AMREN CONFERENCE, 2014: THE SAGA CONTINUES

by Scott Terry

Dear Children of the Cathedral, gather around and hear my tale.

Thus begins the camp-fire story of many a post-Enlightenment father, waving a flashlight under his chin while teaching his adopted Haitian children the evils of latent European "racism".  With every spooky vibrato he instills in them the prejudice and conviction of a new religious order:

"Once a year, when the moon is right, evil phantoms descend onto a Tennessee State Park, to utter their wicked incantations and pray to the long-dead gods of their ancestors..." 

Now isn't that ironic?  Us white guys are the new "spooks".  I'm going to lobby the priests of the Cathedral to have them call us "moon crickets" instead - I've always liked that one...

...and chirp we white boys did, as loudly as possible from the confines of a state park in the middle of a giant Tennessee forest, miles from the nearest Wal-Mart or Waffle House.

Far from a gathering of mysterious druids, we represented a diverse crowd of intellectuals, eager to make friends and fellowship with one another.  If the shuddering Cathedral kids would peak at us from under their covers, they'd see that for themselves.

And instead of hearing monster-movie music, they might hear Richard Strauss's "Also Sprach Zarathustra" - a fitting theme to play in our minds as we imagine hundreds of awakening white boys heroically glancing into a sun-beam as they hear the call to attend Jared Taylor's symposium.

The score begins with a low rumble.  This should accompany our mental image of white men across the nation, neatly folding neckties and dress-socks, and placing them, with methodological precision, into utilitarian suit-cases.

The music rises as planes, trains, and hate-mobiles make their way to Montgomery Bell State Park.  The wildlife lines the narrow entry road, watching the procession with interest (all but the coons).  Upon arrival, (and as the music reaches its infamous crescendo), lines of well-dressed heathens file into the building, with genuine expressions of gratitude at meeting distant friends, awe at the scenery, and excitement for the lectures.

No hypno-whorish, techno-haze for these men.  Their humanity, in all its capricious glory, puts to shame the anesthetized Cathedral kids, and bursts forth, along with sunbeams and Strauss' melody, onto the lodge where the conference is to be held.

And as AMREN conferences go, this one was excellent.

As usual, there was a unique conflation of Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Pagans, and atheists in attendance.  AMREN has religious diversity, at least.  The religious discussion was especially interesting this year, as many attending are ardent fans of the Orthodox Church - including my good friend, and the future of organized hate, Matthew Heimbach.  I hope I represented the Protestant side with all the civility and grace a Southern Presbyterian could muster (there were a handful of us Kinists in attendance).

Of course, the sentiment seems to fall against Calvinists especially, making it difficult for Kinists to find sympathy among the "New Right".  "That damned Cromwell!" is an oft heard oath, and at various points during numerous discussions, I had to defend the Evangelical movement from charges that it has facilitated the death of Western Civilization.

I attribute much of this anti-protestant angst to intellectuals in the New-Right like Tom Sunic and Alain de Benoist, who, along with many traditionalist Catholics, place the Reformation at the forefront of the downfall of Europe.  And while there's much we Kinists might grant about the negative effects of the Reformation (the epistemological break-down of church authority, for one), it remains to be proven that our theology, itself, somehow leads to egalitarianism, universalism, and all the other damnable 'isms', usually attributed to it...but a defense of Kinism over and against the charges of the New-Right intellectuals must wait for a later time.

Even the youtube personality RamZPaul, during his entertaining presentation about the Dark Enlightenment, took some digs at the puritans and Cromwell.

"How do you guys feel about the Puritans?" he asked.

The room was dead silent, except for one moronic country-boy up front, clapping and cheering..."Yeah!!"

RamZ's talk, though, was resoundingly pro-Christian, and during the question period, the indomitable Richard Spencer, perhaps representing a more secular faction of the alternative right, asked (and I paraphrase from memory) if RamZ didn't think it might be possible that the populace was giving up these old religions all together - and if society in general might not be functioning in some sort of Hegelian dialectical cycle...to which RamZ replied, with great applause from the largely religious audience, simply "No.  Next question."

You all should have seen the look on Spencer's face.  It was hilarious.

And speaking of Richard Spencer, I should mention there was serious anti-Spencerian sentiment among the lower dregs of the conference attendees.  I'll not name names, but there were various statements of distaste, ranging from accusations of Spencer's arrogance, to charges of foul-play directed at his shady dealings concerning the Christmas Day Purge of the Alternative Right web-zine.

For my part, I've never had much conversation with the guy, but, were a fella tempted to be frank: I can understand those who feel an air of condescension from him.  He comes across (sometimes), as if he's one of the power-elite, here to mold, shape, and use the rest of us poor saps as he sees fit.

Still, I interjected a word or two on his behalf.  The guy is a strapping young Anglo-Saxon, and could easily play the role of Dick Tracey in a Hollywood flick.  He's tall, strong, and intelligent, with the heroic jaw illustrators give to their comic book heroes.  This makes him the perfect front man for a controversial movement, serving to disarm potentially hostile left-wing journalists.

He's an excellent writer, even if I have serious disagreements with elements of his thought.  He's also an excellent speaker, as he proved at last year's AMREN when he gave what was, in my opinion, one of the best talks of the conference.  He called for an ethno-state and a return to a shared, over-arching meta-narrative in hopes of building a viable identity movement.  And while Andy Nowicki and Colin Liddell are ‘ma honkies’, and I feel a loyalty to Alternative Right, I suppose I can accept Spencer's new "Radix" project, if only in a spirit of "the more publications, the better".  I drop by from time to time and see if they have anything interesting to say (which, again, speaking frankly as a Kinist, isn't often).

And since I'm defending controversial speakers, how about ol' Jack Donovan, the "flaming" elephant in the room?  An avowed homosexual, Jack Donovan is a go-to expert in the so-called "man-o-sphere", writing about masculinity and other such related topics.  He's also author of the popular book "The Way of Men".

His inclusion in the speaker line-up was the express reason many far-righters opted out of the AMREN conference this year.  On the other hand, these same guys find all sorts of reasons not to attend conferences.  "Jared Taylor supports the jews!" it's often said.  Now they can add, "Jared Taylor supports homosexuals!"

But dear, dear children, hear me out:

One of the best things about American Renaissance is the way it serves as a colloquium.  When we think of Jared Taylor as less the leader of a movement and more the facilitator of a nation-wide conversation, then it becomes easier to bear with the failings of others in attendance.  We ought to expect there to be numerous voices involved in the discussion, many with which we'll inevitably disagree.  And if, as I truly believe, our Christian and anti-homosexual ideals are as powerful as we all suspect, then we shouldn't mind having them tested by fire in the arena of open and honest discussion.  Leaving AMREN because of Donovan would be like leaving the internet because of anonymous meanies.

...and I hate to say it, but Donovan, despite his obvious flaw, had some decent things to contribute.  His speech navigated the complex waters of identitarian philosophy.  I particularly agreed with his suggestion that we need to combat prevailing "hipster" irony, with sincerity and expression of genuine emotion.

In this, he could have been re-hashing Dostoevsky's theme in "The Idiot".  The destitute and mentally unstable Prince Myshkin returns to Russia from Europe, and is accepted into the local society - a society that resembles our own in striking ways.  Myshkin is sincere and loving, almost to the point of naiveté; the cynical Russian socialites around him are disarmed.  His sincerity acts as a super-power causing him, time and again, to prevail against those who mean him harm.

I asked Donovan if he had Dostoevsky's novel in mind when he gave his speech and he said no - I'm hoping that means far-right ideals from these major authors have filtered into popular rhetoric.  At any-rate, Donovan is on the same track as Dostoevsky, (at least, in that one way) and hopefully, will help the alternative right stave off the modern West's descent into inhumanity and death; nevertheless, we need to ask ourselves how much bad we're willing to accept in a person, in exchange for some modicum of good.  We'll each have to decide that for ourselves.

One of my favorite speakers this year was John Morgan, who strutted to the podium like a bad ass.  There, in our midst, was the editor-n-chief of Arktos books himself, descending onto the microphone like an alt-right war-hawk plowing into a helpless field mouse.

He should have had a hard-core rock song playing as he approached "... love is like a bomb, baby come on get it on, livin' like a lover with a radar phone..."

Come on guys, I know I wasn't the only one hearing Def Leopard as Morgan took the floor!

At any-rate, his discussion of Eastern European nationalism was interesting (in its personal nature) and inspiring in that, they're succeeding in ways we can only dream about here in America.

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As usual, the friendship was outstanding; it wasn't out of the ordinary to have a discussion about British Distributism or Italian Fascism while walking to lunch...topics the normal American would never, in their lives, broach.  While having drinks at a local bar, we discussed the finer points of the analytic philosophical tradition and how it diverged from the largely continental tradition of the Alternative Right ... a conversation which had our waitress scratching her head.

Who talks like this?  What kind of sicko's are we...discussing obscure Julius Evola citations in the context of critiquing equally obscure Misesian economic models???  We're so far outside the mainstream of American discourse, we've become a new species of animal all together.

The dippy protestors who showed up might refer to us as cowardly dogs, but I like to think of us as the new "moon-crickets"...chirping away against modernity.Till next time, folks...

Also published at www.shotgunwildatheart.wordpress.com