In the Absence of Logic or Reason
Walter Rhein, dehumanization and the liberal will to chaos
Every so often I get into a “discussion” with a liberal progressive, on Substack. It is not easy, as they have a tendency to cancel me at the first sign I disagree with them. I don’t make a habit of such discussions, they being exceedingly tedious, but it is sometimes instructive in a way that clarifies something I have been thinking about.
Sometime before the last election, I started to point out the natural progression of progressive ideology, where it would likely lead if Kamala Harris were President. The ultimate goal of equity being, the leveling of society, not anyone (but party elite and cronies) above or below another. That is, not the end of private property as much as the confiscation and repatriation, ala Rhodesia aka Zimbabwe.1 As we are seeing in South Africa currently. Like we are seeing with ranchers on Point Reyes in California.
Open borders, millions of illiterate young men entering the country illegally, would be the mercenary muscle and the beneficiary, along with the very long list of people with historical grievance, women and minorities.
There are tens of millions of acres held by farmers who are on the verge of retiring, with none but the deepest pockets prepared to “buy” that land. It would be just as likely, the land seized to be held in a kind of trust to benefit the “underprivileged oppressed”, and simply giving the land to people who have no idea what to do with it, ala Zimbabwe.
Then I encountered
. My first introduction was a piece of his, comparing himself favorably, superior really, to Immanuel Kant. Which is strange, though I don’t know what Kant’s IQ was, I’m sure it was at least 50pts higher than Walter’s. Such self-aggrandizement was just the beginning with Walter. His arrogance is inversely related to his intelligence.Normally I am not bothered by leftists who are dumb. Dumb is not threatening to me, unless of course such idiots have power over me. You know something of what that felt like, under the Biden Admin, the lowest among us lifted up as the highest, proving mostly that they are even more venal, mean and destructive than even the “meritocracy.” Walter is precisely the sort of guy who would have thrived in Soviet Russia, or the French Revolution. He would have been given a great deal of power during Mao’s cultural revolution. Because he is exceedingly self-righteous while not having any reason or logic. His sentences are a cascade of irrational, emotional abuse, directed with the fervor of Absolute Belief, in the tone of chest puffed out. Walter and
could run a covid internment camp while still playing the victim complaining about their toxic family. Walter is very ashamed of his father, and regularly cuts him down in his writing. One of the most destructive forces on earth is the man who still acts like a child because he hates his father.That is one of the things I find mystifying about the black pill crowd on the right, acting like Trump and his crew of Tech-bros are somehow a greater threat than the Democrats and Kamala. I’m not one to be hyperbolic about genocide (except in the context of covid policy), but Rhodesia, South Africa and Point Reyes are the model. Europe and Canada are the model. To be over-run and have everything taken from you. Walter Rhein and his ilk would celebrate that. Walter is currently celebrating the loss of the dream of farming. Rural people are mostly conservative, so it is Justice if they are driven from the land.
On the one hand, it is a colossal waste of my time to be reading or paying attention at all to a guy like Walter Rhein. Even the divine seemed to step in and say, enough of this, wasting your time on this minutiae. For whatever reason, when I copied and pasted something from his substack, the whole thing was reduced to like 10% the size. No other substack is like that. It remains that way.
That is about what reading Walter Rhein is worth, really.
But he is also an excellent example of what passes for manhood on the left, an emasculated, eunuch-like character who references CNN and NPR to support his “arguments”. Manhood that had thrust open the gates of the empire begging to be overrun by barbarians. He is a quintessential weak man initiating chaos, leading inevitably to the collapse of civilization, to the basest kind of authoritarianism. He is the future if liberals control the government, which is to say, an extended dark age.
I’ve posted the “discussion” below, for posterity’s sake, lol. If you read it, it is merely meant to be a reminder of the kind of people you do not want in charge of anything, not least to have any power over you and yours. A mind like this, totally devoid of logic or reason, ever practicing dehumanization with language, with zero self-awareness, literally, enthusiastically practicing what he otherwise condemns, can come to justify the most odious, horrific, destructive behavior. If this last election was anything at all, it was about taking power away from “men” like this.
[I added a few comments in the text, for reference.]
"Last night rather than watch the odious “presidential” debacle of lies,"
How can you know it was lies before it even happened, or after you didn't watch it?
I hear this all the time. Name a lie.
Republicans lie when they say we have an immigrant problem. We don't. The president is a rude person who brags about sexual assault. He doesn't have integrity.
We don’t have an immigrant problem? Wide open borders for four years and you believe the 15mil people who crossed the border illegally, 90% of them war-aged men, are all good, honest people? You claim Trump brags about sexual assault, but you ignore those who have been raped or murdered by migrants?
My family is an immigrant family. Your false claims lead to hostility and aggression against my family. I've been experiencing it for a decade. My kids have been assaulted by supporters of the president, never by immigrants.
My claims are accurate. It is the corporate media and dem party that has been lying about immigration for ten years. That is what has led to the supposed hostility to your kids, the gaslighting people have had to deal with…oh, that violence, that taking of your jobs, the sheer numbers, those trillions of dollars we have spent housing them, feeding them, giving them “free” health care…it is all in your head, racist.
I have an immigrant family too, so save your righteousness.
"My righteousness?" Why are you incapable of having a conversation without insulting people? Immigrants are not causing crimes. The supporters of the criminal president are committing a lot more crimes. Consider the men who attacked police officers who were released back into communities because of the J6 pardons. The hate speech against immigrants is unfounded. Immigrants are good people and they've been unfairly targeted by the corrupt Republican party. The only people taking our jobs are the members of DOGE.
Speaking of projection, your posts are typically one long series of insults. As to this sentence - “Immigrants are not causing crimes” - it is rather unbelievable you can even write such a sentence seriously. But keep saying such, as it is a primary reason Trump is back in the Whitehouse.
Can we agree that my children should not have to endure harassment? That they should not be spit on? That my wife should not be harassed? Can you agree to those things? Because it's happening and it's republicans doing it. I've seen it.
I do agree that should not happen. But, I saw a note from you, saying ICE would be in your city, and that would mean your wife would be harassed by ICE. That didn’t happen, but you did not say anything about it after. And as to your kids, my niece is Mexican, but she has never talked about this like you do. She would if it was an issue.
If this is actually happening to your family, you might want to take your statement about hate more seriously. I know a lot of republicans and not a one of them is anything like what you call them. You are actively dehumanizing them. History says a lot about what that leads too.
Ok, so you agree my wife and kids shouldn't be harassed. Then you start with baseless speculation. The fact is that Republicans are extremely anti-immigrant. They don't care about citizenship or visas. They hear an accent they don't like or they see a skin color they don't like and they start harassing. It's wrong. People deserve respect.
[I basically accused him of dehumanizing his fellow Americans as a pretext to genocide them, and his response was: “Republicans…hear an accent they don’t like or they see a skin color they don’t like and they start harassing.” Which is a thing that doesn’t really happen, but it is more like Walter casting a spell, like an incantation, the imagery of it. It makes a caricature, which is what people always do to justify ill treatment of others.]
Baseless speculation? There you go again, making baseless speculations about everyone on the right as if they are all the same and evil, and then accuse me of baseless speculation. Projection. It is like what I say about Trump: there is Trump, and then there is the idea of Trump that lives only in the heads of liberals. The way you talk about people on the right suggests you don’t actually know any. People do deserve respect. You should again take your own advice and offer some to the right.
You agreed with me that my wife and children shouldn't be harassed, but then you refuse to see the problem. The media is lying to you. Immigrants aren't causing problems like you've been told. When you repeat that lie, it leads to hostility against innocent people. If you want to find criminals look to the J6 rioters who got pardons. The current president released those criminals into our communities.
You should tell that to the people who have been raped by immigrants or the families who's kids have been killed. That you think all immigrants are good people, is exactly like the way you think everyone on the right is evil. Neither is true. It is like those who think no one has ever been harmed by the covid jabs. You believe what you want to, regardless of reality.
Walter Rhein
You complain about people making generalizations about republicans, and then you turn around and make hateful generalizations about immigrants. Why can't you practice what you preach? Immigrants are not "eating dogs and cats" they're not "raping people." They're good, hardworking people who are trying to take care of their kids. A girl was raped and murdered in my community 2 years ago, she was 11 and the guy they arrested lived in a house that was covered in Republican propaganda, but you just don't even see that. An 11 year old girl in Texas killed herself because she was being bullied for her Mexican heritage, but you don't see that either. Why don't you care about those people? All you seem to care about is the lies you've been told. https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/27/us/jocelynn-rojo-carranza-suicide-texas-investigation/index.html
William Hunter Duncan
Yeah, CNN. Happy to declare a girl killed herself for being taunted for her immigration status, though the article is unclear about anyone actually taunting her directly. Meanwhile, refusing to report on immigrant child rapists ignored and even protected by liberal jurisdictions.
The difference here is, I will acknowledge there are ugly republicans, while defending conservatives generally, and America from an invasion. You condemn everyone on the right, while holding all immigrants up as perfect, while gaslighting your fellow Americans about the invasion and it’s consequences.
https://www.newsweek.com/illegal-immigrant-arrested-child-rape-ice-detainer-massachusetts-2030618
Walter Rhein
I'm asking you to stop making vast generalizations about immigrants. You've made those generalizations in this thread. Why can't Republicans talk about immigrants without making unsubstantiated claims? I mean, you voted for a guy who lied about immigrants eating cats and dogs. That was a flat out malicious lie. That kind of language causes children to be harassed. Republicans too often make sweeping and untrue claims that disparage all immigrants. Do you agree that kind of language incites violence and leads to crimes against the innocent? There is no "invasion" that's the kind of false and inciting language that creates conflict and yields no benefit.
You are saying immigrants are perfect, and that all Americans on the right are evil. That is gross generalization. I am saying, most conservatives are good solid people, while there are some immigrants who are raping and murdering Americans. I am reflecting reality, you are reflecting the world as you want it to be. Doing that, you are excusing pathology.
As to the cats and dogs, they eat cats and dogs in Haiti. And then the Biden Admin flew in several hundred thousand Haitians and dumped 20,000 of them in a town of 20,000.
I'm not saying immigrants are perfect. I'm saying that you're making unfair generalizations about immigrants. When you say "Immigrants are rapists" but then you object when somebody says "republicans are rapists" you're not being consistent. More women get raped by Republicans than by immigrants. Also, why can't you admit the "Eating the cats and dogs" comment was a lie. It wasn't happening in Springfield, and after the president said that there were threats of violence against Hatian immigrants. This is what I'm talking about. Tone down your rhetoric because irresponsible language gets people killed.
[He put the phrase “immigrants are rapists” in quotes, but I didn’t say that and never would. This is Walter, with broken logic without ethics. He repeatedly does this throughout, creating a straw man of me, attacking that straw man, while refusing to address the fact that what he is accusing that straw man of, is precisely what he does in abundance in everything he writes, though much more extreme and effusive, than even what he is accusing my straw man of.]
The borders were wide open for four years. Estimates from 10-20 million people crossed, 90+% of them men under the age of 35, from 180 countries. Mostly from countries where they treat women a lot worse than women are treated here. As for Americans who rape, probably few of those could be called liberal or conservative, merely monstrous. While that is sad and sick, it is endemic. Every rape and murder perpetrated by an immigrant is a greater tragedy that should not have happened but for Liberals (and establishment Republicans) keeping the border open for any monster to cross.
As for whether cats and dogs were eaten in Springfield, there were more than 200 police reports about missing cats and dogs. You do not have any proof it did not happen.
My point is this: please do not use language against immigrants that you would object to having somebody use against you. Do unto others. Can't we agree on that?
Don't use words like "invasion" or "rapists" or "criminals." If you take the inciting language out of your rhetoric, we get closer to having a solution. When you use inciting language, hostile people end up getting indoctrinated to attack innocent immigrants.
Most immigrants come to the US through airports, not the border.
Women are actually treated a lot better in other parts of the world than they are here. I know because I've lived abroad.
As for Springfield, there were no verified cases of dogs and cats being eaten. The amount of pets missing was no different than the amount reported missing in any other community. Don't make unsubstantiated accusations, that's irresponsible.
So I am supposed to stop calling out what some immigrants do, but you are free to say whatever nasty, mean spirited, categorically absolutist, dehumanizing thing you want to say about everyone on the right? While you say patently false things like more people immigrate to America in planes than across the border, or that the number of missing cat and dog reports in Springfield is no different than anywhere else? Or that women are treated better elsewhere in the world because you lived somewhere abroad once? Or that anyone who calls themselves a conservative wants to genocide LGBTQ+?
I’m going to keep talking about the ill effects of open borders, while you are probably going to continue to emote an endless stream of invective about the right that you would absolutely object to someone saying about you. I’ll stop trolling you when you actually “do unto others.”
When you said "nasty, mean-spirited, categorically absolutist, dehumanizing" you invoked a bunch of language designed to incite conflict rather than achieve unity.
I'm asking you to be more responsible with your word choices.
But all those words do apply to your insistence on using awful language to describe immigrants.
Please don't make blanket generalizations. It's just as wrong to accuse immigrants of being rapists as it is to accuse all republicans of being rapists. There are bad actors in any group, but when you act like an entire group is made up only of bad actors, you're practicing hate speech.
For more than 10 years, I've been asking Republicans to tone down the rhetoric. Talk about our immigration issues with language that does not incite people to violence. That way, we solve the problem and protect the innocent.
What's the problem with that?
Also, I think part of the issue is that you might equate "immigrant" with the word "illegal immigrant." Usually the majority of undocumented immigrants are people who overstayed a visa (They came through airports): https://www.npr.org/2019/01/16/686056668/for-seventh-consecutive-year-visa-overstays-exceeded-illegal-border-crossings
[“Unity” is me shutting up about immigrants, all of the immigrants allowed to stay. It was this comment, and the previous, his making up “facts”, that made me realize I had achieved what I wanted, the recognition that Walter is just as nefarious as he is dumb.]
Now I think you are a dark magician, making excuses for flooding the country with third-world mercenaries, to float Democratic party numbers to create a one-party state, to provide muscle eventually to maintain it, to overwhelm the natives.2
Here are some words for you:
Walter Rhein
We agree that we shouldn't use "nasty, mean-spirited, categorically absolutist, dehumanizing" language right?
Essentially my article says "Republicans need to stop using nasty, mean-spirited, categorically absolutist, dehumanizing language when they talk about immigrants."
Then you accused me of using nasty, mean-spirited, categorically absolutist, dehumanizing language to talk about conservatives.
Why can't you just agree to stop talking about immigrants that way and then we can both get what we want?
The country is not being "flooded with mercenaries." They are not "floating democratic party numbers." Democrats certainly don't want to create a one-party state. You say "natives" but somehow I doubt you're talking about native Americans in that instance (which is a shame because those are the only native people of this continent).
Also, if I were a "dark magician" do you think I'd be talking to you rather than just casting a spell?
William Hunter Duncan
As long as there are still Liberals sheltering criminal immigrants, I am going to call it out.
And yes, if you were like most liberal writers, you would have cancelled me a long time ago. But against my argument, you recognize truths you cannot abide, and so have sustained the argument, as a magician would. In your case, defending immigrants against the interests of American citizens.
Again, can't we agree not to use language that is "nasty, mean-spirited, categorically absolutist, dehumanizing?" I mean, those are your words.
Just talk about immigrants without making the assumption that they're criminals.
I mean, conservatives elected a criminal president. That's actually a fact. What you're saying is just baseless speculation.
I don't recognize any truths in your arguments other than that we shouldn't use dehumanizing language. But you keep using it. Why don't you hold yourself to your own standard?
[I gave him the last word, because it is his substack, and of course it doesn’t cost him anything at all, to go on repeating that I am a baseless speculator causing his family to be abused. To reiterate, it is not dehumanizing to call out immigrants committing crimes, or liberals protecting them. It is dehumanizing to say that everyone on the right is a racist, bigot, xenophobe, trans-phobe misogynist. Everything about Walter Rhein suggests he is absolutely capable of supporting a genocide by way of the dehumanization of anyone on the right, ala Rhodesia or South Africa, particularly his fellow white Americans. While I do in fact support kicking out every immigrant who is a criminal, and those who are here on false pretenses.]
Guys like Walter need the muscle of patriarchal, illiterate fighting age male immigrants, to turn America into an authoritarian globalist outpost, because they are too emasculated to do it themselves.
You said it all right here:
"A mind like this, totally devoid of logic or reason, ever practicing dehumanization with language, with zero self-awareness, literally, enthusiastically practicing what he otherwise condemns, can come to justify the most odious, horrific, destructive behavior. If this last election was anything at all, it was about taking power away from “men” like this."
Wally isn’t worth the word count. He argues in bad faith and will certainly never change his stance on anything, but especially “Republicans/conservatives hate <insert name of protected group here>.”