Category Archives: Literature

UPDATE II: Review ‘Into The Cannibal’s Pot’ on Amazon (Homesteading in the New South Africa)

Environmentalism & Animal Rights, GUNS, Ilana Mercer, Literature, Propaganda, South-Africa, Technology

“Into the cannibal’s Pot is brilliant, exceeding all my expectations; it is very courageous of Ilana also to attack the whole notion of ‘democracy.’ This is a much-needed shot at a holy cow.”

– DAN ROODT, Ph.D., noted Afrikaner activist, author, literary critic, director at PRAAG.

The word about my book is spreading—and will continue to spread slowly. But not without your help. I’d like to take the opportunity to ask readers to please review the just-released “Into the Cannibal’s Pot: Lessons For America From Post-Apartheid South Africa,” on Amazon.

Many of you have read “Into the Cannibal’s Pot.” Thank you for the glowing (if somber) messages sent via email and Facebook.

However, a better way to help my work and its mission is to post your reviews to Amazon. Us talking among ourselves will achieve nothing in raising awareness of the issues covered in depth and in detail in the book.

And you don’t have to have purchased the book from Amazon to review it on the site.

The Kindle, e-book version, is available from Amazon too. Please note that you can purchase the lower-cost Kindle copy of “The Cannibal” without having to own a Kindle – all you need is a PC. This hyperlink describes the free Amazon software application for the PC. So you do not require a gadget to read the book on Kindle.

I appreciate your help.

Thanks in advance,

ilana

UPDATE I: THE SILENCE OF CELEBRITIES. Abelard Lindsey: Yes, I read Wilbur Smith’s novels in my teens. How am I to know what he thinks of the reality, as I describe it in my book (which has 800 plus endnotes), or if he thinks about it at all? We know Charlize Theron doesn’t think too hard. Lots of celebrities don’t think. That doesn’t mean you, the reader, should follow suit. Or that you should deduce anything from the silence of celebrities. The fact that a rich dude has a farm in CT, where I’m from, does not mean the “area is not adversely affected.”

The rich are more likely to afford high-quality private security than the average South African, whose right to bears arms has been severely infringed. The sub-chapter titled “Your Home: The ANC’s Castle,” in Chapter One: “Crime, The Beloved Country,” tells of what remains of gun rights in South Africa.

Take your cues from South African celebrity and Afrikaner activist, Steve Hofmeyr.

UPDATE II (June 24): As readers pointed out, the Cape’s demographics are different (and I thought I could duck that one on the blog!) However, it is still a relatively high-crime province when compared to where I live in the Pacific Northwest.

And farms (as I document in my book) are always under threat of expropriation by stealth. How? A “tribe” squats on the farmers property, cuts the fences, steals the crops, kills the livestock in slow torturous ways (cutting the calf muscles…), and claims the land in the newly indigenized courts. That’s homesteading in the New South Africa.

Any animal activists out there? Care about animals? Read the section titled “Killing God’s Creatures” in Chapter 2 of Into the Cannibal’s Pot.

UPDATE III: Naipaul Right About Women Writers

English, Gender, Literature, Music, Pop-Culture, Reason

It is getting harder to tell men from women writers, as males have been so thoroughly feminized over the last couple of decades. Still, Nobel Laureate V.S. Naipaul is correct when he states the following: “I read a piece of writing and within a paragraph or two I know whether it is by a woman or not. I think [it is] unequal to me.” In general, you can indeed tell right away if what you’re reading was penned by a man or a woman. On the whole, the best writers have always been men, still are. I excerpt here from “The Silly Sex?,” in which I was way to kind:

Since 1950, women have won only five Nobels in literature. And some of those are questionable. How can one put Toni Morrison into the literary company of Patrick White, Albert Camus, and Isaac Bashevis Singer? In past years, the literature prize went to authors of the caliber of J. M. Coetzee, Günter Grass, and V.S. Naipaul. But last year, Austrian writer Elfriede Jelinek was awarded the literature prize. I’m not suggesting the grumpy Jelinek is a fraud like Guatemalan leftist and Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchu. Some of Jelinek’s dusty works, translated crudely into English, showcase some skill (if one can stomach the contrived subject matter). However, unlike her male predecessors, she is better known for politically correct posturing than for penning memorable works of literature.

Naipaul fingers women’s “sentimentality, the narrow view of the world … that comes over in her writing too.” True. Sentimentality, moreover, accounts for why women (including those with the Y chromosome) are wont to misplace compassion. If you can’t think clearly, your feelings tend to be muddled and flimsy; your sense of justice is skewed too.

Mundane, mainstream media are furious with Naipaul. This Via NPR:

Alex Clark, a literary journalist, said: “It’s absurd. I suspect VS Naipaul thinks that there isn’t anyone who is his equal. Is he really saying that writers such as Hilary Mantel, A S Byatt, Iris Murdoch are sentimental or write feminine tosh?”

YES! When Vladimir Nabokov, Patrick White and Isaac Bashevis Singer died, I stopped reading novels.

As for non-fiction, Ann Coulter (and this writer) excepted, where is the woman who writes a strong, witty, wickedly funny column? Nowhere. Sure, I like Diana West a lot, but even she suffers from that singularly female proclivity to fixate obsessively on one issue only: Islam this; Islam that. On and on. All terribly important, but it can get repetitive. And that’s another thing: Non-fiction female writers cleave to a couple of easy, oft-charged subjects. Most steer clear of economics. (How many Amity Shlaes are there?) They simply don’t seem to have a wide array of interests. (I’ve covered Ann Coulter’s awful acolytes in many a blog post, “The Republican Tart Trust” is one.)

I’ll tell you what I’ve discovered, though: men generally prefer women who’re sentimental and unhinged, so long as they don’t have a better head than they do.

UPDATE I (June 3): Cross-posted on Facebook:

Has any of my Hebrew-speaking readers read Shmuel Yosef Agnon? Pure genius. Better than Naipaul. He was, of course, widely translated, as is all Hebrew literature. A translation would not do justice to Agnon’s use of the Hebrew language. But this was required reading when I was growing up. The current crop of Hebrew writers is as bad as their English, stream-of-consciousness counterparts.

Agnon was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1966, well before honoring females, however forgettable, became the rule.

UPDATE II: Myron, Ayn rand was one of the greatest essayists, showcasing a brilliant, unparalleled capacity to development a logical argument. But one would be less than honest as a writer—and fall into sycophancy—if one failed to mention that her style was a little dour, lacking in any humor. The classical liberal philosopher DAVID CONWAY alludes to this fact here.

UPDATE III: Rob, I do think Brookner is a genius. I devour her books. I discussed her with Derb, who, in my opinion, has mistaken her subject matter—the utter aloneness of a certain kind of character—for some sort of feminine preoccupation. However, Brookner has written equally of males in this predicament. I ventured that because our Derb is such a suave, confident gentleman, he does not empathize with the kind of person who is as alone as Brookner’s protagonists are. Needles to say, I do.

UPDATE VI: ‘Lights Out’ ILANA?

Ann Coulter, Ilana Mercer, IlanaMercer.com, Literature, South-Africa, The Zeitgeist

If you are a new to IlanaMercer.com and its sister site, BarelyABlog.com, welcome! Read a better rounded biographical and professional exposé here. In brief:

I am a US-based, classical liberal writer. I pen WorldNetDaily.com’s longest-standing, exclusive, libertarian, weekly column, “Return to Reason.” With a unique audience of 8 million, WND.COM has been rated by Alexa as the most frequented “conservative” site on the Internet. Formerly syndicated by Creators Syndicate, I also contribute to London’s Quarterly Review. I am a fellow at the Jerusalem Institute for Market Studies, an independent, non-profit economic policy think tank.

Millions have read this writer’s work over the years on WND.COM (ranked 2,855th on the internet rater, Alexa).

Here is some easily digestible data on the reach of the work done at IlanaMercer.com and BarelyABlog.com.

Barely a Blog (BAB) is ranked 194,834 th on Alexa, globally. That would make BAB number 30 (or thereabouts) on the list of “Libertarian Top 50 Sites.” A ranking of 214,628 th on Alexa shows that IlanaMercer.com is also on the ascendancy. A little over 6 months on Facebook have netted close to 2600 Facebook Friends. Expanding too is the Facebook Fan page of my latest book, Into the Cannibal’s Pot: Lessons For America From Post-Apartheid South Africa. Please log-in to “Like” The Cannibal. To read The Cannibal is to love it. Guaranteed. To review this book on Amazon is to support what I believe will prove to be a prophetic and important text.

Not bad for a one-woman operation.

In a gracious note to this writer, the one and only Patrick J. Buchanan wrote: “I believe your book is being sold [or bundled on Amazon] along with my new book, ‘Suicide of a Superpower: Will America survive to 2025.’ … my 18,000-word chapter on ethnonationalism and tribalism and the surge of both throughout the Third World—as well as our own declining world—tracks pretty much with what you wrote …

Every bit as gratifying to this writer was a courtesy copy of “Suicide of a Superpower,” thus inscribed: “To Ilana Mercer: Fellow Columnist and Fellow Conservative, with The Respect and good wishes of The Author.”

Still and all, to say that the publication process of Into the Cannibal’s Pot: Lessons For America From Post-Apartheid South Africa has been punishing would be an understatement. From it, I’ve drawn certain conclusions as to the future of the independent, not-for-sale public intellectual. I will not act on these realizations for the time being. Let a cooling-off period prevail. But to state that I have come close to quitting what I do—what I have done for well over a decade since arriving in North America—would be a misleading subtlety.

Bluntly put: without the support of my readers, also my financial backers, I would have given up a long time ago. I’ll share with you this small thing: I now have proof positive that, however good, nothing I write is likely to be acceptable to mainstream, “conservative” publishing presses. With very few exceptions, most of what is published by this bunch, who masquerade as edgy and gritty, amounts to politically palatable pabulum. Regurgitated “ideas” and received opinion: this is what the conservative presses peddle. Exhibit A is Ann Coulter, who has just released her umpteenth “Democrats-are-demons-Republicans-are-angels” tract. (Most conservative books are way worse than Coulter’s as she, at least, doesn’t produce badly edited, piss-poor prose.)

As I’ve said, painful realizations as to the value of this writer’s work in this particular age must be put off for now. At least until the job is done. That job consists in popularizing Into the Cannibal’s Pot: Lessons For America From Post-Apartheid South Africa, so that it can become a voice for the dispossessed.

Naturally, there are bills to be paid.

If you value my work and wish me to continue producing it despite ever-diminishing returns, please support the sites and their proprietor, and, of course, purchase a copy of Into the Cannibal’s Pot, and review the book on Amazon.

UPDATE I (May 17, 2011): I don’t wish to spoil future reading for you; I provide specifics about publishing in the Age of the Idiot in the Preface to Into the Cannibal’s Pot. Understand: This is not about the rejection of The Cannibal by a cowardly mainstream conservative press posing as non-mainstream. Books and book proposals are rejected every day. I’ve been in this “business” long enough to know that much. My disgust at the described state of affairs, and the ensuing conclusion about my future in the context detailed, has been exacerbated by the fact that almost to a man did these publishers praise this writer’s efforts. The stated reasons for shrugging off the ethnic cleansing of the shrinking, white, rural community of South Africa had nothing to do with the quality of the polemic, which, as I say, was almost unanimously commended. The excuses ran the following gamut:

This writer had no following worth mentioning. Yes, YOU do not count! Six months on Facebook put the lie to that lie.

Another excuse had it that Americans (YOU again) don’t give a tinker’s toss about anything beyond their borders (not even when the monsters they elect help bring about these catastrophes)—not about the Iraqis they helped liberate from limbs and lives, or for some South African farmer abandoned to the mercies of mob rule at the urging of DC schemers.

All in all, it used to be that publishers saw fit to lead the way; to raise interest, and create demand through the publication endeavor. Their aim these days, however, is to do no more than satiate a lurid craving for the literary equivalent of American idol and Oprah.

UPDATE II (May 18, 2011): Contemplationist and all the rest: Talk is cheap. Spare me the “You go, girl” pep talks. Unless those who make use of this site and value the work done here begin to support it—the whole thing will cease. This will give my enemies great pleasure (you’ll be surprised how many of them are in the “liberty” camp). But, contrary to what some here seem to believe, I am not in the charity business. This degree of self-sacrifice is no fun and is bad for one’s health. If there is no demand for what I do; then I will stop doing it and wearing myself down in the process.

Contributors to this blog should also please provide their email addresses (which always remain anon), in accordance with Posting Policy, and subscribe to the Mercer Mailing List

UPDATE III (May 23, 2011): GOING BLOND. GS’s email is amusing:

[mailto:gc]
Sent: Sunday, May 22, 2011 7:41 PM
To: ilana@ilanamercer.com
Subject: Light’s out Ilana?

“You could dye your hair blonde, lose your accent, get implants, shave 20 points off your IQ & wear a little black dress to all public social functions. You’d probably be a regular on ‘Fox and Friends’ within the month but I expect you might find this unpalatable. Also, you’d earn the undying envy of Megyn Kelly. That could be dangerous.”

UPDATE IV (Aug. 9, 2011): ‘LIBERTARIAN TOP 50 SITES’ ‘MISSES’ MERCER. Read the post, and email the hosts.

The author of IlanaMercer.com and Barely a Blog has never sought what one wag called “the warm smell of the herd.” However, the problem with those who think they can wish-away an individual’s substantial, indubitably classical liberal, output (this work included) is this: One day not so far away, they’ll look bad. Maybe even a little malevolent. Their credibility is at stake, not my 14 years of writing in the cause of liberty.

Disses and difficulties aside, my gratitude goes to my regular contributors; you know who you are. The letters reproduced below are the latest in many hundreds received over the years. Unfortunately, words won’t cut it anymore. If you value my commentary as well as the unique community we’ve created together on this space; if you appreciate the time I spend in crafting original, topical commentary, keeping the Comments Forum open for your venting; responding to Comments, and ensuring exchanges remain civil, respectful and grammatical—please show your appreciation.

UPDATE V (Aug. 23, 2011): GOLD AS BONA FIDE. If devotees of Austrian economics had a support group in every state, here is how I’d introduce myself: “ILANA MERCER, author of ‘Into the Cannibal’s Pot,’ and WND.COM’s longest-standing (possibly most predictive), exclusive, libertarian column. Gold-bug since $800.”













From: Michael
Sent: Sunday, April 10, 2011 10:41 AM
To: ilana@ilanamercer.com
Subject:

Ilana,

I admire your ability to write clearly and concisely. However, the icing on the cake for me is your ability to turn a phrase. Sometimes they are hilarious and other times they carry a richness; an intellectual heft I understand but could never create on my own. I also admire the fact that you are fluent at least in English and Hebrew. You’re one smart chick! I don’t know of many writers who can write about Brownian motion and actually know what it means!

Until the last few years I’ve considered myself a “conservative with libertarian leanings”. Your writing and resources in your blog site are helping me understand why I’ve had these libertarian leanings all these years. Because of your articles and some of the words of Myron Pauli I’m rethinking my whole attitude toward the post-World War II application of force in our foreign policy. The outcomes in both Iraq and Afghanistan concern me. Did we sacrifice the lives of our young men on the altar of creating Islamic Republics under the ruse of exporting democracy? The law of unintended consequences has played a huge role in the aftermaths of our “adventures” in the Middle East and Southwest Asia.

Have a blessed Passover,

Michael

From: Kerry
Sent: Wednesday, February 23, 2011 12:58 PM
To: ilana@ilanamercer.com
Subject: (No Subject)

Dear Ilana,
I would just like to thank you for all your work you’ve done and continue to do. You are the most coherent, intelligent and readable ambassador of libertarian, Old-Right thought writing today. The fact that you are never asked to be on Fox news (or Fox Business) is rather telling, since they claim to champion truth in a “fair and balanced” package. It seems one has to be a neoconservative statist or an establishment, left-leaning libertarian to get any air time with them.
All the best,
Kerry

From: Len
Sent: Friday, February 18, 2011 9:45 PM
To: ilana@ilanamercer.com
Subject: Wow!!

Dear Ms. Ilana Mercer,

You are a shining beacon of TRUTH in an otherwise dark, evil, crazy world. I do not have the vocabulary (as you do) to convey the knowledge I gain from your articles. I have been reading your articles since 2004, when I was in Iraq working for KBR and wrote you an email chastising you for an article on George W. Bush and his neocon practices. You wrote back within hours and explained your reasoning behind your belief and it changed the way I look at the world’s politicians. As the old saying goes, I saw the light! I have just finished your article “Media’s Sickening Sentimentality On Egypt.” I was thinking, as I watched it unfold on my laptop (I’m back in Iraq working again), along the same lines your article talked about, and I thought: Wow!! You hit the nail square on the head. Another old saying. I wanted to let you know my appreciation for your wisdom and thinking that has changed the way I look at the world! Thank you!!
Sincerely a reader for life!
Len
Basra, Iraq

From: Robert
Sent: Friday, May 13, 2011 10:13 AM
To: imercer@wnd.com
Subject: Aid to Israel

Beloved Queen Ester (aka I Mercer),

How right you are concerning the aid to Israel. As one that was in the biz of providing the direct support thru foreign military aid (FMS) during my tenure with the Department of Defense in Denver, I can attest first-hand to the control of that country through strings attached to aid. … I had the opportunity to travel to the Israeli Mission in Manhattan to audit the contracts let with those same funds. In doing so, I was able to meet the most able and influential folks within the mission and visually confirm that they are some of the most capable and ethically sound reps Israel has in service to their country.

Just keep on keeping on young lady. You do good stuff. Being a good evangelical Christian that I am, I do love Israel and always hope for her well-being. Not only is it scripturally sound, it makes good sense (cents) to pray for her continuation. You just do what you do best and write down for future generations the wisdom you have at your disposal.

As an old geezer now, I still think you ought to remind your husband what a lovely jewel he has in you. May The Almighty Father keep you in his loving care.

UPDATED: The Babes Leading The Blind

English, Free Markets, Human Accomplishment, Intelligence, Literature, Pop-Culture, Pseudoscience, The Zeitgeist

With apologies in advance to all non-human primates. In the quest for the lowest common denominator, mainstream American publishers will publish the musings of a monkey, or worse: a small boy. Colton Burpo, barely out of short pants, is the “author” of a best seller, “Heaven is for Real.” ALLEGEDLY, this “four-year old son of a small town Nebraska pastor, during emergency surgery, slips from consciousness and enters heaven. He survives and begins talking about being able to look down and see the doctor operating and his dad praying in the waiting room. The family didn’t know what to believe but soon the evidence was clear.'” Yeah, I kid you not.

The only scientific variable worth noting in this equation is the fact of a father with a vested interest in the belief system. (Hypothesis: Boys whose fathers believe are more likely to develop after-life ideation than boys whose parents don’t believe. Examine whether the difference between the groups is statistically significant.)

The same awe accorded to the Nobel Savage and to the natural world is accorded in American culture to The Child, who is seen as possessing uncanny prescience; a primordial, pristine, un-spoilt wisdom.

Heaven help us! Errant adults elevate infants as philosopher kings.

I love the free market, as was said here, but faith in the free market need not require a nearly equal faith in popular culture. Why does it follow that a product produced and exchanged in the process of making a living must inspire faith? More often than not, the marketplace doesn’t adjudicate the quality of art, pop culture, or literature. The market does no more than offer an aggregate snapshot of the trillions of subjective preferences enacted by consumers.

Aguilera (Christina) sells more than Ashkenazy (Vladimir) ever did. Britney and Burpo outdo Borodin. For some, this will be faith inspiring, for others deeply distressing.

Seriously, that America’s adults are reading this tripe (and bopping in front of a TV screen using Microsoft Kinect) goes a long way to explain a hell of a lot.

UPDATED: Guys, you’re missing the point: the problem here is not the issue of faith in the afterlife; it’s the publishing of this tyke. A nation that looks to kids for spiritual, intellectual, and moral guidance is a nation without any idea of ordered liberty, which demands a certain hierarchy in terms of age, intelligence, experience, knowledge, etc. It’s something the Japanese know about. Adults should not be reading books written by kids.