to distinguish themselves, a practice that the Nazis would later adapt in the 20th century. The ghetto in Venice was crowded, and therefore it was necessary to add new floors onto existing buildings, leading to the first so-called skyscrapers. While the 1516 law creating the ghetto limited Jews’ freedom of mobility, to some degree it was less severe than policies elsewhere in Europe, where Jews were often forced to leave altogether. Inside the confines of the ghetto, Jews had the autonomy to govern themselves and to sustain their own social, religious and educational institutions.
Ghettos were varied in their purposes, restrictions, and constructions:
The ghettos in Nazi-occupied Europe — primarily Poland — were often closed off by walls, barbed-wire fences, or gates. Ghettos were extremely crowded and unsanitary. Starvation, chronic food and fuel shortages, and severe winter weather led to repeated outbreaks of epidemics and to a high mortality rate. Ghettoization, however, was seen as a temporary situation, and in many places the ghettos existed only for a brief time. With the implementation of the Final Solution in 1942, the Germans began to destroy the ghettos by deporting the Jewish occupants to forced-labor and extermination camps.
Although there are a number of areas in cities throughout America that house Jewish communities, usually Orthodox Jews, living in these areas is voluntary, and until recently, Jews have not been limited in their activities in those areas.
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You may ask, what in the world do European ghettoes have to do with the people of America? Remember that Ghetto Mind has to do with attitude, beliefs, and values, not location. Let me provide examples.
Outsiders: Jews were nearly always seen as outsiders. In most cases, non-Jews knew very little about Judaism, the reasons they wore distinctive clothing, and the reasons they were such a strong communal society. Jews were sometimes blamed for tragic events, such as causing the plague or economic downturns; they were the epitome of the scapegoat.
If you look at Conservatives today, they are not understood by non-Conservatives, and the far Left prefers to demonize them rather than learn their ideas. The polarization that has emerged is separating the Left and Right, particularly on social media and the mainstream media in general. The Left has worked hard to isolate the Right from sharing its ideas in most venues, through written attacks, physical threats, and threats of firings. The Right is blamed for most of the social ills, often with President Trump as our leader, so COVID-19, the disrupted economy, the strained relationship with China and Iran—all of those difficulties fall at the feet of the political Right. We are being condemned, marginalized, demonized, and rejected in many ways.
Religion: All Western religions are being criticized and rejected by many on the political Left. (Eastern religions and Islam are free to practice.) Christianity and Judaism in particular are labeled archaic and primitive. During the virus lockdowns, religious communities were especially targeted for longer shutdowns and limited access to facilities. Groups that tried to find creative ways to be together were sanctioned (like those who met by staying in their cars). Religion not only honors a Supreme Being but empowers Him uniquely above any other belief system.
Values: The motivations of the Left are alien to the beliefs of the Right. At this time, the Left is calling for revolutions, social disruption, and condemnation of systemic racism. In diametric opposition, the Right firmly holds to the original American values of individual rights, liberty, rule of law, property rights, gun rights, and freedom of speech. None of these are held in high regard by the political Left; they interfere with their socialistic and Marxist goals, and anyone who practices them is not only suspicious but should be found guilty of obstructing their plans.
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The many reasons that the Left condemns the Right justifies, in their minds, the efforts to marginalize us, subtly moving us to Ghetto Mind:
They see us as suspicious outliers. We should be rejected for our ideas which are rarely fully understood but are condemned anyway. We need to be banned from places (locations, media, institutions) where we can distract others from the “true way” and try to convince them that the Left’s ideas are wrongheaded. Our voices, actions, and efforts need to be stopped and silenced.
We develop Ghetto Mind when we feel we only have each other; when we feel our children are being shut out from the schools due to the propaganda that is taught; when we feel unsafe at our jobs because we don’t “fit in” and if found out, may be fired; when we wonder if there is anywhere we can go and be welcomed, given what we believe; when they discourage worship and the belief in G-d. We may be finding more ways to isolate ourselves from non-Conservatives and the larger society.
I believe Ghetto Mind has already made inroads into the Conservative mind. I don’t assume, as with the ghettos of Europe, it will be temporary. President Trump can’t fight alone for this country.
He will need every one of us to be behind him.
Published in Culture
A lot will depend on the election. The shift in the cold war in Poland apparently came when John Paul II visited. There were huge crowds in the streets and as people looked around they realized they weren’t really alone and isolated. If Biden wins in a landslide as is currently predicted it won’t really indicate the country is changing. It will indicate it has changed. Then things like the Benedict solution, or adopting a Ghetto mindset may be inevitable. On the other hand if we find out that the country hasn’t really changed and we just have a vocal minority that has been amplified beyond its size by the media. It might be possible to break out of this mindset.
I hope you’re right, @raxxalan. I’m not sure a Trump victory will validate that conclusion. A vocal (and violently active) community can do a lot of damage. But I vote for your option! Thanks.
I am no longer silent on Facebook. I have a Trump sign in my yard.
I am open and honest with others. My mentality is not cowering. It is getting ready to fight.
I am armed. We all need to be.
Do I sense another Post Of The Week?
Jesse Kelly did a nice 30 minute history on the Warsaw gettos.
I fear a better analogy is a Maoist type purge.
Another reason to be armed
It might be time to retrieve my guns. I sent them away with family about a year back. I think my reasoning was sound at the time. I am pretty ambivalent about retrieving them, but it may be time. In fact time maybe getting short.
Something to maybe be careful about, depending on how far away the family is. I’ve heard of some strange things happening when people try to move their own guns across state lines, for any reasonable purpose.
Thanks for the link, @dong. If it’s Maoist, all the more reason to get our heads on straight.
Your biggest problem will be getting ammunition. We talked to our friend at our gun store and range; there are still big shortages everywhere until after the election.
It has my vote. Susan’s idea of the Ghetto Mind struck me as profound. It struck me partly because I’ve seen so many examples of it recently, including some cases where I recognized it in myself without having a name for it.
Wow. I should give credit to @bethanymandel, too, because her post on anti-Semitism and someone asked whether the communities in NY resembled ghettos. Thanks, @markcamp
I agree. Trying to find .223 however, I have plenty for my Shotgun
The tech giants are hollowing out their talent pool with this Critical Race Theory nonsense. More than any other industry, the talent is mobile and ill-disposed to suffer the brain dead tautologies about all whites being racist (as if the statement itself was anything but an empty racist diatribe) and white privilege (a pathologically ludicrous idea in 2020). Logical absurdities may confound and intimidate peasants, but logic is the stock in trade in tech and by endorsing illogic these companies are assuring an exodus of talent in favor of the sheep. And the sheep will repeat whatever mantra they are given in public and revile it in private.
Steve Jobs terrorized the elevators at Apple. If you found yourself in the elevator with him you would be asked what you were doing for Apple and, if he did not like your answer, you were cashiered. Part of his employee motivation program was the frequently shared thought that, if you were any good, you would be in your garage making history, not cluttering up his cubicles. Ahh, the good old days.
Adam Smith observed that there is a lot of ruin in a nation, and thankfully he was right. And there is a lot of ruin in an Apple or a Google or an Amazon. But toking from the Maoist crack pipe of Critical Race Theory is quite the lubricant on the luge run to Hell. The giants are burning, but it may take a while for the nerves in their dinosaur feet to communicate the pain to their pea-sized dinosaur brains.
Xi has awakened the sleeping giant, and brought blood to our streets. This is not business as usual. This is not to be tolerated as just another stage in the rehabilitation and socialization of those quaint Chinese people. And if Biden is elected to restore the Xi hegemony, he will just have placed himself in the line of fire. America is not and never has been the dirtbags in public office or the jerks in the corner offices.
The American Revolution was never a majority project. One third were for revolution, one third were for the king, one third wanted nothing of any of it. Freedom was won by the men who were willing to endure the risk and bitter hardship required.
The men chomping at the bit today to take back the streets and our cities are the ones to stand with, regardless of our quadrennial political pageants. Not yesterday’s racists of any brand. The road ahead is not easy, regardless of this election. It never is.
Excellent comment, @sisyphus. So many good points. We need to step up to support those who will stand before us.
If this were an article, it would be in “The Best of Ricochet — 2020”. Too bad, but rules are rules, and currently, Comments don’t qualify.
To be totally truthful I probably violated several laws getting them where they are and will violate more getting them back; however, since the authorities were unlikely aware of the first trip and are unlikely to be aware of the second I am not terribly concerned. I am not typically a rule breaker; however, there were practicalities involved then and are now, for which “proper” form is likely more trouble then it is worth. Additionally I believe my right to self defense comes from the Almighty and not the state, so my personal conscience is clear on this. Excellent advice though is not to do anything that might cause headaches for anyone involved, other than those that are necessary.
Nor was the Russian revolution. The runup to which had violent revolutionary thinking becoming fashionable among the aristocracy and the wealthy.
The Nazis despised Christianity to the extent that they could not coopt (Aryanize/dejudaize) it. But Jews are a nation with a national religion, and both aspects were odious to the Nazis.
The Volk was the master race; non-German Aryans could be assimilated, some nonAryan races were to be permitted to be subservient, but others had to be extirpated; that was the fate destined for the Chosen People.
The Nazis may have modeled the Warsaw and other collection point ghettos on Venice administratively, but the point of the original ghetto was humiliation, having a convenient scapegoat to hand, and, related, pressure to convert to Christianity and preservation of the Jewish people for a role in the eschaton.
@susanquinn, the Zionists thought that what you’re calling the Ghetto Mind was a product of exile, of, literally, deracination. It was a delusion for Jews to believe that they could really be German, or French. Or even American. Judaism was a sort of portable homeland, but it wasn’t the same as being a free people in our land (though many if most Zionists conceived of freedom as freedom from religion.)
So if there has been the creation of a Ghetto Mind among conservatives, doesn’t that suggest that the Left’s project is to denationalize conservatives? (Conservatives first, if you can marginalize them, patriotism and nationalism except for revolutionary POC nationalism has to go. Don’t forget, you’re put in the ghetto to protect you from the justified violence of the majority society.
Ghettos tend to be zero or negative sum environments which tends to make for internal divisions even when solidarity is necessary for survival. This is demoralizing to the ghetto residents (feature, not bug for the ghettoizers.) So first it’s conservatives, then whites; this gives non-white conservatives the illusion that their fate will be different… and they can regain their intersectionalist protection by falling in love with Big Sister.
Susan’s analogy is much deeper and better thought out than what follows, but something crossed my mind in reading an article about the “Forgotten Man” as referenced here. (Basically, all those Trump voting Americans who had gotten sick of the “governing class” and its effects on their livlihoods and values and responded to him in 2016).
My gut reaction to the “elites” is a lot like being mystified long ago by the mysterious emergence of “cool kids” in Jr. and Sr. high school….sometimes called “popular,” although they technically weren’t. Some things they most definitely were not: smarter, more talented, kinder (at least overall in any overwhelming amounts). They just “WERE.” It seemed to neither be earned nor conferred by outsiders yet the balance of the population of their peers allowed it and recognized it. And some desired desperately to join it, but the gateways to get in were hidden, mostly unavailable, and the mechanism never discernable. There was also no need to cause the insiders to scapegoat “lower beings” or ostracize them (for reasons like adult political motives). I guess we are talking about a built-in nature that fosters everything from discrimination to bullying.
I always assumed this was juvenile behavior. Now I believe it’s biological, like hens that get pecked to death, horses not “allowed” into the herd, low-status wolves being the last in the pack to eat, etc. for reasons not discernable to humans. It didn’t go away with school, but morphed into the “schmoozers” in the work place who lacked much to offer other than being liked more by managers. Hard skills allow outsiders to acquire some value, by having knowhow or skills that the in-crowd doesn’t want to bother with….but even in the best of the adult world, there always remains an imperfect match between solid value and social capital. When we are civilized, it stays at a tolerable level and by organizations having multiples slots to fill, it doesn’t ostrcize the genuine worker who trades in effort at the job over skating on pretense.
But caste making has grown wildly beyond the playground and led to the disdain for “flyover land” and its presumed residents. At this point it has morphed into a sneering press and open insults to conservatives. It’s like the worst shadows of school on steroids has invaded adulthood, created a new mix of bad attitudes with now sanctioned pre-adolescent behavior, and could eventually bring about our self destruction. There may be some space to philosophize on why the un-cool are more conservative – possibly their nature of wanting to live on a solid foundation, and to find an independent craft vs. being crowd dependent. But at this point, internal and several external forces have convinced too many liberals that our most perverse characteristics are acceptable, cost-free, and justified to achieve the taking over from those “others” what had been democracy.
I posit that in-crowd membership is predicated on a lack of loyalties elsewhere.
No. It will not. That is deeply dangerous self-delusion. The situation will be that of the ghettos suddenly confronted by German tank divisions. The Benedict option is ignorant of American history.
At the dawn of the 20th Century, Reformed Christians, in response to the duel threats of theological and secular leftists in the Progressive Era, retreated into private community, disengaging from politics while claiming to refocus on the fundamentals of the Christian faith. They were derisively labeled Fundamentalist and allowed the rot to progress until Reagan courted their votes in 1980.
The Left will not let you exercise a “Benedict option.” We will fight and win now in the public square or we will be forced to bow for basic sustenance.
Yes
Many excellent points, OTLC! Thank you. I especially liked the point I copied in here. Thanks!
And this just “crossed your mind”?? These are such insightful observations. Especially liked your description of the elites in school–brought back so many memories. Trust me, I wasn’t one of them. And then how it gets transferred to adult life. You should think about writing a post on this, @eridemus.
Very interesting. Could you elaborate?
This would be my choice, @cliffordbrown. Now is not the time to draw back!
Same hear. I’m the Republican Precinct guy live on a corner and have all our candidates signs in the yard. All my Trump signs have been stolen and now my other signs on one street. The culprits are young girls 13 or 14 I think. They are lead by a mixed race girl who is fast to accuse her opposition as racist, what’s new, and that thanking physical action is justified. I have caught them in the act of both theft and burning one of the signs. I have put a Trump sign in my front windows, custom made with 3 x 3 foot letters, drives them crazy.
These are children who come by on Halloween and I say hi as I make my evening walks. I’m loath to call the police as they are so young.
I’m seeking recommendations on how to respond. I don’t have kids putting me, I think, at a disadvantage in this confrontation.
BTW, this is Leavenworth, Kansas, a fairly conservative town.
Call their parents.
I would call the police. They don’t have to charge them, but it’d scare them–hopefully. Also, as Bryan said, you can call their parents if you know who they are. Although their parents might approve. If so, then call the cops.
Thanks, I don’t know their names but I’ll go knock on their door tonight. I think at least one of the parents are an enabler.