(This story was written in response to the prompt: ”Sam was a rude and closed minded individual, often times blurting out racist remarks in disgust of all people, though he was quite a filthy fellow himself” by Johnny Munney)
From the Southern Poverty Law Center’s “Extremist Files” brief on Samuel Eckardsly
Summary:
Samuel Eckardsly is an ordained Southern Baptist Minister and Cultural Historian with an M.A. from Columbia, who is well regarded in white supremacist circles for his calls for a “Vigorous Defense of Western Civilization” in academic and scholarly settings. While he denies being racially motivated, his speeches and his books, most particularly “Cultural Decadence and Sublimated Civilization,” are often seen as providing cover for groups that espouse Christian Identity and forums such as Stormfront. While his work acknowledges the value of other cultures in the abstract, it claims that there is a “direct, vital, and tangible” superiority to western values, which are in danger on the world stage, and that these must be “sublimated to in order to be participated in.”
Quotes:
“You can only believe in what you surrender to. Everything else is for show.” – “Cultural Decadence and Sublimated Civilization,” page 21
“Civilization requires a common direction. Without it, you have decadence at best, barbarism at worst, and always some kind of perversion. The goals of a civilization need not be moral, often are not, but mankind does not advance through moral acts (though it is at its best when it does). It advances through vision: cultural evolution is a spear in flight, and it must be aimed. Decadence is throwing paint at a wall and hoping it turns into art. Barbarism is throwing blood on a wall for reasons of superstition. Now, tell me the truth: which sounds most like the West: in the heyday of the Roman period? The Enlightenment? The Industrial Revolution? And which sounds most like our civilization today? Our existence as a common enemy makes our foes strong, while our refusal to defend what we have done and the values behind it, is a kind of suicide pact made by a society where ‘individualism’ and ‘diversity’ have come to be seen as such virtues that the very act of sublimating oneself to a larger purpose – the first and fundamental act of any culture and civilization – is viewed with scorn by an decadent elite who would rather be clever than right.” – Speech to the H.L. Mencken Club, 2012
“You cannot enforce politeness, decency, or any virtue beyond the martial through force or oppression. You can only do it by presenting a case so charismatic that these graces are surrendered to. That surrender is the essence of civilization, those who will not surrender will always be outsiders, and often enemies” – “Cultural Decadence and Sublimated Civilization,” page 58
Background:
Born 1951 Kentucky, Eckardsly came to study the clash of cultures he saw first hand during his childhood: miners against owners, old Appalachian families against newcomers, and in particular the rise of the civil rights movement and its impact on disrupting established order and creating what he later termed a “higher order culture clash.” Continue reading From the Southern Poverty Law Center’s “Extremist Files” brief on Samuel Eckardsly →