The typical American

From Clyde Wilson:

Anyone who is serious about the direction of this country ought to admit that the stance of the Homeland Security apparatus rests upon the staggeringly powerful force of conformity that is a major component of the American national character. Our two greatest foreign observers—Tocqueville in the 19th century and Solzhenitsyn in the 20th—were both struck by the herd tendencies of American thought and the rareness of individuality, the near universal craving for respectability within the mass. Unless one grasps this sad truth, he is disabled in understanding current events. Central government targeting of domestic dissidents could not be floated without an expectation of widespread approval. It rests upon the certainty that a substantial part of the populace will countenance the suppression of ideas and persons that violate what has been declared to be respectable.

Exhibit. The anti-immigration journal www.vdare.com has brought attention to the case of a Sudanese immigrant in the Salt Lake City area who deliberately drove into a group of a dozen or more children with malice aforethought. There were numerous injuries but providentially no fatalities—this time. The local officials and media have, as usual, tried to obfuscate the significance of the event. There was much protest on a website devoted to local commentary. Some of this protest was after a while deemed “racist” and wiped out.

Our interest here is in one of the posted comments on the offending postings. One citizen offered this comment: “I can understand and in fact share the outrage against an individual who has committed a horrendous act of violence. However, I find the blatant racist comments equally offensive.” Attempted mass murder of children troubles this citizen no more than bad thoughts do. Can anyone deny that this person is representative of the mind of millions, perhaps tens of millions, of Americans? Can anyone doubt that a country rife with such people, so lacking in common sense and normal human feelings, has a doubtful rating on survivability?

Not that the "herd tendencies" of Russians are not just as strong. The Tribe used it to great effect during the early 20th century when they controlled the U.S.S.R. and wiped out 50 million Christians. But the point is well taken, especially from Tocqueville.