Islander #5 - Available Now!
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Summary
An exploration of the nature of the hero, the heroic society, and the interplay between heroic acts and the established order. A series of articles exploring the conflict between the heroic morality of Trump himself and the rules-based order over which he presides.
Transcript
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I've been meditating on this for a long time now, and it's clear to me that beneath the
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rationalised materialist system beats the hearts of men who long for heroism.
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It's been the thematic fixture of our media for a long time now, in different guises.
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The boomers saw themselves as the world-historic protagonists, making things safer, capitalism
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and democracy, by ushering in the end of history. Generation X saw this looming artificial world
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of corporate offices with existential terror, and told themselves stories of how best
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it could be escaped. Millennials were resigned to their fate, and set themselves to shaping
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the corporate world to at least be a comfortable civilisational retirement, whilst at the same
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time disposing of any legacy patriarchal boundaries. And Zoomers are the glowing embers in the ashes
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of human greatness. They've been denied the mechanisms by which they might develop into
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the men that their forefathers once were. Locked out of the system, they are wondering how they
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can overthrow it. You are going to look at the cover of Islander 5 and think we printed it yesterday
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in response to current events, because it goes hard. However, each issue takes months to produce,
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and not only does it take time to logistically bring everything together, it's the long hours
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of contemplation on the state of the world and the direction of travel of the forces within it
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that means it becomes something this special. Trump's presidency has been heroic, whether you like
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it or not. The nature of his rise to power, the initial run and struggles to master the system and its
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enemies. Their strike back during the Biden years and his victorious return after winning everything
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is the very model of an epic story. But whose story is it? Well, it's the story of the boomers.
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Trump and his United States are still on the same mission that the boomers ever were on,
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because he himself is a boomer. Not to be judgmental about it, but that's just how it is.
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And with the deposition of Maduro, we see on the horizon the final victory of this paradigm,
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and that is, in its way, heroic. Issue 5 of Islander is about heroism. It is a work of art
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that collectively explores the very nature of the hero, the heroic society and the interplay between
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heroic acts and the established order. It is an examination of what it means to be an agent of
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destiny. The hero brings about a new paradigm, and the imperfections within each new order
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contain the seeds of its own destruction. This is the cycle of history, and while some may view
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the toppling of Maduro to be the fulfilment of the American cycle, others will see it as
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the end of a just world order as a republic decays into an empire. In the sense that Joseph Campbell
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described the monomyth, the essence of the hero's journey into the other world and his return as a
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champion is the bringing forth of something new into the old. Fundamentally, the hero's role in
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every story is about change. And in this way, it's undeniable that Trump has had a heroic role in
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events. The irony of his presidency is that whilst it subconsciously seeks to usher in the end of history,
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instead it has brought the return of the great powers. Trump's presidency though has been heroic,
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whether you like it or not. The assembling of the fellowship, the overthrow of his enemies,
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and the imposition of the new order on the unruly, these are acts of accomplishment that are beyond the
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ability of normal men. And one can't help but feel that you don't see this kind of event very often.
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Issue 5 of Weilander is shot through with these themes, often revolving around the conflict between the
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heroic morality of Trump himself and the rules-based order over which he presides. On one hand,
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there are articles discussing the nature of the rules-based order, why materialist capitalism is
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indeed the end of heroic man, and how the social contract society reviles such people. And on the
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other are articles which develop our understanding of what heroic society actually consists in, revealing to
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us that we are actually living in it, whether we perceive it or not. Because this is such a weighty
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subject, and frankly an exciting subject, this edition is actually 20 pages longer than previous
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editions, and Rory has gone above and beyond with the art. Halfway through the edition, he has included
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a lovely and thoughtful illustrated dialogue in the form of a comic which emphasises this point,
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that it is not sufficient to be well remembered, we must endure and overcome. A core aspect of heroism
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is also power. The hero is the key actor in a sequence of events, and therefore to embody this
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archetype, he must be a man of the world and be active in it. There are several articles which discuss
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this, because it is apparent that many still feel they are perhaps not entitled to act. Luca Johnson's
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marvelous Marshals of Middle-earth series returns to address these doubts through an examination of the
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character of Aragorn. And for me, it's all brought into crystal clear clarity through Morgoth's excellent
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article about why it is that Warhammer 40,000 is actually the meta-modern story that has become the
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mythology of our moment. It's all Warhammer, we're just picking sides. In addition to this,
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we now have an exclusive interview with Rupert Lowe on the nature of political leadership,
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and a new segment which is the Letters to the Editor page, which Rory has carefully curated.
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Honestly, there is a part of me that struggles to believe that we've actually managed to produce
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something this beautiful, timely and pertinent to our current understanding of the world.
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I'm always eager to get the new edition of Islander whenever it arrives from the printers,
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but there was something more to it this time. Everyone really has gone above and beyond,
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and I'm in awe of how good this edition is. As always, there is only ever a limited window of
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time to purchase Islander, and once it's gone, it's gone. It's currently available from shop.motorcease.com,