The Stark Truth: Interview with Jim Goad – self-styled lone wolf is a highly genial character tackling racism, prejudice and bigotry

Robert Stark, “The Stark Truth: Interview with Jim Goad” (Voice of Reason, 20 June 2012)

I read Jim Goad’s “The Redneck Manifesto” over a decade ago and I’ve forgotten all of it except for the part where he refers to white indentured convict labour being imported into the American colonies from Ireland by the English / British in tandem with slaves imported from Africa during the 17th and early 18th centuries, and often treated worse than the slaves by their Anglo masters: that bit I found a real eye-opener. So it was a pleasant surprise to discover that Goad is not only alive and well but also still a gadfly prepared to prick the myths and misconceptions prevalent in Western society about racism and other important issues. He writes for Taki magazine and has his own website. In this episode of “The Stark Truth”, Jim Goad is under the spotlight and ranges confidently across a variety of topics such as racism in Israel, his time in prison, nationalism in Europe and bigotry generally.

Although he sounds as though he was stuck in an elevator shaft at the time of interview, the sound quality isn’t that bad and you quickly become accustomed to the echo in Goad’s voice. He is an excellent interviewee, well spoken, well informed about many topics, surprisingly self-deprecating and with plenty of insight into human behaviour gained from his own experience as well as his own reading and research. He admits to being fascinated with ideas and topics that most people, whether politically and socially liberal or conservative, prefer swept under the carpet which is why he often concerns himself with issues of racism, bigotry and hate and the rise of nationalism and soft fascism in Europe.

Goad begins by describing himself and a bit about his background and his prison record. He wrote an article about his time in prison and his surprise at meeting polite and well-mannered criminals and seeing blacks and neo-Nazi fellows playing cards together. He found out that contrary to most news about US prison populations, about 70% of US prisoners are white. (I vaguely recall reading something similar and that the most common offence whites are in prison for is possessing drugs for personal use.) The conversation segues into the recent news about Israel deporting African immigrants and how the US media avoids mentioning such news and the fact that Jewish rabbis are at the forefront of demands to kick out these immigrants. He and Stark plumb beliefs about what constitutes facts and non-facts that come under the label of “racism”, and how to define “racist” and “anti-Semite”. What is sometimes dismissed as “racist” and so avoided often turns out to be facts or evidence that must be acknowledged and dealt with if people are to live together; unfortunately there is evidence that mean IQs of different population groups do differ even after factors such as nutrition, educational levels, poverty levels and social and cultural context are accounted for to remove study or experimental bias.

Goad admits to having “tribal” instincts (or white pride which by itself is not necessarily racist) and argues for teaching the history of racism, hatred and bigotry rather than pretend that such feelings and behaviour are anomalous in human society and history. If we deny racism and bigotry and whitewash them out of history or society, they go underground and fester until the social context that favours their resurgence arises; when they do come out in the open, society is unable to deal with them because by denying them, we don’t develop the tools and strategies to combat them. He also questions Western society’s obsession with demonising Nazis and neo-Nazis and not other ideologies which are just as biased, subjective and oppressive.

Self-hatred is another topic Goad tackles in relation to society’s denial of racism and the PC movement. He and Stark discuss an article Goad wrote for Taki magazine, “Give bigots a pill”, in relation to racism. They talk about how white American men strive to be acceptable to women to the extent of denying their masculinity while black men are allowed to exult in their masculinity (but don’t say how this double standard for white and black men might be rooted in US imperialism / colonialism). The interview ends with Goad saying that he believes in meritocracy and that people should have the opportunity to rise to the level that their intelligence, abilities and skills equip them for; that the problem of Communist societies was that they did not account for human nature in their economic and social decision-making; that he distrusts our present economic systems; and that he basically is a lone wolf who at heart may be inclined towards some form of libertarian belief.

Although there was quite a lot in the interview that I lost track of as Goad glided from one topic to another but always within the general theme of prejudice and bigotry and how society at large ignores and denies the existence of bigotry and differences among groups of people that influence their life chances and those of their descendants, on the whole Goad is a genial and entertaining character who strives to make meaning of the crazy, mixed-up world we live in, in the best way he can with the resources and experience he can muster. Despite his claim that he is an individualist with weakly developed social instincts, Goad appears to be quite a sociable creature indeed, one I’d rather spend time with than other people possessing “highly developed social instincts” who turn out to be self-obsessed and not at all interested in their fellows’ well-being or the current state of the world.

 

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