Greg Johnson

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American neo-Nazi Greg Johnson
Frogs, clowns, and swastikas
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Rebuilding the Reich, one meme at a time
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“”If White Nationalists who claim not to hate other races are honest, then they are living refutations of their own claim that multiracial societies breed hatred. I am living proof that multiracial societies cause racial hatred.
—Greg Johnson as T. C. Lynch as Mike Meehan[1]

Gregory R. Johnson[2] (1971–) (pseudonyms: The Cat Lady, Dr. R. G. Fowler, T. C. Lynch, Trevor Lynch, Mike Meehan[1][3]) is an American white nationalist notable for his support of holocaust denier and "esoteric Hitlerist" Savitri Devi. Johnson runs The Savitri Devi Archive under the pseudonym "Dr. R.G. Fowler".[4] He also runs the Neo-Nazi website Counter-Currents under his own name.[5] About his youth, Johnson stated, "I was a bit of a boy Objectivist, a bit of an asshole, for a couple of years because of that [watching Milton Friedman's Free to Choose program on PBS]." and "somewhat pro-Zionist".[6] He's no longer a libertarian and he's now anti-semitic,[7] but he's become 100% asshole. He received a Ph.D. in philosophy from The Catholic University of America in 2001 ("A commentary on Kant's Dreams of a spirit-seer").[2][8] He taught at colleges for a few years, specializing in Swedenborgian Studies, (Morehouse College, Spelman College, Georgia State University, Pacific School of Religion) before leaving academia permanently.[7]:205,209

Johnson was arrested in 2019 in Norway under the country’s immigration act. Norway's intelligence service told CNN that he was arrested because they considered him "to be a threat, not because of what he could do but because of his hate speech and his previously expressed support for Anders Breivik."[9] Following his arrest, the Center for Swedenborgian Studies at the Pacific School of Religion issued a statement that they were unaware of of his extremist views during his term of employment (2002-2005) and that the Center condemned his views in no uncertain terms.[10]

Content of Counter-Currents[edit]

The guiding principles of Counter-Currents are based on writings of crank metaphysician René Guénon’sWikipedia book, The Crisis of the Modern World.[11] The specific principles are pseudohistorical, specifically cyclical theory and the idea that there was a golden age:[11]

“”
  • History is cyclical, and its prevailing current is downward, declining from a Golden Age through Silver and Bronze Ages to a Dark Age.
  • We live in a Dark Age, in which decadence reigns and all natural and healthy values are inverted.
  • Even in the depths of the Dark Age, there are hidden Golden Age counter-currents: survivals of the past Golden Age that sustain the world and serve as seeds of the Golden Age to come.
  • It is not futile to think and live according to Golden Age principles in the depths of the Dark Age. Indeed, those who do so play an important role in the passage of the Ages.

Johnson's training is strictly speaking in philosophy, not history, although he has claimed legitimately to have expertise in the history of philosophy.[2] This is a case of Ultracrepidarianism.

The idea of living according to "Golden Age principles in the depths of the Dark Age", is reminiscent of Ignatius Reilly, the protagonist of Confederacy of Dunces[12] that is even more pronounced in the neoreactionary movement.

The Counter-Currents was banned from Paypal and Patreon following the aftermath of Unite the Right, and it was also banned from the Amazon Affiliates Program.[1]

White genocide[edit]

See the main article on this topic: White genocide

Johnson is a promoter in the crank white genocide conspiracy theory.[13][14] Although Johnson has eschewed overt calls for violence, such as from William Pierce's The Turner Diaries (a.k.a. "Day of the Rope"),[7]:211[note 1] he advocates "a well-planned, orderly, and humane process of ethnic cleansing."[16] This is duplicitous on the part of Johnson, who is effectively advocating violence by this statement because people do not willingly accede to being ethnically cleansed from their natal homelands and give up their citizenship. The United Nations defines ethnic cleansing as, "a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic or religious group from certain geographic areas."[17]:33

Hegemony of the white races[edit]

Johnson is a fan of the Italian fascist philosopher and rape promoter Julius Evola.[18] He approvingly republished Evola's article "The Hegemony of the White Races". Evola wrote in this article that:[19]

“”The spirit of adventure, the love of risk and the unknown, the sheer pleasure of domination and predation, the desire for great distances were, more than any rational, mercantile, and utilitarian motive, at the origins of white expansion, and were inseparably bound to specific character traits: to a hard will, to coldness, to tenacity, to contempt for life and for death, to an unshakable feeling of superiority. …

Only a return to origins, i.e., to the original attitude that brought whites to world domination — after the elimination of all the detritus of a soulless civilization devoid of ideals, a civilization that worships the idol of mere economy and is founded on the principle of leveling democracy — will allow us to maintain our supremacy. And that means reviving the oceanic symbol, reawakening the will to the infinite and limitless, fueled – so to speak – by the ocean wind, the freedom of enormous distances. This spirit, however, must be mastered by firm discipline and translated into strength hardened like steel. …

Fascist Italy is now a symbol, and has defined the terms of a European alternative. Those nations that will be incapable of following her in accomplishing the miracle of a renewal and a revival in the sense just indicated, are destined to be swept away by the tide that is gradually swelling among the races they once dominated. Whatever the power of those nations may still appear to be today, it is merely the legacy of a spirit that is now dead. Only the other nations, who will answer the call of fascist "youthfulness" and bring back the deep forces of their race to new epic heights, and to a new spirituality permeated with the drive towards limitless, will be part of the new front called upon to defend and reaffirm Western world supremacy.

Johnson also believes that people who discuss past crimes against humanity committed by white people should be punished, essentially advocating for a memory hole:[20]

“”I believe in giving complete blanket pardons to the white people of the past who did bad things. I also believe that a healthy society should not dwell on past injustices. So we should draw a veil over such history and punish people who try to reopen old historical wounds.

Bait-and-switch[edit]

See the main article on this topic: Bait-and-switch

Johnson has engaged in bait-and-switch tactics by hiding his most odious views with pseudonyms. For example in 2003 under the pseudonym T.C. Lynch, he expressed support for ethnic cleansing of Jews on racist and anti-semitic website Vanguard News Network:

“”As for the Jews: There would have to be an entirely different policy. At the very least, all their property should be confiscated. At the very least. There are two reasons for this. First, we should consider it reparations. Second, if they were allowed to keep their wealth, they would immediately use it to stir up trouble against us. Just look at what happened when Adolf Hitler, with the typical excess of kindness that was his greatest flaw, allowed the Jews of Germany to emigrate with their fortunes.
—Greg Johnson as T. C. Lynch[1][21]

In an article with the same title ("To Cleanse America: Some Practical Proposals") by Johnson published on Counter-Currents in 2010, that paragraph was excised; there was no acknowledgement of the previous publication.[22]

See also[edit]

External links[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ↑ Johnson hasn't entirely dissociated himself from Pierce because Pierce is featured on the Counter-Culture website.[15]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 About Greg Johnson Southern Poverty Law Center.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Gregory R. Johnson Pacific School of Religion.
  3. ↑ T.C. Lynch (The Racist Formerly known as "The Cat Lady") Vanguard News Network (archived from December 13, 2020).
  4. ↑ Contact The Savitri Devi Archive (archived from February 16, 2020).
  5. ↑ About Counter-Currents (archived from April 26, 2021).
  6. ↑ Between Two Lampshades: Michael Enoch Interviews Greg Johnson, Part 1 (June 15, 2015) Counter-Currents (archived from 5 Jul 2021 17:55:48 UTC)
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 "Greg Johnson and Counter-Currents" by Graham Macklin (2019) In: Key Thinkers of the Radical Right: Behind the New Threat to Liberal Democracy, edited by Mark Sedgwick. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780190877590. Pages 204-223.
  8. ↑ A commentary on Kant's Dreams of a spirit-seer Worldcat.
  9. ↑ Norway arrests US white supremacist ahead of far-right conference by Vasco Cotovio (1:36 PM EST, Sun November 3, 2019) CNN.
  10. ↑ Statement about Gregory R. Johnson by James F. Lawrence (November 5, 2019) Center for Swedenborgian Studies.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 About Counter-Currents Publishing & North American New Right Counter-Currents (archived from March 31, 2020).
  12. ↑ A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole (1980) Louisiana State University Press. ISBN 0807106577.
  13. ↑ White Genocide by Greg Johnson (September 15, 2015) Counter-Currents (archived from May 21, 2021).
  14. ↑ Counter-Currents Radio Podcast No. 138: “Set Aside Your Humility & Lead”. Ruuben Kaalep Interviews Greg Johnson (2015) Counter-Currents (archived from October 25, 2015).
  15. ↑ William Pierce Counter-Currents (archived from April 20, 2021).
  16. ↑ Restoring White Homelands by Greg Johnson (June 24, 2014) Counter-Currents (archived from January 28, 2021).
  17. ↑ Final Report of the Commission of Experts Established Pursuant to United Nations Security Council Resolution 780 (27 May 1994) United Nations Security Council.
  18. ↑ Steve Bannon’s interest in a thinker who inspired fascism exposes the misogyny of the alt-right by Annalisa Merelli (Published February 22, 2017; Last updated on October 6, 2017) Quartz.
  19. ↑ The Hegemony of the White Races by Julius Evola. Originally published in Corriere Padano on January 6, 1937. Reprinted in Counter-Currents (archived from January 27, 2021).
  20. ↑ “Indigenous” Isn’t Our Term by Robert Hampton (September 29, 2021) Counter-Currents. Greg Johnson comment from September 29, 2021 at 12:37 pm.
  21. ↑ To Cleanse America: Some Practical Proposals by T. C. Lynch (2003) Vanguard News Network (archived from November 27, 2003).
  22. ↑ To Cleanse America: Some Practical Proposals by Greg Johnson (October 27, 2010) Counter-Currents (archived from November 8, 2010).
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