Tag: Michael Reinoehl

“The Saints …who preach martyrdom most often… hang about down here. To die for ideas, it’s true to say, is their reason for living. They won’t deprive themselves of it…. you can see some who will soon supplant Methusela in longevity. From this I conclude they must tell themselves, privately: let’s die for ideas, OK, but not too soon” 

Georges Brassens, “To die for ideas”

With the US election concentrating the minds of millions, perhaps billions, of people, some, particularly amongst those in the USA,  seem to be valorising an ideology of martyrdom for the cause of anti-fascism and/or  anti-Trumpism. But martyrdom is inevitably something bestowed on people by those who live on afterwards to bestow it. Like some radical equivalent of awarding someone a posthumous George Cross for gallantry on the field of battle. Fuck that! A dangerous development if it begins to be pursued and adopted by those genuinely furious and fearful about the progress towards totalitarianism, and certainly not dangerous for this frightening future but for those who would like to fight it.

Continue reading Martyrdominoes – Fuck Martyrdom! Thoughts on Michael Reinoehl, John Brown, civil war and martyrdom in general