Cowboys and Indians

Like many middle-class children, I grew up playing outdoors with the other kids on my cul-de-sac. We ran through the ditches, creeks, and woods of Virginia. We got up to the sort of adventures only young boys can. The most popular game we played was 'Cowboys and Indians.'

Like most imaginary games, the rules were loose. We robbed pretend banks, defended imaginary stockades and were scalped by braves in the backyard. Most of the time, it just served as a way to reenact dramatic scenes we had imagined or borrowed from movies. It was harmless fun. But there was one rule that we learned from watching Westerns. The Indians always lose.

This was part of the game at a core level. The Indians always lose, just like the villains in cartoons are defeated. That's simply how it was. As children, we took turns being the predetermined loser. Under left-wing narrative control, the resistance always beats the evil 'nazis.' You can see this dynamic in any number of films or books. The right is determined, to pick the losing role over and over again.

This leads to our current situation. The right is nothing as much as it is a negative imprint of the left. There is only one unifying principle on the dissident right. Namely, we hate the regime. Norse pagans and traditional Catholics have almost nothing in common but will set aside their squabbles to criticize the current social order.

This stems from the current balance of power. The Left is in complete ascension. Our enemies control every major institution. While there are some truly right-wing institutions, they are vanishingly rare. Aside from opposing the system as it is, there is no institution or leader to unite around.

A compounding factor is that social media encourages pundits to lean into negative identity. You can gain clout by having the best dunk on Twitter. This is pure reactive behavior. Anytime the left signals a position, there's a race to project the exact opposite position. Part of this is human nature, but this makes us predictable. We essentially have a group of diverse people, united through negation. As the left is constantly changing, the right constantly changes to mirror it.

I contend that our enemies are aware of these facts and weaponize them against us. A combination of full cultural control and the reactionary nature of the right allows the elites to build exactly the opposition they want to fight. To prove my point, I will examine an example from recent history. Hopefully, by recognizing this cycle, we can stop walking into traps laid by our opponents.

Our example comes from a different age. So much ground has been covered by the trans agenda, that even the recent past seems like a different world altogether. Back in 2016, the culture war was focused on so-called bathroom bills. These laws intended to mandate sex-segregated public restrooms. Stacy Dash, a B-list celebrity I don't know anything about, found herself at the center of controversy after she injected herself into the debate.

While being interviewed for Entertainment Tonight, the actor-turned-pundit made her opinions known. This should have been an obvious trap. The reporter knew that Dash was a conservative, and was fishing for a way to embarrass Mrs. Dash. The reporter struck paydirt when Dash revealed her thoughts on the bathroom controversy., "OK, then go to the bushes. I don’t know what to tell you, but I’m not gonna put my child’s life at risk because you want to change a law. So that you can be comfortable..."

I mostly agree with Dash here. That's sort of my point. The material of her statement was completely overshadowed by how she delivered it. If you search her name, the only thing that comes up is that first sentence. This clip went viral, and there are dozens of articles condemning her as cruel or hateful.

'So what?' one might object. 'We should care about what makes our enemies upset?' And broadly speaking, you're correct. However, She made the mistake of becoming an 'Indian'.

What I mean is she became the type of enemy the Regime knows how to fight. The left is constantly pretending to be the underdogs and the champion of the downtrodden. The pantomime requires a ‘bully’ to work. Dash provided the mark for the regime narrative to function. Just like the game I played as a kid, by assuming the premade villain role, her fate was sealed.

This is a predictable pattern. The regime puts forth an idea, waits for a low-IQ right-wing reaction, and then amplifies it. Once it becomes The Opposition™ it is destroyed. The pre-selected response drowns out genuine dissent and poisons the discourse permanently. It happened with Dash, it happened with COVID Amnesty and it will likely happen again.

What is to be done? 

The simplest advice is to act prudently. It sounds obvious, but don’t be the opposition the regime wants. If you become an Indian, you are reinforcing the legitimacy and power of the Left. 

A more useful role model would be that of Junger’s Forest Rebel. In The Forest Passage, a Forest Rebel is a man who opposes the tyranny of unjust government without being defined by it. He wonders beyond the predefined limits of power and so can both oppose the system while not being bound by it.

Does this mean we should simply concede? Not at all, but fight on your terms. We’ve tried reacting to the left, and it hasn’t worked so far. A good metric for success going forward is to look for opportunities when the left is reacting to us. Because, after all, I’m tired of playing the Indian. I don't want to keep losing.