Mark Baumer
1,534 words
So much of what passes for journalism these days is reductionist. What is worse is that there is an ideological underpinning that once would have been considered unacceptable in filing news stories. The tragic death of Ashli Babbitt and the way it’s been covered in the days following her being shot by a member of DC’s Capitol police illustrates the Left-leaning bent of today’s media establishment. Then, of course, there is the garbage excusing a black cop shooting a white woman because. . . he was scared and his superiors weren’t supportive. Bullshit!
Media members — Jewish Leftists — don’t see Babbitt and whites like her as fellow human beings. Worse, they can’t seem to get their pretzel logic around having an understanding that Babbitt has family members devastated to learn that their loved one had been killed. Instead, story-after-story has time-and-time-again added editorial “dressing” to all successive news reports. A common thread is that Babbitt was “a voracious consumer of misinformation put out by far-right supporters of the president, as well as someone obsessed “with far-right conspiracy theories,” and possibly worse: a “passionate supporter of President Trump.”
Shit, yes — kill her!
To anyone who has a visceral hatred of the president, Babbitt deserved her fate. To be a supporter of the President (which would number somewhere between 75 and 80 million people, but liberals don’t care about those numbers) and to have doubts that our legacy media is telling us the truth rather than pushing propaganda makes it easy to marginalize someone like Babbitt. But is it fair?
I know personally what it feels like as a parent to lose a vibrant activist like Babbitt. While no one knows exactly how others process grief and loss, I know that the pain sometimes feels like it’s going to take you under.
In January of 2017, my son was killed on the 101st day of a walk he was undertaking across the country to raise awareness about climate change. My son, Mark Baumer, like Babbitt, was passionate and deeply committed to a cause. And even if Ashli and Mark might be operating at polar ends of the spectrum that keeps us separated, neither deserved to be marginalized in their deaths for caring about something greater than themselves.
When my son was killed, I read comments across the web where people decided they knew something about my son, a barefoot, hippie-ish activist who was passionate about social justice causes. If you didn’t care about his issues, then I guess his death was something to gloat about and to direct hate towards. Because that’s what people did.
On the day following Babbitt’s death, the video of her last moments, where I was able to see a tear leak from her eye, devastated me. I don’t know if my son had much of an awareness that his life was ebbing away as he was hit by an impaired driver along US Highway 90 in Florida’s Panhandle. When you are hit at 60 mph by a small SUV and your broken body is thrown 300 feet, you die instantly. But perhaps those seconds before the driver hit and crushed his body, he realized he’d never see his parents again, or his girlfriend back in Providence. I wondered about what Babbitt thought in those last moments — and it affected me as someone who knows that her death will ripple out and affect many of those she left behind.
I am not a longtime white-positive foot soldier. I’ve been a lurker at the fringes for several years. My son knew this and we butted heads about it at times.
During the past four years, it’s been a struggle each day to simply make it through 24 hours. If I hadn’t picked up a guitar two years ago, I’m not sure I’d still be here, writing this piece. The grief that stays with you following the loss of someone like Ashli or Mark changes you forever.
Mark and Ashli existed at polar ends of a spectrum designed to keep us divided from one another and enslaved to the powers that be. Divide and conquer is as old as time itself and dates back to the first rulers lording over those beneath them. I have been wondering if they’d have much to talk about if the two of them met. Both were given to physical pursuits and were passionate souls. Neither were sunshine soldiers — they were two people totally devoted to their core values.
Ashli served her country in foreign lands. She saw multiple tours of hellholes (President Trump might call them “shitholes”) and somehow made it back to her native land. Once back, I’m sure it was hard for her as a returning soldier. Where do you channel the drive to survive and commitment to a higher cause when those around you are more concerned about the latest iPhone or what’s streaming on Snapchat or Tik Tok?
If we step away from all the white noise emanating from social media, we might learn that 20 returning veterans like Ashli take their own lives each day. Twenty men and women who, like Ashli, stepped up to take on something bigger than themselves. Still, many like Ashli managed to make it back and return to a life lived in pursuit of a dream of something better for the place she called home, the United States of America.
When my son set out on what would be his final walk across the country he cared about, I worried about him. Walking next to cars, even if you take all the precautions that he did, put your life in peril. Ironically, Ashli faced down all the danger inherent in being a soldier in combat — only to return and shed her final drops of blood in the place known as “the people’s house.” It hasn’t been our house for a long time, and certainly not since Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer have been presiding over it.
Here’s what Ashli and Mark had in common: the realization that women and men like Nancy Pelosi did not represent them and people like them, far-removed from the corridors of power.
It’s far too easy for most, hiding behind anonymity and holier-than-thou mindsets, to look down on my son because he may not see the world just like you do. Hell, he and I didn’t see eye-to-eye on many things: immigration, gender issues, the means to an equitable end for people like us. But I loved my son and he loved his dad. I’m hoping that Ashli had those same close ties with her own family.
My son, like Ashli, was maligned by those who held different beliefs and values. My son was called a libtard, snowflake, a dirty hippie, a moron, and worse. Reading these epithets directed towards my dead son made me want to show up on the doorsteps of those cowards writing and posting them. I’m sure that confrontation would not have gone well. Confrontations rarely end well.
It’s hard to know a lot about Ashli from the news reports. And like my own son’s death, those who don’t care about her cause will be tempted to lash out at someone who is dead and can’t defend themselves. Their words and hatred will only compound the pain and grief that her parents and others who loved her are feeling and will continue to have to carry with them.
No one knows exactly what happened and what made Ashli join a smaller group that decided to march up the hill to the Capitol. I’m sure a lot of it had to do with being fed up with being talked down to, being lied to every time one of these ruling turds open their mouths, and at some point, just like those at the Boston Tea Party, a few people probably said: “enough is enough.” Protest has always been part of our history, although history is being sent down the memory hole as I write this.
And so here we are. Living during a time when votes cast for a sitting president are disappeared and the media have become the equivalent of a state-sponsored propaganda arm, like what the Chinese Communist Party has in place.
I guess we’re supposed to just shut up and smile. And if we don’t, well, they’ll just shoot you!
For someone like Ashli Babbitt, silence wasn’t an option. She did what many more dissidents need to do — stand up to those lying snakes that are paid handsomely to sell us down the river, or worse.
I’m white, proud of my heritage, and proud of young patriots like Ashli Babbitt. I hope that in laying her life down, it leads to more of us committing to pushing back against a system and a corrupt government that hates us and wants us dead.
Mark and Jim Baumer
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31 Comments
That was a moving statement. Mark was not directly killed because of his beliefs, if I understand, but was accidentally hit. If not, sheez, I didn’t realize people got so jazzed over climate change! The essay makes me reconsider and regret my sentiments on heather heyerdahl, nevertheless. Thank you.
Heyer went into the streets for the explicit purpose of using violence to silence the peaceful speech of White Americans.
Think what you might about the “environmentalist” movement, but there is a stark moral, legal, and consequential distinction between asking for a change in national business practices and participating in a terrorist action against American citizens.
Oh I understand they are not remotely similar but still.
It’s too easy to forget: our people are, to one degree or another, casualties of a decades-old relentless propaganda campaign to turn us against each other, ourselves, and natural order.
Remember that, and be merciful with those who’ve not yet noticed or cast off the yoke, and merciful to their loved ones, whether or not they’ve done the same themselves.
Thank you for taking time to write this moving article, Mr. Baumer. It couldn’t have been easy. I’m glad you’re here, and an ally.
Respect to your son, Mark, to his life and his zeal.
“Remember that, and be merciful with those who’ve not yet noticed or cast off the yoke, and merciful to their loved ones, whether or not they’ve done the same themselves.”
Those who “have not yet cast off the yoke” are often supporters of the mortal enemies of those who have.
Remember that and treat them accordingly.
“Merciful,” in this context, means how we respond to them in their time of grief, not compromising our principles.
There is simply nothing to be gained from saying gratuitous, cruel things to people who are grieving the loss of a loved one. Our message is hard enough to accept already, given the indoctrination they’ve succumbed to all their lives. Putting that additional obstacle in their path is reckless, suggests we are indifferent about ultimate victory, and makes it that much more likely they will resist it, honor-bound as they are, right out wrong, to their own whom you’ve offended.
The internet has spawned a culture of misanthropy which, I contend, is the real motivation, more often than not, behind cruel commentary–not principle, just plain old low-impulse-control meanness.
Very well written and very sorry for your loss.
The enemy’s lies are now becoming so ludicrous that even liberals are raising their eyebrows. The mainstream media is now saying 6 people died due to the Capitol storming – they are inflating the numbers like they do with covid deaths. As far as we know only Ashli Babbit was actually killed. One policeman dropped dead from a heart attack later that evening with another committing suicide a few days later. The three remaining protestors who died, died of heart attacks nowhere near the Capitol, that in a protest of 250,000 people is not too surprising. Radio 4 news yesterday referred to the Capitol trespassers as ‘armed’! What were they armed with – flags!!!?? The author of this article and other relatives and friends of those who died in furtherance of a cause should take comfort that their loved ones died while fighting for what they loved.
Handsome young man. I can’t even fathom your pain. Thanks for writing this piece, the perspective is important.
A moving and prescient post. Thinking of you and your family.
Thank you for sharing this: it cannot have been easy.
After some quick searches I found out that Mark was actually quite famous in left-environmental circles. He had a very active YouTube channel (which is still online) and there was a documentary about him released a year or two back.
His views on matters are certainly… divergent from my own (and I’d imagine, most who are reading this), but that’s hardly the point.
Thank you for reminding me that, behind the rhetoric, there are actual people. Hopefully, someone on the other side will remind them of that as well.
I can not imagine your heartache.
Gut wrenching.
Your son was a great man.
He will not be forgotten
Thank you for the article. It is important to always remember our common humanity, even if we sometimes strongly disagree with each other. I am sorry for your loss and I wish you strength.
I appreciate the kind and empathetic comments. I reached out the CC with some trepidation. As a freelance writer who has watched his market dry up over the past two years, it’s hard not to have a “home” for my writing, or worse, no f*cking clue where to pitch article.
At my core, I’m a populist: my writing reflects it and the music I’m writing/producing/posting at places like Bandcamp reflect my populist sensibilities.
Finding CC has been a godsend. I came here as a fan of Jim Goad (I’ve been reading him since the 1990s) and have really been impressed by the variety and diversity (in the right sense of that word) of the articles/essays that get published here.
I miss Mark everyday. He was a one-of-a-kind young man. Kind of a Johnny Appleseed-type activist. Interestingly, he was an amazingly-talented college baseball player. I think he took that focus and drive and used it to propel his writing and activism.
Look forward to continuing to learn and grow as a result of the articles I’m reading, Greg’s radio programs, and the thoughtful comments that get posted here at CC.
I feel also the same thing everyday. I lost my grandmother to cancer over 20yrs ago. After i was born my mother had some type of depression and so she wanted nothing to do with me. My grandmother raised me from day one until my 13th birthday.
At the time she never told me it was cancer so as not to upset me. She moved in with her daughter and i for first time had to move in with my mother who was a total stranger.
She passed away and was only told years later it was cancer.
I dream of her all the time, and in my dreams we are always together.
I feel your loss Mr Baumer and thank you for sharing your story with us.
How old was mark when this happened?
Hello Jim, I certainly echo the condolences of others wished here.
Did you listen to the interview with Greg and Jeff Winston from the White Art Collective the other day ? If you haven’t, I certainly recommend it. It may provide an additional space for your guitar playing and compositions to reach a wider audience, and a musical camaraderie as well. Take care.
https://counter-currents.com/2021/01/counter-currents-radio-jeff-winston/
I know the guy was your child, and you loved him as such, as was your duty as a parent. And I do not know your grief nor do I wish to know it. But if that guy ended up in some BLM riot I would not have cried for his passing.
I don’t give a damn about hypocrisy because neither does my enemy. I can weep for Ashli Babbitt and laugh at Heather Heyer because one of them was on the side of good and the other was an expression of Western self-destruction.
It’s time for whites to stop being sentimental saps obsessed with the state of their own conscience, so easily pressured and shamed by the crooked morals of our enemies.
Only white people give a damn about the environment or the humane treatment of animals. Think about it. Hindus and the Japanese come close. Our passion and imagination express themselves on both the left and the right. Your son sounds like he embodied a lot of what makes us different – and special. He (like we) deserve not to be bred out of existence.
I’m sorry for your loss.
“War by deception.”
This is the motto of the hostile elite that holds the power over White people.
It is their standard procedure. To put us against each other. That is what they do. They are The Enemy.
This is the only thing that really matters. The whores serving them, for money, are just whores, no use to analyze their behaviour, whores are whores, and that is it.
RIP Mark Baumer
I’m sorry for your loss Jim. He was a young man who really cared deeply about something important to him. My great uncle was hit by speedy a car on a rainy night, so I sympathize.
Jez Turner has commented. Good to see he is out of prison. I hope your doing good, Jez.
You dear man. What a terrible thing to have happened to you and all who knew and loved your son.
You have tranformed his death into meaning that touches our hearts and clarifies our minds. I cannot thank you enough.
Thank you Jim. Although I could chime in on several issues that enrage here as a white person, I won’t. I simply want to express my deepest sympathies for the loss of your son and wish the best for you and yours on this strange journey called life.
Condolences and prayers
Mark was obviously well-adjusted and well-liked, thoughtful and intelligent thinking of others first rather than himself. His value system was based on socially-integrated high trust precepts; a mindset that is most commonly found amongst North West Europeans and to a certain extent North East Asians. That is why societies founded by these two groups historically were the most successful. Despite his allegiances I suspect Mark was no swivel-eyed doctrinaire bigot. Had he lived it might well have been that his opinions regarding mass immigration and all the other problems with which we are confronted gradually changed – look at Horst Mahler. I’ve met a lot of people in Rightist organisations who I’ve found highly disagreeable and horrible. Like wise- I’ve met reasonable liberals with whom I’ve got on very well personally.
May Mark Rest In Peace and may I wish his family all the very best.
Moving piece. Really hits home as a parent. Thank you for sharing your story Jim. And thank you Counter Currents.
Dear Jim,
I’m very sorry to hear about your son’s death. I meant to reply much earlier but couldn’t last week. In many ways I followed a similar path as your son: Mark. Prior to becoming interested in the white identitarian movement I was very concerned with environmental causes and energy issues. Today I’m a financial contributor to both Counter Currents and American Renaissance.
After college I did low paid research in more efficient energy conversion systems. I then went back to grad school and got an advanced degree in chemical engineering partially to help contribute to cleaner and more efficient energy sources. I was also a regular member of the Sierra Club: an environmental organization. I used the stefan boltzmann equation to show people, that in the event of runaway global warming, the earth could be rendered uninhabitable.
Also like Mark I was hit by a speeding car and the official investigators sprays painted red at the scene which indicates a fatality. Unlike Mark, I was hit in the side or T-boned as it’s called, by a group of speeding Latinos while stopped in my car. They were street racing which is a common activity among young Latinos in Southern Florida. After the accident they did a “Chinese Fire drill” in which they all got out and switched positions. Thus witnesses could not be sure exactly who was driving and consequently none of them could be charged. I was in the hospital for approximately 2 months, 3 whole weeks of which were in the ICU but I managed to pull through.
Thus your son’s story is very interesting for me. As a scientist I believe environmental issues are extremely important: possibly even having fatal consequences for mankind. Many people in the identitarian movement tend to belittle environmentalism. This may be due to it’s being courted as a voting block by the Democratic Party. The Democrats don’t actually care about the environment but merely use it as a political tool. Identitarians and other Conservatives reply by belittling the environmental movement but what they should be pointing out is it’s being hijacked and misused by the Democrats. How could Democrats support increased immigration from the more dysfunctional nations in Latin America when these people 1) have large families and increasing numbers 2) are absolutely uncaring about the environment: throwing trash everywhere and 3) simply haven’t shown the intellectual ability to devise solutions to environmental issues like global warming, resource depletion or energy supplies? Also many Democratic “energy initiatives” have turned out to be little more than huge money grabs.
Today I’m more concerned with identitarian issues, as they’re called, as I perceive them to be more immediate and neglected. It’s like the environment is cracked and leaking hull plates on the Titanic, while the IQ issues and anti-white ethnic cleansing are like the Titanic hitting the iceberg. It seems that everybody’s counting on scientists pulling out a solution once environmental issues become more severe and noticeable. But without whites to do the scientific research, who will really do the work required? The Chinese are copying some of the initial work done in the US and with time could develop solutions. I feel though that Chinese altruism is a risky thing to rely on.
Thus your son’s concerns with environmental issues were correct, and very well intentioned. Also in those circles he wouldn’t become acquainted with white identitarianism as the political controllers would keep it hidden.
Thanks very much again for sharing your story.
Nicolas Bourbaki (not my real name)
Wonderful article. As someone with two young sons, I don’t know how I’d live without them. Loved the sentiments displayed here.
On a side note, the Germans of the 30s (ahem) fused identity with ecology. They coexist perfectly – why conserve one but not the other? Esp when so many of our people are rural anyway.
The despicable GOP convinced identity folks that GDP was more important than clean air. Profits more than clean water. We can’t even get national healthcare becasue it’ll hurt big biz.
There’s a great deal I can’t understand about the Left and how they were hoodwinked. But we have the same problems.
Jim, so sorry for your having lost your son, and that Mark was maligned and his memory so callously mocked. Reading the pain expressed by a father struck a chord. I have certainly made online comments that, in retrospect, were unkind and unwarranted, and your story gives me pause to reflect. And forgive me if it seems inappropriate, but stewardship of our natural environment is one of our defining and noblest values as people of the West.