Why is conservative politics such a natural home for white supremacists?: Neil Macdonald
Somehow, over the decades that have passed since the '60s, it's become tolerable in some circles
Interesting how the term "white nationalism" has somehow begun to supplant the more honest phrase "white supremacy," both here and in the United States.
Everyone seems to be using it now. It will be an election campaign topic in our general election this fall, and the American one late next year.
And let's be clear, it's a euphemism. The word nationalism, to most people, has a virtuous whiff; historically, it's been conflated with terms like patriotism and loyalty and solidarity with one's civic tribe.
When the word is modified with a racial adjective, though, any distinction dissolves. A white nationalist stands with white people, advocating for white prerogatives and the protection of white governance.
A white nationalist would claim that flying the confederate flag on a state building is an expression of cultural history, rather than racial sentiment. A white nationalist would claim, as the television host Megyn Kelly once did on Fox News, that Jesus was white, and, by implication, God, too. (Jesus would have been a dark-skinned Sephardic Jew, not a blue-eyed, bland-faced fellow with wavy brown locks).
And before someone raises it, because people do, there is no comparison between white nationalism and assertions of solidarity, or even superiority, by minorities. They haven't been in charge for centuries on this continent. White nationalism is about keeping power white. Yes, yes, there are minority groups represented among Justin Trudeau's ministers, but they were all given jobs by a white guy.
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