The Tyranny Of Selma Over America

There’s an answer for why so many leftists are eager for martyrdom

Alex Pretti and Renee Good are the Left’s new heroes. Dying while trying to violently block federal immigration agents from doing their job now makes liberals desire martyrdom.

“They’re going to kill some of us. But if we don’t risk our safety now and here, they will just keep killing us,” a Minneapolis protester told NBC. “If we don’t stand here now, despite the back to back murders and more, they will keep taking.”

This strikes a lot of people as strange. Man usually tries to avoid death, not seek out annihilation. Regular folk don’t do these things. These protesters don’t have a lot of experience dealing with violence or law enforcement. They’re not criminals or combat veterans. They’re goofy normies making really dumb decisions that may leave them dead.

So why would liberals try to get themselves killed by fighting cops?

One motivating factor is the power of civil rights mythology. It’s one of the foundational myths in contemporary society. From kindergarten onwards, Americans are subject to panegyrics about what these protesters did. We are told to fawn over them and follow their example. Whenever big mean racists start doing big mean things, it’s up to Americans to “non-violently” stop them. The entire Left wants to be the Selma marchers heading into the lines of bigoted police. Most won’t actually take action; but they will celebrate those foolhardy few who do.

The power of the civil rights mythology stands before our eyes. It’s one of the few historic events Americans have some knowledge of. It’s constantly related to contemporary events. It inspires people to do crazy things they wouldn’t otherwise do, as well as lay the groundwork for public support for such actions.

Killing yourself at the hands of ICE is a quick way to make yourself a hero. Both Good and Pretti saw leftist activism as their way to make something out of themselves. In death, they became icons and are even included alongside the holy saints of the civil rights movement. It sets an example for others to follow.

It’s why it’s a part of American history that should be demoted in favor of other, more important myths. Our history should not be reduced to agitators provoking police violence on behalf of left-wing causes. There is far more to our nation than Selma and Rosa Parks.

Myth is important to national identity. These stories can inspire unity and devotion to a country more than facts and logic. America has had several myths over its history. Some support a right-wing view of our country, others back leftist notions. Liberal historian Richard Slotkin outlined four foundational myths in the 2024 book, A Great Disorder: National Myth and the Battle for America. These are the myth of the Frontier, the myth of the Founding, the myth of the Civil War, and the myth of the Good War (World War II). Slotkin criticized most of the elements of these myths for supporting racism, imperialism, and unquestioning patriotism. But he did discern enough elements to support a libtarded view of America.

Any myth that venerates America as a “diverse defender of freedom” is good, according to Slotkin. In the book, the author argues that civil rights mythology derives from the popular view of the Good War. Not surprisingly, Slotkin argued that this is one myth that needs to be promoted, alongside a liberationist view of the Civil War and liberal notions of the Good War. He displayed a low opinion of the myths of the Frontier (his academic specialty) and the Founding, both of which he thinks imagine America as a white man’s republic founded on conquest and hostility to big government.

Despite its obvious biases, A Great Disorder is worth reading to understand how myth informs our national identity and character. It’s particularly relevant when witnessing the turmoil sweeping the country over the ICE raids. The myths of the Civil Rights movement and the Good War motivate the protesters. The ICE agents are both Nazis deporting Jews and Klansmen upholding Jim Crow. The plucky protesters are both the multicultural platoons of Hollywood war films and the diverse marchers in Selma. History is on their side, as they incessantly proclaim.

Right-wingers correctly mock this, but the ridicule doesn’t change the fact that this is how a lot of Americans think. There’s a reason why Hitler is always invoked for every political issue, from foreign policy decisions to even taxes. Putin, tax cuts, a border wall, and many other things are all Nazi. Meanwhile, Antifa are the soldiers charging the beaches at Normandy. When World War II references get worn out, the public then veers into Civil Rights mythology. Bull Connor overtakes Hitler as the Great Satan and the Selma marchers become the new superheroes. This mythology allows people who are otherwise skittish about patriotic symbols and American history to then LARP as the real patriots. Ignore the occasional flag burning; that’s just something real patriots do when their nation is in distress!

Journalists, celebrities, and even a shameful number of Republicans nod their heads along with these arguments. The tyranny of Selma exacts tribute from many different Americans. We were all taught this in school and saw this play out in many hit films. There’s nothing more noble for a white person to do than to lay down their life for non-whites. Good and Pretti join Viola Liuzzo and James Reeb in the pantheon of “good whites” who died for non-whites.

That’s why it’s easy to convince a wide array of people that these random leftists are heroes and more should follow their example.

It’s not a simple task to wean Americans off these silly myths. They’re deeply ingrained within the public consciousness. But that doesn’t mean that will always be the case. In the past, the Founding, the Civil War, and the Frontier mattered far more to Americans. There’s no law against them once again returning to the fore. Over time and with the right education, we can make those events displace civil rights fetishism and anti-Nazi cosplay as the critical elements of the American experience.

It would be far better for our country to look at George Washington and Davy Crockett for models rather than racial agitators. If the Founding and Frontier myths mattered more than civil rights mythology, the American public would see the ICE agents, not the idiots getting in their way, as the heroes. They would acknowledge that these agents try to uphold the Founders’ ideals and take back space occupied by foreign intruders. The culture would reference the Revolutionary War and the deeds of settlers rather than immediately imagining every situation is 1933 Germany or 1965 Selma.

Curtailing civil rights mythology would help make America great again. We’d have far fewer maniacs trying to get themselves killed by trying to stop the deportation of pedophiles and gangbangers.

The stories we tell about ourselves matter. If we allow our story to be one that inspires Renee Good to drive into an ICE agent, we need a new one. The tyranny of Selma over America must come to an end.

[Editor’s note: You can now preorder Scott Greer’s new book, “Whitepill: The Online Right and the Making of Trump’s America,” from this link.]