Counter-Currents
  • Archives
  • Authors
  • T&C
  • Rss
  • DLive
  • Telegram
  • Gab
  • Entropy
  • Rss
  • DLive
  • Telegram
  • Gab
  • Entropy
  • Webzine
  • Books
  • Podcasts
  • Videos
  • Donate
  • Paywall
  • Crypto
  • Mailing List
  • About
  • Contact
  • RSS
    • Main feed
    • Comments feed
    • Podcast feed

LEVEL2

  • Webzine
  • Books
  • Podcasts
  • Videos
  • Donate
  • Paywall
  • Crypto
  • Mailing List
  • About
  • Contact
  • RSS
    • Main feed
    • Comments feed
    • Podcast feed
  • Archives
  • Authors
  • T&C
  • Rss
  • DLive
  • Telegram
  • Gab
  • Entropy
Print
December 4, 2010 6 comments

Motivation

Michael Polignano

Napoleon Crossing the St. Bernard Pass by Jacques-Louis David, 1800

1,130 words

Click here for Podcast (MP3).

This essay is from Michael Polignano’s book Taking Our Own Side, available in a limited, signed and personalized hardcover edition here.

September 6, 2004

A few days ago I had a telephone conversation with a friend and lifelong racial activist, Sam Dickson. We shared opinions on several matters, both personal and movement-related. Near the end of the conversation, however, he confided in me a deep sense of hopelessness and despair. Having spent decades of his life fighting for the “Cause,” he found himself having serious doubts about its ultimate success. All I could say at the time was, “Don’t give up.”

I felt more was needed, however. I myself have gotten depressed while thinking about the future of our country and our race, and I have allowed these feelings to interfere with my productivity. I have also felt an acute sense of guilt for having produced nothing new over the past few months. Hence, this essay.

Generally speaking, one’s effectiveness at any endeavor depends to a large extent on one’s enthusiasm and confidence of success. I have come to believe that enthusiasm and motivation are more important than talent in determining success: I’ve seen plenty of motivated idiots who have achieved fortune and fame, but absolutely no unmotivated geniuses who have done so.

Motivation is literally the force that moves us forward. It is thus the lifeblood of any endeavor. Indeed, it is life itself. And negative thinking, and the depression to which it ultimately leads, are therefore enemies of life. Depression is a kind of living death. That’s why the severely depressed often prefer death to life.

What if Beethoven, upon becoming deaf, became depressed and lost all motivation to complete his Ninth Symphony? What if Galileo had convinced himself that the Church was too great a force to challenge? Think about what the world would be like absent the accomplishments of any great explorer, discoverer, writer, or artist.

Humanity would be poorer without the works of any great individual. Yet in spite of the loss, more great accomplishments would eventually occur, provided future generations have the genetic background they need.

If present trends continue, they will not.

The greatest accomplishment our race could ever make is to ensure that future generations of our people will exist and prosper. Individuals and groups who effectively act with that goal in mind are engaging in the highest and noblest activity possible.

I think many high-quality White Nationalists accept this idea, yet still hold back from fully committing themselves to the movement for one reason or another. I think the greatest unspoken feeling is: “If we were going to win, we would have won already. White Nationalist leaders have been addressing the threat to our race for a long time, but the results have been insignificant, and America continues to decline. I don’t feel I could make any difference, so why should I try?”

I admit to having entertained these thoughts myself. But when I took the time to rationally consider the argument, its flaws became obvious.

First of all, past events do not dictate what will happen in the future. The probability a normal coin will come up “heads” after being flipped is 50:50, even if the coin came up “tails” the past 1,000 flips. The fact that Da Vinci was unsuccessful at creating a flying machine didn’t stop the Wright Brothers from doing so.

The lessons of history are important, but the most important of these lessons is that history is full of surprises, novelties, and new discoveries. And by their very nature, these things cannot be predicted in advance, for if they could be predicted, they would not be new, novel, or surprising. History tells us only that we will be surprised, not what the surprises will be.

Second, even if one’s message is absolutely true and good, it will be ineffective unless certain other conditions are met. One needs the appropriate media for communicating it. One’s audience has to be receptive. And one needs the right spokesmen for the message. And as I see it, the prospects for all three of these conditions are positive.

First, although the establishment has had near total control over public opinion for a long time through the mass media, their grip is weakening. Consider the following. In the past decade: (1) Internet access has become standard in most American households. (2) Digital media such as the CD and the DVD have all but replaced analog media. (3) The computing power needed to capture and manipulate digital photography and digital video has become affordable to the average consumer. (4) File-sharing technologies have emerged that allow for the rapid distribution of large amounts of data to a large number of interested parties. Thus the technical barriers to forming a truly independent media have all but disappeared. All that’s needed now is time, determined effort, and a bit of creativity.

Second, as things go from bad to worse in America, more and more people are becoming receptive to alternative arguments, even if those arguments do not conform to the tenets of Political Correctness. This is particularly true among young people who have grown up exposed to the internet, where any topic they wish to explore is but a Google search away. At the same time, our ability to communicate the truth becomes greater and greater with each passing day. These facts should inspire us to speak out louder and more vigorously than ever before.

Third, since I started this website, I have been contacted by hundreds of people. Many have shared their criticisms of today’s White Nationalist leaders. I have noticed that the strongest objections have come from the people who have the most to offer the movement in terms of leadership and money. They are educated, affluent, talented, individually reputable, and socially prominent people.

When I have urged such people to get publicly involved themselves if they do not like the existing leadership, they tend to answer that they cannot, because they have so much to lose. They are worried about the consequences to their families, their businesses, their personal reputations, and their social status.

My standard answer to this sort of objection is: Having a family is the best reason in the world to fight for a society where White children have a future. Preserving one’s wealth and social status are excellent reasons for fighting as well. If one really does have a good reputation, then why worry about it being sullied by the advocacy of politically incorrect truths? Indeed, if one’s reputation really is good, then won’t it lend luster to unfairly tarnished truths, rather than vice versa?

The first step toward victory is believing that it is possible.

Related

  • Counter-Currents Radio Podcast No. 335
    Dark Enlightenment

  • Counter-Currents Radio Podcast No. 334
    Greg Johnson, Millennial Woes, & Fróði Midjord

  • Today’s Livestream:
    Ask Counter-Currents with Greg Johnson, Millennial Woes, & Frodi Midjord

  • Counter-Currents Radio Podcast No. 333
    Greg Johnson, Millennial Woes, & Fróði Midjord

  • Counter-Currents Radio Podcast No. 332
    Greg Johnson, Millennial Woes, & Fróði Midjord

  • Counter-Currents Radio Podcast No. 331
    Greg Johnson, Millennial Woes, Fróði Midjord, & Mark Weber

  • Racial Whiteness

  • Counter-Currents Radio Podcast No. 330
    Greg Johnson, Millennial Woes, Fróði Midjord, & Karl Thorburn

Tags

book excerptsdepressionMichael Polignanopodcastswhite activismwhite nationalism

Previous

« The Hermit Kingdom

Next

D. H. Lawrence on Men & Women, Part 5 »

6 comments

  1. Ragnar says:
    December 4, 2010 at 7:07 am

    Mr. Polignano,

    Thank you for doing this MP3.

    You are right, the All Hope is Lost mindset is a killer of creativity. When I am tempted to yield to this way of thinking, I remind myself that our ideas are in harmony with the laws of nature, so even if our White Race ceases to exist, our enemies, who fight against nature, will be destroyed. This gives me great peace of mind.

    Also, I am confident our race will be victorious, and we shall have our own White homeland/lands and colonize the universe, because race is real, and we have proven, repeatedly, when our back is to the wall, and we finally decide to fight back – we overcome the enemy and go forth with our creativity.

    We are not on the back foot because we do not have the power to move forward; we are on the back foot because we worry about not being nice/politically correct, and CHOOSE to not use our power. Hard times will cause us to return to our primordial nature and, then, we will go forward.

    Again, thank you for the MP3. I appreciated your openness, sincerity and encouragement.

  2. cladrastis says:
    December 4, 2010 at 7:25 am

    Your point about the da Vinci vs. the Wright brothers’ flying machine is an important one. We need to be asking ourselves “what doesn’t work” to figure out what does.

    The most important thing to remember is that the audience a WN leader attracts will mirror that leader himself. Thus, Jared Taylor and Amren, Linder and VNN, various unnamed individuals and the neo-N and Klan crowds. If you are an intellectual, you are going to attract the academically inclined, not blue collar workers and probably not middle class capitalists. So what exactly does this mean for our future? It means we need as many competent voices as there are white interest groups, so that we can form a coalition – much like the Christian Right cobbled together the various Protestant denominations or, for that matter, like the Democratic party pulls together its motley crew. What we should remember is that in any such coalition, the luminaries will always determine the agenda.

    What then can we agree are the common enemies of us all? At this time, that should be obvious – immigrants and the banks. Attack those problems politically and improve the standards of living for the people, and the rest of our agenda will follow. In the meantime we should continue to talk about the other problems; action will come later.

  3. LEW says:
    December 4, 2010 at 4:23 pm

    Having a family is the best reason in the world to fight for a society where White children have a future.

    True. But WN parents are in a real bind. On the one hand, they have every incentive to take the fight public. But if they take the fight public, most will lose the ability to care for their kids — which will defeat the reason for going public.

    1. Greg Johnson says:
      December 4, 2010 at 4:46 pm

      That is often the case, and in such cases, since everyone gets to determine his own level of involvement, such parents can adopt a clandestine approach instead. The movement needs to find ways that allow people to contribute at all levels of engagement, from explicit to deep cover.

  4. Ragnar says:
    December 5, 2010 at 7:50 am

    I want to encourage everybody to go and listen to the podcasts at http://whiterabbitradio.net/. Please make sure you start at the beginning, or you will probably misunderstand what is being said and why it is being said. The White Rabbit Radio podcasts are one of the best places to go to to get a boost of optimism in regards to the survival, expansion and advancement of our White Race.

  5. Peter says:
    December 5, 2010 at 11:07 am

    What an excellent voice for our movement. Keep it up, Mike.

Comments are closed.

If you have Paywall access,
simply login first to see your comment auto-approved.

Note on comments privacy & moderation

Your email is never published nor shared.

Comments are moderated. If you don't see your comment, please be patient. If approved, it will appear here soon. Do not post your comment a second time.

Recent posts
  • Fundraiser Update, this Weekend’s Livestreams, & A New Way to Support Counter-Currents

    Greg Johnson

    2

  • Two Nationalisms

    Nicholas R. Jeelvy

    17

  • A Robertson Roundup: 
    Remembering Wilmot Robertson
    (April 16, 1915 – July 8, 2005)

    Margot Metroland

    8

  • Remembering Dominique Venner
    (April 16, 1935 – May 21, 2013)

    Greg Johnson

    5

  • I’m Not a Racist, But. . .

    Jim Goad

    35

  • The Father

    Steven Clark

    5

  • Counter-Currents Radio Podcast No. 335
    Dark Enlightenment

    Counter-Currents Radio

    5

  • Are We Ready For “White Boy Summer”?

    Robert Hampton

    30

  • Can the Libertarian Party Become a Popular Vanguard?

    Beau Albrecht

    17

  • Every Phoenix Needs Its Ashes

    Mark Gullick

    23

  • Counter-Currents Radio Podcast No. 334
    Greg Johnson, Millennial Woes, & Fróði Midjord

    Counter-Currents Radio

    1

  • If I Were Black, I’d Vote Democrat

    Spencer J. Quinn

    14

  • The Silence of the Scam:
    The Killing of Dr. Lesslie

    Stephen Paul Foster

    6

  • Proud of Being Guilty:
    Fighting the Stigma of Lawfare in Sweden & Winning

    HMF Medaljen

    6

  • The Halifax Grooming Gang Survivor

    Morris van de Camp

    22

  • Get on the Right Side of the Paywall

    Greg Johnson

    12

  • The Worst Week Yet:
    April 4-10, 2021

    Jim Goad

    13

  • Forthcoming from Counter-Currents:
    Jonathan Bowden’s Reactionary Modernism

    Jonathan Bowden

  • Remembering Prince Philip

    Nicholas R. Jeelvy

    16

  • Remembering Jonathan Bowden
    (April 12, 1962–March 29, 2012)

    Greg Johnson

    7

  • Today’s Livestream:
    Ask Counter-Currents with Greg Johnson, Millennial Woes, & Frodi Midjord

    Counter-Currents Radio

  • Paywall Launch, Monday, April 12th

    Greg Johnson

    10

  • Galaxy Quest:
    From Cargo Cult to Cosplay

    James J. O'Meara

    13

  • Biden to Whites: Drop Dead!

    Spencer J. Quinn

    22

  • Politicians Didn’t Invent Racial Divisions

    Robert Hampton

    7

  • London: No City for White Men

    Jim Goad

    51

  • Republicans Should Stop Pandering to Blacks

    Lipton Matthews

    18

  • Quotations From Chairman Rabble
    Kenneth Roberts: A Patriotic Curmudgeon

    Steven Clark

    6

  • Remembering Emil Cioran
    (April 8, 1911–June 20, 1995)

    Guillaume Durocher

    5

  • An Interview with Béla Incze:
    The Man Who Destroyed a BLM Statue

    Béla Incze

    15

  • Heidegger’s History of Metaphysics, Part Six:
    G. W. Leibniz’s Will-to-Power

    Collin Cleary

    12

  • The Importance of Survival Skills

    Marcus Devonshire

    22

  • The Oslo Incident

    Greg Johnson

    2

  • Mihai Eminescu:
    Romania’s Morning Star

    Amory Stern

    1

  • Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World & Me

    Beau Albrecht

    21

  • Counter-Currents Radio Podcast No. 333
    Greg Johnson, Millennial Woes, & Fróði Midjord

    Counter-Currents Radio

    5

  • The Worst Week Yet:
    March 28-April 3, 2021

    Jim Goad

    18

  • Murder Maps:
    Agatha Christie’s Insular Imperialism

    Kathryn S.

    29

  • A Clockwork Orange

    Trevor Lynch

    21

  • Easter Livestream:
    Ask Counter-Currents with Greg Johnson, Millennial Woes, & Frodi Midjord

    Greg Johnson

    1

  • Our Big, Beautiful Wall

    Greg Johnson

    4

  • Agrarian Populism & Cargo Cult Fascism

    Nicholas R. Jeelvy

    9

  • One Carjacking Embodies the New America

    Robert Hampton

    38

  • The de la Poer Madness:
    Before and After Lovecraft’s “Rats in the Walls”

    James J. O'Meara

    9

  • Requiem for a Jigger

    Jim Goad

    39

  • The Promise & the Reality of Globalization 

    Algis Avižienis

    17

  • When They Destroy Memorials, We Raise Our Own to the Fallen

    Hawkwood

    8

  • The Counter-Currents Newsletter, March 2021

    Greg Johnson

    3

  • Making Lions out of Lambs:
    A Response to Max Morton of American Greatness

    Spencer J. Quinn

    9

  • How the Coronavirus Took Over the World

    Veiko Hessler

    13

Recent comments
  • Japan didn't wake up with Mishima's suicide, and France didn't wake up with Venner's. It's not an...
  • Yes, despite our colonial and convict past, Australia is also filled with some petty bureaucrats and...
  • As far as I can tell, a conspiracy theorist is someone who thinks that those in power don't leave...
  • "If some anglo-saxons from the Antipodes can easily become 100% authentic Americans then what really...
  • Initially, I was amazed at the amount of space dedicated to someone who was totally irrelevant, as...
Editor-in-Chief
Greg Johnson
Our titles
  • White Identity Politics
  • Here’s the Thing
  • Trevor Lynch: Part Four of the Trilogy
  • Graduate School with Heidegger
  • It’s Okay to Be White
  • Imperium
  • The Enemy of Europe
  • The World in Flames
  • The White Nationalist Manifesto
  • From Plato to Postmodernism
  • The Gizmo
  • Return of the Son of Trevor Lynch’s CENSORED Guide to the Movies
  • Toward a New Nationalism
  • The Smut Book
  • The Alternative Right
  • My Nationalist Pony
  • Dark Right: Batman Viewed From the Right
  • The Philatelist
  • Novel Folklore
  • Confessions of an Anti-Feminist
  • East and West
  • Though We Be Dead, Yet Our Day Will Come
  • White Like You
  • The Homo and the Negro, Second Edition
  • Numinous Machines
  • Venus and Her Thugs
  • Cynosura
  • North American New Right, vol. 2
  • You Asked For It
  • More Artists of the Right
  • Extremists: Studies in Metapolitics
  • Rising
  • The Importance of James Bond
  • In Defense of Prejudice
  • Confessions of a Reluctant Hater (2nd ed.)
  • The Hypocrisies of Heaven
  • Waking Up from the American Dream
  • Green Nazis in Space!
  • Truth, Justice, and a Nice White Country
  • Heidegger in Chicago
  • The End of an Era
  • Sexual Utopia in Power
  • What is a Rune? & Other Essays
  • Son of Trevor Lynch’s White Nationalist Guide to the Movies
  • The Lightning & the Sun
  • The Eldritch Evola
  • Western Civilization Bites Back
  • New Right vs. Old Right
  • Lost Violent Souls
  • Journey Late at Night: Poems and Translations
  • The Non-Hindu Indians & Indian Unity
  • Baader Meinhof ceramic pistol, Charles Kraaft 2013
  • Pulp Fascism
  • The Lost Philosopher, Second Expanded Edition
  • Trevor Lynch’s A White Nationalist Guide to the Movies
  • And Time Rolls On
  • The Homo & the Negro
  • Artists of the Right
  • North American New Right, Vol. 1
  • Some Thoughts on Hitler
  • Tikkun Olam and Other Poems
  • Under the Nihil
  • Summoning the Gods
  • Hold Back This Day
  • The Columbine Pilgrim
  • Taking Our Own Side
  • Toward the White Republic
  • Reuben
  • The Node
  • The New Austerities
  • Morning Crafts
  • The Passing of a Profit & Other Forgotten Stories
  • Gold in the Furnace
  • Defiance
Distributed Titles
  • Rss
  • DLive
  • Telegram
  • Gab
  • Entropy
Copyright © 2021 Counter-Currents Publishing, Ltd. Motivation

Paywall Access





Please enter your email address. You will receive mail with link to set new password.