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Edutainment, part 1: The True Nature of All Entertainment

by Arthur Thief

THE TERM “edutainment” is a portmanteau which describes the embedding of intentional educational content into an entertainment vehicle — be it a fictional story, movie, or television show — or even a video game. Whatever the origin or original intent of the word, it possesses what is either a critical flaw or, worse, an intentional deception imposed upon the nature of the two words of which it is composed: education and entertainment. It heavily implies a concept – one especially favored by American conservatives — which is that there is some entertainment which holds no educational value.

To the contrary: All entertainment is educational. The question is, what is one meant to learn?

I use the word “educational” in its broadest possible sense, encompassing the imparting of the good or the bad, the true or the false.

So by “educational” I don’t mean that all entertainment imparts useful skills, a healthier mind, or a more accurate and factual outlook on the world; indeed, any regular reader of this site must surely be aware that the vast majority of available entertainment offerings have the opposite effect. However, this would only be non-educational — that is, the “mindless entertainment” of conservativism’s fantasy — if it were not done by intent. (On the “liberal” side of this fantasy is the idea of “innocent” entertainment, which is entertainment bereft of any propagandistic intent.)

In the Never-never Land of those who believe there is “mindless” or “innocent” entertainment, the subversion of our culture and the rise of a leftist, Communist-sympathizing (mostly Jewish) elite happened because of the near-supernatural stupidity of anyone who fell for such ideas, and so “liberals” are simply morons (as opposed to scheming Jewish nation-wreckers) who danced to an invisible Pied Piper to elevate closet Communists to power and ravage the virtues of the old order. In this fantasy world, the media, educational, and entertainment establishments are rarely coordinated, if at all, let alone along the battle lines of a millennia-old race war. Their productions are “dumbed down” garbage because “that is what sells,” and it sells because the masses are debased and stupid. To those holding this view, the true relationship between the nature of the masses and their choices in “edutainment” can never be considered, as any such serious consideration would point to the fact that a hostile alien elite is entrenched in what is in fact the most powerful engine of Empire — culture formation — and has been for many decades, perhaps centuries.

The Educational Nature of Entertainment

Before dispensing with the concept of “mindless entertainment” it is first necessary to point out that even were it a true concept, it could not exist without its antithesis. That is, it is only possible to point out the existence of mindless entertainment if there exists mindful entertainment. And if the term “mindless” has to apply to some entertainment as an adjective, then entertainment in general must therefore encompass that which falls outside of that descriptor.

To prove that subverted entertainment is not mindless, the mindful nature of unsubverted entertainment should be explored and contrasted with the subverted variety. Unsubverted entertainment communicates the values of a people down through the generations, creates and maintains a sense of identity and belonging, inspires greatness, engenders creativity and a sense of beauty, and in all ways refreshes and inclines the soul of the entertained toward serving the needs of his people.

Subverted entertainment, on the other hand, lampoons and satirizes traditional values and culture, atomizes the entertained and alienates him from his people, while creating a globalized and pan-human false identity for him which provides no room for natural loyalty, inspires lethargy, destroys creativity, replaces beauty with ugliness, and in all ways poisons his soul and alienates him from his love for and desire to serve his people.

In considering unsubverted entertainment, we need to examine the entertainment made and consumed by our folk prior to Semitic subversion, and see such entertainment in the context of the societies we had built and their inherent values. (It would not be appropriate, for example, to consider such admonitions as “love your enemy as yourself” or any memetic derived from this or any other biblical — that is, Jewish — directive, no matter how long they have been established within our societies, as belonging to the unsubverted category.)

Contemplate, then, the nature of the story structure, and the nature of the characters portrayed, in the myths and legends of Rome, Greece, Germania, Scandinavia, ancient India, or any other Aryan society. They communicate values that have always spoken to our race-soul: strength, oath-keeping, patriarchy, hearth and family, the seasons and harvest, harmony with and understanding of Nature, exploration and adventure, and so on. Many of the greatest literary works of our race from more recent years have also avoided subversion to a great extent, and raise up these values at least in part — e.g., the works of Tolkien. Even instrumental music – devoid on its face of any explicit narrative – is able to convey emotion, a sense of belonging, and, by the increasing complexity and scientific precision of composition, edify the people from whose soul it arose and for whom it was composed.

In short, the works which have stood the test of time have all served to transmit our culture and values to our people across the generations. We never expected perfection of our heroes and gods — and this fact is sometimes used by enemies to denigrate our great stories — but, for us, these imperfections served to highlight the lessons to be learned when gods and great heroes give in to vices, and to illustrate growth.

Contrast this with the subverted entertainment of today.

Since much of today’s entertainment is openly boastful of its subversion of traditional values, perhaps a slightly earlier era when the stage was set for today’s entertainment, would be the best place to begin.

So let us begin with American culture in the half century from 1950 to 2000. This is not to assert that the subversion of Aryan culture began then, nor to say that America was the first to fall — but this era gives us a solid base of examples in which the subversion was not yet overt or admitted.

During this era, many new themes were introduced or greatly emphasized; equality over strength; heroes who are morally (at least, within the values being communicated) and physically perfect (e.g., the Superman comic, and radio and television series); demonization of natural racial feelings, especially among Whites; a mixed-race cast of “heroes” portraying “our” glorious future; sex shown as individual pleasure-seeking divorced from reproduction; father figures as villains; husbands as villains. Older works whose themes had the opposite tendencies were derided as “old hat,” “corny,” and “repressive.”

What defines “edutainment” as opposed to “mindless entertainment,” then, is whether or not the meaning being communicated is being done intentionally. When conservatives speak disparagingly of “mindless entertainment” they don’t mean the intentional destruction of our old values, standards, and traditions but rather a careless trampling of those things in the name of money-making spectacle. This is a dangerous misconception. It suggests to the consumer of culture that today’s television, for example, is “just entertainment,” without purpose.

It will be demonstrated here that such reckless misunderstanding of the nature of subversion is one important reason why conservatism has failed to conserve anything, and (as Dr. William Pierce and other writers here on National Vanguard have observed) has instead resembled “liberalism driving with the brakes on.”

If so-called “mindless” entertainment were simply reckless in its approach, it might be expected to be traditional as often as it is subversive, or nearly so. The excuse often rendered for the general lack of accidentally-traditional “mindless” entertainment is the supposed base tastes of the masses. However, the recent economic backlash against anti-White, anti-Western, and anti-Traditional mainstream entertainment – which has impacted even food and beverage companies of late – demonstrates that the tastes of the masses, uncultured as they may be, nevertheless do not lie in the direction of the Jewish elites’ aims. Not yet, at least.

If the entertainment we currently endure had been crafted merely to cater to the masses, such forceful backlash would not occur. No, the bent of elite-created “mainstream” entertainment has not been caused by some supposed “base instincts of the masses.”

This is not to say that the “base instincts of the masses” have not started to lean in the direction of subverted anti-White values in recent times; the subversion over many generations has had an effect. But these same masses were entertained by and happily consumed more traditional fare since time immemorial. Our question, then, when comments such as “filth sells” are rendered up as an excuse, is why?

In the following parts of this essay we will answer that question. Several methods by which the values and basic world-conception of the masses have been warped will be exposed. It will be demonstrated that the natural desires and ideals of the White culture-consumer have been twisted and warped to remove all traces of his innate nobility and leave him a debased, traitorous, and ignoble creature. Lastly, a ray of hope will be proffered by proposing steps White advocates can begin taking immediately to reconquer the engines of our culture’s transmission.

To be continued.

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Art Thief
Art Thief
3 August, 2023 11:59 pm

Thank you very much for the amazing job editing this! My original was definitely a bit hard to follow and I rambled quite a bit. The effects of burning the midnight oil while trying to do justice to the same publication that gives us works by giants like Revilo Oliver did not make for a very clear read. Thank you for helping me get the point across!

Art Thief
Art Thief
5 August, 2023 11:25 am

Thank you, Mr. Mercer

Freya
Freya
6 August, 2023 3:35 pm

This article is on point, there isn’t anything left for us entertainment wise. Im okay with that, there are books available for our people.