Becoming a Barbarian Quotes

“There are no true enemies, only potential allies — hearts and minds yet to be won, “peaceful people” being deprived of their natural right to fast food, wall-to-wall carpet and high definition pornography. There are no more statues of heroes because no true villains can be acknowledged. There is no Beowulf because there are no monsters or dragons — only outsiders who are disenfranchised and misunderstood. Monuments can only be raised to mythic martyred unifiers like Jesus Christ or Martin Luther King or Abraham Lincoln. This”
― Jack Donovan, Becoming a Barbarian

“Negative information about immigrants and minority groups is covered up by egalitarians or so legally perilous to talk about in some parts of the West that the polite and well-meaning nation of Sweden has become known as the rape capital of Europe. Instead of dealing with the problem, the Swedes obscure and talk around it and many have simply accepted it as the “new normal.” Self-defense”
― Jack Donovan, Becoming a Barbarian

“Life is conflict; peace is death. Forces of chaos keep the cycles of history moving.”
― Jack Donovan, Becoming a Barbarian

“Flag-wavers often say, “If you don’t like my country, then leave.” But there is nowhere to go. There is no escape.”
― Jack Donovan, Becoming a Barbarian

“To be a barbarian today is to draw your own perimeter and build social networks and reciprocal relationships that are not dictated or controlled by the Empire.”
― Jack Donovan, Becoming a Barbarian

“If you're going to be a master of your own life and your own world, you choose your values.”
― Jack Donovan, Becoming a Barbarian

“Politics becomes even more of a magnet for self-aggrandizing sociopaths and liars than it already tends to be by nature, and men with no meaningful political power or authority waste their time and energy trying to convince complete strangers to convert to their way of thinking, even when those strangers have different group identities, different religious beliefs, and completely incompatible or opposing ideas about what is good or “best in life.”
― Jack Donovan, Becoming a Barbarian

“Evaluating and altering the way you use the word “we” in speech, thought and writing is the simplest, yet also one of the most profound changes you can make in your everyday life to secede psychologically from the global collective and become a barbarian.”
― Jack Donovan, Becoming a Barbarian

“Better to live vigorously, better to fight, than to simply wait for the end...in peace.”
― Jack Donovan, Becoming a Barbarian

“For instance, while writing this, I was summoned to attend jury duty. Throughout the jury selection process, coordinators and judges reminded us how important our presence was, and how deeply they and the State of Oregon appreciated our service. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Oregon and several judges who may or may not have been actors thanked us via video. The big joke of it was that attending jury service is mandatory and my summons threatened me with the possibility of being held in contempt of court for non-compliance. That pretty much sums up how the state “appreciates” its citizens. “We”
― Jack Donovan, Becoming a Barbarian

“The collapse may be imminent and its doomsayers may be vindicated, but waiting for the world to start is not the same as starting it.”
― Jack Donovan, Becoming a Barbarian

“The Empire sells superficial identities that are fleeting, synthetic, empty and unsatisfying. In a world of single, spoiled boys who have been able to walk away from any commitment or association — lifetime brotherhood is a radical idea. Collective honor is a radical idea. Working to help people you know and care about instead of strangers is a radical idea. The”
― Jack Donovan, Becoming a Barbarian

“People are always rattling on about what "we" should do, whether they are talking about "their" country or "their" race or all of humanity or some other abstract group of humans who don't give a damn what they think about anything.

Who is "We?" Who can you legitimately speak for? Who cares what you say?

If you don't know, you're just running your mouth. You're just some guy yelling at the TV during a football game. Your "we" can't hear you and if they could, they wouldn't care anyway.”
― Jack Donovan, Becoming a Barbarian

“Assholes who run into trouble all the time probably run into trouble because they are assholes. There”
― Jack Donovan, Becoming a Barbarian

“While I try to avoid it, I’m sure I’ve recently — perhaps even somewhere in this book — included myself as an American or a white man or a Westerner by using the word “we.” It’s a convenient shorthand. However, I have been careful about my use of collective speech, working through roughly the same thought process described above, for several years now. When I mean the American government, I say “the American government.” I do this because I’ve come to the conclusion that the American government is a “them,” not a “we.” As the old saying goes: “say what you mean and mean what you say.” So”
― Jack Donovan, Becoming a Barbarian

“The universalism of today, the universalism that can only condemn those who condemn and separate those who separate is the product of global commerce. The one true god of the universalist is Mammon, and he embraces anyone with cash who doesn’t scare away other customers. This is why we are told to accept the unacceptable, to condemn religions that condemn, to share cultures with everyone as if they belong to no one, to deny all racial affinity, to pretend that men and women are interchangeable. Because exclusion is bad for business. If”
― Jack Donovan, Becoming a Barbarian

“As demographics in America have changed, the big studios have rushed to include actors that reflect those demographics. There is no cultural hegemony emanating from a particular people with a particular identity, merely a profit-driven system of production that responds to changes in the market, with the aim of reaching the most consumers possible. The only culture being imposed through this mechanism is anti-culture — moral and cultural universalism that dissolves social boundaries to make the maximum number of consumers feel included. While”
― Jack Donovan, Becoming a Barbarian

“Western men are supposed to constantly ask women for permission and make sure women don’t feel threatened or undermined in any way. When”
― Jack Donovan, Becoming a Barbarian

“Good, modern, civilized Western white men are so easily cowed by charges of bias and privilege that they work tirelessly to outdo each other with social displays of moral universalism — by cucking themselves in every way imaginable. Western”
― Jack Donovan, Becoming a Barbarian

“It has always been the job of men to separate “us” from “them,” and to police and protect the boundaries of the band, tribe, kingdom or nation. The function of women has always been to unify the tribe from within, to nurture positive relationships, to make everyone feel wanted and included, and to care for and empathize with the young, the old, the sick and the wounded.”
― Jack Donovan, Becoming a Barbarian

“Do the other people in this group know that they are in a group with you? Would the other people in this group acknowledge you as a representative member? What would other members of this group do for you if you needed help? What would you do for them, if they needed help? Do the majority of the people in this group share your values? Are you sure?”
― Jack Donovan, Becoming a Barbarian

“Becoming a barbarian — becoming the kind of man who can belong to a tribe — requires a level of commitment that makes “good, modern, civilized men” uncomfortable.”
― Jack Donovan, Becoming a Barbarian

“People are always rattling on about what "we" should do, whether they are talking about "their" country or "their" race or all of humanity or some other abstract group of humans who don't give a damn what they think about anything.

Who is "We?" Who can you legitimately speak for? Who cares what you say?

If you don't know, you're just running our mouth. You're just some guy yelling at the TV during a football game. Your "we" can't hear you and if they could, they wouldn't care anyway.”
― Jack Donovan, Becoming a Barbarian