Concentric Circles of Identity

One of the issues that many in the Alternative Right never addressed was the question of genuine identity. For the most part, the “identity” of these people was either so broad as to be made meaningless, “culturally Christian” and “European descent” being good starting points that never went anywhere, or they defined themselves by negation. A white person is not Jewish, a white person is not Muslim, a white person is not x, y, or z. While these things were certainly true, an identity by negation isn’t an authentic or healthy identity. A group which bases its identity around what it is not, fails to have anything internal to define it. Hatred of the other does not make an entity.

A surprisingly good article from cracked.com, which unintentionally is a good entry point for talking about identity, involved something they called the “monkeysphere.”  Essentially, human beings are not wired much differently than other primates and certainly are not wired differently from our stone-age ancestors.  Because humans were originally nomadic and traveled in groups of roughly 150 other humans, humans developed over thousands of years to develop the capacity to form intimate bonds with only about 150 other people. This is also part of why the nomadic tribal societies in the Middle East struggled to band together in the modern era into modern militaries. 

In the Middle East, people who only had tribal affiliations were expected to risk their lives for strangers in their largely artificial “country.” This is a pretty well documented phenomenon regarding Iraq, both pre and post Saddam, and was also what I was taught in secondary school regarding the Rwandan genocide: colonial powers forced tribal people together into an artificial “country” and this led to massive ethnic conflict (diversity is our strength, indeed). More linked to our own history, the Native American tribes did not view themselves as a united “Indian People,” but instead based their identity around their tribal or clan structure. Thus, in the various wars between the 17th and 19th centuries, native tribes would ally with various European powers against other native tribes. There was no sense of “racial solidarity.” 

Now, you may reply, “oh, but if there had been racial solidarity, they would have been able to succeed, therefore we should have racial solidarity.” The problem with this logic is that you’re attempting to intellectually create emotional bonds. Much like how erotic emotion cannot be turned on or off by logic, so too is the love of your people not something that can be intellectualized into something else. It can be intellectually explained, but not intellectually controlled. 

For example, I have friends in some Slavic countries and they’ve told me that their ruralites even view the natives from their capital as foreigners. This Ruralite vs. Urbanite divide is becoming much more commonplace in the American Empire. If people treat their own ethnic stock as foreigners, how can one seriously believe the different nations of Europe could unite as a single people? Does anyone genuinely believe that with superior rhetoric and logic they’ll change their minds? Isn’t that the same “Magic Dirt” argument the GOP has been using for years?

So, if we concede that in Europe we have ethnic tensions between different European groups, why are Europeans of a different stock able to live peacefully side by side in America? Well, there were some ethnic conflicts in America, although these seem to largely be about depressing wages, but the conflict between European groups was certainly less common in America than in Europe.  Why is this the case? 

The main reason appears to be that the context of migration was different. The different European groups coming to America came in a trickle and it was far different than the flood of Germans moving into Rome. Likewise, with the original founding of Rome, you had individuals from different Hellenistic cultures migrate to Rome and mix with the Sabines to become the Romans and then create a new identity. So why didn’t a Trojan, a Greek, and a Latin living in Rome get in conflict with one another when their homelands would have warred against one another? My belief is it deals with the concentric circles of identity. 

These concentric circles go as follows: the family, the local community, the local polity, and then the larger political units (the county, the state, etc.). The family is the building block of all civilizations and is therefore at the center. A group of families living close together make up a local community (hamlet, village, etc.). The group of families that make up this local unit is analogous to the “tribe” of paleolithic hunter-gatherers or the nomadic peoples of the desert.  A group of these small local units would band together as a base political entity, making up the building block of cities or city-states. Then, depending on various factors that are different for each nation in history, there may be larger political units like duchies and kingdoms, or the city-state may be the pinnacle. 

As you move the circles farther away from your family, you care less and less. Give any normal person the trolley problem where it’s a family member versus two people from their city and they’ll save their family member every time. Your friends will sacrifice multiple strangers, who even share common citizenship, in order to save your life. If you’re a Georgian, you care more for a random atrocity in Georgia than in New York, but you will care more about an atrocity in New York than Mogadishu. While the Bible does teach us to love everyone, it’s not possible to love everyone equally and anyone claiming they do actually love everyone equally probably loves no one intensely. 

These concentric circles may be different for people living as neighbors, but the character of the circles would be the same. For example, a Swede living next to an Irishman in America would have more concern for Sweden than Ireland, but would have more concern for his Irish neighbor than a random person back in Sweden. Likewise, a Trojan in Rome would care more about a random Trojan than a random Latin, but more for his Sabine wife than a random Trojan.

Much has changed in the modern era, but not these inherent impulses. The problem is that we no longer live within these physical groupings.  Ordinarily, you lived with your family in the village and the local political seat was a day’s ride from any village it ruled over. We now live in a period where people do not even live with their families, nor do they live surrounded by their close relations, and this makes us more isolated. When your emotional neighbors are distant and your physical neighbors are foreigners, your organic links to your region or to your “nation” are nonexistent. Besides that, the fact that people move around so much makes it hard for many to even identify with a true homeland or nation at all.

This distortion of the natural tribal order contributes to atomization, which is leading to depression for individuals and totalitarianism for polities. Rather than having a neighbor who would represent your interests to the city or the state, you have a foreigner who moves to your state and then pretends that he knows you or understands your interests well enough to fight for them. This is the path for many senators, after all. How many people personally know their state representative or senator, much less the ones residing at the Imperial Capital? These men have no connection to you.

Between the atomization and propaganda people face today in the West, we have begun to see people invert the natural order and prefer outgroups over ingroups because they don’t have any connection to an ingroup. With the George Floyd riots currently happening, in some cities you have Heritage Americans attempting to “protect” the black rioters from police. You could not have a person living amongst their tribe and connected to their people doing such a thing, but you can have it for an atomized person with no tribe. This is why the elite want you atomized and alone. This is why you are supposed to live far away from your family and friends. The more isolated you are, the easier it is to break down the natural order and force you to comply.

So, what’s the solution? One of the lesser known Alt-Right voices actually began to touch on this.  Build your tribe. First, do everything you can to live with or at least close to your family. Secondly, work with your close friends to live close together. Ideally, have your homes within walking distance of one another. Have it so you can see them in person regularly, not just after a 3-hour drive or via a Skype call. If you can build an authentic local community, you can then work on building up the next level, a city like Orania, and then we can build more. Social clubs can certainly be part of this, but we need to go deeper and build strong ties and bonds like the tribal societies of old.

This is a long-term solution, but there are no easy answers. You can’t just vote next year for everything to be fine. Many people, myself included, fell into that thinking in 2016, but it just doesn’t work. You cannot save a nation that does not exist, but you can build up one and save it.

16 comments

  1. Good article! I have been thinking about this subject as well, I think it’s important to have as many connections with your community as possible. Like you said, you’ll be closer to some more than others, but you need to build your support network. These connections would include family, church, neighbors, hs/college friends, the mailman, employees/owners of businesses, kid’s baseball coach ext. If you know a lot of people and build a good reputation you’ll be prepared if the SHTF or a collapse happens.

  2. An interesting, thoughtful post. Thanks for contributing. Some thoughts as I was reading: Blacks, Asians and Jews have remained resiliently tribal in the face of atomization while Whites seem most vulnerable to this unnatural state of existence. Having strong religious/cultural ties helps these tribes coalesce, create opportunities for each other and present a united front no matter where they move to. Visit a China Town in any large American city and you’ll see this in action at ground level.

    Perhaps it goes without saying, but depending on region, it remains incredibly difficult for many young White men to stay near their families and still have anything resembling a career financially viable enough to start a family. I agree on the ideal, but in some cases we are talking about an extreme sacrifice of being locked into low-wage jobs that will not benefit these young men or their fellow Whites in the long-term. We need young White men to be tribal AND successful to achieve good outcomes for our people.

    Lastly, I have friends who are members of veterans organizations, fraternities, service groups and political parties. Depending on the organization, they can travel across the country and still find friendship, aid, resources and vital connections should the need arise. Utilizing various aspects of these models (particularly if they foster strong cultural/social bonds) presents value to movement in the future.

    1. That’s what problem I’m currently facing right now, since I’m not going to college it’s hard to find good paying noncollege jobs where my family live an also most of them live in expensive towns I couldn’t afford. This is why when your family splits it completely sucks, cause if you live in once place your still far from part of your family. Where I am right now at 18 I’ll probably have to join the military for at least 4 years even though when I don’t really want to because that’s the only way I won’t be locked into a minimum wage job living off welfare, but also without getting in debt in for college/trade school which I have decided not to go to.

      Many of us today are in this situation that sucks either way, we have it a lot worse than our parents did an probably will have to be far away in some trashy yuppie city for any chance of a good life.

      1. I would encourage you to talk to guys who have served in the military before you take that leap. The military is getting worse by the day and while yes, historically it was a great way to lift up struggling young men, it’s being transformed into an LGBT+ social-engineering catastrophe.
        There are some ways you can get the skills for cheap. online universities (particularly look at European schools because university is cheaper there) are one pathway as are….the rather unfortunate meme of “learn to code.” It is possible to learn C++, Java, etc on your own or with little capital. Truck driving is still a viable career (and probably will for at least 10 more years, possibly longer) and often, trucking companies will pay for you to get your CDL.
        See if you can talk to local folks or Our Guys about ways to get into a trade, because I don’t see good things happening within the military in the next few years. Particularly with the pressure against confederate flags and such recently.

        1. That’s what I’m afraid of, my dad said I shouldn’t worry about politics although he served back in the 80s so it’s probably changed. Hopefully the pressure will go down towards Confederate flags like they used to, I’ve considered truck driving.

        2. Ethan is right about the military and truck driving, Johnny. Something else you may consider is getting into sales and marketing. With limited options, it worked for me. Got my start at a hunting & fishing store (it helps to sell things you like and believe in). Several guys I know sell sports cars, trucks, UTVs, tractors, motorcycles and insurance and make a living.

          Best of all, no college is needed. Plenty of online articles, resources and library books out there. Plus picking up a few sales techniques helps in interviews, to barter, to negotiate and even asking girls out. You might even be able to set aside some cash for that trade school if you want to go that route.

      2. @Johnny…

        As a veteran I urge you to avoid the military like the plague. Not that service is not a good thing, and not that you would not reap many many benefits, but, the possibility that they would spend your energies, and possibly your life, in the pursuit of diabolical aims is unfortunately rather high.

        No, instead of seeking the ready-made way out, think about those fields that are appealing to you and then go find work in one of them and climb up the ladder, or go entrepenurial and start your own business.

        As to school – only do it if you cannot enter the field of your passion without a degree, because the process of education is so expensive today, you will come out saddled with a huge debt.

        Don’t forget that a 4 year B.A. or B.S. is not what it used to be, and that you really need a Masters Degree, and or a P.H.D.. Yep, many fields require post-grad work to give you the jump into a specific field that you need, – but, again, getting that is taking on a possibly a quarter million dollars of debt!

    2. “Perhaps it goes without saying, but depending on region, it remains incredibly difficult for many young White men to stay near their families and still have anything resembling a career financially viable enough to start a family. I agree on the ideal, but in some cases we are talking about an extreme sacrifice of being locked into low-wage jobs that will not benefit these young men or their fellow Whites in the long-term. We need young White men to be tribal AND successful to achieve good outcomes for our people.”

      Family elders need to be brought into the discussion and asked what they are willing to do to preserve their family. A clan structure is an advantage that should be used if at all possible.

      As for economics: Clans should look into homesteading together. Don’t count on jobs that exist today being here in 5 to 10 years.

  3. Ethan, You mentioned people of different groups not getting along an that’s still very true. Whenever I’ve been out west while theres these two that come to my mind an while Indian tribes don’t declare war like they used to cause they leave each other alone even though they still don’t like each other one bit an are the complete opposite of each other. If separation works for the Indian tribes, surely it would work for us an make our society better. Don’t ask me how all the local tribes go to school together, from what I’ve noticed they self segregate themselves to their tribe an I never saw all that much hostility when they’re segregated.

    Unfortunately my once complete family has been mostly fragments due to a few problematic people in my family for a fairly long time now an part of it has moved out west far from me in the last few years because they couldn’t get a job with their skills to support them elsewhere so now my families scattered everywhere an I rarely get to see them although I do call them twice a week. I’ll never understand why people move far away from their family solely for job an economic reasons, isn’t family an friends more important? Unfortunately for the people who moved out west in my family there truly was no other option for them, but what about other people that could’ve continued having a stable job living fine near their family.

    1. I think the Indian tribes today are not really comparable to how they once were. I have to imagine the reservation system has a psychological toll on them (similar to how animals in captivity operate differently than in the wild).
      Regarding your last point, it’s hard to say why people move for economic gain when it’s not necessary. I would wager that they see it as necessary in their own minds. The one reason that most readily comes to my mind is that the new job allows them to save more money for their retirement/their children’s college education. I know I don’t want my children to be strapped with a lifetime of debt slavery in order to gain credentials necessary to earn a living (though online universities seem to be creating a pathway to education with lower costs, so this may be less a problem in within a few years). Alternatively, the person who moves for more $ may be thinking about their aging parents and the necessity to put them in a long-term care facility because their parents can’t live alone and because none of the children can stay 24/7 with the parents.
      The modern world has created many obstacles to healthy community. It’s why it’s important for folks to band together. We can possibly create mutual insurance companies and other things that can alleviate the strains.

  4. I believe money is an important issue. The k of c was started by an Irishman to help other Irishman financially, until the founders death.1898. God rest his soul. It’s charter then was rewritten and controlled by the cultural Marxist church leaders.
    To be successful, in the plan you outline, I believe you would need to have some form of that original k of c. If my memory serves me, it was akin to an insurance policy, and this was in the time of yankee sweatshops, real hard times. it can be done easily in the community of 150 people.

    1. Rainbow, That sounds like a good idea an could work to genuinely help people rather than the trick communism is. Such a shame commies take anything good an turn it into something corrupt through their “revisions”. It would definitely cost a lot of money to create an organization like that even for 150 people, and I don’t know how we could do it without a rich George Soros type on our side to fund the organization.

      1. I’m no financial wizard, I am a skilled laborer, if I had 150 skilled men, for example, dedicated to the cause, who each gave a $1000 bucks a month, in a year that would total 1.8 million dollars. You get the idea. Nothing to do with soros, my intention in my original comment was just about building a small community.

        I feel bad about that Rock and Roll thread a few days back.
        Tom Petty was inspired by Elvis. Tom Petty said he wanted to play rock and roll for the good. Watch “running down a dream” documentary, his father had the attitude of the south at that time. His music has really blessed me and my girlfriend. I apologize for the misunderstanding myself.

        God Bless you

        1. That sure adds up quickly, it’s all good misunderstandings happen.

  5. great post, though i’ve seen concentric circles addressed before. would also add, this concentric-circles theory goes hand in hand with the Christian principles of subsidiarity and localism. these principles also explain the 1 out of 10 (or 1 out of 5 in some cases) exceptions to the “everyone sticks to their own race” paradigm, because there’s always been a small minority of “strangers” that come to the village and subsume themselves organically into it. thus the Christian openness to the stranger provided he is a Good Samaritan – and even then, the Samaritan at the end of the parable returns back to his homeland. all nations will come to the Lord, and He wants them to stay alive until then; He also understands those who have to flee their lands, however He never wanted a Babel made out of strangers either.

    the problem of modernity is, of course, that all clans and villages have been destroyed and haphazardly mixed together, in order to save them; the Yankee way, you guys would say (and Catholics/castizos would agree). today also has the fact that emigrants tend to build closer knit communities ironically now than the locals; this is due to being connected through modern media to your home country, as well as to an increasingly big and powerful immigrant community in your “new country” (not just the ethnic neighborhood in your city). ergo, you have the locals even more demoralized and resentful, and increasing clashes.

    to combat this, although maybe we can’t all be homesteaders, we definitely should stay closer to our natural God-given circles. the original K of C is a good example of reviving clan+family+community, plus an added spiritual benefit, while avoiding sterile communism on one extreme and Yankee materialism on the other. also, support local banks and credit unions, as well as local industry and trades/guilds.

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