Posted under Race
Anglo-Saxon King Alfred
The usual suspects are pointing and sputtering over Mitt Romney’s aid’s common-sense and factual statement that Obama does not understand the “Anglo-Saxon heritage” shared by the U.S. and Britain. Or that “we are part of an Anglo-Saxon heritage, and he [Romney] feels that the special relationship is special. The White House didn’t fully appreciate the shared history we have.” Of course, this makes perfect sense. As Thomas Fleming notes:
The most obvious point is that the anti-European Obama administration, which sent back a bust of Winston Churchill given as a present, and which has made clear its contempt not just for British but for all European and American traditions, cannot understand such quaint notions as the rule of law.
One might also mention Carl Jung’s archetypes where Jung believed that people are more likely to appreciate and preserve a tradition if it’s of their own ancestral / racial archetype.
But in the propositional United States of America, where anything is possible (where horses are sheep and 2+2=5, if only people will believe), some want to bend over backwards to prove Obama is a WASP – such is the ridiculous post by Walter Russell Mead. Americans seem to be offended by any hereditarian notion that X cannot be Y. After all, in the great Blank Slatist, Cultural Marxist US of A, X can be Y, if it so desires, although later it may be more fashionable for X to be Q.
Unfortunately for the Cultural Marxists, modern genetics shows otherwise. As someone said on a popular email list: “Regarding Cavalli-Sforza’s genetic distance charts, although Obama indeed has some English ancestry, his Sub-Saharan black ancestry would create an enormous genetic distance between him and the English. For instance, the English would be about 60x more closely related to the Danes than to Obama. Obama is no Anglo-Saxon. Obama is no WASP.”
But heaven forbid that someone point out the obvious!
HarrisonBergeron2 on 26 Jul 2012 at 5:58 pm #
Yes, but these days, it’s eeeevil to point out the obvious. There are certain things that enlightened people do not notice.
RedPhillips on 26 Jul 2012 at 6:00 pm #
WASP has two meanings. Originally it meant White Anglo Saxon Protestants and especially designated the ruling Northeastern Elite. Today it also means essentially any bourgeois white person.
In the second sense, Obama arguably had an upbringing than was more WASPy than “black.” When Obama first announced, before he caught on, blacks supported Hillary in large number and many commented on the feeling in the black community that Obama was not “black” enough. Oprah was likely instrumental in changing this with her endorsement and campaigning for him.
Bruce on 26 Jul 2012 at 6:05 pm #
“One might also mention Carl Jung’s archetypes where Jung believed that people are more likely to appreciate and preserve a tradition if it’s of their own ancestral / racial archetype.”
Excellent point, Walter. This is an important reason why race matters that goes beyond IQ and genetics, crime and genetics, etc. Most conservatives just don’t understand this or can’t accept it even though they admit that the more non-white the country becomes, the more non-white our culture and identity will be. People, at the aggregate level (exceptions notwithstanding) identify with what they see in the mirror and don’t identify with the histories and traditions of those who they don’t see when they look into the mirror.
One minor objection. I don’t think we need to use Jung’s quasi-mystic sounding “archetypes” to make this argument. It’s common sense that people identify with those who share their ancestral identity.
Feltan on 26 Jul 2012 at 7:32 pm #
I don’t know why the Romney campaign tried to walk-back the comment. It is so obvious, and so true, why didn’t they say, “…yep, that’s what he said, our current President doesn’t understand Anglo-Saxon traditions — well, other than Marxist-Leninism.”
Regards,
Feltan
Sempronius on 26 Jul 2012 at 8:24 pm #
“Obama is no Anglo-Saxon. Obama is no WASP.”
Bammy’s mama’s maiden name is Dunham. That makes OB half an Anglo-Saxon WASP.
“The most obvious point is that the anti-European Obama administration, which sent back a bust of Winston Churchill given as a present, and which has made clear its contempt not just for British but for all European and American traditions, cannot understand such quaint notions as the rule of law.”
This is a confused statement. WC and the British in general are far more anti-European than Obama. In fact, Obama’s anti-Europeanism stems in no small part from his partly Anglo-Saxon roots. Not only that; Obama, the partly African anti-European, could never have risen so far except within a matrix of traditional AS antipathy towards Continentals. (“The wogs begin at Calais” was an elocution of Fleming’s hero Winnie.)
Finally the phrase “the rule of law” is meaningless nonsense.
Sempronius on 26 Jul 2012 at 8:33 pm #
Almost forgot.
“But in the propositional United States of America, where anything is possible (where horses are sheep and 2+2=5, if only people will believe), some want to bend over backwards to prove Obama is a WASP – such is the ridiculous post by Walter Russell Mead.”
Propositionalism generally works in favor of WASP interests, by the way.
T. Chan on 26 Jul 2012 at 9:59 pm #
Given his mother’s mating choices, if she was aware of any significant cultural heritage, she didn’t seem to take it seriously. She sounds more like another white whose primary cultural identity is her liberalism.
C Bowen (Hawthorne) on 26 Jul 2012 at 10:25 pm #
I am not sure, Mr. Chan.
Ms. Dunham may have been “doing it” for her country.
And that is when things get weird about who rules over us.
T. Chan on 26 Jul 2012 at 11:01 pm #
The purported CIA connection? Even if it were true, I wouldn’t call her motivation traditional “patriotism.”
Walter on 26 Jul 2012 at 11:45 pm #
Sempronius,
You are missing the point. As Cavalli-Sforza’s charts show, the biggest genetic gap in humanity is between Africans and non-Africans. If one has any African ancestry, it tends to shine through. As Sailer has shown through photos, one can only be 1/16 black and it will still be quite noticeable.
Now, if Obama were 1/2 English and 1/2 Danish, there would be no noticeable gap. He could recognizably call himself a WASP and people wouldn’t doubt it.
But given the huge gap because of his African ancestry, as noted above, the English would be genetically around 109x more closely related to the Danes than to Sub-Sahara blacks, and the English would be around 60x more closely related to the Danes than to Obama.
When one thinks of how the Anglo-Saxons looked, I just don’t see ole Obama fitting in.
C Bowen (Hawthorne) on 27 Jul 2012 at 12:11 am #
Neither would I, Mr. Chan, but that is rather the point.
Matt Weber on 27 Jul 2012 at 4:27 am #
The whole thing is ridiculous. We’re apparently supposed to believe that America just popped out of the ether one day in the 1700s. Of course, it is entirely hypocritical for Romney to try to be the candidate who cares about ‘traditional America’–that’s not who he is and no one believes it when he pretends.
Kirt Higdon on 27 Jul 2012 at 10:57 am #
Of course, Obama is not Anglo-Saxon and apparently does not especially like the English. But as far as understanding the heritage is concerned, exactly what are we talking about? And how well does Romney understand any English heritage, considering how much of a hash he has made on this visit? For that matter, how well do the rulers of England themselves understand the heritage as anything else but another means of keeping power in their hands? In any event, I’m glad that Obama returned the bust of the mass-murdering war criminal Churchill, whom apparently Romney admires. Even BHO gets one right once in awhile.
rjp on 30 Jul 2012 at 5:45 pm #
One drop …..