Posted on 11/17/2016 4:46:43 AM PST by SJackson
Back in 2014, Steve Bannon laid out his worldview for all to see. It’s a complex vision, based on his notion of “Judeo-Christian” values, appreciative of Jewish contributions to the world, and believing the West faces a “crisis of capitalism” and a battle with radical Islam.
If you really want to know what the man believes and stands for, read the full transcript of Bannon’s talk , or listen to it at the bottom of this article and decide for yourself.
Fast forward to the present and the question everyone is asking: “Is Steve Bannon an anti-Semite?”
Actually, no one is asking that question, people’s minds have already been made up based on what they’ve heard second hand.
In August 2016, Bannon gave an interview to Mother Jones where he explicitly stated that Breitbart News, which he ran at the time, was “the platform for the alt-right”.
Responding to the accusations that alt-right are a bunch of white-nationalists, anti-Semites, neo-Nazis and homophobes, Bannon “dismisses the alt-right’s appeal to racists as happenstance” and told Mother Jones:
“Look, are there some people that are white nationalists that are attracted to some of the philosophies of the alt-right? Maybe. […] Are there some people that are anti-Semitic that are attracted? Maybe. Right? Maybe some people are attracted to the alt-right that are homophobes, right? But that’s just like, there are certain elements of the progressive left and the hard left that attract certain elements.”
Bannon acknowledges there are very bad elements in alt-right (as there are on the progressive and hard left), yet he still gives them a platform.
How does Bannon dismiss them so nonchalantly?
The answer appears in his 2014 discussion as transcribed by Buzzfeed:
“The central thing that binds that all together is a center-right populist movement of really the middle class, the working men and women in the world who are just tired of being dictated to by what we call the party of Davos.”
He seas the Tea Party, alt-right and others as center-right groups made up of middle class Americans.
But he acknowledges that bad people do hitch a ride on the coattails of these movements.
“I’m not an expert in this, but it seems that they have had some aspects that may be anti-Semitic or racial [in the European far-right groups]. By the way, even in the tea party, we have a broad movement like this, and we’ve been criticized, and they try to make the tea party as being racist, etc., which it’s not. But there’s always elements who turn up at these things, whether it’s militia guys or whatever. Some that are fringe organizations.
But Bannon doesn’t believe there is an issue here of whether or not to throw out the baby with the bathwater. He believes that, over time, the radical elements will disappear.
My point is that over time it all gets kind of washed out, right? People understand what pulls them together, and the people on the margins I think get marginalized more and more. […] I think when you look at any kind of revolution — and this is a revolution — you always have some groups that are disparate. I think that will all burn away over time and you’ll see more of a mainstream center-right populist movement.”
Bannon clearly believes that the populist rightwing groups are primarily made up of good, middle-class, working-class Americans, with some fringe fellow travelers. Eventually those anti-Semites and white nationalists who are hanging on will be marginalized even further until they “wash out” and “burn away.”
The question one should really ask is, “Are Bannon’s presumptions about the fringe alt-right members accurate?”
When it comes to amorphous groups without real leadership to guide them, specifically alt-right which is primarily internet-based and anonymous (which always brings out the worst), it would be more accurate to assume that whomever is the most active, most vocal and most committed will be those who direct that movement and set its tone.
Bannon before the brouhaha of alt-right sees fringe haters as temporary and irrelevant anomalies that will eventually burn away as the groups becomes more mainstream. He acknowledges their anti-Semitism, but does not see them as defining the majority.
He also values the Jewish contributions to Western society and Capitalism as being extremely valuable. He believes those “Judeo-Christian” values should be restored in modern capitalism.
Those don’t sound like the words and beliefs of an anti-Semite.
But in the case of alt-right, Bannon has gotten it wrong about the haters eventually being marginalized and washed away. The inmates have already taken over the asylum, and that’s because alt-right is primarily anonymous and Internet based, where real-world rules and civility don’t apply.
Let us know what you now think of Bannon in the comments section below, but please listen and read first.
I read it, and that was the impression I got.
I think Bannon is a GREAT choice.
“But in the case of alt-right, Bannon has gotten it wrong about the haters eventually being marginalized and washed away. The inmates have already taken over the asylum, and that’s because alt-right is primarily anonymous and Internet based, where real-world rules and civility don’t apply.”
I agree. Bannon needs to write a piece for the WSJ explaining his views on Breitbart website and the articles & comments there that are over the top and separate himself from them.
Bannon never called Kristol that. It was David Horowitz.
Alt Right? Never heard of it before. Sounds like Bannon made it up himself.
Who gets to define it?
What does it mean?
Oh I get it ... Alt Right = Nazi
Bannon bookmark
“...Breitbart? It’s like an S.A. meeting after the fourth round of Schnapps.”
And your point is?
That he hosts a site that encourages and supports some of the most vile racism this side of Stormfront.
I suppose you think that’s wonderful?
I have not seen that, however, I don’t spend much time reading the comments. What little I have read, I have seen much more hatred in the comments at huffington.
Conservatives have certain core values.
They support the Constitution and the Founding Documents, the limitations on government and the recognition and affirmation of our rights.
We support the Constitutional Republic, the Capitalist system, and high moral standards.
We have a strong Christian set of ethics. Many are active Christians or at least believe in God and the underlying premise He endowed us with inalienable rights.
I could go on, but this is enough.
The Left doesn’t buy into this.
So the mainstream buys in. Then those with (even very radical) outside the mainstream views buy into these core beliefs.
Those radical elements don’t buy in because we believe as they do. They buy in for the core aspects knowing we most certainly do not buy into what they do.
They support ‘our cause’ and we most certainly DO NOT support theirs. We say this over and over again, because it is true. The Left ignores the truth to lie abou these dynamics. With no moral base, and no adherence to truth, it’s what they do.
We talk down racism and the tenets of the fringe. Contrast this with what the Left fails to talk down.
They to a man refuse to dismiss any of the radical elements that glom on to them.
We have a solid core set of beliefs. We defend them. We talk down the fringe.
They have a ver sordid set of beliefs. They defend them. They also defend all the radical beliefs of their fringe.
Black Lives Matter
Those who beat Trump supporters
Those who vandalize and destroy
Those who say every person is a racist based on skin color
On and on the list goes, but the truth of it screams out, the Left knows no bounds in their quest for domination and destruction.
I’ll put my belief system up against their’s any day.
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I read it and Bannon is right where he needs to be, advising the new POTUS.
Bannon is a genius, he gets it and understands it better than most of us. More power to him. I hope Trump never gets rid of him.
If you didn't read the transcript you should you will learn a lot.
By the way, this article is SUPPORTIVE of Bannon, if anyone bothers to read it.
That’s the way I read it. BTW you can click on the link and easily post a reply. Just need your email and that’s it. Your new post pops right up.
I think the term your looking for is “eclectic”, or maybe “diverse”, or maybe it’s just the non-PCness of the site that concerns you.
I tell you what, take a gander over at the site, and do a quick scan of the headlines; then let me know which one(s) in particular you find offensive (I was just over there and nothing jumped out at me). Then, let’s talk.
Otherwise, I’ll disregard your opinion as someone who gives too much credence to the opinions of leftists and the MSM.
I referred to the comments sections, not the headlines. Your selective quotation of my original post, and your very short attention span may have led you to forget what I had originally said.
So your argument is not against Bannon (and by extension the Breitbart contributors), but rather with the lack of moderation in their comments section - do I have this right?
The larger question is - do you take issue with Bannon being A Trump advisor?
I do not take issue with Bannon being a Trump advisor. Seems like a very intelligent guy, whose input Trump clearly values highly. I read the Buzzfeed interview from 2014 and there were a lot of interesting and new ideas in it. He’s got an understanding of political economy that is worth paying attention to, because it’s far more nuanced than the Left is giving him credit for.
But there is a dismissive tone in there as well to the potential dangers of incorporating white nationalists into a political movement. Bannon believes that their influence will be so dilute by the time policies are made that they are not a concern. But I am less comfortable with that assessment and I think that providing an apparently unmoderated forum for racialist politics to thrive in the comments sections of a website a person is the CEO of is not a positive mark on his character.
The Marxist Leftists always follow their marching orders of trying to discredit people who can prove the Marxist propagandists completely wrong and do so articulately so that everyone can see that the Marxists are completely deplorable tellers of tall tales. The Marxist Leftists are afraid of Bannon for one reason: he’s smart and a fine, articulate friend of Israel and Jews. That is clear.
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