“I have in this War a burning private grudge — which would probably make me a better soldier at 49 than I was at 22: against that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler … Ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light.”
— J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter to his son Michael, June 9, 1941
The recent kerfuffle over the depiction of a pioneer wagon on a City of Bend billboard, and a heavy session of reading and writing about the First Thanksgiving have set me to pondering the thorny question of heritage.
At this time of year — when the crags of the Three Sisters are blanketed in early snow, when the air grows chill and the sky an iron grey, and the forest slides into its long sleep — I feel a powerful connection to that “noble northern spirit.” My blood heritage is a mutt-mix of German, Scandinavian, Irish, Scots-Irish and English, and in the autumn and winter months my Celtic/Germanic/Norse spirit calls me out into the wind and rain and snow and the pale golden light of a waning sun.
Art by David Seguin.
It seems a natural human desire to connect with and celebrate one’s personal and cultural heritage — and yet doing so often means venturing out into a cultural minefield, where a misstep can lead to nasty outcomes. That’s because there also seems to be a powerful human impulse for dominant cultures to seek to repress and suppress those that deviate, to force assimilation and cultural erasure. In the late 19th and early 20th century, it was common to punish Indian children for speaking their own language, and to forbid them from engaging in their culture’s spiritual practices.
For their own good, of course. They must assimilate or perish….
*
Those who, like Professor Tolkien, cherish “that noble northern spirit” walk dangerous ground. To express a love for that heritage can be interpreted as an assertion of racial superiority. That interpretation is not without foundation; European colonialism was, after all, rooted in white supremacy. In seeking to dismantle white supremacy, an increasingly dominant culture in education, media, and entertainment seems bent on suppressing any expression of pride in or celebration of northern European cultural heritage.
“White nationalists” of today who purport to defend this heritage are actually continuing the work of “that ruddy little ignoramus… ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed” the heritage they proclaim for themselves.
A parcel of ruddy ignoramuses.
One must navigate the longship carefully through the shoals, and tread carefully in the Dead Marshes, taking care not to stare into the water or follow the lights. Those dedicated to a celebration and revival of ancient European folkways are often at pains to assert that they are “against hate” — that advancing their own cultural and spiritual heritage does not come at the expense of others.
For European neo-pagans and roots-seeking enthusiasts, explicitly rejecting white supremacy and white nationalism is both wise and necessary, since ruddy ignoarmouses will continue to pervert the northern spirit — and others with their own agendas will attack it, and impugn its adherents.
There is, at the moment, a movement afoot to repeal the use of the term “Anglo-Saxon”. The argument is that the term is tied too closely to triumphalist racial ideology of the 19th and early 20th centuries, and that the old settlers of what became England didn’t think of themselves as Anglo-Saxons. The first point is valid, at least to a point. The second is hotly debated.
I am not opposed to shifting the use of terms to reflect deeper understanding. The changing of the name of the creek that runs through my town from Squaw Creek to Whychus Creek was historically valid and worthy. The 1882 railway map in my office, after all, referred to the creek as Why-chus (Sehaptin for “The Place Where We Cross The Water”) so the term Squaw Creek was a later colloquial graft. The jettisoning of the term “Dark Ages” for “Early Medieval” makes sense, since the societies of the so-called Dark Ages were much more sophisticated than was understood when the original term was coined. And there’s no arguing that the term “Anglo-Saxon” spilled haughtily from the lips of 19th and early 20th century white supremacists and avatars of Manifest Destiny, from Theodore Roosevelt to Frederick Russell Burnham to the arch Anglo-Saxonist Cecil Rhodes. They were not shy about asserting the superiority of Anglo-Saxon civilization. If someone has a better term that more accurately reflects the culture of early medieval Angleand or Englond, we should be open to it.
Uthred son of Uthred was an early-adopter of the Anglo-Saxon identity crisis. Hild can’t help him.
But the tenor of the discourse leads me to suspect that the attack on “Anglo-Saxon” has more to do with hacksawing at the foundations of (white, Eurocentric, Christian, patriarchal) Western Civilization than with overcoming the term’s very real legacy of racism. That pernicious kind of revisionism should be resisted as ardently as neo-Nazi faux “Nordicism or “Anglo-Saxonism.”
If, as Harvard medieval manuscript curator John Overholt, asserts,
“The term Anglo-Saxon is inextricably bound up with pseudohistorical accounts of white supremacy, and gives aid and comfort to contemporary white supremacists…”
…isn’t the correct course to storm their shield wall and reclaim it? That certainly seems the more — shall we say, manly — approach.
*
Five of my uncles shot and/or bombed actual, authentic Nazis in 1942–45; my wife’s uncle was killed by a kamikaze sacrificing himself for Imperial Japan. So I’m not inclined to surrender my sense of heritage to either those who would pervert it or to those who would denigrate it on an altar of an inclusive multiculturalism that includes everything but mine own. I will continue to thrill to the skirl of the pipes and the lore of the line of my people, back to the beginning…
Matthew says
Tolkien’s works were about corruption as much as anything. He knew that the Shadow can not create but only corrupt like the way Hitler did of “The Northern Spirit.” (This is also why complaints of a simplistic view of good and evil in the Lord of the Rings are wrong, but I digress…)
The thing I worry about is that the pendulum has swung so far to denigrating anything about Western Culture that it might swing back to old ways of racism. People like those torch carrying yahoos might become more accepted in the future. It’s best to nip this is in the bud early but those who denigrate anything from Northern Europe aren’t helping. (Oddly, the people who denigrate everything about Western Civilization are often as white as any Neo-Nazi scumbag.)
Yep.
Matthew says
The concept that evil was something good that was twisted out of form or taken to far is something that informed my life. It shows how difficult doing the right thing can be because often (if not always) people who do wrong think they are doing right. Tolkien probably got this from his Catholic heritage and the doctrine of original sin. Interestingly, it also lines up with Aristotle’s ethics nicely.
It is also the reason people saying the Lord of the Rings has a “simplistic” view of good and evil is one of my pet peeves.
Tom Shippey deals very effectively with the notion that JRRT’s attitude toward evil is simplistic.
“ruddy little ignoramus[es]” indeed.
The Celtic Cross is being appropriated now. I have one friend who is considering altering/covering is Celtic cross tattoo because he keeps get nods and “you’re one of us, cool” looks from supremacist losers.
Nooooo!!!
Don’t surrender an inch of ground.
Also, there is the option of saying “What the fook ye lookin’ at ye ruddy ignoramus?!”
Matthew says
Yeah, the appropriation of the Celtic Cross annoys me. It had a variety of meanings religious and ethnic but it is now being supplanted by the white supremacist one.
John Cornelius says
A parcel of ruddy ignoramuses. Carrying Tiki torches (Polynesian), made in Asia, purchased at Walmart. Pretty difficult to take them seriously, their posing and posturing not withstanding.
I share your heritage (obviously), and celebrate my origins, without inferring superiority to any others. I resent those who feel that I should be remotely guilty about my heritage, or being born male, or tall, or intelligent. As Popeye would say, “I yam what I yam”.
Thanks for the nice article. Makes me want to sound my barbaric yawp across the roofs of the world.
Sound off!
Bill Valenti says
A pox on ruddy ignoramuses (ignorami?) of all sizes, shapes, colors and creeds.
Rick Schwertfeger says
Oh, oh how I agree. With an ancestry 3/4 German (possibly Schwabian, Saxon and Prussian), 3/16 southern Irish, 1/16 English — I am on an ongoing roots journey, trying to learn all that I can both about my blood ancestors, and about the roots of their cultures back into native and pagan times. I am neither inordinately “proud” of nor apologetic about my heritage. As John says above, that’s who I am. I am open to the strengths of that heritage — and very well aware of its negative aspects. I continue to search for the native spirituality of my indigenous roots, and the core human spirits of those peoples. For they are in my blood — the good ones and the bad ones. And I’m focusing most on the positives, the powers, the strengths.
Well said, Jim.
And well sung now too many years ago…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I98KeKV_F9g
TJ says
Like my oldest’s senior wrestler, two ‑tribe mentor told him when he was a freshman; “Long before the first Spaniard or settler showed up, our tribes were kicking each other’s asses for hundreds of years. It’s what man has been doing for a thousand years.”
Equally terrifying for the oppressed and displaced regardless of culture, language, or skin color. It’s still going on today in countries outside of the US because as Levi said, “It’s what man does.”
Problem is, we are losing the ability in some cases by statute, to speak to and learn from one another. Last Monday’s patrol shift in uniform (my last week in a PD uniform) was a confirmation of why the adventure / mission is over in my once great state of California.
It’s reaching the point, I no longer recognize it and I don’t think it’s going to recover.
🇺🇸
We passed a tipping point somewhere. I don’t think recovery is in the cards. What Craig and I and all of you here at RIR is trying to figure out how we walk in the world now.
There are 5 Universal Truths, according to Dr. George Thompson, the founder of the Verbal Judo Institute and developer of the Verbal Judo communications program.
George believed and taught that “rather than focusing on how people are different, we should focus on how people are the same”. By focusing on our “sameness” we work together for better resolutions to immediate and long-standing challenges. And we learn, in our common unity, to value and respect what may be “different” about us (culture, language, traditions).
For far too long, at least in the United States, we have been “dis-united” by those who should know better and were/are in positions of leadership at every level of our society. This for their own gain, not America’s or “the American People” and certainly not in the best interests of a healthy global community.
Doc’s 5 Universal Truths are below — regardless of race, creed, or color.
They are:
1. All people want to be treated with dignity and respect
2. All people want to be asked rather than being told to do something
3. All people want to be told why they are being asked to do something
4. All people want to be given options rather than threats
5. All people want a second chance
It will never be a perfect world. But it can be a better one wherever each one of us walks on any given day.
Excellent principles.
Matthew says
Great post Craig!
RLT says
I stenciled and sprayed a valknut on my rig’s passenger front door for good luck (Original doors are in storage). Not long after, I found a vinyl morale patch with the same symbol. Felt like wyrd, ya know? It’s been on my backpack for years now, and a bunch of other stuff too–kind of adopted it as a personal brand .
So far I’ve only had one person assume I was a white supremacist, a now-buddy of mine who is a big part of my town’s thriving punk scene. Of the several North Idaho subcultures, our punks are my favorite. The amount of love in that community is just unbelievable–and I’m not just talking about the judgement-free “free-lovin’ ” that one of our local pastors is convinced is going on in the punk scene (He’s right, btw…)
All of that love and inclusivity, naturally, is backed up by steel-toed boots–and in my experience, punks have to deal with more proud boy/neo-nazi bullshit at the ground level than anybody else.
They’re also really into metaphysics, and I’ve met a few heathen punks to round out the usual mixture of chaos magic, witching, astrology, and zen. So while it’s no surprise that my buddy-to-be flashed on the valknut, once I explained it everything was copacetic.
I’m doing my best to have those conversations, one person at a time. It’s not my life’s work or anything, but I do think it’s important. My ancestry is mostly Celt, and the rest is Anglo-Saxon, and those cultures resonate strongly with me. Hell, my book-length Master’s thesis in poetry has turned into a project that follows a “warden” of sorts as he wanders a mixed landscape of post-industrial relics and natural world that is slowly retaking them–and populated by selkies, the wild hunt, and other wights from the myths of my ancestors.
Over Thanksgiving I started translating sections of “Beowulf.”
This comment sort of got away from me, which is what happens when I can’t sleep and get on the internet instead. But the gist of it is this: We cannot let the bigots have it. It’s so much more than just stories and symbology, even if the average person of Anglo-Saxon descent doesn’t know it. It’s in our culture. It’s in our blood. It is absolutely in our language. It’s in our values system, and for men it offers models of masculinity that they could do a lot worse than to follow.
Young men, especially, need this sort of ethic in their lives–which is why so many of the hate groups prey successfully on them. They sell these guys misogyny and racial violence as a “reclamation” of their own heritage.
But–and here’s where it gets funny–if I had to point to a group of people today who come the closest to living out Anglo-Saxon values…it’d be the punks I was talking about earlier. Because they’re a close-knit tribe that puts men and women on equal footing, guards its own, does not run to the law when wronged, does not back down, honors its elders (I love them 60-year-old punks, man), puts the tribe over the individual (i.e. show up to every concert, stay for everybody’s set, support the “scene” and look good to acts and fans from out of town), and their most serious punishment for members who transgress beyond redemption is ostracization–the person literally is no longer welcome around the campfire.
Oh yeah–and they really, really, REALLY like to party. With bonfires.
But that’s what you get when you start a punk scene in cow country. Strong tribes are not born of easy times. I’m just glad they’re my friends; I saw the ostracization thing happen recently–not pretty.
Neither was the last time the skinheads showed up at one of their shows.
This absolutely made my morning. Heart of the matter. Love it and here’s to the punks.
RLT says
Glad to hear it, Jim. They’re a good lot, and so are this lot around here.
lane batot says
Go ahead and skirl yer pipes, laddie! What aggravates me so(unapologetic injun and other indigenous peoples lover that I am) is it is RIDICULOUS that the Europeans have gotten saddled with this “racial superiority” label, when they absolutely do NOT have a monopoly on thinking themselves superior and subjecting other cultural/racial groups–virtually ALL races, at one time or another in history have done so! Only complete ignoramouses don’t realize this. For perspective, the haughtiness of the Masai in East Africa should be experienced by everyone, and the Zulus in South Africa have certainly given them some stiff competition in that regard historically! The disdain and patronizing attitudes of the Iroquois to all other Native American tribes was legion, and most Native American tribes called themselves some version of “The People” while considering neighboring tribes something less! This is a HUMAN trait, and was not invented by Europeans–you find it in some form wherever you find humans. I must admit, however, I DID laugh loud and long, when it was proven by DNA studies, that virtually all Northern Europeans are at least partially descended from Neanderthals, whereas Africans are the “purest” blooded modern humans–kinda throwing a monkey(caveman?) wrench in the Nazi “pure Aryan” racial idealogy! Although I for one revel in my own Neanderthal heritage!
Yup.
Matthew says
It’s not even necessarily racial. There are men who think they are better than women or vice versa. There are people who think being born in one part of the country makes them better than others.
lane batot says
Sigh.….so sad, but so true.…..
John Cornelius says
“virtually ALL races, at one time or another in history have done so! Only complete ignoramouses don’t realize this.”
Imperial Japan was all about racial purity and superiority. I guess it’s easier when you live on islands. Their term for Koreans translated as “garlic eaters”.
My name translates to garlic eater, too.
lane batot says
I’m a BIGTIME garlic eater(all manner of health benefits from garlic!) as certain outspoken humans with overly sensitive noses, that I come in contact with, regularly acknowledge! But proud of it, nonetheless!
Matthew says
I know a girl from Tokyo whose father was a Korean worker who came over during the Imperial era and married a Japanese woman. They did not find a lot of acceptance.
Even today people who are of Korean ancestry in Japan don’t go around mentioning it. Same with the burakim (untouchables of Japan.) Both groups interestingly make up the majority members of the yakuza (which tends to be fiercely nationalistic.) There have been cases of Ainu (the original inhabitants of Japan) not even knowing they were Ainu because it just wasn’t talked about in their family.