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Black Metal Lord Attends
Quaker Meeting
(and Discovers the
Victorian Capitalists)
Alex Kurtagic
July 14, 2009
Christopher Donovan’s recent article,
Notes from Central Pennsylvania: The Very Long Arm of
Egalitarian Propaganda, reminded me of the
time I attended a Quaker meeting here in England, sometime in early 2004. Back
then, I lived in one of two lonely rural cottages and had as my neighbor a
recently divorced former police sergeant, G., who described herself as ‘a Jesus
nut’. Despite my being the director of a radical Black Metal record label, we
were on neighborly terms, and I would talk to her about eugenics and she would
talk to me about her work helping homeless teenagers. G., a Baptist, was
skeptical of institutional Christianity, but she did enjoy attending church
services, and was an indefatigable proselytizer, to the point where she operated
under the assumption that, if you were not a Christian, this was not because you
did not agree with Christianity (that was impossible), but because you had not
had Jesus’ message correctly delivered to you. To this effect, she attempted, by
inviting me on three different occasions to one or another church service (each
time of a different denomination), to see if she could find a form of
Christianity that would appeal to me. I knew her purpose, but I agreed to come
along anyway, as, having been raised a Catholic, and having an incurable
scientific disposition, I saw this — why not? — as an opportunity to observe up
close some of the less well-known denominations.
On the appointed day, I met
up with G. in the center of Guildford, where the Religious Society of Friends
(as the Quakers, or Friends, designate themselves) has a meeting house, situated
at the top of North Street, and at the bottom of a solitary and rarely noticed
side alley. My incursion into Quaker territory did not begin well, for the
entrance hall leading to the interior was decorated with shelves groaning under
the weight of stackfuls of leaflets, making emotional appeals to combat poverty
and disease in Africa and the rest of the Third World. Whenever I see this type
of literature, I roll my eyes, for I consider it an attack directed against me:
Even if the Christians mean well with these initiatives, there is always a
subtext of White guilt and an odious crypto-Marxist anti-White guilt-mongering
message lurking beneath the surface. The sponsorship of such literature is
inevitable in a militant Christian setting, however, given the emphasis
conventional interpretations of Christian doctrine place on charity, humility,
self-abnegation, confession, and repentance; and the way these values harmonize
with the politically correct discourse in the contemporary West.
The meeting itself was an intriguing experience. There were only around seven to
ten persons in attendance. Each took a seat along a circle of plastic chairs,
and sat in expressionless silence. They were not attired in their Sunday best,
as is often the case with Catholic services: They were plain in dress, style,
and appearance. There was no décor on the walls or anywhere else. The meeting
began and ended without ceremony, and consisted of maybe forty minutes of
Friends sitting in silent meditation, with only one interruption, courtesy of
the gentleman seated next to me, who at one point decided to share a thought
with his coreligionists (the thought — known as ‘vocal ministry’ among Friends —
was listened to, but not verbally, gutturally, or even gesturally acknowledged).
17th-century Quakers
Although I had researched the movement in advance and was prepared for what I encountered, I still could not help but admire Quakerism’s extreme nonconformity and radical purity in matters of worship. In a perverse way, it was not unlike the more orthodox and reactionary forms of Black Metal, a very extreme form of Heavy Metal, whose minimalism and austere aesthetics are consequent to the genre’s fundamentalist notions of ideological purity, Nietzschean artistic praxis, and anti-commercial integrity.
What was most interesting to me, however (and the reason I was especially keen on observing modern, real-life Quakers), was the fact that this tiny sect — not unlike modern Jews elsewhere — had played a hugely important economic role in Victorian England. While researching Quakerism, I was astonished to discover, given the movement’s 17th-century origins as a breakaway of English Puritanism, that many of the most iconic trademarks today belong to companies with Quaker origins: Barclays Bank; Lloyds Bank; Clark’s shoes; Cadbury, Fry’s, and Rowntrees chocolates; Bryant and May matches; Huntley and Palmers biscuits; Wedgwood china; Truman and Hambury's brewery; Swan Hunter (ship builders); and even Price Waterhouse (but not Quaker Oats!). This is an extraordinary record of achievement, given that some of these companies were founded as family concerns hundreds of years ago.
To understand the key their success, and subsequent
decline, we must first understand the Quaker system of beliefs. There
is no space here for a complete theological summary, however, so I will simply
focus on the aspects that are important in relation to my ensuing discussion of
the Quaker Victorian capitalists.
The early Quakers longed for a return to a way of life in accord with their
interpretations of the early Christian communities. Accordingly, an important
aspect of Quakerism is the conception of Christ as an Inner Light, directly
available to all people, without the need for mediation through clergy, rituals,
or outward sacraments.
Another is the concept of Quaker or Friends’ testimonies: the view and attitudes
through which Quakers testify to their beliefs and relate to God and the world.
Although the latter are not comprised of static formulas, may be understood in
different ways, may go by different names, and may include different values in
different places and at different times, the underlying ideology among Quakers
is fairly consistent, and the testimonies themselves (which are often
interrelated) can be seen as a coherent philosophical system.
Common testimonies include peace, equality, integrity (or truth), simplicity, community, and stewardship. To this effect,
ˇ Quakers have from the beginning deplored violence, and some nowadays refuse to pay the portion of their income taxes that funds the military, preferring to donate the money to pacifist charities.
ˇ Quakers avoid styles and honorific titles, preferring familiar forms of the second person pronoun; and have historically resisted ‘hat honor’ (the practice of taking off one’s hat as a sign of respect to others).
ˇ Quakers were early believers in the equality of the sexes; and were the first Western organization to abolish slaveholding and call for the emancipation of slaves. Since all humans are equal and have the divine spark within them, they detest exploitation.
ˇ Quakers believe in following the leading of the Spirit, irrespective of challenges and urges to deviate or compromise. This has motivated them not only to give due credit to third parties and accept responsibility for their actions and their results, but to be scrupulous in not misleading others, even if all of the words used are technically truthful. (Hence, the Quaker preference for ‘affirmation’, rather than shaking hands to agree on a deal.) This also accounts for the refusal to swear oaths, even when legally required to do so, on the basis that a Quaker must speak the truth at all times, even if it is difficult, and an oath implies that there may be different standards of truth. Early Quakers also made it a point to set fixed prices for goods and services, rather than set high prices and then haggle with the buyer, as they objected to the idea of setting a dishonest price to begin with. Other Quaker practices have included the avoidance of credit (it is wrong to spend beyond one’s means); giving employers’ the right amount of labor for pay, and, conversely, giving employees the fair pay for their labor; confronting lapses of integrity in oneself and others; saying difficult things with tact and hearing difficult sayings with grace; protecting one’s reputation for honesty, integrity, and fidelity; and scrupulously looking after things entrusted in one’s care.
ˇ
Quakers practice
plainness in dress, believing that a concern for fashion is not only wasteful
and frivolous, but perpetuates social hierarchies by emphasizing differences in
material conditions among people. (This does not mean Quakers today look like
the gentleman in the Quaker Oats logo, or that they continue to dress as they
did in the 17th century — that is a common misconception; Quakerism allows plain
modern dress. Having said this, there are some conservative practitioners /
fetishists who cultivate the archaic look for a wide variety of reasons,
including non-theological ones, such as re-enforcing ingroup/outgroup identity.
Finally, and probably the most important aspect of Quakerism in the context of this article, is the fact that William Penn’s religion allowed Quakers to live in and with this world, and encouraged success in it … for many their diligence quickly resulted in material prosperity. Prosperity and success were considered to reflect God’s approval and were therefore encouraged. (Johnson, Diane C., Quakerism and Colonial Portraiture, in Quaker Aesthetics, Emma Jones Lapsansky and Anne A. Verplanck (Editors), University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002)
The combination of these various and other aspects, along with the fact that Quakers, because they were relatively unpopular and barred from a number of professions, intermarried and developed extensive family networks, proved a successful formula in early Modernity. Firstly, their belief in integrity made Quakers attractive business partners, for it earned them a reputation as honest, trustworthy, and reliable traders and bankers. Secondly, their beliefs led them to provide their workers with better — or, they would say, fair — work and conditions than were common during the Industrial Revolution. Finally, because they believed in simplicity, their work ethic and familial interconnectedness fomented the rapid growth of their collective wealth by discouraging extravagance, concentrating talent, and minimizing the need to outsource.
It is a shame that people with such commendable qualities and virtuous practices were not able to hold on to their industries. Even if in a Quaker society my business would have been ostracized for catering to radical pagan sensibilities, I think the world would be a better place today had, for example, banking remained in Quaker hands. Certainly, ordinary citizens would have benefited from a banking industry that strictly and rigorously adhered to the Testimony of Integrity. And, perhaps, even, the timely and widespread Quakerization of industry, and the timely condemnation and abolition of the abuses recorded by Friedrich Engels during the Industrial Revolution, could very well have robbed Marxism of an important driver to its appeal.
Yet, from the very beginning, Quakerism had within it the seeds of its own
destruction. Its belief in equality has led adherents of the religion to adopt
practices that are maladaptive in the modern world, where the fastest-growing
self-identified racial groups are not only poor, hostile, and to a significant
degree wanting in qualities essential for the prosperity and correct functioning
of European societies, but practice moral particularism and actively engage in
resource competition. Thus, the campaign to emancipate slaves that Quakers
spearheaded in previous centuries has evolved into endless modern campaigns to
aid and develop the Third World — a practice that, as I have
argued
before, is a futile and dangerous exercise, whose long-term consequences
conclude with the White man’s extinction and the end of European civilization.
Like many — if not most — of the philosophical and religious movements that
originated in the West, Quakerism is a tonic in a homogeneous society, but
becomes a toxin the moment that society becomes multiracial. Nature is not kind
to egalitarians, and in the long run it has not materially rewarded Quakerism.
Does this reflect God’s disapproval?
In this context it can be said that one of Quakerism’s main shortcomings is the fact that it is provincial: In other words, it assumes that all peoples, all over the world, are exactly like its founders. If Judaism has been more successful, it is perhaps because it never made such an assumption: Judaism, always international, more realistically assumes that Jews are exactly like its founders, and that all other peoples, all over the world, are different — and that, therefore, Jews should be wary of them.
In the pre-industrial age, geographical isolation was greater than it became in modern times, as transport was slow and journeys were dangerous. This allowed European and European-descended communities — particularly those settled away from urban centers (as was the case for the majority) — to thrive in a state of relative demographic segregation. Universalist, egalitarian ideologies were not especially dangerous in this geographical and sociobiological context. Today, however, they are lethal, and have, accordingly, been commandeered by hostile ethnic activists and agitators as a weapon of mass dissolution. This means that, if we as European-descended peoples are to survive as a distinct subspecies of human, any religion, ideology, or philosophical system that we formulate now and in the future, must take into account the diversified nature of humanity, and the fact that what we consider important and worthwhile will not always find equal favor among peoples whose cultures reflect their own unique (and often very different) suite of talents, proclivities, and sensibilities.
A sociobiological analysis of the economic rise and fall of Quakerism contains important lessons for Christians, pagans, and atheists alike.
Alex Kurtagic (
Permanent link:
http://www.theoccidentalobserver.net/authors/Kurtagic-Quakers.html
