Is Iain Davis a Hero?

A meditation on the Taboo Against Heroism

THE TABOO AGAINST HEROISM

BY CROW QU’APPELLE

Not long ago, I accidentally ruffled some feathers with an awkwardly-worded Note in which I made a vague reference to the work of Iain Davis.

What Iain thought I was saying was pretty much the exact opposite of what I meant to say, and once I realized my mistake I began profusely apologizing.

Fortunately, Iain was quick to accept my apology. Given the fact that Nevermore Media is one of only 8 recommendations on his Substack, I know Iain’s in my corner.

The reason that I’m writing this piece isn’t to talk about a little misunderstanding, which was clearly up more than a few way.

It’s because I beg to differ with Iain on a different point - the question of whether or not he is a hero.

Iain and I ended up having a very interesting exchange about heroism, which is the reason I’m writing this post.

After thanking Iain for accepting my apology, I wrote:

Although you may not identity as a hero, I don’t know if that matters that much.

If you are greatly admired by your peers, you are their hero. There’s nothing unusual about heroism. For a lot of people, their heroes are family members. Heroism is normal.

There’s a taboo against heroism that’s deeply entrenched in the Canadian psyche, and I suspect that antipathy towards heroism is characteristic of statist conditioning throughout the British Empire.

In Mexico, being a hero is a good thing. And that’ s a big part of the reason that revolutionary movements tend to be much more successful here. It’s because people believe in heroism, and it’s culturally accepted to be a hero.

Iain replied that to him, the word “hero” belongs to mythology, and went on to argue against my assertion that he deserves such an honorific.

I find this all very interesting, because it raises a very interesting question.

WHY IS HEROISM TABOO IN ENGLISH CULTURE?

Since moving to Mexico, many things that I previously accepted about Canadian culture have started to seem very strange to me.

One of them is the antipathy towards heroism. Mexico has heroes. Canada doesn’t.

Try to think of a Canadian hero. See what I mean?

Oh, sure, there’s Norman Bethune, Louis Riel, and Gabriel Dumont, but they all thought Canada was an abomination, and definitely weren’t proud Canadians, so they’re not really part of the national mythos.

Plus, ain’t it weird that none of ‘em got English names?

WHO WAS THE GREATEST CANADIAN?

Anyway, back in 2004, the CBC did a big series called “The Greatest Canadian”. Over ten thousand people were nominated, and more than a million people voted.

This is what they came up with:

OOF.

There’s a lot I could say about this list, but I think it speaks for itself.

For those of you who don’t know, Tommy Douglas was a eugenicist who believed that genetically inferior people who didn’t deserve to reproduce should be interned in concentration camps where they were treated really nice.

Yup. This is the guy that the CBC named the Greatest Canadian after soliciting over a million votes. Sad, isn’t it?

As for John A. MacDonald, he was the guy who made indigenous genocide official state policy. He was the prime minister who had Louis Riel hanged. That’s the kind of “hero” that Canada state media promotes.

Man, it’s a tough pill to when you find out that you’re the bad guys. It makes you wonder whether it’s not just a coincidence that Canada doesn’t celebrate its good guys.

Maybe they don’t want want people getting any big ideas.

Maybe they know that the heroic impulse is connected to a strong sense of right and wrong, and have set up an entire propaganda matrix meant to trick people into giving up their power voluntarily, because they know the power that the people have when we are united.

Maybe they want law-abiding citizens, not heroes.

What is a Hero, anyway?

I’m writing this article to make a simple argument - I think we should lower the bar for what is considered a hero. We should bring it down from the realm of mythology into the real world.

With all due respect to Iain Davis, I kind of feel like if we are to believe that heroes belong in mythology, we may be missing the point of mythology.

There shouldn’t be a taboo against heroism. What the world needs now is heroes.

Make no mistake - what the world needs now is nothing less than a global revolution. And no revolution stands much chance of success without a strong core of committed heroes.

The Mexican Revolution had the Magon brothers, Emiliano Zapata, Pancho Villa, and many lesser heroes, including the members of the St. Patrick’s Battalion.

Try to think of a successful revolutionary movement without heroes. They don’t exist.

THIRTY YEARS OF LEADERLESS MOVEMENTS HAVE GOTTEN US NOWHERE.

I agree with Doug Stanhope:

(If those of you who aren’t super-geniuses haven’t figured out Nevermore’s secret plan yet, you really must watch this video.)

IS IAIN DAVIS A HERO?

Is Iain Davis a hero? Let’s think about this.

Maybe I shouldn’t do this, because most of you stingy-ass bozos haven’t given me a goddam cent, but I’m going to let you in a little secret.

There’s an easy way to get smarter. You ready for this?

Anytime you hear or read a positive statement, immediately consider whether the exact opposite of that assertion might be true.

For example, if someone says “there’s no such thing as a free lunch”, stop and ask yourself “Is there such a thing as a free lunch?” If your mind doesn’t immediately reject the second statement, because it is obviously false, then DON’T BELIEVE THE FIRST STATEMENT!!!!

Do this with every assertion that any “expert” makes, and you’re instantly smarter.

You’ll also likely get richer over time, as this is good business advice as well, especially when dealing with people you don’t fully trust.

So let’s try to to think of counter-arguments to the assertion that Iain Davis is a hero.

HAS IAIN DAVIS SLAIN ANY DRAGONS OR RESCUED ANY PRINCESSES?

Okay, to be fair, Iain isn’t rescuing princesses from burning building, at least so far as I’m aware. But that’s not the point. I’m not saying he’s a Hercules-type hero. He’s a Socrates-type hero. His heroism doesn’t occur on the physical plane so much as on the mental plane. But does that make him any less heroic?

You be the judge. Let’s move on.

WHAT IS THE DEFINITION OF THE WORD “HERO?

I could look up some other people’s definitions of the word “hero”, but I’d rather offer my own, which isnt fancy: I think “a highly admired role model” would be a fair definition.

By this definition everyone can think of at least a handful of people they know who are heroes, at least so far as they are concerned.

This leads to an interesting thought - perhaps the reason that people don’t think they know any heroes is because they aren’t used to defining words for themselves. Perhaps they simply take their cues about the meanings of words from the MSM.

It certainly seems to me that most people have foggy ideas about what many commonly used words actually mean. Two examples that come to mind are “fascism” and “democracy”. What do those words mean? Depends who you ask.

ARE HEROES ANY LESS COMMON THAN GENIUSES?

As I have pointed out before, geniuses are more common than people think, because according to MENSA, one of every 50 people is a genius. Could the same be true of heroes?

Let me ask you this: Do you personally know any heroes?

Take your time to think about that one. For some weird reason, it’s not an easy question to answer. Why is that?

If someone is someone’s hero, that means they’re a hero, doesn’t it?

If you ask a lot of people who their hero is, they’ll answer their mom, dad, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, grandparent, coach, mentor, teacher, etc.

So why does Iain Davis think that heroes only exist in mythology?

IS WHITNEY WEBB A HERO?

I think that we can agree that Whitney Webb is a hero.

Why? Because her journalism is so daring that she’s risking her life by doing what she’s doing.

If you don’t what I’m talking about, I refer you to this article:

In that article, I write:

Typically, humans use the honorific ¨hero¨ to refer to people who have risked their lives in order to do something difficult, which is not done for self-interest, but in order to benefit others.

Whitney Webb ticks every box here, because make no mistake - she is risking her life by doing this reporting. She has exposed the crimes of someone of the most powerful criminals in the world. I think that it´s somewhat of a miracle that she was able to complete her book without being killed.

Recently, I re-listened to a podcast in which she gives a synopsis of her book, explaining why it had to be 1000 pages, and why her publisher insisted on releasing it in two volumes against her wishes. She wanted it to be available for as low a cost as possible, because she didn’t write One Nation Under Blackmail out of self-interest, but because someone had to do it.

In that interview, she said something along the lines of - “I had to take time off from my regular work to write this book, and I’d like to be able to make back some of the money that I would have made if I had been doing my regular work.”

Did I hear that right? The greatest journalist in the world writes the most important book that’s been written this century, and she’s not even hoping to break even? Is this the world we live in?

MAYBE IF THERE WASNT A TABOO AGAINST HEROISM THERE WOULD BE MORE HEROES.

Lets face it - no one becomes a journalist because they want to be a little corporate bitch. People become journalists because they want to be heroes.

Clark Kent was a journalist. So was Tintin. That chick from The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest? Journalist. The list goes on and on. Journalism is a great career path for heroes, masochists, and suicidal romantics.

In my aforementioned piece about how awesome Whitney Webb is, I name her as a potential candidate for the GREATEST JOURNALIST OF ALL TIME.

Why? Its not just because shes a great writer and an amazing researcher. The reason Whitney Webb is a hero is due to two factors -

1. Intention

2. Risk-to-Reward Ratio

I could elaborate, but you cheap bastards apparently think my writing sucks, because you dont think I deserve $5 a month, so why should I explain myself? You figure it out.

SUDDEN DEATH IS AN OCCUPATIONAL HAZARD FOR JOURNALISTS

Alcoholism isnt the only occupational hazard of journalism. Theres also suicide, murder, mysterious accidents, incarceration, exile, weaponized lawsuits, smear campaigns, torture and so on.

Did I mention my father was a journalist?

THE JOURNALIST BODY COUNT

One of the things you will learn when you read One Nation Under Blackmail is that there are a lot of journalists who have died in the line of duty investigating the merger of intelligence and organized crime.

When I asked you to think of the greatest journalists of all time, I´m guessing that some of you immediately summoned forth the name of Gary Webb.

He was the journalist who broke the story of the C.I.A.´s role in flooding black communities in the U.S. with crack cocaine. He was shot twice in the head. His death was ruled a suicide…

Or how about Daphne Caruana Galizia? The journalist who broke the Panama Papers story was blown to pieces by a car bomb in Malta over 5 years ago. The mainstream media didn`t tell you about that, did they?

Does anyone really think that the crimes that Whitney Webb has exposed are any less explosive than the stories that Gary Webb and Daphne Caruana Galizia broke?

I`m serious. Anyone that fails to realize that Whitney is risking her life is naive about the reality of power. I don´t think that we should be embarrassed to hold her up as a movement hero.

So long as we’re on the subject, let’s not forget Danny Casolaro.

SO DOES ANYONE GIVE A FUCK ABOUT THIS STUFF, OR WHAT?

My comrade Matt was an anarchist journalist, by the way. I left Canada after he turned up dead down by the river.

According to police, he fell out of a tree.

Aragorn, David Graeber, and Ted Kaczynski died suddenly in recent years, but the legacy anarchist media doesn’t seem interested in asking any questions about their deaths.

Aragorn supposedly died of a stroke. He was in his 40s.

Graeber died unexpectedly after complaining of a metallic taste in his mouth, which is a symptom of arsenic poisoning.

Ted Kaczyński apparently committed suicide at the age of 81 after decades in prison.

Obviously, the fact that three of the world’s leading anarchist thinkers all died suddenly in recent years is a coincidence.

Let’s move on.

Is Whitney Webb any less of a hero than Gary Webb?

The ultimate act of selflessness would be to give up one’s life for the benefit of others. A firefighter who rescues a cute puppy from a burning building is a hero, right?

That’s the Hercules-type hero archetype, which is descended from the Archetype of the Warrior Hero. But there is another type of hero, which I’ll call the Moral Hero.

I could explain this better, but why should I? It’s not like you cheap fucks are rewarding my hundreds and hundreds of hours of unpaid labour. You figure it out.

THE MORAL HERO

That’s why Socrates is a hero. Same goes for Jesus Christ. There’s a reason why Nietzsche called Christianity “Platonism for the masses”.

But what if Socrates got pardoned at the last minute? Would he be any less of a hero? I dont think so. His death isn’t what made him a hero. It’s what he did when he was still alive.

This leads us to an interesting question - Is Whitney Webb any less of a hero than Gary Webb?

I don’t think so. Do you?

Whats the difference between Whitney Webb and Iain Davis?

If we can all agree that Whitney Webb is a hero, how many of us can agree that Iain Davis is also a hero?

In my mind, Iain Davis fucking nailed it on COVID. He had the balls to call it like it was, and he’s up there with Kit Knightley and Denis Rancourt at the absolute top of who was most right on “the COVID”.

He was one the one who coined the term Pseudo-Pandemic, and he literally wrote the book on it.

We’re all traumatized to some degree by the nightmare of COVID, and we all remember the horrible social pressure to conform to the fake reality being shoved down our throats by “the Science”.

We all know what kinda courage it took to even try to stay true to yourself in the midst of the most sophisticated psy-op in human history. Reality was torn to shreds, and we were all psychically bleeding to death, and very, very people intellectuals were brave enough to call it what it was - the flu.

There never was a COVID virus, and there never was a pandemic. It was nothing but One Big Lie repeated trillions upon trillions of times in dozens and dozens of languages.

People like Iain Davis, Kit Knightley, and Denis Rancourt helped me retain my sanity throughout it all.

And so I will be eternally grateful to them.

If you think it was hard for you to maintain your sanity throughout the COVID psy op, just be glad you’re not a paranoid schizophrenic who happens to have a lot of good reasons to be paranoid.

A Question for Iain

Let me ask a question directly to Iain - is Whitney Webb a hero?

I know you like defining words accurately, so please tell me in the comments which definition of the word hero you prefer.

I’ll then use that definition to make the case that Whitney Webb is a hero.

If we can agree that Whitney is a hero, then we have taken the concept out of mythology and placed in the real world, where it belongs.

WHAT IS THE POINT OF MYTHOLOGY?

With all due respect, Iain, to believe that that heroes belong in mythology is to miss the point of mythology. The purpose of Hero Myths, which are found in every culture that I know of, is to inspire heroism in the real world. The Hero is meant to be emulated.

Norse myths focus on feats of strength, courage, and toughness, because that’s the Norse people valued.

The men of Athens valued wisdom (at least fancied they did - those of you who have read The Alphabet Versus the Goddess will likely contest this).

Alphabet vs the goddess

WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THE MYTH OF SOCRATES?

The myth of Socrates is meant to inspire another type of heroism - commitment to intellectual honesty.

As far as I know, Iain Davis hasn’t slain any dragons or rescued any princesses, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t a hero, because he isn’t a Thor-type hero, but a Socrates-type hero.

I think that by denying that you are a hero, you are displaying a characteristically English sense of modesty.

I am highly critical of Canadian culture, and Canada is a British colony. I’m also half WASP. So although I’ve never been to England, I think I understand a thing or two about the English national character.

If you want to know why I’m so rude, it’s because I see Canadian politeness as part of the problem. And modesty is part of it.

It is not polite to excel too much. Canada doesn’t like tall poppies.

Canada makes a virtue of mediocrity. The nail that sticks out is the one that gets hit.

When I was working in Alberta, I saw a poignant message written on the wall on a gas station bathroom:

FIT IN OR FUCK OFF.

That’s Canada in a nutshell, and that's why I fucked off.

Trust me. I know. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been cancelled. People don’t want me to be a hero.

Fine. I’m so sorry to all you Canadians that I tried to be heroic. I’ve learned that that’s it’s because I’m a privileged cisgendered white male and that it’s because of toxic masculinity, and I won’t bother you anymore by trying to fight for what’s right.

Clearly, you fucking people are happy with your porn, Netflix, free government drugs, and welfare cheques.

Clearly, people getting heroic annoys you.

Now I live in Mexico, where it’s okay be a hero. Believe it or not, people actually like heroes here.

In fact, if you’re a hero, women will want to fuck you and have your baby. That’s how it works here. What a concept. It’s almost that they think that if they have a hero’s baby, their baby will be a hero. Mexicans are so superstitious!

If you guys try to beg me to come back to Canada, by the way, chances are that what I’ll have to say will sound quite a bit like this:

WHY IS TRAVIS SCOTT MORE FAMOUS THAN IAIN DAVIS?

But anyway, this isn’t about me. It’s about Iain Davis.

To me, it’s disgusting that people that Takashi 69, Travis Scott, and the Kardashians are famous.

It should be people like Whitney Webb and Iain Davis - people who are actually doing important work, who deserve to be celebrated.

THE OPPOSITE OF CANCEL CULTURE IS PRAISE CULTURE.

I’m doing my part. Are you?

Margaret Anna is doing hers:

Ode to a Whistleblower

Dr. Diane Perlman is doing hers:

The Psychology of Veridos™ (Seekers of Truth and Justice)

And let’s not forget about Tessa Lena’s Honest People series.

Honest People Series: Professor Mark Crispin Miller's Victory at NYU

GIVE WHAT YOU WANT TO RECEIVE.

To me, there are four core tenets of anarchism: bodily autonomy, voluntary association, mutual aid, and egalitarianism (including gender egalitarianism).

One thing I really don’t get about Substack is the lack of mutual aid. Although some people stand out for their willingness to lend a hand, including Paul Cudenec and Captain Sensible from the Stirrer, most people are just doing their own thing. They aren’t thinking about the truth movement through the lens of movement strategy.

ARE WE A MOVEMENT OR NOT?

Most writers don’t have a background in political organizing, and don’t really seem to understand that we should be helping each other out if we want this movement to grow.

I would really encourage people to familiarize themselves with the work of behavioural scientist Robert Cialdini if they’re looking to importance the importance of reciprocity more.

If you ask me, reciprocity and mutual aid are synonymous terms.

IF I SCRATCH YOUR BACK, WILL YOU SCRATCH MINE?

I keep scratching other people’s backs and waiting for them to scratch mine, but it doesn’t seem to be working, because I’m very close to completely fucking broke, and only a few people seem willing to lend a hand. I’m confused.

Do people think that Nevermore is some kind of ego trip? I don’t get it. We’re starting a fucking movement here.

What about this do you people not fucking understand? If you don’t get me out now, why should I shower you in cash when I’m balling like crazy?

THE MONEY WILL ROLL RIGHT IN

In a previous post, I included two different versions of the classic grunge song THE MONEY WILL ROLL RIGHT IN.

I have the feeling that some people might have missed the hidden message. The lyrics to that song go like this:

I would give you some

If you only would have treated me nice

You’ll miss that you did

You’ll feel pretty stupid!

DO YOU GET IT?

Anyway, if anyone could lend me a hand by giving me a nice signal boost, I would appreciate it.

Thank you in advance, everyone. I’m a proud bastard and it’s hard for me to ask for help.

If people really don’t think I deserve to be rewarded for my years of activism, what does that tell you?

Maybe I’ll conclude that people simply don’t want to start a revolutionary movement.

Do people want freedom? I’m not convinced that most people do.

I do, though. And I know I’m not alone.

SO WHO’S WITH ME?