Chronicles (magazine)

Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture is a monthly magazine published by the Rockford Institute, a paleoconservative think tank.[1] Established in 1976, it stands as the premier periodical for erudite, highly-educated racists.

Cover of Chronicles' July 2012 issue.

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If the American far-right wing is defined by how white, male, affluent, and out-of-touch it is, then contributors to Chronicles are the whitest, most affluent, and most out-of-touch men there are. To their credit, they do part ways from movement conservatism by opposing big business and interventionist foreign policies. Unfortunately, even opposing big business and interventionism leaves plenty of inhuman ideas for the magazine to support; Chronicles deals in the worst of the right: racism, sexism, and Christianism.

Chronicles peaked in the 1990s,[2] helping shape the paleoconservative revival that accompanied Patrick Buchanan's 1992 and 1996 Presidential campaigns. However, the magazine's intellectual ambitions damaged it in the growing anti-intellectual climate that currently defines the modern conservative movement, an effect made worse by editor Thomas Fleming[3] and his rigid adherence to and reverence for Catholic orthodoxy, which alienated the Evangelical segment of the readership.[2] Its subscriber base has since dropped from 15,000 at the magazine's apex[2] down to about 5,000 today.[3]

Pseudointellectualism

Unlike other far-right publications, such as WorldNetDaily or American Thinker, Chronicles possesses a definite air of erudition. Their contributors are all highly educated, well-read, and thoughtful — they're the most eloquent and philosophical racists you will ever read. Among their contributors, Clyde Wilson is highly respected by historians for his work on John C. Calhoun's diaries,[4] Thomas Fleming has a doctorate in classic literature,[5] and Srdja Trifkovic may hate Muslims but he has actually read the Qu'ran.[6]

These are your grandfather's pundits, and your grandfather's pundits don't make half-hearted references to iconic philosophers, they've actually read those philosophers and can probably lecture you about the historical contexts of their works.[7]

But, ultimately, what makes a person a hack is their eagerness to propound on the importance of principles, while waffling and obfuscating when it comes to actual facts and reality. And make no mistake: almost every Chronicles writer is a hack.

A key giveaway of Chronicles' hackery is that, despite considering mainstream conservatism to be craven and corrupt, and disdainfully holding themselves as apart from it, its editors uncritically accept many of the talking points pushed by the most craven and corrupt of conservatives. Thus, Representative Joe Wilson was a hero for yelling "You lie!" at President Obama during a speech[8] (ignoring the fact that Wilson was himself lying). Barack Obama is in the very least a "quasi-Muslim,"[9] and he is definitely a Marxist.[10][11][12][13] Also, the construction of an Islamic community center in Manhattan is an act of aggression by Muslims,[14][15] although New York City isn't a part of "real America."[16]

Pseudohistory

Chronicles traffics heavily in pseudohistory. Because its mostly Catholic editor base eschews Biblical literalism and remains suspicious of any morality that postdates the Enlightenment, they turn to "traditionalism" for their morals, which is derived from a culture's history.[17] The problem is, real history is so messy that you can't derive any morality from it at all, so Chronicles writers are forced to assert their own version.

Contributors consequently treat history as a series of distinct moral fables — lessons for the common man to learn from. Spartans were proper manly men who didn't cry, and if you do cry it's because you've been Americanized.[18] Republics fail like Rome when they "have no champion" (presumably for conservatism), and that's why Obama's reelection in 2012 will doom America.[19] America's moral fiber was stronger during the Great Depression, but is now too weak to withstand the Great Recession of the 2000s.[20] Jews corrupted Wall Street, therefore it can be made less corrupt if we get rid of them.[21] Feminism was bad because it only helped lesbians.[22] Roman slaves led pretty good lives, therefore poverty today is worse than actual slavery.[23] Anglo-Saxons make good laws, then Chinese people corrupt them.[24] (Their pseudohistory heavily reinforces their racism.)

While rarely the focus of an article, moralizing assertions like this about history are littered throughout Chronicles, presented as just-so kernels of wisdom that refute more liberal, modern morals.

Any historical fact that is dissonant with their ideology is quietly swept under the rug. For example, as traditionalists, Chronicles contributors have a great appreciation for the Greek classics, but the Greeks' icky homosexual practices are either strategically left unmentioned or declared to be "misinterpreted" by foul pro-gay "historical revisionists".[25]

Racism

Several of Chronicles' columnists are open Neo-Confederates, who justify the South's past slavery of Africans and advocate a new Southern secession. Two of its contributors were even founders of the League of the South,[4][26] and several others are members.[27] The rest may not be open Neo-Confederates, but are still really, really racist.

Much of the racism bandied about is of the "it's not faaair!" variety. It's not fair that African-Americans dominate so many sports.[28][29] It's not fair that no one talks about all the crimes black people commit.[30][31] It's not fair that so many minorities get into college.[32] And countless articles stating simple variations of "Black people vote in their electoral interests," with the follow-up "It's not fair that we get called racists when we stand up for white people's interests" left silent.[33]

Also, undocumented immigrants. By which they mean Hispanics. According to Chronicles, Hispanics are dangerous criminals[34][35] who destroy family values,[36] and are plotting to take over the southwestern United States.[37] Hispanic population growth is more tragic than World War I[38] and Hispanic immigration is a gang-ridden invasion.[39] (They love describing immigration as an "invasion."[40][41][42]) Not to mention their abiding terror of the fact that future America may not be white.[43]

Notable contributors

None of Chronicles' contributors are under 44 years of age. All of them are white, male, and Christian. Given that these demographics also describe the magazine's readership, it's unlikely to change anytime soon. As the modern conservative-industrial complex funnels young intellectuals into more useful roles than writing for obscure racist magazines, Chronicles is effectively doomed to a slow death from starvation.

The magazine's current line-up of contributors include:

• Patrick Buchanan: The only Chronicles writer with an appreciable presence outside of paleoconservative circles, Buchanan writes a nationally syndicated column and was until 2012 a pundit on MSNBC. An odious racist, who is nonetheless one of the few reliable voices against a military-centric foreign policy and the War on Drugs.

• Alexander Cockburn: Token liberal at Chronicles.[44] Has contributed very little since his death in 2012.

• Thomas Fleming: President of the Rockford Institute, which publishes Chronicles.[1] A hardline Catholic and founding member of the League of the South.[26] He has a Daily Mail column.[45]

• George McCartney: Movie critic for Chronicles, and one of the magazine's better writers. Usually willing to give a film a fair shake, sometimes even explicitly disagreeing with other editors' poorly-considered rejections of certain films.[46] McCartney's columns are one of the few bright spots at Chronicles.

• Tom Piatak: Economics writer. He opposes globalization and free trade.[47][48][49][50][51] While his self-proclaimed "economic patriotism"[52] is sincere, it does reinforce his revulsion against multiculturalism.[53][54] (In one column he even dreaded the increasing popularity of soccer in America. Because soccer is foreign.[55])

• Scott P. Richert: Executive editor for Chronicles and sysadmin for the Rockford Institute.[56] Born in 1968,[57] Richert is the youngest contributor to the magazine. He is slightly more grounded in reality than his elders. (For example, after Facebook's IPO fiasco, Fleming dismissed Facebook out of hand[58] while Richert actually did research and discussed Facebook's numbers.[59]) He is a member of the League of the South.[27]

• Srdja Trifkovic: Foreign affairs writer. A Serbian nationalist who worked with several officials during the Bosnian War whom were later indicted for genocide,[60] whom he testified in defense of. He remains popular in conservative circles because said genocides involved killing Muslims, and because he wrote a book, Sword of the Prophet, about how evil Islam is.[61]

• Chilton Williamson: A racist and published author, Williamson is Chronicles' literature editor,[62] meaning he's paid to review books by other racist authors in what we're sure is a very dignified circlejerk. He believes that conservatism's basis is in theology while liberalism is a "rebellion against metaphysical reality."[63] He also believes immigration will destroy America,[64] but that's par for the course at Chronicles. Another member of the League of the South.[27]

• Clyde N. Wilson: Historian, Neo-Confederate, grumpy old man. An astounding number of his columns are deeply bitter and resentful refrains of "In my day..."[65] Along with Fleming, he was a founding member of the League of the South.[4]

• Aaron D. Wolf: Associate editor at Chronicles and its webmaster.[56] Like Richert, he is comparatively young.[66] As a Lutheran,[67] he is one of the magazine's few Protestant contributors (almost all the others are Roman Catholic or one of the many subsets of Eastern Orthodox).

After much searching, we were able to find one female contributor, though she's only written two articles and her biography picture depicts a bearded man.[68]

Local memes

Like all political publications, Chronicles has its own narrative, echoed amongst its columnists and in the comments section.

• The American Civil War was about arrogant and greedy Hamiltonian industrialists (the North) invading the cultured Jeffersonian agrarians' home (the South).[69] Slavery was purely incidental, when mentioned at all, and a benefit to Africans.
• American culture (read: "Northern" culture) is odious and corrupt, while Southern culture is the only remaining noble and admirable part of America.
• Abraham Lincoln was a traitor and an aspiring dictator.
• Richard Nixon was the last competent and decent president.[70][71][72]
• Russia is a natural ally of the United States because they're a fellow Christian nation.[73][74][75]
• Islam is a fundamentally evil religion.[76]
• Newfangled modern gadgets have ruined society.

In general, Chronicles is the intellectual backbone (if one could say that) for the entire Lost Cause of the South.

Memory hole

The editors of Chronicles sometimes delete an article or even whole sets of articles from their website. Because they disallow Archive.org from archiving their pages, any article so deleted is effectively gone for good.

In one particularly notable (but long-removed) article the author made it clear they believed Richard Nixon's personal conduct to be more important than his actions as President of the United States. When Nixon treated a recipient of the Medal of Honor with great respect, that meant Nixon was in fact a true and moral gentleman, regardless of his actions as a politician.

See also

• League of the South: A fellow racist group that heavily cross-pollinates with Chronicles.
• VDARE: A fellow racist website that Chronicles writers sometimes link to.

External links

• Official website for Chronicles.

References

1. About The Rockford Institute^img. Chronicles.
2. E. Christian Kopff. Chronicles. First Principles. 2010 September 3.
3. Max Blumenthal. Sen. John Cornyn Meets the Racist Right. Huffington Post. 2006 September 20.
4. The Ideologues - Clyde Wilson. Intelligence Report. Southern Poverty Law Center. 2004 Winter.
5. Author Page for Thomas Fleming. The Rockford Institute.
6. Srdja Trifkovic. Dinesh D’Souza: A Charlatan’s Comeuppance^img. Chronicles. 2012 November 2.
7. Favorite philosophers among Chronicles contributors include Edmund Burke, Alexis de Tocqueville, and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.
8. "Joe Wilson told the plain and simple truth. Obama lied about a matter of great importance." —Clyde Wilson. "That's a Lie"^img. Chronicles. 2009 September 17.
9. "Obama is at once everything and nothing: ...Christian but maybe Muslim... [A] black, quasi-Muslim, first-term senator from the Midwest..." —Gregory M. Davis. Politics in the Anti-Christian Age^img. Chronicles. 2008 December 11.
10. "[I]t reveals him for what he is: a knee-jerk Marxist..." —Thomas Fleming. One Nation Under Obama^img. Chronicles. 2008 July 1.
11. "[T]his Marxist nonentity [Barack Obama] entered the Senate..." —Thomas Fleming. The Obamanation of Desolation^img. Chronicles. 2008 August 19.
12. "The McCain people are apparently too stupid to pin Obama as a Marxist." —Thomas Fleming. Ignorant Armies: Final Thoughts on the Election^img. Chronicles. 2008 October 31.
13. "Obama probably remains the White-hating Marxist..." —Thomas Fleming. Building the Obamanation^img. Chronicles. 2008 December 18.
14. "Put the mosque somewhere else. This is hallowed ground. This is a burial site sacred to the families of those who died, to New Yorkers, to all Americans. A Muslim mosque is out of place there." —Patrick Buchanan. Our Clueless Professor^img. Chronicles. 2010 August 17.
15. "[I]t is not merely a place of worship, but also a physical expression of the Mohammedan stake to a place at first, and eventually a symbol of Jihad’s triumph over the hated infidel..." —Srdja Trifkovic. Ground Zero Mosque: Correcting the Non-Debate^img. Chronicles. 2010 October 22.
16. "New York has not been an American city since before World War I. No one can be happy that some 2,600 people were murdered by Saudi terrorists, but how significant, really, is their death to the rest of us who are lucky enough not to live in New York? The horror belongs to TVland America, not to whatever is left of the real country." —Thomas Fleming. Ground Zero Mosque, Grade Zero Argument^img. Chronicles. 2010 August 19.
17. Thomas Fleming. Back to the Stone Age I D: Reason, Sentiment, and Tradition^img. Chronicles. 2012 October 3.
18. "The birthplace of the stiff upper lip was Sparta, which was also my mother’s birthplace... I remember my mother wailing when my father went off to war, a very un-Spartan behavior, but... she had become Americanized." —Taki Theodoracopulo. Tears of a Clown^img. Chronicles. 2010 April 23.
19. "Romney lost because the real America did not trust him to stand up to anti-America. The Republic lost for the same reason the Roman Republic lost the Civil War: it did not have a true champion in the ring." —Srdja Trifkovic. Obama's Victory^img. Chronicles. 2012 November 7.
20. "Things are going to be worse than they were in the Great Depression. Back then, the country’s moral fiber was stronger." —John Seiler. The Panic of 2011^img. Chronicles. 2010 August 30.
21. "Greenspan, Cohen, Blankfein, Rubin, Fuld—the list goes on. If ever you hear of some Anglo-Saxon name taking over Wall Street, make sure to plunge in." —Taki Theodoracopulos. Sachs of Gold^img. Chronicles. 2010 March 8.
22. "[F]eminism helps a small set of leftist women, predominantly lesbians." —Thomas Fleming. Back to the Stone Age, I B^img. Chronicles. 2012 September 27.
23. "[H]igh-minded people... think that only Romans and Southerners owned slaves. On the contrary, every advanced society depends upon some form of slavery, and some legally free workers can be worse off than the slave who can be bought and sold." —Thomas Fleming. Athens and Jerusalem III: Why Rome Fell^img. Chronicles. 2009 November 2.
24. "It was Anglo-Saxons who made laws against entrapment. Thanks to law professors like Chin, gullible reporters and jurors, and corrupt police, prosecutors and judges, Americans no longer have the protection of law." —Paul Craig Roberts. Criminals With Badges—How the Police Create Crimes^img. Chronicles. 2008 January 7.
25. "Do not look for parallels in ancient Greek bisexuality (a much misinterpreted phenomenon)..." —Thomas Fleming. Sex and Death^img. Chronicles. 2006 March 20.
26. The Ideologues - Thomas Fleming. Intelligence Report. Southern Poverty Law Center. 2004 Winter.
27. "Chronicles is the only national magazine whose editors are all League members: Thomas Fleming, Theodore Pappas, Scott Richert, and Chilton Williamson, Jr..." —Edward H. Sebesta. "From the Alamo to Kosovo": The Anti-Muslim/Hispanic Movement in Texas. The Touchstone. Summer 2002.
28. Roger D. McGrath. White Sprinters^img. Chronicles. 2007 August 6.
29. Patrick Buchanan. The Myth of Equality^img. Chronicles. 2010 August 27.
30. R. Cort Kirkwood. Race, Crime, and the Media^img. Chronicles. 2007 May 15.
31. Patrick Buchanan. The Color of Crime^img. Chronicles. 2007 August 21.
32. Patrick Buchanan. Bias and Bigotry in Academia^img. Chronicles. 2010 July 20.
33. "[T]he established forces of 'American' society have been promoting the glory of the non-white and the foreign for two generations now." —Clyde Wilson. The Revolution Is^img. Chronicles. 2008 November 5.
34. R. Cort Kirkwood. "Family Values": Illegal Aliens and Their Sex Crimes^img. Chronicles. 2007 April 5.
35. Roger D. McGrath. Double Down: Illegal Aliens and Crime^img. Chronicles. 2010 July 12.
36. "Anybody who believes that Mexican immigrants have improved American "family values" will believe anything." —Clyde Wilson. Everybody in America^img. Chronicles. 2009 February 24.
37. Clyde Wilson. Nostradamus I'm Not^img. Chronicles. 2007 April 4.
38. Patrick Buchanan. The Way Our World Ends^img. Chronicles. 2008 May 1.
39. "[S]chools are abysmal, trash and graffiti mark most neighborhoods, and Mexican and Salvadorian gangs roam the streets. The blessings of an illegal-alien invasion!" —Roger D. McGrath. Response to Unz^img. Chronicles. 2010 February 18.
40. "I doubt if the Mexican situation in the [Southwestern United States] qualifies since it is an invasion by a foreign country and not a true independence movement." —Clyde Wilson. Comment on The Popular Front at NR^img. Chronicles. 2008 July 17.
41. "America is faced not with an immigration 'problem,' or even a 'crisis,' but with a massive demographic invasion..." —Jack Trotter. After the Deluge (Review: Immigration and the American Future)^img. Chronicles. 2008 March 1.
42. "Southwestern states cannot stop the invasion from Mexico..." —Patrick Buchanan. Stand Up for Arizona^img. Chronicles. 2010 April 30.
43. "[T]he coming deluge threatens to impose a numbing Thirld-World [sic] sameness, to eradicate the remnants of this country’s identity, and to demolish what survives of her special character. On current form, not only will English-speaking Americans of European origin become a minority in their own country half a century from now, but they will share an increasingly overpopulated, polluted, lumpenproleterized, culturally unrecognizable country with tens of millions of actual or potential jihadists and their accomplices, aiders and abettors." Srdja Trifkovic. Half a Billion "Americans"?^img Chronicles. 2007 August 31.
44. Author Alexander Cockburn^img. Chronicles.
45. Thomas Fleming. Thomas Fleming's blog. Daily Mail Online.
46. George McCartney. Re: Despicable Tedium^img. Chronicles. 2010 September 27.
47. Tom Piatak. The Jobs Go Out, Like the Tide^img. Chronicles. 2011 August 29.
48. Tom Piatak. The Jobs Go Out Like the Tide, Continued^img. Chronicles. 2011 September 30.
49. Tom Piatak. Globalism Is Not A Conservative Value^img. Chronicles. 2012 June 27.
50. Tom Piatak. Free Trade Is For Suckers^img. Chronicles. 2012 September 25.
51. Tom Piatak. Free Trade Still Doesn’t Work^img. Chronicles. 2012 October 16.
52. Tom Piatak. Why Romney Lost Ohio^img. Chronicles. 2012 November 6.
53. Tom Piatak. How to Win the War Against Christmas^img. Chronicles. 2008 December 8.
54. Tom Piatak. Austrian MP Excoriates the Tolerance Romantics^img. Chronicles. 2010 December 17.
55. Tom Piatak. Still the Metric System in Short Pants^img. Chronicles. 2010 June 18.
56. Rockford Institute Staff^img. Chronicles.
57. Scott P. Richert. Facebook.
58. "I have not seen any proof, that Facebook might be used as a helpful tool to survive in an increasingly inhuman world, despite the obvious reality that it is, by its very nature, diminishing the users' grasp on reality." —Thomas Fleming. Re: Facebook^img. Chronicles. 2012 May 30.
59. Scott P. Richert. Re: It’s All Over/Facebook IPO^img. Chronicles. 2012 May 20.
60. Trial transcript. International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (UN).
61. Paul Eidelberg. The Sword of the Prophet by Serge Trifkovic - Reviewed by Paul Eidelberg. Freeman Center for Strategic Studies. 2003 August.
62. About Chilton Williamson, Jr.. Chilton Williamson, Jr. - Author.
63. Robert C. Cheeks. An Interview With Chilton Williamson. California Literary Review. 2007 March 31.
64. "[M]ass immigration is a greater threat to the survival of our country than any terrorist campaign possibly could be." —Chilton Williamson, Editor. Immigration and the American Future^img. Chronicles Press. 2007.
65. Archive of Clyde Wilson's columns^img at Chronicles. Never has a more thorough exploration an old man's resentment been provided.
66. No birth date available, but judging from Wolf's picture^img, he's between forty and fifty years old — practically a spring chicken by Chronicles standards.
67. Aaron D. Wolf. Out With the Old^img. Chronicles. 2008 July 2.
68. Author Julia Gorin^img. Chronicles.
69. While both Founding Fathers, Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson had competing visions of the United States. Hamilton believed in a strong federal government and envisioned the United States as a future industrial powerhouse, while Jefferson advocated a decentralized government for a land of farmers. Guess which one Chronicles hates.
70. "One of the greatest presidents of recent years, Richard Nixon..." —Taki Theodoracopulo. Tears of a Clown^img. Chronicles. 2010 April 23.
71. "Nixon, whatever his flaws, was superior to his enemies." —John Willson. It’s the Jobs^img. Chronicles. 2010 April 19.
72. Patrick Buchanan. Nixon and Obama—Soul Brothers?^img. Chronicles. 2009 October 23.
73. "'Solidarity and strategic cooperation between the United States, Europe and Russia on the basis of their shared Christian moral, intellectual and cultural traditions.' Or, as I’ve been saying ever since September 11, it’s time for a true Northern Alliance that can defeat the menace of global jihad..." —Srdja Trifkovic. Putin Versus the Kremlin on the Potomac^img. Chronicles. 2007 December 8.
74. "[T]he West appears hell-bent on cordoning off, fragmenting, and eventually destroying the only Eastern Christian power that could and therefore should be its partner in the joint struggle... Western leaders are endangering their own nations by forcing a key potential ally into... 'otherness.'" —Srdja Trifkovic. Russia and the West: The Tragedy of 1204 Redux^img. Chronicles. 2008 April 8.
75. "Putin is primarily focused on Russia’s need to preserve and enhance her identity as a Christian nation..." —Srdja Trifkovic. Past and Future President Putin^img. Chronicles. 2011 September 26.
76. "Islam was created as a Satanic parody of Christianity and Judaism, and it has been waging war on those two religions from its earliest days." —Thomas Fleming. Ground Zero Mosque, Grade Zero Argument^img. Chronicles. 2010 August 19.