The Futility of Right-Wing Identity Politics: On Race and "White Genocide"

The Futility of Right Wing Identity Politics: On Race and “White Genocide”

Many in the libertarian movement complain about the absurdity of left-wing identity politics, and often, they’re correct in doing so. There are countless examples of left-wing social justice warriors making mountains out of molehills by calling a completely innocent act racist, sexist, or transphobic. Leftist politics also frequently involve demonizing white people or males as groups.

I have personally been in multiple arguments with leftists about whether or not minorities can be racist; their misguided argument on this centers around a revised definition of the word “racist” that requires the perpetrator to be part of a race with a societal advantage. This type of thinking violates the libertarian spirit of individualism, which dictates that people be judged not by the color of their skin, their religion, or their country of origin, but on their own actions and beliefs.

However, this identity politics trend is not confined to the far-left side of the political spectrum. It has become especially common among those on the alt-right or those in the liberty movement who consider themselves to be right-wingers. While it is sometimes simply a reactionary response to the left, it is no less damaging or disgraceful and serves to alienate potential converts to libertarianism.

An article recently published by the website Radical Capitalist illustrates this shift toward racism and right-wing identity politics. The site was founded by Christopher Chase Rachels, an anarcho-capitalist who is most well-known for his book A Spontaneous Order, which he has referred to as the “AnCap bible.” The article, entitled “Black vs. White: IQ, Culture, and Civilization,” was written by an anonymous author on a Facebook page and republished by Rachels. The present version on Radical Capitalist was edited after it was published due to the extensive criticism it received, but the source material (which mirrors the original version) can be seen here. The piece features easily debunked claims such as "no Black civilization has ever independently developed" (see: Kingdom of Mapungubwe, the Ethiopian Empire, the Mail Empire, etc.), relies on research from JP Rushton, often considered to be racial pseudoscience by those in the scientific community (with no mention of any conflicting research), and calls blacks "proto-humans."

Note that this piece has nothing to do with libertarianism or capitalism, but instead seems to be an example of pandering to those who believe that blacks are inferior. Rachels has contested the claim that the article promotes white supremacy because it says that Ashkenazi Jews have higher IQs than whites, but the article mainly focuses on how the author believes whites to be better than blacks. The title of “Black vs. White” provides another clue toward the writer’s intentions.

Jared Howe, who has also been featured on Radical Capitalist and who I have written about previously, provides perfect examples of this newfound focus on race. Howe often makes posts on social media that the average person would consider to be anti-Semitic, including calling a person he was arguing with who had a Jewish-sounding last name a “fucking oven dodger” and insinuating that he only likes “self-critical Jews.” He has blamed Jews for communism, calling Marxism “culturally Jewish.”

Howe also habitually complains about what he calls the “demographic genocide” of white people. By “genocide”, Howe and others are not typically referring to the actual murder of a certain group of people, but to a combination of minority immigration to western countries, race-mixing, and what they believe to be the intentional lowering of the birth rates of white people. Howe recently made the post pictured below on Facebook (which was coincidentally liked by Christopher Chase Rachels.)

Besides the fact that the state, not lower birth rates of whites or race-mixing, is the true greatest threat to liberty, Howe’s thinking along racial lines is quite similar to those on the left who speak about “white people” in general being a problem. It is further dividing us along racial lines, making the argument that preservation of one’s race is important to liberty. There is no reason that someone without white skin cannot be a libertarian.

A common refrain to this, including what I was told when I asked Rachels about why he liked Howe’s post, was that most libertarians are white. While this is currently true, it does not mean that being white is a precursor to being a libertarian, nor does it mean that the percentage of minority libertarians will not increase in the future.

Appealing to minorities on libertarian issues, such as how the drug war affects them, will result in more libertarians from other races; making the libertarian movement about white identity politics will not. We should not be blaming Jews, blacks, or any race in general for our problems; we should be blaming the individuals that have caused and continue to perpetrate them. In combatting far-left identity politics, we should not aim to create our own version. We should be willing to stand up for the individual instead of engaging in tribalism based on the color of our skin, as the individual is the smallest minority.