The last several weeks have been difficult, particularly for our American cousins, and especially those who have been witnessing the escalating attack on their traditional values and cultural icons. A certain symbolic continuity has however connected some of the major blows self-professed conservatives have suffered in the Culture War: the continued defamation of the Confederate Flag by media and political elites (across the entire political spectrum) has seen its successive removal from the public square; in sharp contrast, the US Supreme Court’s verdict in Obergeffel v Hodgers was followed immediately by the hoisting of the “rainbow flag” practically everywhere, by government agencies and private corporations alike. When it comes to flags, some are obviously more equal than others.

The shotgun blast of rainbow over the internet in the days after the US Supreme Court decision illustrated how opinions consistent with contemporary liberal sensibilities are publicly endorsed by ‘social justice warriors’ at all socio-economic levels; of course, these same people would be outraged at any similar move (no doubt denounced  as an ‘imposition of morality’) had a conservative perspective prevailed in any public debate or legal determination.

For example, a report at the satirical conservative webzine The Barbed Wire noted WordPress’ insertion of the rainbow flag onto its user’s statistics page, stating that “forums of WordPress bloggers frustrated with the move who have written WordPress to complain about the banner have been shut down. They no longer want to hear objections. You’ll take their gay pride and you’ll like it!”¹ The conservative blogger from Texas, E. Williams continues that “I didn’t see WordPress put up a Confederate Flag banner last week without asking. Could that be because they thought not all of their users would appreciate it?”²

The implicit answer is clear: none of this flag raising and lowering is a reflection of a move towards a more egalitarian society; it is a move towards liberal imperialism in the cultural arena; an inevitable development once opposing views are denounced as evil and therefore unworthy of respectful treatment in the marketplace of ideas. Innocuous sounding concepts like freedom on speech, thoughts and opinion are applied according to the imperial edict of what is worthy of free expression to start with; modern liberalism has therefore become a complex political mechanism for the application of pre-judgment on a colossal scale; it has become the ideology of prejudice write large.

The most lamentable aspect of these developments is that there does not appear to be any real opposition to either the onslaught against the symbols of a traditional, pre-modernist order, or the the continued prosecution of degeneracy masquerading as a fundamental human right. As ostensible conservatives in the mainstream press now support honouring their opponents’ advances in the Culture War, it seems that the only traditions worth celebrating are those associated with the destruction of the traditional order conservatives are in fact supposed to preserve!³ Likewise, and in relation to the Confederate Flag controversy Paul Gottfried writes at the Unz Review that:

[t]he most interesting aspect of the war against Confederate symbols is not its predictable backing from black activist groups or the leftist media or members of the Rainbow Coalition. Those are the sources of support one would expect to find in this campaign. Far more striking is the overwhelming, effusive help that is coming from elements of what is imagined to be the conservative movement.

[…]

Not at all surprising is the evidence of the usual Republican game of triangulating, which takes the form of doing anything to win groups on the left while assuming that what there is of a Right will stay with the GOP.⁴

Gottfried laments the tribalist loyalty of Southerners who continue supporting a pseudo-conservative political class that systematically betrays them. This could apply to the tolerance of voting conservatives everywhere, Australia included.⁵ Surely, a time will come when the naked squire of establishment conservatism will be impossible to shroud in the usual mendacity of electoral politics. That day has not yet come, but with the continued growth of rightist parties in Europe and the recent popularity of outside contenders like Donald Trump in the US, there is evidence that it may be slowly approaching.

One flag goes up, another goes down. The question on the mind of all those who are routinely denounced as being on the ‘wrong side of history’ today is this: what flag will replace the Homitern’s Banner when the insanity of modern cultural Marxist liberalism reaches its logical conclusion and collapses under the weight of its own hypocrisy?History has shown that when democracies die, the chaotic vacuum is replaced by a Tyrant, though who this Tyrant will be is anybody’s guess: will she use all means available to keep the edifice of the Progressive Empire from crumbling, or will he tear it down?

– SydneyTrads Editors

Endnotes

1. E. Williams, “WordPress Gaystapo Engineers Impose Views on Users” The Barbes Wire (blog) (27 June 2015) <thebarbedwiresatire.com> (accessed 28 June 2015) at para 3.
2. Ibid. at para 5.
3. Editorial Board, “The slam-dunk case for landmarking the Stonewall Inn” New York Post (online) (3 June 2015 @ 8:41pm) <nypost.com> (accessed 15 July 2015).
4. Paul Gottfried, “Afterthoughts on the Lowering of the Confederate Battle Flag in Columbia” The Unz Review (blog) (14 July 2015) <unz.com> (accessed 15 July 2015) at para 3.
5. See for example, our commentary: “A Question for Conservatives After the Electoral Victory” SydneyTrads (8 September 2013) <sydneytrads.com> (accessed 16 July 2015).

SydneyTrads is the internet portal and communication page of the Sydney Traditionalist Forum: an association of young professionals who form part of the Australian independent right (also known as “dissident right” or “outer right”).