Counter-Currents
3,003 words
Vox Day
SJWs Always Lie: Taking Down the Thought Police
Foreword by Milo Yiannopolous
Castalia House, 2015
At the risk of sounding like the Oprah of the New Right, I want every one of you to buy and read this book. Vox Day has written an indispensable manual for resisting the politically correct witch-hunts of so-called “Social Justice Warriors.” Day gives advice to individuals who are being targeted on how to fight back. He also details two remarkably successful and inspiring popular resistance campaigns against SJWs, GamerGate and Sad Puppy. Finally, he concludes the book with nothing less than a plan to destroy Leftist power root and branch.
If I seem a bit breathless and effusive, it is because my world has been dramatically expanded in the space of an afternoon (all it takes to read this slender volume). I had never heard of Vox Day until Ann Sterzinger’s review of this book here at Counter-Currents. Nor had I heard of Larry Correia, Sad Puppy, and Castalia House publishing. And I knew virtually nothing about GamerGate except a vague recollection that something called Gawker (which I don’t think I have ever read, unless it covered Charles Krafft) had gotten in trouble for publishing an article praising bullying of gamers.
None of it was on my radar, simply because I long ago decided that the Left needs to be totally discredited, disempowered, and silenced, and I don’t need daily reminders; because the only Leftists I read are serious intellectuals who write books, not shrieking, purple-haired, PC harpies who blog and tweet; because my only experience of gaming was watching someone play Pac Man for five minutes, getting bored, then going and reading a book; and because the most recent piece of science fiction I read was Chapterhouse: Dune (1985; pretty disappointing).
Vox Day is the the pen name of Theodore Beale, a 47-year-old American who claims to be of mixed White and Amerindian ancestry. He is a political conservative and an Evangelical Christian. He is a musician, video game designer, essayist, and science fiction and fantasy novelist. Judging from this work alone, Day is highly intelligent, witty, and brave. I plan to read more of his work.
Although Day’s work is useful for White Nationalists, he is not one; he hints at knowledge of biological race differences (who are those immigrants lowering Europe’s IQs?); he does not mention the Jewish question, but he does offer the following epigraph for chapter 6, on SJW entryism:
“You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”—John 8: 44
Chapter 1, “An Introduction to the SJW,” briefly lists their basic values (equality and diversity) and basic goals (imposing these values through soft totalitarian speech codes, employment discrimination and denial, and the persecution of dissenters).
Chapter 2, “The Three Laws of the SJW” lays out their basic operating system, offering detailed examples from Day’s own experiences with SJW sci-fi writer and blogger Joe Scalzi.
The first law is that SJWs always lie. This makes sense, because their worldview is premised on lies: Humans are equal. Apparent human differences like race and “gender” are merely “social constructs.” Inequality is the result of social injustice. Diversity is a strength. The non-white, non-male, and subnormal are never responsible for their failings. Instead, whites are at fault, particularly white men.
A worldview premised on lies of course requires more lies to advance it. But Day goes further: SJW’s don’t just lie about politics. They lie habitually and compulsively about everything, always to put themselves in a flattering light. In fact, it may be the case that SJWs are merely weak and botched people who adopt their worldview just because it puts them in a more flattering light: it blames other people for their failings, and it lets them play the role of warriors for justice while in fact they are merely cowardly, mendacious drama queens and bullies.
People who lie to cast themselves in a flattering light, including blaming their failures on others, suffer from malignant narcissism. What M. Scott Peck calls “evil.” The second law, SJWs always double down, refers to what happens when they are caught in lies, which fits with the malignant narcissist profile, since admitting wrong and losing face are not possible for them. The third law, SJWs always project, namely they accuse you of the evils they do themselves, is also a characteristic of malignant narcissism, which can suffer no negative judgments, so when a particularly apposite one is hovering around the edge of their consciousness, they naturally try to fob it off on their enemies instead. Day also mentions that many SJWs talk quite openly about their mental health problems, most commonly depression.
Chapter 3, “When SJWs Attack,” describes how SJWs have hounded prominent people like Nobel Laureate James Watson, Nobel Laureate Tim Hunt, and Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich out of their jobs for politically incorrect statements — a process that has been repeated hundreds if not thousands of times with less well-known individuals. The basic strategy was outlined by Jewish radical Saul Alinsky in his Rules for Radicals. Day lays out and illustrates 8 steps, most of which are self-explanatory:
- Locate or create a violation of the PC Narrative
- Point and shriek
- Isolate and swarm
- Reject and transform, which refers to the futility of apologies, which simply are used as evidence for intensified attacks
- Press for surrender, which refers to the tendency of SJWs to press their targets to resign, which allows them to hypocritically deny any responsibility for their mark’s destruction
- Appeal to amenable authority, which means the SJWs’ search for the weakest link in their target’s employment or social status
- Show trial
- Victory parade
This chapter is a very helpful road map of what happens, and what comes next, when SJWs attack. Unfortunately, for most people, the result is the same: social ostracism and the loss of employment and reputation. But there is hope, because people have successfully fought back, which Day discusses in the subsequent chapters.
Chapter 4, “Counterattack,” is the story of GamerGate, the populist uprising of gaming enthusiasts against arrogant SJW journalists. GamerGate was a leaderless, viral resistance which turned the tables on SJW bullies, exposing their hypocrisy and corruption and mocking them viciously. Gamergate got some SJWs fired, prompted others to ragequit, and went after the advertisers of SJW periodicals like Gawker, which is now in dire financial straits. And every moment the SJWs spend on defense is a moment they cannot spend harming another innocent dissident.
Chapter 5, “Release the Hounds,” deals with the campaigns of Day and fellow conservative sci-fi writer Larry Correia against the SJW lock on science fiction and fantasy journalism and awards. The “hounds” in the title refers to the Correia’s Sad Puppy campaign to nominate non-PC writers for the Hugo Awards and Day’s Rabid Puppies campaign, based on the GamerGate model. Due to the hounding of the Puppies, the Hugo Awards was forced to adopt new nomination rules that make them less under the control of SJW cabals. But the dogs are not done yet. They are pushing for the firing of leading SJW editors. They are also picking off the weakest members of the SJW herd, who fall silent due to demoralization and depression. Better them than us.
These campaigns, GamerGate in particular, are part of the stirring in the Zeitgeist that gave us the cuckservative meme and has been filling the sails of Donald Trump’s campaign, which has made immigration restriction, economic nationalism, and the rejection of political correctness live political issues again.
Chapter 6. “The SJW Next Door,” describes how SJWs infiltrate and subvert institutions, focusing on Human Resources Departments and the creation of vague, elastic PC codes of conduct which can be used to stigmatize and purge dissidents. Ever wonder why, despite your expensive education, extensive experience, and meticulously crafted resumes, cover letters, and Linkedin profiles, you just don’t seem to have any job prospects, White Man? Because corporate choke points are occupied by people like Eve T. Braun of Barclays, the British bank. This is what Braun posted on the London Ruby User’s Group mailing list “explaining how she had successfully prevented the hiring of straight white men and other presumed non-SJWs”:
Two other things we implemented which aided the recruitment process: We followed advice which is quickly becoming the industry norm. Never look at someones Github profile until you have made the decision to hire or not hire them and do not let it influence you. Github profiles tend to favor CIS White men over most minorities in a number of ways. CIS white men often have more spare time or chose to pursue building up an impressive portfolio of code rather than women or minorities who have to deal with things like raising children or instiutionalised racism. Some in the SocJus community have even said that technically companies could possibly even be breaking discriminatory law by allowing peoples github profiles and publicly available code to influence their hiring decisions – watch this space. We used Randi Harper’s blockbot to assess applicants twitter profiles for problematic or toxic viewpoints. This may sound a bit extreme but some of the staff here suffer from Aspergers & PTSD and our top priority is to ensure that they don’t get put in triggering situations.Making a wrong hire could present a scenario where the employee could be triggered on a daily basis by another employee with an oppressive viewpoint. Other than from a diversity standpoint, from a business standpoint these sorts of negative interactions can cost a company a huge amount of time & money in employees taking off sick days. When all the employees are on the same page the synergy in the office aids productivity.
Remember this whenever you feel an impulse to take a tolerant, live and let live attitude toward SJWs.
Chapter 7, “What to Do When SJWs Attack,” is practical advice for individuals under fire:
- Recognize the attack, remain calm, and realize that very few friends and coworkers will help you.
- Don’t try to reason with them: you are not dealing with rational people, but with raving beasts who will take every gesture of good will as a sign of weakness and will use everything you say against you.
- Do not apologize: apologies are treated as evidence of guilt and invite intensified attacks.
- Accept your fate: try to adopt a Stoic attitude of indifference about outcomes; focus simply on doing the right thing, which is to fight.
- Document their every word and action: most organizations have rules for firing or disciplining people; know the rules; demand that they be followed; admit nothing; demand the accusers do all the work; get everything in writing, and get it signed.
- Do not resign! Don’t do the enemy’s work for them.
- Make the rubble bounce: basically, this means counter-attack; do everything you can to raise the price of attacking you for your enemies and your employer. This is worth quoting at length: “Whether you survive the attempted purge or whether you don’t, it’s very important to observe who has defined himself as an ally, an enemy, or a neutral party during the process. The choices people make will pleasantly surprise you about as often as they disappoint you. Once everyone’s choices have been made clear, your task is simple. Target the enemy at every opportunity. Hit them wherever they show themselves vulnerable. Play as dirty as your conscience will permit. Undermine them, sabotage them, and discredit them. Be ruthless and show them absolutely no mercy. This is not the time for Christian forgiveness because these are people who have not repented, these are people who are trying to destroy you and are quite willing to harm your family and your children in the process. Take them down and take them out without hesitation. If you have any SJWs working under you, fire them. If you have an SJW relying upon you for something, play dumb and assure him that he’ll get it on time, then fail to deliver, all the while promising that it’s going to be done next week. Above all, understand that the normal rules of live and let live are no longer in effect. The more you disrupt their activities and their daily routine, the more difficult they will find it to purge you. Assume that you are on your way out— if you’ve followed the previous advice given, you should already have your landing zone prepared and are only waiting for the right moment to exit— and salt the earth. Leave devastation in your wake so that it will take weeks or even months for them to try to recover from the damage of your purging.”
- Start nothing, finish everything: basically, don’t act out of anger; don’t initiate attacks, but when attacked, respond with disproportionate, overwhelming force.
Chapter 8, “Striking Back at the Thought Police” and Chapter 9, “Winning the Social Justice War,” are the most exciting parts of the book, for Day makes it clear that he is not content with just fending off the Left, but on rolling it back completely. This is what sets him miles apart from mainstream conservatism, which has never conserved anything from the Left, much less taken back lost ground. I will just deal with the highlights of these chapters.
Day’s first strategic principle is to know oneself and one’s enemy, and act accordingly. Day points out that the Right has a systematic advantage over the Left, because the Left is based on lies; Leftists do not understand themselves or their enemies, but we do.
One of Day’s most important principles is to reject the ideals of SJWs: equality, diversity, tolerance, and progress. Day flatly rejects equality as a fact or a moral ideal. He flatly rejects the daft notion that diversity is a strength. He does not measure progress in terms of equality and diversity, but in terms of science and technology, and points out that these forms of progress are incompatible with the first two ideals. He dismisses tolerance as “little more than a cloak for SJW entryism,” noting that SJWs always demand it but never practice it.
Day simply denies the Left the moral standing to judge the Right. He dismisses them as followers of false ideals that lead to injustice and tyranny. For Day, the values of the Right are Truth, Liberty, and Justice. (I prefer Truth, Justice, and a Nice White Country. I think individual liberty is fine, but not when it conflicts with the common good.)
Day believes that SJW types must be purged from all institutions of society, and safeguards must be created to prevent any new entryism. We must begin with institutions we control, then seek to extend our control to the whole of society, completely uprooting Leftist power. He frankly states that “the single most important principle to adopt is a ruthless intolerance for anyone expressing even a modicum of sympathy for social justice ideals. While this may sound too paranoid or detail-oriented for you, rest assured that if you do not go to the trouble of aggressively keeping out the SJWs, they will invade your organization and they will do their best to take it over.”
Day urges us to defund and destroy the Left’s propaganda centers: the educational system and the mass media/popular culture. The best way to do that is to create our own alternative educational system and media, until we can take over the mainstream ones.
Day also recommends that we create organizations and livelihoods that are “antifragile” — resilient to SJW attacks and subversion. Self-employment is probably the single most important guarantee of independence from SJW attacks.
Day stresses the importance of morale for both our forces and our enemy. SJWs tend to be mentally ill; thus they are easily demoralized if one stands up to them and then counter-attacks. He recommends fine-grained attacks of SJW activists, who must be targeted, doxxed, and denied employment and a public voice. He even recommends that we counter SJW ideas whenever we encounter them in face to face interactions. Since SJWs are generally ineducable though, he recommends that we do not argue with them, but simply communicate verbally and subverbally that we find their ideas silly and boring. In short, Day calls for full-spectrum resistance, from face to face encounters to revolutionizing social institutions.
A final point has to do with solidarity. Day is quite frank that this battle can be lonely. Society is full of moderates who will split the difference between truth and lies, innocence and guilt, good and evil, rather than take sides. Thus we need to cultivate allies, even if we do not fully agree with them. For instance, Day, an Evangelical Christian, is allied with pick up artist Roosh V. in battling political correctness.
We also need to prepare ourselves to be disappointed by the cowardice of our colleagues and friends and even families. But apologizing and surrendering will change nothing. So if you have slipped up and spoken an unacceptable truth, don’t think about the friends you might be losing. Because they weren’t real friends anyway, and you won’t get them back by caving in. Think of the friends you will be gaining by standing firm.
But that only works if one actually gains friends, if people actually come to your aid. So I want each and every reader to pledge that you will place a copy of this book into the hands of anyone in your community — mighty or humble — who is targeted for destruction simply for speaking the truth. If more people stand firm for the truth, others will be emboldened to stand with them, and around them a new nation might be born.
Don’t let the silly cover and flippant title fool you: SJWs Always Lie is one of the most radical Right-wing manifestos of the post-War era. Buy it and read it today.
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29 comments
You defeat the left by ignoring and not engaging with them.
No. That’s how you let them win. And you know that’s true, don’t you, Cuck?
Is this the same Owens who says that the Jewish problem is a lost cause?
Your advice is absurd and counter-productive at best…
Vox Day might be good guest to have on Radio Counter-Currents, as well as a timely one, given that SJWs Always Lie has been an Amazon bestseller for the past week.
Thanks for this review. I’ve followed the SF field anti-PC campaign for some time. And I know that Vox Day was one of the most vocal anti-SJW actors. How good, then, that he’s taken the fight to the next level, that of polemic statement in book form.
The only thing I’d like to add is the question of ideals. According to the review the PC bunch has equality and diversity as ideals; Vox, for his part, advocates Truth, Liberty and Justice. As a start, this is a fine order of battle. However, personally, I’d say that the two guiding concepts of the Left are Materialism and Nihilism. Against this, the Right has to be led by Resonsibility, Courage, Responsibility and Modesty; moreover, the faith in these eternal values is in itself an ideal, a faith based in belief in the Platonic Eternal Ideas = Eidoi.
If you want an even more basic ontology, you could say that in the beginning was Will and Thought, Light and Dark. Then they united with Light to form God. Subsequently, all positive, eternal values can be derived from this, from WillThought-united-with-Light — and along with this Compassion, which was there in the beginning, even before Will, Thought, Light and Dark existed. To get the theory complete you could say that the current Left essentially stands for the Dark, in its embracing of materialism and nihilism.
In other words, the fight against PC-ism has to be footed in Eternal Values. We must show ourselves morally superior to the materialist and nihilist attitude of SJWs.
Only available as Kindle? I’ll try it and hopefully there will be a print edition in the future as well.
We need strategies and examples of the situations that develop in order to act and it seems that this book provides just that.
Very interesting! I am going to read the book! This is only about the SJW’s however. How do we approach the brainwashed nice, normal people? Even if they rationally agree with you on immigration for example, they balk emotionally even at just voting for someone like Wilders “because he is a fascist”. Or would it be enough to concentrate on the SJW’s?
SJWs are the System’s first line of defense. The task of deprogramming normies becomes much less daunting once SJWs are neutralized, since the latter play such a major role in getting pro-Whites fired and otherwise marginalized. And don’t forget that SJWs are also the ones who cry “Fascist! Racist!” the first and the loudest.
Surprising to learn that Greg had never heard of Vox. He is really impossible to categorize and distinguishes himself even from the alt-right, and he manages to be ignored by the mainstream right and left despite amazing blog statistics. As for race, read his blog: he is very clear about biological realities and advocates national sovereignty for all peoples (nations, defined in terms of biology).
Life is short and the internet is long. I am glad to find him.
Revivifying cold war argot like ‘rollback’ is a great idea, since the underhanded, spiteful war on whites is the Coldest War. This time, may the right win the war and win the peace, too.
I don’t think that is the single most important principle, or even an important principle at all. I mean, just what is a ‘modicum’ here? Defending public education, for instance, by claiming ‘it’s the right thing to do’ qualifies as a modicum of support for social justice ideals. Does Day really think purging people who express support for such basic policies is the royal road to victory? Just imagine for a moment how the average attempt to adhere literally to Day’s exacting standards would actually play out in a social setting – not pretty.
Based on this review, this is fine book, but Day’s turn from practical advice to ideological gravitas loses me – and I despise SJWs so much I’d gladly line them up against a wall.
I think it’s because he spends a lot of time on the internet and playing video games, so the vermin loom much larger in his imagination than yours or mine. That it went so far as writing a book about fighting them sets off a little alarm in my brain: this guy doesn’t know how to unplug. I can’t see any progress upon MR’s old “Snappy Comebacks” threads, can you? Remember like three of those, have balls, and you’re practically a Rambo of the discourse war. But these NRx people on Twitter are as obsessed with “SJWs” as the SJWs are with being offended by everything. It’s very weird and spergy.
Plus, I really don’t like contributing to these bloggers’ lifestyles by purchasing their blog-standard PDFs or whatever. Then they write a post about “living the life you want by writing original content”, which is the stuff they’re selling you on Amazon. Note the absence of this strategy on Counter-Currents.
@Uh
It is dismissive mindsets like yours that have allowed the Cultural Marxists to take over every institution of note in the Western world. You and your kind sat back and let it happen. You of all people should read this book.
That is of course, even given you the benefit of the doubt and not assuming that you are a concern troll, which I actually believe that you are.
I think it’s because he spends a lot of time on the internet and playing video games
You left out the part about how he made enough money in the video game industry in the Nineties that he and his wife (a former model) could afford to move to Italy, where she stays home to take care of the kids while he writes best-selling books, serves as editor for a publishing house that he helped to found, maintains a hugely successful blog, and plays soccer on a local team, all while giving SJWs hell. Yeah, he’s obviously a real loser that nobody should pay any attention to, just because you say so.
Plus, I really don’t like contributing to these bloggers’ lifestyles by purchasing their blog-standard PDFs or whatever. Then they write a post about “living the life you want by writing original content”, which is the stuff they’re selling you on Amazon.
You really have no familiarity with Vox or his blog, do you? He has never engaged in such activities. How lazy you are to make such baseless claims.
Note the absence of this strategy on Counter-Currents.
Offering a book on how to tell shit from Shinola might not be an altogether bad idea, though.
You’re dropping context and quibbling.
He’s talking about the process of purging institutions of SJWs, and in carrying that out, being ruthless is the thing that silly whites, who are prone to trust, tolerance, and live and let live have to remind themselves of more than anything else.
Greg,
SJWs don’t wear bright neon signs on their foreheads. There has to be some reasonable standard of what qualifies one as a SJW. Setting that standard as the detection of the slightest sympathy for social justice ideals means needlessly alienating huge numbers of whites, who more or less do regard their political values as being rooted in social justice (welfare, unions, health care, public education etc).
You and I and I most readers of this site know that Day really has in mind people expressing support for racial, sexual or cultural equality, rather than broad notions of social justice, and it would have been much simpler to state that specifically. If you disagree that urging strict ideological rigidity on racialists is a bad idea, check in to the average VNN or SF thread every now and then.
Uh,
Yes, weird and spergy, but bearing an all-too-real ability to ruins people’s lives and livelihoods. It turns my stomach to read accounts of basically decent men (usually) and women being hounded out of their jobs by these cockroaches. “Hell hath no fury” is taken, so I’ll have to find some other way of poetically expressing the supreme hatred I feel for this filth.
You criticize Vox for his “exacting standards” but you obviously have no idea what those standards even are. He gives a very clear eleven-point description of the defining characteristics of SJWs in the first chapter, and none of those points have anything do with normal people who support public education or who don’t want the government to leave orphans and cripples to starve by the side of the road. You are being deliberately obtuse, like somebody who says that because the bacteria in yogurt is good for us Pasteur’s germ theory of disease must be wrong.
Kudzu, you need to familiarize yourself with the standard English meaning of social justice and the policies promoted in its name. These go far beyond the description of internet-era SJWs. If Vox makes this clearer in his book that’s great, but by ‘exacting standards’ I had in mind his absolute insistence that ruthless intolerance of sympathy for social justice ideals is the single most important principle. Like many similarly absolute WNish ideas it may sound great on paper, but the attempt to apply it in practice makes for a shambles.
You keep talking about social justice. Vox keeps talking about Social Justice WARRIORS. Those are two different things that should not be confused, like lightning and lightning BUGS. To make matters any clearer than that would require more patience than the gods saw fit to allot me.
That distinction isn’t clear from Greg’s quotation from the book to which I was responding.
“He frankly states that ‘the single most important principle to adopt is a ruthless intolerance for anyone expressing even a modicum of sympathy for social justice ideals.”‘
I’m sorry the gods weren’t kinder to you.
Verlis, so how about you read the book and make informed comments, rather than conjecturing based on excerpts?
Why do I see this ad here – ‘Sweet Chinese Ladies are Ready to Date U’? Right next to where I’m typing this.
Not happy……
Blame Google
Maybe John Derbyshire reads this blog.
“He’s talking about the process of purging institutions of SJWs, and in carrying that out, being ruthless is the thing that silly whites, who are prone to trust, tolerance, and live and let live have to remind themselves of more than anything else.”
If by “institutions” we include blogs and if we take a healthily inclusive view of what are”SJWs” then we may be onto something important here.
Who is the Guy on the Picture?
Vox Day
Vox Day comments against mainstreaming moderation:
http://voxday.blogspot.com/2015/09/embrace-your-extremists.html
“As I have noted on several occasions, for reasons unbeknownst to me, moderates are always more focused on firing on their own side than on the enemy. They are also always more open to negotiation and dialogue with the enemy than with their own extremists.
This is one of the reasons why moderates never accomplish anything. Ideally, moderates would stay out of the way, let the extremists lead the charge, and then show up after the victory is won and handle the negotiations using the extremists as leverage.
“Do you want to surrender to me or do I stand aside and watch as my very good friend here follows through on his promise of no quarter?” Accepting surrender is the true and proper role of the moderate. Policing those engaged in positive action is not.”
Very comprehensive review. I applaud the courage and spirit of this Vox Day (had never heard of him, either – know nothing of “gamer” culture; don’t want to know). Sounds like an impressive fellow.
That said, I must have badly missed something. What, precisely, is so ORIGINAL about any of what Mr. Day is saying? I know rightists who have been calling for Total War against the Left for decades. People have spoken of “counter-Gramsciian” marches back through what used to be OUR institutions for a long time. Day says never surrender to the Left. Yeah, that’s it?
For example, Day advises:
“… us to defund and destroy the Left’s propaganda centers: the educational system and the mass media/popular culture. The best way to do that is to create our own alternative educational system and media, until we can take over the mainstream ones.”
Um, yes, what real conservative hasn’t been advocating this for decades? Of course, some insight into HOW to do this tiny (sarcasm) task wouldn’t be remiss.
Also, I worry about what the internet is doing to the English language (admittedly not a burning issue, but still …). “Ragequit”? I see this “internet-isms” popping up more and more, leaving me feeling, alas, ever more at sea.
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