One of the more consistent criticisms from the American Dissident Right is regarding the Boomer generation’s inability to move past (or even question) the approved narratives of World War II. Of course, these narratives include Jews being hated for no reason whatsoever and the Third Reich characterized as the evilest regime in the history of mankind. And, most importantly, it is also a story about brave American GIs saving the day. We have seen the repercussions of this narrative play out recently as millions of American normiecons, for the most part Boomers and older Gen Xers, have ditched their “America First” ideals and embarked on calls for a Bush-era crusade to defeat radical Islam.
As frustrating as all of this is, it is important to remember that we are still further along now than we were in 2014. Despite all that has transpired in the Levant, even the normie Right has been far more skeptical of the projection of U.S. power than they have at any point since December 6, 1941. With that being said, the mentality that many older conservatives have concerning the “Big One” does make sense when their childhood is taken into context, and this is all the more reason why the American Dissident Right needs to largely avoid the issue. Obviously, the European Dissident Right cannot fully avoid this issue; however, we mostly can, and we should take advantage of that.
To understand why so many Boomers cannot overcome the mainstream narrative of World War II, we have to go back to the last part of the narrative noted above – “brave American GIs saving the day.” For the average conservative Boomer, the real reason they cannot let go of the World War II mythos, and more positively, why they are so enthralled with the history of it, is not so much because of Jewish victimhood. That is secondary to the primary reason. The primary reason is because they want to honor their fathers, and we need to remember that this is actually a sign of a healthy society.
Children born shortly after a major war tend to take it very seriously, as well as honor their fathers. And, this is for a good reason: they know growing up that they were one bullet or artillery barrage away from not existing. For their slightly older cohorts, that feeling is even greater. They spent their childhood worried they would never see their fathers again, and some of them never did. So, yes, in the broad strokes of things, there is nothing wrong with how Boomers have internalized their reverence for World War II. Southern Nationalists would do well to remember that the vast majority of Confederate monuments were not put up by the generation that fought in the War, but rather by their children.
Compounding this natural and universal tendency in a healthy society (which the United States still largely was in the late 1940s to early 1960s), there is another factor – Boomers were inundated from childhood about the greatness of the American military and its finest hour. You can see this is the pop culture of the era aimed at children, especially boys. Remember that the years from 1929 to 1945 were very difficult for the average American; and as soon as those hardships ended, the country decided to throw a big party celebrating what it overcame. The Cold War further incentivized Americans to drill into the heads of its young population of the greatness of the U.S. military in the mid-20th century. Just look at the movies made during this time period. I do not just mean the World War II films, but the science-fiction genre, too. In movies such as Them! and Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the threat is quickly neutralized as soon as the U.S. miliary/government steps in to save the day. The G.I. Joe toys are another example: if you grew up in the 1980s, your G.I. Joes may have been awesome and cool looking, but they were certainly not realistic. Conversely, if you grew up in the Boomer childhood era, your G.I. Joe was realistic. That was even the entire selling point, it was supposed to be a completely accurate reproduction of American war heroes – i.e., the fathers of the target audience. And besides G.I. Joe, there were a great number of toys produced in that era to assist young boys playing “war,” all modelled after the actual weapons of World War II.
To understand the Boomer attitudes toward World War II, we must understand the world they grew up in. This is also why it has been so difficult for them to process the American defeat in Vietnam and, very importantly, in a way that it has not been for Millennials and Gen Z with the loss in Afghanistan. By growing up in the shadow of Vietnam, rather than the shadow of World War II, we did not have “American greatness” drilled into our heads like the Boomers did. Nothing was broken because there was nothing to break during Afghanistan. But for the Boomer generation, what happened in Vietnam was the undoing of everything they thought they knew, and it is difficult for me to completely fault them for not wanting to hang onto that world. In addition, remember that in the 1980s there were still hit songs explicitly about the Vietnam War, or at least its repercussions. Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA,” R.E.M.’s “Orange Crush,” and Steve Earle’s “Copperhead Road” all come to mind. Does anyone really think in a decade from now there will still be songs about Afghanistan? There are not any songs now.
The Dissident Right, for the most part, understands the problems of the contemporary era, but it also tends to shoot itself in the foot by not understanding its audience. Yelling “football sucks” in a room full of Southern SEC fans is a good example of this cultural tone deafness. And not understanding why so many, especially Boomers, hold to the mainstream narrative of World War II is another case in point. It is really not cucking, in and of itself, it is an instinct of a healthy society to honor their fathers and the sacrifices they made. Understanding this will help the Dissident Right address the World War II issue far more effectively.
Literally who cares about Boomers except Boomers.
Anyone with a brain…
How about “honour your father”? Of course, one must know who one’s father would be there ‘eternal merc’…
I’m a Boomer, but have always been open to alternative views about WW2. Maybe that’s because I’ve lived through so many years of being lied to by the TPTB about everything else. I’ve found it’s the generation before the Boomers who are resistant to questioning the given narrative.
“The American’s uncomplicated acceptance of life as it comes exposes him to the danger of absorbing uncritically the opinions served up to him by Press and Radio, so acquiring a false scale of values and a uniformity of mind amazing to Europeans.” p. 158.
Hanna Reitsch, ‘The Sky My Kingdom’, trans. Lawrence Wilson
I think Southerners have (or should have) something of an acquired immunity to that ‘uncomplicated acceptance’ mentioned by Fraulein Reitsch. They should have learned firsthand the duplicity and hypocrisy of the Federal government. If they’re not convinced of revisionist views of WW2, they should at least not be dismissive.
My daddy was born in 1923, and the genius Feds rejected him for ‘service’ because he was blind in one eye. He could, however, hit a RUNNING squirrel on a tree branch with a .22 rifle. I was a witness to this feat. Roosevelt was a liar, just as all presidents turn out to be. ‘Your boys will NOT be fighting in any foreign wars!’ – FDR. And, to you, EternalMerc – whatever
the hell that pseudonym means, we ‘boomers’ can live without your love or respect.
its always the larping dregs who have the most issue with boomers acting this way. wannabe nazis are tone deaf about everything under the sun, not just this one issue. the wn fail movement is the same way, probably due to being the brainchild of a guy in a homemade nazi costume.
i agree 1000% with this article but the people who need this information drilled into their heads will never absorb the message. theyre cultists.
Are we smart enough to fold back our pinkies, put our tea cups down and focus on survival not pseudo intellectual banter or grown men in tights tossing a ball around or anything else the satanists running things want us focusing on? The huge elephant in the south is the continuing well funded invasion of 3rd world darkie military aged men to replace us and ( Red Dawn ), destroy us. Let’s try to focus on surviving.
https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2023/10/15/do-white-people-have-enough-intelligence-to-survive/
Good points all ST, but I think we should be simultaneously focused on dying well. This continent is under the judgment of God and it’s building to a crescendo. His own are secured against the eternal judgment of Hell, but we’d do well to expect that there will be martyrs aplenty. Focus on being called, chosen, AND faithful. If Providence opens a ‘Brook Cherith’ place of safety for you, take it with thanksgiving. I believe most in this generation of dissidents though will be sealing their testimony with their blood. Most of the LOS people I’ve talked to believe theirs is a transgenerational work and not something to be expected in their lifetime.
I think if we are going to be honest the United States did not win WW II singlehandedly. The Soviet Union did with 22 million dead. What was the American fatality? 450,000? Having read Stalin’s War, I now realize without Lend-Lease from the United States the Soviet Union would have lost the war. I am one whose father fought in WW II and Korea. Let us consider Vietnam. 58,000 American dead. They lied to us about the Gulf of Tonkin incident just as they lied about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Now with Biden going to Vietnam we are our BFF and a needed alley against China. Our soldiers died for nothing! American corporations that are now in China will be moved to Vietnam according to Biden. The seeds of the Global American Empire were planted in the aftermath of the civil war in which the voluntary union of states became a Consolidated Empire. These is reflected in our documents. It went from these united States of America to THE United States of America.
PS: If I had kept my GI Joes and Lionel trains, I would be rich because they sell for thousands of dollars now if in mint shape.
I hate to be the one to throw a turd in the punch bowl, but the problem in the South particularly is not the Boomers- I remember vividly-November 23, 1963- when president Kennedy was assassinated. All of the children in my school were marched into the school gymnasium in enforced silence. When our principal solemnly announced the assassination there was a second or two of complete silence, then unrestrained cheering and jubilation broke out, much to the consternation of our elders-especially our principal. Back then we knew who our enemies were. and we were all Boomers. All liberalism in America- especially since WW2, tracks back to Jewish power and influence. Without Jewish intelligence, wealth and media control, the Civil Rights Movement, the Feminist Movement, the Homosexual Rights movement, the Climate Change movement,and the no-fault divorce initiative would never have amounted to a hill of beans. The real culprits among White Gentiles are the Christian Fundamentalists and they are still the Achilles heel of our movement because they won’t name the Jew- not the Boomers per se( although some Boomers are also Christian Fundamentalists) . By embracing the theories of Darby and the Schofield Reference Bible, all these good Southern Baptists and other Evangelicals still consider the Jews to be beyond reproach, rather than the root of all evil, which they are. “He who curses Israel is cursed, he who blesses Israel is blessed!” You can’t defeat an enemy that you can’t (or won’t) name. There is none so blind as he who will not see. This Boomers are the problem theme is classic gaslighting- if you can’t cope with or defeat Jewish power and influence, manufacture a straw man adversary that you can defeat-like the Boomers! Feel good and pat yourself on the back about your new victory while the real enemy is laughing it’s head off over your stupidity. To paraphrase George Wallace, the Boomers are your new “whipping boy”. Blaming Boomers rather than Christian Fundamentalists is how Millennials and Gen Xers who are also Christian Fundamentalists absolve themselves of responsibility for our plight.
One problem is past generations seemed apolitical.Perhaps they didn’t have the facts we now do because of the internet.But large numbers of Southerners and other Americans were content to ignore the fight against integration.A small number did most of the fighting.As far as WW2 I understand how they force you to fight when no one wanted to fight and then you can’t help but eventually hate those you were forced to fight.But don’t people have brains?Don’t they eventually wake up?I was bombarded by messages of White guilt and race mixing from the moment I entered school the first year of desegregation here in SC,yet I used the brain God gave me and fought back mentally and otherwise.Perhaps we can conclude that large numbers of Whites enjoy being force fed lies,enjoy watching apes play dumb games and date White cheerleaders and really can’t be bothered to love their ancestors or the Lord who made us in His image.Lets face it,we are the best and the chosen,we understand and care and God will bless us in the End.He will.I honestly could not care less if a football stadium of dumbass niggerlovers had one sip of water between the lot.They are worse than useless.I just don’t get how these people are my allies.I enjoyed your piece and got quite a lot from it.May the good Lord bless you and keep writing thought provoking articles.Christ is Lord and blessings to all here in good will.