Counter-Currents
1,719 words
We’re gonna talk about normie stuff today.
I can already hear the groans emanating from the peanut gallery. “But Trav,” you say. “This is Counter-Currents, the caviar of White Nationalist websites. We don’t come here to read about normie stuff.”
Last year, I wrote about underground anti-anti-white YouTube rapper, Tom MacDonald, after he hit number one on the iTunes charts. I cannot tell you how much grief I got from people for writing that article. “Why are you promoting some wigger? Rap is degenerate! Kids should be listening to classical music!”
I’ll have you know that Tom MacDonald is now about three times as popular as he was when I wrote that article. He is now huge among MAGA normies. I see Gen X normiecon friends post his videos on social media all the time. His songs have also broken into the Billboard charts — not the iTunes charts, but the Billboard Hot 100. He is now a serious cultural force, and even has a Wikipedia entry.
Tom MacDonald’s influence will become relevant later on in this story. Look, ol’ Trav knows what he’s doing. If we are going to convert the masses, it is helpful to know what they are talking about, what they are watching, who they are listening to, what those people are saying, and how the normies are responding to it. I’m trying to make you guys better activists. So stop complaining and eat your vegetables.
There’s a meme going around that has become a cultural phenomenon among normiecons: “Let’s Go, Brandon.” The phrase has become the biggest and fastest growing normiecon meme since “fake news” caught fire five years ago.
American readers are probably already aware of it, but some in our international audience might not be, so I’ll start with the origin of the meme.
There has been a trend at live sports events in recent months in the US where crowds will spontaneously break out into chants of “Fuck Joe Biden.” The fandoms of some sports are whiter and more conservative than others, but the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) is probably in the lead in terms of whiteness and conservatism.
In early October, there was a NASCAR race in which driver Brandon Brown finished victorious. During the televised post-race roundup, the “Fuck Joe Biden” chant from the crowd was audible. The female newscaster then mischaracterized the chant, claiming that the audience was in fact chanting “Let’s go, Brandon.”
Video of the incident went viral, and “Let’s go, Brandon” has become an ironic catchphrase among normiecons. Over the last month, the meme has just kept going and going. If you search for “Let’s go, Brandon” on YouTube today, you will find a slew of songs with that title, analysis of the meme, videos of liberals losing their minds in response to it, and conservatives laughing at liberals who lose their minds over the phrase. “Let’s go, Brandon” t-shirts, coffee mugs, and bumper stickers are selling like hotcakes.
Not one, but two rappers have reached number one on the iTunes charts with songs titled “Let’s go, Brandon.” The first was Loza Alexander, who, after going viral on TikTok, hit number one on the hip-hop iTunes chart and number two overall. His song was popular enough to break into the Billboard Hot 100 and reach number 38. The other rapper was America First associate and Nick Fuentes’ token black friend Bryson Gray. Bryson hit number one on iTunes and reached number 28 on the Billboard Top 100. As recently as October 27, there were four songs entitled “Let’s go, Brandon” in the iTunes Top 10 at number one, two, four, and eight.
Here’s where you can see Tom MacDonald’s influence. MacDonald appears to have blazed a trail that others are now following. Before MacDonald, having that kind of chart success in which you are outselling major label artists with Right-wing music was unthinkable. Now you have multiple artists doing it at the same time. MacDonald built up a serious audience for his particular brand of conservative rap, and that makes it easier for other conservative musicians to market themselves because they can appeal to MacDonald fans.
You can buy Greg Johnson’s The Year America Died here.
If you wanna be a curmudgeon, you can do the “rap is degenerate” thing or complain that these songs are all shallow normiecon fluff. While it might be tame and cringe now, it appears that some sort of online infrastructure for an independent Right-wing music scene is developing which may open doors for other, more “based” artists later on. Early rap and early metal were both very tame compared to what came along just a few years later.
If we are to win the culture war, it helps to actually produce culture. Give people something to entertain themselves with. Sure, I would prefer to live in a world where rap did not exist, but it does and it’s not going away. As long as it’s here and there’s a demand for it, I would rather people listen to Tom MacDonald than Cardi B.
Another thing worth noting is that none of these guys appear to be astroturfed. All them are independent and going viral organically. Perhaps Conservatism Inc. will try to co-opt this scene. Maybe some donors will step in and start flashing money at these guys. Maybe Charlie Kirk will set up TPUSA Records or something. I hope that doesn’t happen, but we’ll see.
The funny thing about “Let’s go, Brandon” is that it is very Alt Right-ish in the way it works. It is a seemingly innocent phrase that is an avatar for something darker. On the surface, Pepe was just a cute and innocuous cartoon frog, but was in fact a symbol for a movement that discussed the Jewish Question and scientific racism. Our enemies understood that, and it was hilarious watching them try to explain why such an innocent image was in fact a symbol of evil.
In that sense, “Let’s go, Brandon” has become the normiecon’s Pepe the Frog. On the surface it appears to be a playful show of support, when it is in fact a coded insult. Maybe the normie has not yet begun to hate, but he appears to have discovered irony.
Liberals are now alarmed by this phrase, and perhaps they should be. It not only disparages Joe Biden but also ridicules the media, and indeed the whole system around them. Everyone knew that the media lies before, but this latest incident has revealed a lot about them. First of all, the purpose of the newscaster’s lie was to cover up dissent against the regime. Secondly, the lie was almost the exact opposite of the truth — she got all three words wrong. Third, it was such a ridiculous lie. She was insulting your intelligence. So now, every time the phrase is repeated, it is a reminder that we are ruled by liars.
The Left has begun a counter-offensive, and it is even stupider and more insulting to your intelligence than the original newscast. The angle they are running with is that the phrase promotes vulgarity.
Think of the children! This is from the same people who gave us the pussy hat and cheered on Robert DeNiro’s f-bomb laden anti-Trump diatribes. Regardless, the “Let’s teach kids anal sex” crowd is now reaching for their smelling salts over the thought of four-letter words. Of course, the meme itself contains no swear words; but just the idea of dirty words is enough to bring on a dizzy spell for these people.
The real absurdity of the liberal response is that no one believes they actually mean it. Nevertheless, there is a grain of truth in their criticism. I think that the normalization of profanity has done a lot of social harm.
When I was a kid, everyone swore — both kids and adults. Possibly kids more so than adults. But there were rules about profanity. There was a time and a place for it: never in a formal setting, never in front of an authority figure, boys didn’t swear in front of girls, kids didn’t swear in front of adults because it is disrespectful, and adults didn’t swear in front of kids because it sets a bad example.
I’m not a prude, but I believe they should be used strategically and only for dramatic effect. Sometimes “fuck” really is the mot juste. Some people swear almost as a nervous tic, however, and it is a big pet peeve of mine.
Nevertheless, the ship of profanity being something only for adults sailed with cable television. Whereas before you had to be a grown-up to see a movie with dirty words in it, once cable TV and video became commonplace, kids could watch R-rated movies at home. I grew up watching The Bad News Bears, which was a kid’s film that featured a character named Tanner. He was a short kid who spoke entirely in profanity. He was funny because he had no sense of etiquette.
I’m not really bothered by profanity so much as the erosion of all sense of etiquette in relation to it. The Sex Pistols broke the brains of a nation when they said the f-word on live TV in 1976. As recently as the late ‘80s, Andrew Dice Clay was banned for life from MTV for using profanity during their music awards. None of them were saying anything that people hadn’t heard before, of course; it was the gross breach of social protocol that was the scandal. But by the mid-‘90s, Bobby Brown was able to drop an f-bomb at the MTV music awards without consequence.
Sure, “Let’s go, Brandon” is code for a dirty word. But then again, so are a lot of other words. “Heck” is code for “hell.” “Crap” is code for “shit.” I remember when people used to say “Oh, fudge” instead of “Oh, fuck.” And I’m not even going to tell you what “fiddlesticks” means. But by Dan Rather’s logic, saying “Oh, fudge” is no different from saying the real thing.
“Let’s go, Brandon.” It’s already a dead horse, but at the time of writing, it shows no sign of slowing down. Maybe it is a bit shallow. It doesn’t have the multi-layered quality of “It’s OK to be white” or “Islam is right about women,” but it appears to be good for morale, and it’s not counter-productive in any way.
* * *
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34 comments
Tom MacDonald is writing America’s future anthems.
Tom MacDonald is also pro-race mixing. In a recent music video he hired Transgender YouTuber Blaire White to dance in the background. I’m not sure you would call him “our guy.”
Although I appreciate what Tom MacDonald has accomplished by bringing this to a new audience, he’s pretty whack as an MC and I find it hard to take anyone seriously when they look like a drugged out degenerate. I doubt there are too many serious hip-hop heads that peruse this site, but for a much better lyricist dropping red pills, check out R.A. The Rugged Man.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=b04Elfud97I
Red Pilled? That’s surprising. The only thing I know about him is that he was once friends with Gavin McInnes but then completely disowned him after the Proud Boys took off and that he once had a ‘debate’ with Jared Taylor where he displayed extreme anger and hostility towards the very genteel Taylor and called him every name under the sun. His anti-racism had all the intensity of Tim Wise’s but none of the verbal complexity. Has he had a change of heart?
I remember a race debate between him and Jared Taylor, hosted by Gavin McInnes, and he came across as dumb as it gets.
It’s amusing, but at the same a relatively milquetoast slogan. The deadly serious threats facing white america (mexican fentanyl, chinese high technology, 1/6 protesters being persecuted in jail, outrageous black crime, a demented administration) are going to require some serious solutions.
Self reply: let me add to the deadly serious problems anti-natalist (for whites) environmentalists and anti-white talking points peddled in public schools and the destruction of the white family.
I actually like ‘Lets go Brandon’ because it allows more of us to say ‘F Joe Biden’ in more places and louder.
Brandon is our version of the ‘Not My President’ slogan of the left. The left has had no problem seeing the right as entirely illegitimate. ‘Brandon’ is the first time that the right has adopted that attitude too, unless you count Obama. Even then, that was usually just directed against Obama and not the entire system. ‘Brandon’ naturally flows into secession, which terrifies the left.
Amusingly, the Left had (and has) no problem using “Fuck Trump” in open view, thanks to a mainstream culture that subtly condones such expression. The Right, held to much higher “standards,” needs disguises.
From David Cole over at Taki’s:
“If you’d asked any 1/6 rioter what they were there for, they’d have said “Trump!”
Okay, but what’s Trump for?
“America!”
But what does that mean? You know, specifically. What are your policy goals?
“Trump! America!”
I sincerely recommend everyone read that article. Let’s go Brandon is full of energy, but unless directed towards something with concrete goals, it’ll just be a release valve for normiecon anger, and that’s always worse than nothing. It’s OK to be white and Islam is right about women are statements of fact and morality, they have within them hidden but concrete goals and proposals (white survival, female probity). Let’s go Brandon is full gas in neutral, Qanon without the schizophrenia.
We must transcend the pro wrestling epistemics of the American normie right, even if it costs us some support in the short term.
But how does one “transcend?” Isn’t there a path? Wearing a “Let’s go Brandon” tee shirt into Publix is maybe the first step. Hearing a pilot say it in one of the most regulated places in our country is a step. It’s not like someone’s first step is “women shouldn’t be allowed to vote!” Even though I agree with that. We need to quit shaming the folks that are a few steps behind us and grab their hands instead.
The first step to transcending wrestling mentality is refraining from performative acts, focusing energy on substantial acts instead. “Let’s go Brandon” is the very essence of performativity.
I think it is a great trend. You may not have “engineered” it. But the whole point of these sorts of viral phenomena is that they can’t be engineered or controlled. It is an expression of widespread popular contempt for Biden and the media. Making something politically lasting out of it is our movement’s job. Any failings of “Let’s Go Brandon” and similar phenomena are our fault, not the fault of the memes or the normies who create and sustain them.
We can have both.
The left has been injecting meme slogans into the American lexicon for decades. It’s been part of a multifaceted institutional power grab.
^ This
In what way “F Joe Biden” a stepping stone towards our goals? The Republicans and conservatives are not our friends any more than the Left.
Wrong question. It is simply a hopeful sign that the Biden administration is going to have a tougher time wrecking America than we had feared. You have to take your white pills when you get them.
A few hours ago Catturd posted the following on Gab:
“Good morning to everyone except the Brandon regime.”
Unfortunately this witticism represents the high water mark of the ideological progress MAGA is capable of making.
The 14 words and It’s OK To Be White are the quintessenial WN slogans. Just because they are suppressed doesn’t mean they’re bad. What’s popular is often qualitatively inferior to that which is actually good. See: the popularity of rap vs classical music.
I started going back to rock and metal concerts back in September, once covid started to subside and the regime allowed us to do that again. Anyway, a lot of people in attendance, started to shout “[email protected]!k Joe Biden” in between the opening act and headliner and afterward when people were heading to the parking lot.
I was recently scrolling through the comment sections of a Business insider video where a member of the GOP was celebrating “religious groups” aka HIAS and ISRA-AID flooding America with afghans.
Almost every single conservative in the comments was celebrating the “heroic” GOP and what the mouth breathing, high fructose corn syrup consuming MAGAs though was “Christian groups saving Poor oppressed refugees escaping the Taliban who hate America for its freedoms !”
I left a comment stating that these people where being reduced to despised ethnic minorities in their own country by the same GOP they blindly follow and that almost all of these afghan migrants will almost certainly vote democrat and their kids will be a new generation of anti white foot soldiers.
I also pointed out that they where the same people who a few years ago where voting for Trump and his Muslim ban and “build the wall” now they where celebrating America being flooded with Muslim afghans simply because it is the GOP doing it and not the demon kkk rats !
Every single reply to my comment was to the theme of “ha ha ha seethe demonrat” “lets go Brandon” or “The demonrats are the party of “racism” we support our afghan brothers in Christ and will not leave them to die like lets go brandon”.
I can see your point but from my very jaded experience these people really are some of the dumbest mother f****rs I have ever come across To the point where I don’t even consider them white to me they are TV race, they have zero Ideological belief or desire outside of “owning the libs” and their world view is whatever Shaun Hannity told them the night before and they genuinely view being called “racist’s” by liberals a worse fate than being reduced to minority status in their own country I don’t wanna black pill but these people are almost worthless unless you actually have the power to Corral them like the cattle they are.
Unfortunately, you’re right. Any strategy that relies on mass redpilling of normiecons is doomed to fail. They are just too set in their ways and will continue to reliably take marching orders from Conservatism Inc. until the day they die.
To win high office, we’d need a principled leader who is also careful not to say anything to alienate normies and then govern from the right after they win. Basically, the opposite of Trump. Instead of someone who talks tough and acts weak, we need someone who speaks softly and acts decisively.
The idea that we can’t redpill normiecons is false. Normiecons have come a long way in recent years. They are still the primary place where our movement will grow. Dismissing consciousness-raising efforts among them is self-defeating in the extreme.
But yes, it would be nice to have a cadre of leaders who, once in office, are willing to push necessary policies, regardless of public opinion, and bring the public around later. That’s what leadership is.
The Left does this with bad policies all the time. But they have certain institutional advantages, and until they are retired from academic, the judiciary, the media, the bureaucracy, and the upper echelons of big business, we are not going to halt much less reverse the rot.
“Let’s go Brandon” is absolutely hilarious. Watching the world series and to see a fan in the stands holding up that sign was again, hilarious. It is basically just flipping the bird to not only the total embarrassment who we call president, but the establishment and the media. These “artists” are just milking this phrase for all it has, nothing more, nothing less. These people didn’t make it up as I would bet my life that none of these “artists” have ever had or better yet implemented any original idea in their lives. I mean, rap music’s whole foundation is the plagiarizing of other’s hard work. With that in mind it just seems senseless to look at it in any other context other than pure opportunism.
Dan Rather’s a sh*thead.
The Thing about ‘Let’s Go Brandon’ is that its the left’s own lie
It was a standard leftist female reporter trying to cover up and distort the reality of what was being said—-classic behavior from the MSM and leftists everywhere.
So what happened—-people ran with it. Its THEIR lie, and it says our truth by the contradiction.
I think that’s the power— and why it infuriates the left.
This is exactly it. Shoving it back in their faces is fun, and frankly important, during this time when we can be arrested for saying things we “shouldn’t.” Shaming people for doing it is low.
Hitler reacts:
https://youtu.be/egl21vUsnEY
Last year, I wrote about underground anti-anti-white YouTube rapper, Tom MacDonald, after he hit number one on the iTunes charts. I cannot tell you how much grief I got from people for writing that article. “Why are you promoting some wigger? Rap is degenerate! Kids should be listening to classical music!”
Travis, you deserve all the grief you got. You think you are supporting the white cause by welcoming the pozzed underculture as long as it has some superficial claim to being “anti-anti-white.” You say in effect, crappy music is great because it’s our crappy music.
Why are you still promoting some wigger? Rap is degenerate! Kids should be listening to classical music!
There’s something Dionysian about these “Let’s Go Brandon” chants. It allows for Americans to connect to a sort of primordial unity and provides a collective catharsis to cope with the unmitigated tragedy that is the Biden administration.
“Third, it was such a ridiculous lie. She was insulting your intelligence. So now, every time the phrase is repeated, it is a reminder that we are ruled by liars.”
This is the most important part and why I fully endorse the use of “Let’s go Brandon!”
It was clear as day what the crowd was saying but it was almost like an involuntary reflex ingrained into the DNA every journo to lie and gaslight.
I think this is the reason that the System has such a problem with it. Once a casual “normie” investigates the source of the phrase, it exposes how blatantly they’ll lie to your face about what you can see and hear with your own eyes and ears right in front of you. That’s a problem for them.
Yes, it’s “cringe” or whatever the fuck we’re supposed to equate with “un-cool” nowadays only because the detested “normie-cons” are using it. Tough shit, so was “libtard” for the longest time, now the term has come full circle and is the most accurate way to describe… well… libtards.
I’m going to play devil’s advocate here and advance the notion she might have made an honest mistake. The first one or two chants, the ones she was presumably reacting to, were really not all that clear for me either, sitting relaxed in front of my computer. She was in a far noisier environment; talking to someone named Brandon, which sounds a lot like Biden when shouted out loud.
Furthermore, it takes a lot of thinking on your toes to come up so quickly with a face-saving explanation for something happening in the background while under the stress of conducting a live interview. That’s why all videos of reporter’s bloopers show them either laughing at or ignoring something inappropriate unexpectedly happening in the background.
It is very likely she’d been instructed on what to say by the rest of the crew (who, mind you, weren’t in a far better position, busying with their own tasks), and I think this is what likely happened if we are to believe this wasn’t just an honest mistake.
Anyway, if she indeed was quick-witted enough to come up with that phrase on the spot, for the reasons you assume she did, then that’s wife material over there.
I’ll have you know that Tom MacDonald is now about three times as popular as he was when I wrote that article. He is now huge among MAGA normies. I see Gen X normiecon friends post his videos on social media all the time. His songs have also broken into the Billboard charts — not the iTunes charts, but the Billboard Hot 100. He is now a serious cultural force, and even has a Wikipedia entry.
So what? Your critics were still correct.
Anyone else remember that “Fuck Donald Trump!” cringe a bunch of A-list celebs were pushing back in 2017?
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