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I am spurred on to write a post on Keith Woods due to two tweets he put up in the early hours of this morning, namely:
The first tweet does have significant kernel of truth to it. There is a problem in Irish nationalist circles with an obsession with conspiracy theories. This includes things such as 5G, chemtrails, coronavirus as a hoax, etc. It’s also mixed with another related problem of excessive foreign influence and obsessions; talking about how terrible Hillary Clinton is, believing QAnon, over-praise for Donald Trump, quite readily following international ‘right-wing’ figures such as Tommy Robinson, Nick Griffin, Richard Spencer, Alex Jones, etc.
But Keith is wrong to say there is no nationalist movement in Ireland and to conflate the many good Irish nationalists whom we all know exist with the conspiracy theorists. Conspiracy theory obsession is not conducive towards saving Ireland and it should not be a put forward as a central plank of any nationalist platform. Regards the ‘opposition to environmentalism’ which he claims exists, that could well be true of a section of the Irish right but it would be more typical of the Conservative-Liberal Right. I do not consider these people part of the Nationalist Movement, people such as John McGuirk, the people at Gript, libertarians, etc. These people will often be pro-destruction of the environment because they are either 1. Ideological ultra-capitalists and believe in resource extraction at any cost. Or they are 2. Ignorant followers of the platitudes presented by the former to justify their actions.
The position Keith takes in this first tweet has truth to it but his conclusion that there is ‘no nationalist movement’ in Ireland is an incredibly broad brushstroke to take. I would estimate this is due to underexposure to other people of similar beliefs and credulously reading Youtube comments on videos as being representative of the entire or the vast majority of the Irish nationalist movement.
His second tweet however is his greatest transgression. In essence, he espouses an abandoning of national identity. This is an abandonment of Nationalism. The alternative he is so ‘convinced’ of is essentially European Identitarianism. Where does this leave Ireland then? What does this mean for the Irish Language? What does this mean for the historical struggle for freedom? All of that is thrown out the window. There is no place for Irish ‘petty nationalism’ in Keith’s conception of a European Identitarian future.
The impracticalities of a future European Identity which is not centred on ‘pro-whiteness’ is an exercise in irrelevant sophistry on his part. It is pie in the sky thinking. Arrogantly, Keith claims that there exists no nationalist movement in Ireland so to speak and derides the nationalist movement wholly as being merely anti-establishment with a lot of undesirable conspiracy theories attached. As I have said, this is not true and anyone who has actually involved themselves in real-world political nationalism will be aware of that. Yet his proposal is equally as anti-nationalist as what he claims exists in Ireland. It’s an aberration of the historic Irish Nationalist movement in favour of an alien ideology.
Keith presents a strawman caricatured view of what the “Irish Nationalist movement” looks like. He then breaks that strawman of his own invention by advocating for a completely alien, foreign, and repulsive ideology of European Identitarianism which is anathema the Irish nationalist tradition and the men who made it. Has there ever been a greater example of throwing the baby out with the bath water? Also implicit in his argument is that Irish nationalism as it ‘currently is’ (i.e. how he caricatures it) will ‘never win’. Keith’s European day-dream is far more unrealistic than the idea of a nationalist party geared towards the achievement of power on this island. Whatever about how that party/movement will look or what tactics it will take, the ideology is already there in our past and we can build on the legitimate historical tradition of Irish Nationalism. We do not need to seek out Evola and de Benoist to justify or clarify our ideology, all we need is all our historic predecessors have ever needed: our historical tradition which is rich with organic nationalism in a way that the United States’ is not.
Keith has the airs of an intelligent yet still underdeveloped undergraduate student. A few points he has said now have come across as quite bizarre, such as claiming that Inside the Third Reich is an accurate history of the Third Reich simply because it was ostensibly written by Albert Speer. That analysis is very shallow. For someone who claims to be such a deep thinker, Keith’s thinking is too often impulsive and made using thin evidence. One can forgive minor slips of his young judgement, however to abandon the historic cause of Irish Nationalism due to a poisonous admixture of naïve credulity and a flawed ideological pedigree is a serious nailing of one’s colours to an alien mast.
The first tweet does have significant kernel of truth to it. There is a problem in Irish nationalist circles with an obsession with conspiracy theories. This includes things such as 5G, chemtrails, coronavirus as a hoax, etc. It’s also mixed with another related problem of excessive foreign influence and obsessions; talking about how terrible Hillary Clinton is, believing QAnon, over-praise for Donald Trump, quite readily following international ‘right-wing’ figures such as Tommy Robinson, Nick Griffin, Richard Spencer, Alex Jones, etc.
But Keith is wrong to say there is no nationalist movement in Ireland and to conflate the many good Irish nationalists whom we all know exist with the conspiracy theorists. Conspiracy theory obsession is not conducive towards saving Ireland and it should not be a put forward as a central plank of any nationalist platform. Regards the ‘opposition to environmentalism’ which he claims exists, that could well be true of a section of the Irish right but it would be more typical of the Conservative-Liberal Right. I do not consider these people part of the Nationalist Movement, people such as John McGuirk, the people at Gript, libertarians, etc. These people will often be pro-destruction of the environment because they are either 1. Ideological ultra-capitalists and believe in resource extraction at any cost. Or they are 2. Ignorant followers of the platitudes presented by the former to justify their actions.
The position Keith takes in this first tweet has truth to it but his conclusion that there is ‘no nationalist movement’ in Ireland is an incredibly broad brushstroke to take. I would estimate this is due to underexposure to other people of similar beliefs and credulously reading Youtube comments on videos as being representative of the entire or the vast majority of the Irish nationalist movement.
His second tweet however is his greatest transgression. In essence, he espouses an abandoning of national identity. This is an abandonment of Nationalism. The alternative he is so ‘convinced’ of is essentially European Identitarianism. Where does this leave Ireland then? What does this mean for the Irish Language? What does this mean for the historical struggle for freedom? All of that is thrown out the window. There is no place for Irish ‘petty nationalism’ in Keith’s conception of a European Identitarian future.
The impracticalities of a future European Identity which is not centred on ‘pro-whiteness’ is an exercise in irrelevant sophistry on his part. It is pie in the sky thinking. Arrogantly, Keith claims that there exists no nationalist movement in Ireland so to speak and derides the nationalist movement wholly as being merely anti-establishment with a lot of undesirable conspiracy theories attached. As I have said, this is not true and anyone who has actually involved themselves in real-world political nationalism will be aware of that. Yet his proposal is equally as anti-nationalist as what he claims exists in Ireland. It’s an aberration of the historic Irish Nationalist movement in favour of an alien ideology.
Keith presents a strawman caricatured view of what the “Irish Nationalist movement” looks like. He then breaks that strawman of his own invention by advocating for a completely alien, foreign, and repulsive ideology of European Identitarianism which is anathema the Irish nationalist tradition and the men who made it. Has there ever been a greater example of throwing the baby out with the bath water? Also implicit in his argument is that Irish nationalism as it ‘currently is’ (i.e. how he caricatures it) will ‘never win’. Keith’s European day-dream is far more unrealistic than the idea of a nationalist party geared towards the achievement of power on this island. Whatever about how that party/movement will look or what tactics it will take, the ideology is already there in our past and we can build on the legitimate historical tradition of Irish Nationalism. We do not need to seek out Evola and de Benoist to justify or clarify our ideology, all we need is all our historic predecessors have ever needed: our historical tradition which is rich with organic nationalism in a way that the United States’ is not.
Keith has the airs of an intelligent yet still underdeveloped undergraduate student. A few points he has said now have come across as quite bizarre, such as claiming that Inside the Third Reich is an accurate history of the Third Reich simply because it was ostensibly written by Albert Speer. That analysis is very shallow. For someone who claims to be such a deep thinker, Keith’s thinking is too often impulsive and made using thin evidence. One can forgive minor slips of his young judgement, however to abandon the historic cause of Irish Nationalism due to a poisonous admixture of naïve credulity and a flawed ideological pedigree is a serious nailing of one’s colours to an alien mast.
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