On Mythology

Richard Barrett and the Crackpot Mythropologist Discuss Our Collective Narrative Depth

[James’ comments are in brackets.]

As I wrote in my previous post, I have been very busy mentally and physically these last few months. This post will focus on my mental exertions.

I've been thinking a lot about what I am as a writer. What do I write about? What do I like to read? What motivates me? What sets me on fire?

I have a lot of interests and knowledge on a lot of topics; History, Literature, Art, Religion, Philosophy, Politics, Foreign Policy, Military Affairs, Fighting, Exercise Physiology, Psychology, Sales and Marketing, Interview and Interrogation, Theater, Film.

[It is my uneducated opinion that writing history and fiction in convincing prose both require multi-focal mind’s eye; that the single interest writer either lacks the ability to draw un-inducted [1] the reader in like most modern journalists and non-fiction writers, or, like John Norman, author of the Gor series, are so obsessed with one subject, in his case sexual bondage, that an otherwise brilliant prose quality becomes polluted by a specific focus and reader interest wanes. Currently, narrative skill in media of all types is so shallow and narrow, that viewer and reader interest is only maintained due to post-induction hypnosis ad slavish dedication to an imposed narrative. [1]]

That's a lot of stuff, and a blend that looks pretty "grab bag."

But as I dig deeper, I find the common elements beneath this stuff to be something I sum up in one word: Myth.

For me, the word summarizes the many concepts we have been talking about since we began corresponding earlier this year. I've been using our discussions as a filter to understand my motivations; I get great feedback from you because I think we have a very similar personality, almost identical set of interests, and a common pool of research to draw upon.

[I hope for your sake that we do not have a similar personality.]

Most people when I try to talk about this stuff (in order to get answers to these questions for myself), they look at me like I'm speaking Chinese, and both them and me leave more confused after having started. It leaves me questioning..."Am I really that incoherent?"

[No, Richard. But unless you are speaking to religiously indoctrinated people within the terms of their induction, for instance speaking to a Christian without heathen references from beyond the Christian filter, or speaking to an atheist from perspectives outside of the Christian-Atheistic polarity, which are linked, with no modern manifestations of atheism rooted or cognitive beyond Christianity and ts atheistic devolution, with neither of these perspectives having any ability whatsoever of appreciating non-Christian religion, then you are doomed to misunderstanding and lack comprehension. I will reiterate this below where you stumble into one of these pitfalls, pitfalls that you may stumble into in your quest for the truth, but within which most humans are forever trapped.]

So what is Myth? Well, here's a definition from page 6 of Richard Slotkin's "Regeneration Through Violence: The Mythology of the American Frontier, 1600-1860" Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1973. ( :

"A mythology is a complex of narratives that dramatized the world vision and historical sense of a people or culture, reducing centuries of experience into a constellation of compelling metaphors. The narrative action of myth-tale recapitulates that people's experience in their land, rehearses their visions of that experience in its relation to their gods and cosmos, and reduces both experience and vision to a paradigm.

On page 3 he explains that "Through myths the psychology and worldview of our cultural ancestors are transmitted to modern descendents."

Here is my own personal definition, in plain English: "A myth is a ritualized, set-piece series of stories that feature recurring character types, situations, and themes. They are intended to teach the eternal truth of human nature's behavior patterns, and the right and wrong way to navigate those patterns."

[I like you definition better. Though I implore you to remove “set-piece.” I would suggest that myth is a body of narrative that uses eternal truths illustrated in episodic and epic contexts which serve as our metaphysic inventory of cultural tropes.]

For me, my interest is in a particular mythology...what I call The Western Warrior Mythology. This mythology is opposed to two other mythologies: The Third World Warrior Mythology and the Social Justice Warrior Mythology.

The Western Warrior Mythology is something we have talked about before in past posts. It is primarily Confrontational: Marshall Matt Dillon goes out into the street to face the bad guy in a fast draw show-down and blasts the bad guy away. Up front, clean, noble, and honorable. Like a man. In defense of the weak and defenseless of all colors and creeds. You summarized this very nicely in your recent post, "Heroism, Honor, Horses, and Hounds: A Look Into The Commanding Soul."

I think the history of Western War at all levels plays this preference out. From the Ancient Germanics who preferred up-front, open Tactical combat, to the Greeks and Romans who organized this instinct to a mass Operational scale of Hoplite and Legionnaire fame. From the Heavy Cavalry of the Middle Ages bringing it back to the Tactical emphasis, to the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648 again mechanistically making this vital instinct into a robotic and former shell of itself, to finally its reinvigorating rediscovery against Predatory Third World Warriors in the Frontier Wars of expansion of the West from the Crusades all the way up to today.

As I have been researching historical Western hand-to-hand combat methods and their attendant PT programs throughout the Ancient Times, Medieval Times, and the 19th Century (a topic for another post), I find this emphasis again and again in Wrestling. You see a preference for pressure and strength, getting right up in your face and coming at you hard—nothing squirrely.

You see this dichotomy of the gym when Wrestlers grapple with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Players. The Wrestlers go full-on strength and pressure, taking the fight to the enemy in the hand-to-hand tactical equivalent of Shock-and-Awe Blitzkrieg.

[Wrestlers, not BJJ men dominate the cage circuit for good reasons you express here.]

Compare this to the squirlier Jiu-Jitsu Player whose all about making space and avoiding pressure with a mystical worship at the altar of "Technique over Strength" and a disavowing of basic Physiology with phrases like "Strength does nothing for you" over and over again as they keep getting smashed passed by Wrestlers.

In Wrestling, I see the hand-to-hand tactical manifestation of the Western Warrior Mythology. By contrast, in Brazlilian Jiu-Jitsu, I see the hand-to-hand tactical manifestation of the Third World Warrior Mythology in its Asiatic form, transplanted here by way of Latin America. I also see its most slavish adherents being of a more "New Age" mind in terms of Philosophy and Lifestyle...Buddhism, Anime, "One-World", the works.

So this brings me to my next point: these tactical manifestations of the Mythology also point to philosophical manifestations of the Mythology. I see these philosophical manifestations embodied in a number of archetypal figures.

In the Ancient Times, these manifestations are:

• The Ancient Germanic Warrior

• The Greek Hoplite

• The Roman Legionnaire

In the Medieval Times, we see Old Testament Hebrew Warrior Mythology co-opted to Western Germanic Warrior Mythology through the medium of Christianity in a way I see as seamless and not at all contradictory. This leads us to

• The Knight

Maurice Keen, on pages 16-17 in her book "Chivalry" New Haven, MA: Yale University Press, 1984 ( discusses that the Medieval Knight had primarily three components fused together. These were:

• Military

• Noble

• Religious

[Point 2, nobility, or inheritance over merit or ability, is the seed of doom and corruption implicit in this triad, which got the West sissies on powdered wigs instead of vigorous warriors by the 1700s.]

Reading her work as well as my own research has brought me to the conclusion that the "Military" portion of this triad is the Germanic variation of the Confrontational Western Warrior Tradition.

The "Noble" part she equates with Virtue, and I see as being inherited from the many writings of the Greeks and Romans on the Warrior Virtues of "Arete" and "Agon". This is something Tacitus talked about in his book "Germania". He said the Germanics live by Custom but not by law, for they did not like to investigate the nature of things. The warrior writings of the Greeks and Romans, were the codification of those customs, an investigation into their nature that deepened the Western Germanic Warrior's commitment to them.

[Law is only required when custom and honor codes fail.]

Finally, we have the Christian elemement, which as I have written about before, I do not believe is contradictory to the Germanic variety of the Western Warrior Way, as many other scholars have written. I think its main departure from the Germanic variety of the Western Warrior Way was to temper some of the rougher qualities of the Germanic Warriors:

What were some of these rougher qualities? Sex slavery and human sacrifices.

[The old and New Testament uphold sex slavery in hundreds of passages. See Cotton Mather’s A Good Master Well Served. In fact, all modern notions of slavery stem from the Book of Leviticus. Slavery is a phase that the Western tradition uniquely evolves away from along with the Amerindian tradition, where Asian, Middle Eastern and African traditions do not evolve away from this foundation. I do agree that Christianity is more Arуan than Judaic, despite the Old Testament, based on the strong transformative aspects absent in the Old Testament, the Eternal quality of Jove, unrecognized by inducted Christians, as well as the Cult of the Mother Mary, the Cult of Saints and the extensive influence of Greek language in Gospel composition. Human sacrifice is foundational to Christianity, beginning with Abraham and evolves into the actual sacrifice of the Son of God! There is a reason why the Aztecs, most prolific human sacrifice junkies in human history, immediately and with little objection became catholics! Also, Christianity, alone among European religions practiced mass human sacrifice as part of forced conversion. See Charlemagne’s murder of the Saxon chiefs and the King of Norway circa1000 sacrificing unrepentant Thor cultists, down to the witch-burnings of the Reformation. 400 to 1000 years ago you would be telling me these things while lighting me on fire at the stake—your prayers for my damned soul appreciated…]

By the 19th Century, you see these former Germanic practices still being practiced by Third World peoples, [social evolution and European ethical diffusion accounting for the movement away from Middle Eastern style religious murder and sex slavery and why the focus on sex slavery as bad when labor slavery and war slavery have continued with us up until my lifetime? Is not forcing a slave to kill worse than forcing them to please? All military conscripts are killer slaves.] and the Germanic Diaspora of Great Britain, America, and France sees these practices as a caucus belli to wipe the Third Worlders out!

[Yes, what hypocrisy! Is this not the key sin pf Western humanity, to be more hypocritical than any other group?]

This of course brings us to the next manifestation of the Western Warrior in the 19th Century. All three of these were consciously inspired by the Medieval Knight. The Germanic Diaspora of each nationality had its own embodiment. They are:

• Great Britain = Khaki-Clad Redcoat

• America = Frontier Cowboy

• France = Foreign Legionnaire

In the 20th Century, you get again a manifestation again consciously drawn from the Knight, but also from the Khaki-Clad Redcoat, Frontier Cowboy, and Foreign Legionaire. These are:

• Great Britain = Tommy

• America = G.I.

• France = Poilu

You see the inspirations from the past consciously embodied in each. In the blood-pumping WWI British song, "By Order Of The King" ( you see the Tommy being sung as "Like Knights of Old, So Brave and Bold! The King and Flag to Shield!"

[The Red Coats and Tommy’s and G.I.s were in many cases slave soldiers. The Legion Estranger, being all volunteers, consistently fought better than any of the other modern examples. Your descriptions here sing with the mythic element of martial artifice which Napoleon and Hitler were well-versed and practiced in such resurrection of sentient. I like this tack.]

In the person of John Wayne, the G.I. and the Cowboy are embodied in what I like to call "G.I. Cowboy", consciously drawn from the legend of the Knights. The Duke was well-known in Hollywood circles to be so well-read in Shakespeare, he could quote entire plays by heart. "Henry V" was a favorite. Echoes of Henry V's speech on whether or not to go to war with France ring deafening in his 1960s historical epic "The Alamo" when Davy Crocket speaks on whether or not to go to war with Santa Anna.

And for the record, John Wayne was no draft dodger. Duke FOUGHT in the Pacific Theater of World War II AS A CIVILIAN! After experiencing complications getting into the Military, Duke went to Papua New Guinea with the USO to entertain the troops. But when he got there, he broke protocol and WENT INTO COMBAT with the troops for THREE MONTHS! They loved it, seeing their childhood hero who entertained them with exploits of daring-do on the Silver Screens of B-Movie Westerns all through the 1930s doing the real thing right alongside them! A lot of these guys later went to work for his movie production company, Batjac Productions. One of these G.I.s, Keith Honaker, who later went to go work with Batjac, recalled:

"He became one of us. He was just like everyone else. He showed us that he really was a down-to-earth guy...He didn't ask for any protection. He actually did off screen what he did on screen." (Eyeman, Pg. 134).

Imagine that...one of the highest paid celebrities in the world risking it all to fight alongside the American fighting man...all as a civilian, and never once bragging about it.

This is all recorded in Chapter 7, Pages 128-145, and in Chapter 8, Pages 146-147 of Scott Eyeman's authoritative work, "John Wayne: The Life and Legend" New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 2014. For more on the Knight-Cowboy-GI connection, check out this article: ( .

[I love this story. Athletes of the day were also very willing to serve in the military even when over age, which Dempsey, Zale and Braddock enlisting. Imagine today, some faɡɡot like George Clooney actually volunteering to go to the Sudan and shoulder a rifle battling the slave traders and the Darfur murderers they rail against? It’s lie we went from helm to wig all over again.]

So we have the Western Warrior in all of his manifestations from the Ancient Times to the 20th Century. We see others at the fringe of the Genre: John Carter of ERB lore and Johnny Rico of "Starship Trooper" fame being the Spaceman embodiment, Sean Connery as 007 and Michael Caine of the IPCRESS Files being the Spy embodiment. Philip Marlowe being the Detective embodiment, Dragnet and Adam-12 being the Police embodiment.

[Police heroization, is profoundly slavish, as police are purely internal aggressors, enforcing laws in a corrupt society where honor and custom no longer compel men to behave decently, taking us from high German ethics to low Roman law all over again.]

All of these characters exist in the world of the Western Warrior Mythology. This is my area of interest, where it all comes together. And it is something that the Postmodern Machine of Leftism has been desperate to eliminate it.

[It is no accident that Grendel’s mother was the worse terror to face Beowulf than her son.]

And I shall say, in the 21st Century, Conservativism has not done much to defend it either.

[Conservatives are nothing but phony opposition to the Left. Never has Conservatism conserved anything or taken back civic space for old tradition. America has always been entirely Leftist. Only a return of a king can make America into a real Western nation and erase the corrupting stains of Athens and Rome from our mythology.]

For me, I see the Iraq War as being a way to resurrect the old Western Warrior Mythology. You see George W. Bush doing it, and you see the Left desperate to clamp it down.

[The Left totally embraced the Iraq War in 2008. I listen to extreme Leftist podcasts run by CIA operatives who sanctify all wars on Islamic nations. Listen to It Could Happen Here and Behind the Bastards. In any rational view taking into account the great sweep of human history, the only President of the U.S. that can be regarded as not an extreme Leftist, was Andrew Jackson. All of my Leftist friends are totally behind wiping out Islamic societies. Bush, Clinton, Bush and Obama all pursued a seamlessly coherent policy of cultivating Islamic antagonists in hopes of implementing the Patriot Act and other acts of war upon the American People. The CIA would not permit the man they had observing Bin Laden in the Sudan to kill him, though he pleaded to be permitted to do so in daily dispatches. I reviewed the man’s book in The Job of Killing, I think, this very year. Will check and see if it is unposted.]

It is one of many reasons why I don't view the war as a Globalist Deep State Conspiracy (if anything, I think the Globalists had more to gain trading with Saddam as opposed to kicking him out. They do it with Iran and China and all the other tinpot Third World losers. If they wanted Assad out of Syria he'd be out of there. They want him right where he's at!).

[This must be because you do not yet realize that the U.S. Government sees the U.S. citizen as its chief enemy. Very few Leftist politicians speak out against the War on Terror, I think, because they want to see that machine in working order so it can be turned against their conservative rivals. This is rational, as U.S. citizens are here and the Iranian navy has little chance of storming the beaches of California.]

I think that the real reason the Left opposed the Iraq War so viciously [only while Bush was in office.] was because they knew it was the last chance for the Western Warrior Mythology to raise its fighting head. Dubya tried to raise its head and rally the nation, but our Vietnam complex fear of insurgents gave us trouble on the ground, and so the Narrative began to go off the rails. [Returning war fighters are hated just like after Vietnam. However, the Left has not continued to oppose the War on terror since 2008. Sir, we are 12-years out from the Left joining the War on Terror. Catch up. What has changed, since the War on terror was joined by the Left, is their persecution of individual American Soldiers and the absolution of the politicians running the giant goat fuck operation to kill our own mad dog that we created.]

The Left succeeded in cutting the people off from the War Effort by making it the exclusive domain of a tiny fraction of the nation, demonizing the Warfighter through the Abu Ghraib and Blackwater scandals, making Jessica Lynch and Pat Tillman look like phonies, and finally making the Warrior into a PTSD-riddled victim a la Bradely Cooper in "American Sniper" ...all those things killed the Western Warrior Culture.

[Look, this latitude to attack the warrior tradition, is the price the Center paid to the Left to get them on board with the War on Terror. Bot factions are wealthy elitists and the Left getting on board with exterminating Muslims for wanting to run their own nations got them access to morally undermine the last vestige of rampant American manhood—the military operator. This, I think, went a long way towards the state we are in now, with millions of American war veterans unwilling or unable to protect their own cities from NGO arsonists. The War on Terror was been a win, win, win for the dep State and a lose, lose, lose for the American man.]

After the Republican loss of the White House in 2008, Conservative Inc. dropped Western Warrior Mythology as a hot potato. They did this because the electoral loss proved in their minds it was a losing horse. "Western Warrior Mythology got us into a losing war and melted our economy? Who wants that?" That's why we will never see organized Conservatism support Western Warrior Mythology for the nation again in our lifetime. When I was on the nation-wide debate circuit all up-down the Eastern Seaboard from 2012-2014, the worst pushback I got on my ceaseless and very vocal adherence to what I now know to be Western Warrior Mythology was not from Leftists, but from Conservatives.

[This is a pay-to-play operation, in which external Neo-Con greed had to compromise with the invalidating internal need of the Left in order to keep making money on rebuilding shit our men blew up. Why not just send the marines and navy in to secure oil access instead of trying to impose democracy—which never works in tribal societies—on these shit bag sand pit nations? Because the target is ultimately distraction, then control then contraction of Americans. Iraqis have never toppled a North American government. North Americans have. I find American Conservatism to be a false, strawman parody of Right political leaning and traditional social ethics, a sham.]

Nature abhors a vacuum, so they say. And with this void that Conservativism, Inc,. as created we now see Western Men given two alternatives, both solely the domain of the Postmodern Left. These are:

• The Gangster Rapper

• The Anime Hero

The Gangster Rapper is a manifestation of Third World Warrior Mythology in the landscape of your very own Alma Mater, America's Urban Ghettos.

[Yes.]

The Anime Hero is really an Asian-produced Social Justice Warrior Mythology. If Asia makes all our Material Goods, then why not make all of our Postmodern Myths?

[Yes!]

This then is the outline of my life's theme and future book. In the past, the working title has been "Return of the Strongman: Reawakening the Warrior Culture of the West". I don't know if that will be the title, as I don't know how I will structure the book.

[Keep on digging, Richard.]

This post has gone on long enough. In the next post I send, I will outline the Western Warrior Mythology's relationship to Women, the Third World Warrior Mythology's relationship to Women, and the Social Justice Warrior Mythology's relationship to Women...all using the classic Lafondian classification scheme!

[Sounds great.]

Sincerely,

Richard Barrett

Notes

[-1. It is my contention that we live in a time of extreme orthodox and heretical induction, with perhaps the lowest level of actual inquiry since Thales circa 500 B.C.]