Remembering Lawrence Auster

 

Auster or Rasputin? (1973) 

By Nicholas Stix

Larry Auster, that brilliant, impossible man, died one year ago today.

I wrote an article in his honor, which my VDARE editor Peter Brimelow published today.

Most great intellects, as I learned the hard way, are insufferable in person, regardless of their politics. Your trusty correspondent is, of course, a dazzling exception to this rule.

And yet, some of us desire the company of great minds, and sometimes that company is rewarding, as I learned in the case of Roger Starr, one of the greatest thinkers you never heard of. And when Daniel Bell died, a journalist wrote of contacting Bell when the former was a young man, and getting an invitation to a bagel brunch with a very generous Bell. So, there are exceptions to every rule, but don’t be shocked, when the rule asserts itself.

I’ll have more to say about Larry. My editor, Peter Brimelow, permitted me to go way over my word count, out of respect for Larry, but I still cut thousands of words before sending in my ms. (If a writer would wish Christian charity from his editor, he would do well, not to belabor the matter.

“Remembering Lawrence Auster, After a Year.”

On March 9, 2013, 20 days before his death. The chemo cost him his hair, though he hadn't had a full head of hair before that.

Some out-takes follow.

In a land of almost 314 million “residents,” how important could one old, crotchety, heterosexual, white Christian man have been?

In the America of 1940, when we had 131 million Americans, Auster’s loss might not have been so keenly felt, but in today’s Third World flop house, he was irreplaceable….

He was so obsessed with being conservatively correct that I believe he said things that he wouldn’t say, were he to meditate openly on a matter….


Instead of saying: “We believe in the equal and unlimited right of all people to immigrate to the U.S. and enrich our land with their diversity,” what if they said: “We believe in an immigration policy which must result in a staggering increase in our population, a revolution in our culture and way of life, and the gradual submergence of our current population by Hispanic and Caribbean and Asian peoples.” Such frankness would open up an honest debate between those who favor a radical change in America’s ethnic and cultural identity and those who think this nation should preserve its way of life and its predominant, European-American character. That is the actual choice—as distinct from the theoretical choice between “equality” and “racism”—that our nation faces….

Auster had an incredible run as a blogger, averaging some 10,000 readers per day. There were very few working intellectuals who posted blog items on a regular basis, and only two of whom had such readerships: Auster and Steve Sailer.

Most popular bloggers are not intellectuals at all, and even those who might be academics or journalists, typically either just post links to articles with a few remarks, or promote their paid works. I know of at least one full-time journalist who seems to publish a great many blog items, but I suspect that someone is ghosting work for that individual. There are, after all, only so many hours in the day.

 

Auster speaking in California, in 2010