The Boat Shoe Beat: Appalachian Alternative

After taking a mild break to write about hatred and women, I’ve returned to sit down and chat with another Identity Dixie contributor. Luckily, I was provided safe passage into the dark, remote, uncivilized hollers of Appalachia. Although they speak a warped form of Southern-English and the hospitality was somewhat charming, I got the feeling that my polos and boat shoes weren’t very popular in their neck of the woods. Regardless, this intrepid interviewer was able to sit down with Daniel Ess and discuss this part of the South, Appalachia, alternative philosophies, and raising children in modernity.

BSB: Dan Ess, welcome to the Boat Shoe Beat. Please introduce yourself and tell us a little about yourself.

Dan Ess: Thanks for having me. I’d like to start by saying that I disavow boat shoes as a coastal, highbrow trick to fool honest work boot wearers into complacency. That being said, I’m willing to put aside our differences for a greater cause – the South. I’m a Tennessean, and my home is deep in the mountains, where coon dogs bay and fiddles sound.

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BSB: I understand that Boat Shoe Nationalism isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, especially among the work boot crowd (as much as it pains me to admit). To be serious for a moment, that is one of the better things about the South – that it is not culturally monolithic. The South has an array of different cultures within her, from the Tidewater to the Piedmont to Appalachia and all the way out to the Western Confederates. How is your portion of Tennessee holding up against modernity?

Dan Ess: By and large, not well. East Tennessee has been inundated with hordes of foreigners and carpetbaggers, the reasons for which have already been covered extensively here on Identity Dixie. Going into any city larger than 8,000 people bears this out. I am fortunate, however, that my extremely rural and isolated county has resisted the Jewish-homosexual culture of terror. Ours is a county of strong tradition, healthy families, and a close community. Churches are full on Sunday, and the battle flag is flown more often than the Yankee rag.

I’m sorry to say that just a short drive links our farming county to the tourist nightmare called Gatlinburg. If ever a man wanted to know how his culture would look completely strip mined and sodomized, he should go no further.

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BSB: I’ve heard horror stories relating to Gatlinburg. Is it essentially a Disney version of “hillbilly” culture? And, I would assume Yankees flock to it, is that correct?

Dan Ess: The Gatlinburg/Sevierville/Pigeon Forge region is simply a corpse of mountain heritage. Pakistanis sell t-shirts in huge gift shops full of Chinese crap, obese Yankees spend tens of thousands on food and entertainment, and a huge chunk of the local population, lampooned by dinner theatres, are completely at the mercy of the tourist industry. The surrounding hills have been packed with balloon-framed “cabins” that serve as kindling when wildfires rage. These can be rented for several hundred dollars per night so that one can really get that “mountain” experience.

To say that visiting the tourist trap is a Yankee problem would be a mistake, though. Rubbing elbows with eye-tallians from New York and Chicago are more likely bound to be Virginians and Floridians. It would be more accurate to say that it is an urbanite problem, made all the more obnoxious by Yankees.

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BSB: That sounds horrifying. Outside of the cultural degradation, have the hills and hollers been exploited and destroyed like other areas of the Mountain South? I’m referring to deforestation and destroying the hilltops.

Dan Ess: Fortunately, strip mining and hill topping wasn’t as profitable here as it was in East Kentucky, so it didn’t leave its mark here as it did there. Deforestation has historically been an issue here since logging was one of our first industries and remains a key part of our economy. In the early part of the 20th century, many of our mountains were clear cut and the timber shipped out by rail, bringing much needed income to a region that had, until then, been almost completely self-sufficient. The people, as well as the landscape, changed for good with an influx of money and jobs, a change which would happen pretty much every time outsiders saw something valuable that they wanted in our mountains. Trees grew back, but never the way they were. Where there had been old growth forests of hickory and oak, there is now various pine, managed for fast growth to feed the mills. The hardwoods that did repopulate are now at a good logging age again, so I suspect that despite efforts at sustainable logging and planting there will be a sharp decline in the native hardwoods that used to dominate here.

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BSB: I hate the mass clear cutting, we have it in my region, too. It looks like the aftermath of a World War 1 battlefield. I know some in the Dissident Right become very insulated and don’t interact with the outside world (except being online). I try to get a read on the local people, and they’re pretty fed up with the decline. Are the natives out your way getting restless?

Dan Ess: The general tone here is that East Tennessee is the “real America.” It’s pretty widely held that we are normal, and the rest of the country is degenerate, but there is very little talk about balkanization or secession. Instead, most people simply feel that the rest of the country needs to “return to God,” or pray harder. The way I see it is a very hands-off approach, hoping the cultural decay won’t make it here. It is an uphill battle getting my friends and neighbors to understand that there will be no political solution, and that the people who hate us will not be coming back to church.

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BSB: Speaking of balkanization and secession – what are your thoughts on both of them? Is it likely to happen and is that a good thing?

Dan Ess: Balkanization is inevitable. The system as it stands is crumbling, with layers of incompetent managers and do-nothing jobs. It will fall under its own weight eventually, and it is up to us to ensure our grandchildren aren’t casualties of their murderous plans. This will require nothing short of total geographical separation from the regime in Washington, their tendrils in our states, and the foreign invaders among us. It’s an ambitious goal, but our only chance to survive as a distinct people. I believe it will not look like secession as we saw it in the 19th century, with state assemblies severing political bonds. Rather, it will have to be through community building among our people and providing mutual aid and support to those who break from the system. We have no voice in politics, and it is time we act accordingly.

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BSB: Should balkanization take place and a “Free South” emerges, in some way or another, what sort of political system would best represent our people?

Dan Ess: Frankly, I don’t believe our people are ready for the system which should suit us. There is far too much degeneracy and amorality abounding among us. What will be needed is a strong, centralized, hierarchical system that can whip us back into shape. I know that won’t make me very popular in “rightwing” circles. Most of the people reading this are likely of a libertarian bend and would resent the idea of being anything more than an island. The fact of the matter is, that there is a natural order of men, and some are better than others, and many men need to be led to contribute and not be a net drain on their society. If we don’t take the right steps in ordering our politics and society to closely match our nature, we will inevitably fail in our task.

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BSB: I wouldn’t disagree with that, regarding necessity of hierarchy at least. On a good day, I’m a small “r” republican conservative. Watching the news regarding drag queen story hour, and my politics drift toward something far more reactionary. Speaking of politics, how would you define your political ideology?

Dan Ess: To put it most simply, I am a National Socialist. But as Paul Harrell would say, “This comes with a lot of yeah-but’s.” I don’t believe politics can stand alone and a man be defined by them. For politics to serve a purpose, they must be part of a worldview that embraces our past, gives us purpose where we are now, and prepares us for our future. A healthy worldview must be the driver of all aspects of our public life and is essential for personal growth.

The most comprehensive worldview I have found, and one I was proud to adopt as my own, is Cosmotheism, the philosophy as defined by Dr. William Pierce.

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BSB: As someone described as a “hate monger,” and this may come as a surprise, I’m not very familiar with him or that philosophy, except for his reputation in Southern Nationalist circles. As you know, he is not generally well regarded among the traditionalists. Could you distill that philosophy down for me? We’re surely to receive discussions on this topic in the comment section.

Dan Ess: “There is but One Reality. That is, Reality is the Whole. It is the Creator, the Self-Created. I am of the Whole. I am of the Creator, of the Self-Created. My Purpose is the Creator’s Purpose. My Path is the Path of the Creator’s Self-Realization. My Path is the Path Divine Consciousness. My Destiny is Godhood.” These are what are called the “Cosmotheist Affirmations,” our core beliefs. Cosmotheism is a kind of pantheism, that is, a worship of nature as a whole. The processes we observe in nature such as evolution and natural selection lead us to the conclusion that the divine Whole, of which we are a part, has created ever more complex beings. We, White Europeans, are the tip of this evolutionary spear. We believe that there will be a threshold of consciousness, similar to that which separates animals from early man, and early man from man. Dr. Pierce wrote extensively on the subject, and organized the Cosmotheist Community Church to bring together like minded people, but he wasn’t the first Cosmotheist. Men like Nietzche and Shaw were Cosmotheists, even though not by name, and many other poets, thinkers, musicians, and warriors.

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BSB: That’s an interesting philosophy, as you know I tend to lean toward paleoconservatism and traditional Anglicanism. That being said, what is some positive advice you can give to young Southerners struggling with the modern world?

Dan Ess: My advice is the same that Identity Dixie has been giving for years now. Get married, learn a trade, and have kids. The modern world is meaningless without something worth fighting for. To me, the most important thing, that which I would do anything for, is my children. Part of supporting them and building a society they can thrive in, is living up to the ideals I espouse. That takes hard work and dedication, the two most important qualities a man can have.

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BSB: We’ll be wrapping this up shortly. But, what would you say to the fathers out there, particularly those concerned with how the modern world treats children, on how to protect their children but also let them “still be children”?

Dan Ess: My advice is to keep them away from the internet and “talmudvision,” take walks in the woods, and speak to them frankly and honestly. Their perception of the world begins with what you show them of it. Their childhood should be rooted in family and their culture. Where you fail to provide them with literature and answers to their questions, the modern world will fill the void. It is your duty as a father to give them a solid foundation with your faith, your traditions, and your vocabulary.

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BSB: I don’t think many of our readers would disagree with that advice, regardless of their ideological camp in the Dissident Right (and Southern Nationalism). As a final question, what would like to end with for the Identity Dixie readers and how things look for the future of the South?

Dan Ess: For the readers, if you agreed with what I’ve talked about today, visit natall.com. The National Alliance needs you! If you didn’t, let me know in the comments. I always enjoy the spirited debate that goes on there. The future of the South, I’m afraid, is bleak. The institutions are against us, our history is being toppled, and our children are facing some of the toughest brainwashing ever seen. It is going to take more than words on our side to right our course and put ourselves on the path to a free and independent nation. It will take hard work, much harder than we have ever seen. The odds are against us, and we will only win through grit and determination. If we can put our shoulders to the wheel, we will get out of the cesspit we are stuck in; we are the only ones who can do it.

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Dan Ess is an occasional contributor to Identity Dixie. His articles can be found here.