Re: VDARE.com’s Fundraising Drive
From: An Anonymous Reader [Email him]
Although I contributed to VDARE.COM once, the last time I decided not to because you publish Paul Craig Roberts, who is, in my opinion, a certified loon.
For example, on April 24, he writes:
English colonists, themselves under the thumb of a king, exterminated American Indians and stole their lands, as did late 18th and 19th century Americans. Over the course of three centuries the native inhabitants of America were dispossessed, just as Israelis have been driving Palestinians off their lands since 1948.
Do you believe this? Doesn't this give Mexicans carte blanche to "reclaim" their lands that presumably he thinks we "stole" from them? How does that fit in with VDARE.com's mission?
Does Peter Brimelow believe that of the millions of acres of America—that we "stole" it from the Indians?
If not, why would you publish him?
Please respond, as I truly would like to know how he fits into VDARE.com's schema.
Sincerely,
A Truly Dedicated VDARE.COM Follower
Peter Brimelow replies, wearily: The short answer is that VDARE.com really doesn’t have an ideological litmus test on anything except immigration, especially for the syndicated columnists. It really is true that we are a coalition. Additionally, Craig and I have been friends for more than 40 years, and he has been very helpful both to VDARE.com and to me personally. And I believe he was strikingly prescient about the post-War on Crime/ Drugs epidemic of prosecutorial abuse, something our long-time colleagues in Conservatism Inc. absolutely did not want to hear.
The long answer: As I’ve said before, I do regret what seems to be Craig’s gradual loss of interest in the immigration problem. (In contrast to his 1995 review of Alien Nation) And I have to say I thought Craig’s reference to the early English settlers in America was just silly.
But there’s a distinct tendency for battle-scarred veterans of the political wars to develop a greater hatred for their allies than for their opponents, and sometimes, out of anger at their allies, even to adopt their opponents’ rhetoric. I see it at work also in Craig’s fellow supply-sider/ former Jack Kemp aide Bruce Bartlett. And, of course, there is always a welcome for this sort of apostasy in the Left-controlled Main Stream Media. (Ron Unz has an interesting perspective on Craig’s later career here).
VDARE.com readers seem about equally divided, and equally vociferous, about Paul Craig Roberts. (More recent support here). I will note that, whereas at one point he depended on VDARE.com to archive all his columns, his more dogmatic libertarian and newfound leftist friends being repelled by one or another of his innumerable heresies, he now has his own webpage. So perhaps he doesn’t need us anymore.
In any case, running a website like VDARE.com is like running a restaurant. Some people like eating pig’s feet. But not all customers have to order them. You don’t have to read Paul Craig Roberts. I still think our other writers, most of whom you won’t read anywhere else, deserve support.
