Jan Olof Bengtsson

Into the Cannibal’s Pot: Lessons for America from Post-Apartheid South Africa is a polemical work anchored in history, reality, fact, and the political philosophy of classical liberalism. It is a manifesto against mass society, arguing against raw, ripe, democracy, here (in the US), there (in South Africa), and everywhere. Into the Cannibal’s Pot follows Russell Kirk’s contention that true freedom can be found only within the framework of a social order. It is a reminder that, however imperfect, civilized societies are fragile. They can, and will, crumble in culturally inhospitable climes. The tyranny of political correctness, so unique to the West, plays a role in their near-collapse. Advanced societies don’t just die; they either wither from within, or, like South Africa, are finished off by other western societies. Ilana Mercer delivers a compelling book; it is required reading for thinking people who care about the destiny of western civilization.

Reviews:

“The Western press promptly forgot all about South Africa after Nelson Mandela assumed the presidency. The commissars of allowable opinion pretend atrocities have not been taking place, and smear anyone who mentions them. Ilana Mercer will have none of the lies and omissions of the commissars and the cowards. For the sake of white and black South Africans alike, her compelling account deserves a wide and sympathetic audience.”  Thomas E. Woods, Ph.D., historian, author of the New York Times best-sellers Nullification, Meltdown, The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History, and the critically acclaimed The Church Confronts Modernity

“Ilana Mercer calls her book ‘a labor of love to my homelands, old and new’. The old is South Africa, which the author left in 1995. The new is the U.S.A. In both nations the founding European stock yielded up their dominance in the interests of justice and liberty. Instead of moving to equal citizenship under fair laws, however, both nations – in different style and measure but with similarly dire results – have embraced official tribalism (‘multiculturalism’) and state-enforced racial favoritism (‘affirmative action’). For South Africa the transformation has been fatal – brutally so for victims of the nation’s swelling social disorder, as Ms. Mercer documents in heartbreaking detail. For the U.S.A. it is not too late to change course. The lesson of South Africa, if widely known, will help to open American eyes. Here is the lesson, in a compelling and important book.”  John Derbyshire, novelist, National Review columnist, pop-math writer, author most recently of We Are Doomed: Reclaiming Conservative Pessimism, and all-round bon vivant

“‘The truth shall set you free’, a memorable Biblical phrase tells us. It does not say the truth shall make us comfortable or happy. Into The Cannibal’s Pot fits this mold: it is an interesting, important, well-written and well-documented book that informs the reader but is likely to upset, perhaps even anger, some or many of them.”  Thomas Szasz, the author of The Myth of Mental Illness, Psychiatry: The Science of Lies, and many other books

“Egalitarianism leads to democracy; democracy leads to socialism; socialism leads to economic destruction; and democratic socialism in multicultural societies leads to death and democide. This, in shocking detail, is what Ilana Mercer illustrates superbly in her case study of post-apartheid South Africa. America’s political and intellectual ‘elites’ will ignore this book, because it is politically ‘incorrect’. We can only do so at our own peril.”  Hans-Hermann Hoppe, Austrian school economist, libertarian political philosopher, emeritus professor of economics, University of Nevada, distinguished fellow, the Ludwig von Mises Institute, author of Democracy: The God That Failed, and The Economics and Ethics of Private Property

“If you want to witness the end result of what in America is called ‘diversity’, you must read Into the Cannibal’s Pot. ‘Diversity’ is a euphemism for racial retribution administered mostly by guilty white liberals in universities, corporations, and government. It is a thoroughly collectivist notion that condones punishing the current generation of white males for the sins of the past. It’s most extreme form is practiced in post-Apartheid South Africa, and its effects are meticulously documented by Ilana Mercer (who also writes marvelously): rampant black-on-white crime, racist labor laws that have created ‘The world’s most extreme affirmative action program’; the confiscation of private property; economic socialism; state-sponsored terrorism; and, most sickeningly, the idolization of the corrupt and murderous Zimbabwean dictator, Robert Mugabe. The Western media ignore all of this because of their ideological love affair with the communistic African National Congress and, frankly, their support for many of these same policies.”  Thomas J. DiLorenzo, professor of economics, Loyola College, Maryland, author of the best-selling The Real Lincoln, Lincoln Unmasked, and most recently, Hamilton’s Curse

“Ilana Mercer’s well-documented, encompassing study is at once heartbreaking, infuriating, illuminating and instructive. Ethnic cleansing is underway in the once great nation of South Africa, but Americans hear nothing of it; they are deliberately shielded by the same parties that served to bring it about, the liberal elites in Western governments and the press who believe that white South Africans ‘have it coming’. It is white guilt and the so-called right of black reprisal extrapolated to ghastly extremes; political correctness on steroids, and all in the name of craven progressive ideology. If the West is ever to occupy anything resembling moral high ground – not to mention avoiding this fate itself – it will have to come to terms with its part in South Africa’s demise, and the misery, degradation and naked horror of those who now suffer.”  Erik Rush,columnist and author of Negrophilia: From Slave Block to Pedestal-America’s Racial Obsession. Erik was the first to break the story of President (then Senator) Barack Obama’s ties to the militant, Afrocentric, Chicago preacher Reverend Jeremiah Wright

“Into the Cannibal’s Pot is well-written, courageous, and is clearly a strong socio-political tract on South Africa.”  Irving Louis Horowitz, Hannah Arendt distinguished professor emeritus, Rutgers University, New Jersey

“An unflinching take on South Africa. This is well done.”  Jed Donahue, Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI)

“Into the Cannibal’s Pot is brilliant, exceeding all my expectations. It is very courageous of Ilana Mercer also to attack the whole notion of ‘democracy.’ This is a much-needed shot at a holy cow.”  Dan Roodt, Ph.D., noted Afrikaner activist, author, literary critic, director, PRAAG

From the Publisher:

This is a book about ideas and ideology. When losing an intellectual argument, there are despicable people who point an accusing finger and shout racism. In our dark times where mob rule and collectivist ideas resonate with so many, this appalling strategy can be very effective. To those who support colorblind civil discourse, rule of law, equality of opportunity, freedom, the golden rule (do unto others as you wish them to do unto you), liberty, freedom of expression and religion and private property rights…regardless of skin color or ethnic background (black, red, white, yellow, brown, green or violet), we extend the hand of friendship. To those who support all forms of thuggery – including totalitarianism, collectivism, fascism, extremist fundamentalism, unequal treatment under law, income redistribution, nanny state government programs and the soft bigotry of low expectations – your skin color and ethnicity are irrelevant…and your ideas belong in the dustbin of history.

From the Author:

Dedicated to my Afrikaner brothers betrayed, and to my African sisters, Nomasomi Khala and Annie Dlahmini, whose lives touched mine.

From the Inside Flap:

About the Author:

Ilana Mercer is a widely published classical liberal (or libertarian) writer, and a fellow at the Jerusalem Institute for Market Studies. She pens WorldNetDaily’s popular “Return to Reason” column. “The titular tease”, writes Ms Mercer in the Introduction to Into the Cannibal’s Pot: Lessons for America from Post-Apartheid South Africa, “is meant as a metaphor, and is inspired by Ayn Rand’s wise counsel against prostrating civilization to savagery”.

JOB’s Comment:

What does Desmond Tutu think about it?

Classical liberalism (libertarianism) and Ayn Rand are of course far from sufficient for dealing with the situation described in this book. And it is not possible to be a consistent follower of both Ayn Rand and Russell Kirk.