With social media and sensationalist journalism, it can be hard to distinguish real news from fake ones. It is times like these where uncertainty can cause mass hysteria. People may feel out of control, and as a result, conspiracy theories are born.
Many whistleblowers are warning the world that a great genocide is happening under our very noses. These whistleblowers claim that there is an invading army already occupying much of the Western World and taking its women, destroying its culture, and plundering its wealth. However, not a single shot has been fired and no war on such a catastrophic level is happening, so what are these people talking about? They are talking about the Great Replacement Theory. The invading army are, in fact, the millions of non-white migrants from third world countries immigrating into white regions which are Europe and North America. With declining white birth rates, increasingly non-white younger generations, and the push for pro-immigration to replace the declining white population, many theorize that whites are being genocided through replacement by a conspiracy of globalist shadow elites who are Jewish, communist, or Chinese. This begs a series of questions: are whites actually being genocided? is there a secret global shadow government? and who is behind this? or is this a natural chain of events due to changing times?
Image from CNN, regarding the Buffalo shooting in May.
Character Analysis
It is horrifying to think that, even in the 21st century, humanity cannot set aside a simple difference of skin, eye, or hair colour. Just about month ago, as of writing, a racially motivated shooting in a largely African grocery store occured and ten innocent lives were lost in Buffalo, New York (Thompson et al. 1). The shooter, Payton Gendron, an 18-year-old white man, allegedly planned the attack at least as early as November of last year, and was motivated by the alt-right, anti-Semitic, white supremacist “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory (Hamilton and Wiener 1). Who could be behind this conspiracy theory, so commonly hailed by right wing groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazis? The very infamous conspiracy theory is very often accredited to Renaud Camus, a French author born in 1946 (Brockell 1). At first, Renaud Camus seems to fit the right-wing European stereotype; he is anti-immigrant and supports Marine Le Pen and Eric Zemmour. However, that is as far as it goes.
Renaud Camus is very progressive. His parents “disowned him when he told them he was gay” (Brockell 1). In his twenties, he would participate in many protests in favor of civil rights for homosexuals. Renaud Camus was a very influential gay writer as well. He wrote many novels and articles about homosexual erotic affairs. He was also socialist (Brockell 1). Because he does things and holds many views that are generally left wing, it would not be fair to blame Camus for all the racial violence or associate him with the alt-right. The alt-right is obsessed with producing abundant white offspring in order to preserve the white race, something that is impossible with homosexual relations (“Alt Right” 1). Members of the alt-right also frequently believe that the Jews are to blame for many of the world’s problems and that they are colluding in a globalist shadow government. The alt-right despises passive or peaceful solutions and prefers swift and deadly blows, which is often at odds with democracy, which is slow and bureaucratic (“Alt Right” 1). On the other hand, Camus “ultimately founded his own political party and ran for president on a platform of sending immigrants and their families back to their original countries” (Brockell 1). We can see that Camus believes in the current political system, so it would not make sense for him to endorse violence. In fact, he is “against neo-Nazis and violence,” though “he was glad his message was getting out because of them” (Brockell 1). Due to the huge clash between what Camus does and what the alt-right is generally thought to believe, Camus is not a good culprit for the violence inspired by the Great Replacement Theory.
Image from Southern Poverty Law Center, David Lane is shown
A more reasonable culprit for the beginning of the rise of the modern Great Replacement Theory and violent, racially motivated attacks would be David Lane due to his extremist profile. David Lane is very intolerant and violent. His earliest signs of white supremacy was in his late teens, where he was fired from a real estate company “for refusing to sell homes in white neighborhoods to black customers” (“David” 1). He hopped from hate group to hate group throughout his life, each time he left one, it is usually because he did not think they were serious or active enough about their beliefs. Eventually, he took action in 1987 by contributing to the assassination of a Jewish radio host when he was part of the white power group, The Order (“David” 1). Although he died in 2007, David Lane coined many phrases, such as the “14 Words” and “88,” which are still to this day popular in alt-right groups (“1488’ 1). “14 Words” means “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for White children” and 88 is HH, H is the eighth letter of the alphabet; which stands for “Heil Hitler” (“David” 1). Because of all this, it is very obvious that David Lane fully endorsed neo-Nazi and Nazi ideas and was not against a violent removal of minorities in an effort to protect the white race, which he believed was in danger of extinction by replacement. He is much more active than Camus and has spent his whole life being a misfit, starting from his first job. Because he started very early, he had more time to influence a greater population. His influence can be seen in the many phrases that he has coined, which are still in use today. He is also much more pragmatic and violent about his ideals and got jail time for killing a Jewish radio host. Due to his behavior, David Lane is a much better culprit for all the racially motivated attacks we see today (“David” 1).
Image from Dictionary.com
Lane’s violent choices have inspired many white supremacists today (“David” 1). Because he precedes Camus, has a larger influence, and holds closer views to white supremacists today than Camus, Lane is a better culprit to attribute the Great Replacement Theory and its consequences to than Camus. It would be ineffective or even dangerous to try to stop a crazy conspiracy theory if we cannot stop it at its source.
Conspiracy Theories
The decline of the white population within the past few decades is an undeniable fact. However, many refuse to accept this as a natural consequence and go on to theorize that certain groups of people are conspiring against the white race; they believe in the Great Replacement Theory (“‘The Great Replacement’” 1). On the other hand, evidence suggests that it is, in fact, a natural series of events due to interactions between developed and developing countries (Mather) . That is, developed countries tend to have lower birth rates, and underdeveloped countries drive out their own population with poor living conditions and violence, which is leading to the changes in demography.
The first theory is very wild due to its many baseless claims. It is also anti-Semetic and xenophobic due to the fact that it attaches ideas that there must be a group of people with an agenda behind the declining white population (“‘The Great Replacement’” 1). This is likely due to the fact that the event is out of people’s control, so they are more likely to come up with theories to try to explain what is happening (Shermer and Linse 2). For example, one cause of the declining white population is immigration due to relaxed policies in the United States (U.S.) and European Union compared to previous eras. Before, the U.S. used to have immigration laws and quotas, such as the Immigration Act of 1917 and the Immigration Act of 1924, which restricted immigration into the U.S. by nationality (“The Immigration Act” 1). However, immigration has changed during the Post-War era and the two previously mentioned acts were changed under the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965 (“Immigration” 1). People who believe in this conspiracy theory believe that immigration will ruin the country because it will let the inferior non-whites in (Wilson and Flanagan 1). According to the Anti-Defamation League, believers often “blame Jews for non-white immigration to the U.S.” (“‘The Great Replacement’” 1). This claim has no evidence to back it up, so everyone should look at it with skepticism. As a result of these two beliefs, that immigrants will ruin the country and that the Jews are behind this, makes this conspiracy “inherently white supremacist” (Wilson and Flanagan 1).
Image from Econlib
The second theory is a direct counter to all of the beliefs in the first theory due to its scientific claims, and is the more likely of the two. The white demography is declining due to changing times; it is inevitable if we want to achieve social progress. Immigrants come to Europe and the U.S. due to “push and pull factors” (“Exploring” 1). Push factors include violence in the form of persecution, lack of human rights, and war in their native countries. Another push factor is overpopulation, as third-world countries have “above replacement [birth rates] among immigrant families and the socially deprived” (Singh et al. 1). Pull factors include better job opportunities and more freedom (“Exploring” 1). Because of the opportunities first-world countries offer, it is perfectly natural for immigrants to want to go to Europe and the U.S. Additionally, both of these regions are democratic, so many policies are passed by elected politicians; the people still have a say in this. We would not become better than the third-world countries immigrants are fleeing from if we attack them on the basis of xenophobia. It is very natural that people from worse situations would want to move to another country that has opportunities. No globalist elite is necessary for people to want a better life.
Image from the Migration Policy Institute
The decreasing population is a result of natural causes. First-world countries are prone to decreasing birth rates (Nargund 1). This is due to the fact that women in first-world countries have more rights and are more likely to be educated. As a result, “women have children late in life” “and children often can become an economic drain caused by housing, education cost.” It is a natural consequence to hesitate to have children in first-world countries. This is evident in non-white countries too, as countries like Japan and China are reproducing below replacement rate (Hong and Schneider 1) (Minzner 1) (Normille 1). Because decreasing birth rates are natural, the declining white demographic is to be expected. No one should be blamed or hurt for something that is out of anyone’s control.
Chart by The Unz Review
The demographic decline of the white race has been up for debate. Although it would be alarming to think that whites are being genocided through replacement, the conspiracy theory does not seem to have any solid evidence. All events can be adequately explained as a natural interaction between first-world and third-world countries. Of course people would prefer to live in a first-world country rather than a third-world country. Non-white countries are also experiencing population decline too. As it stands, be cautious when dealing with conspiracy theories that claim that destruction of civilizations is inevitable unless something is done about a minority population. It is the likes of these that led to the rise of regimes such as Nazi Germany.
Conclusions
Although there is no sign of war, whistleblowers do not hesitate to cry that there are foreign invaders committing genocide in white nations. It turns out they are prophesying the Great Replacement Conspiracy Theory. The theory claims that whites are being genocided by being replaced with inferior non-whites (“‘The Great Replacement’” 1). As it turns out, the theory is very xenophobic and anti-Semetic, and all things that it claims to be happening due to shadow elites can be adequately explained as natural. Although all evidence points to the theory being false, we can never be too careful.
What other things that cause mass hysteria should we debunk, like global warming? Stay tuned.