Thirty Plus Years on the Internet Battle Front

I've been fighting for the return of sanity and order to society for a long time, but I didn't remember quite how long!

I returned to university in the early '90s. The internet was still fairly new, but it existed. In fact, the World Wide Web had been invented by Sir Tim Berners-Lee, OM, KBE. just a few years before in 1989, but personal computers were still few and far between.

The Web was still in its infancy to the point that we didn't use URLs to access a site, we typed in the actual IP address! In other words, every time I wanted to access a site, I had to type in a numeric string like 192.0.2.1! Not convenient, but it worked.

However, my major adviser in mediaeval history saw the potential and was an advocate of using them in the liberal arts. He required our papers to be published on a list on the net so they could be critiqued by interested students and scholars from all over. I remember the first comment I got on a paper. It was from a fellow student at my university who happened to be in Rome when I submitted my paper. He not only gave me some valuable advice on the paper but also some equally valuable advice on interacting with our mutual adviser!

There were computers available for student use at the university and I had a friend who had a personal computer. I became fascinated with the possibilities. 

I had published a small royalist, Integralist Catholic 'review' I called 'The Ultra Review', for the French Ultras of the Restoration who were 'more Royalist than the King', typing it on a computer, using WordStar, and then xeroxing the few copies needed for subscribers,  but I saw the larger reach available if I were to utilise the internet.

I got involved in BBSs on Freenets (if you remember those, you're also an older computer geek!) and through them, I found a few people who shared my views. I began an email list on which we could exchange emails on topics of interest. After a few months, someone suggested that we move the list to something called Usenet.  

I had no idea how to do that, but as I recall, a member of the list in Edinburgh set it up. We grew from there. In fact, I still have a friend on Facebook that I first 'met' on that Usenet group over 30 years ago.

In September 2005, I started my first blog, The New Crusade. I continued to blog there until I moved to Canada in 2007. Canada has no concept of freedom of speech, despite the Charter of Rights and Freedoms guaranteeing it, and the sort of thing I posted would have gotten me arrested, fined, and then deported in short order.

When I returned to the States, I never resurrected the New Crusade, but I remained active in the fight on Facebook in Traditionalist, monarchist, and conservative groups and in online fora on those topics.

Then, in October 2017, I stepped up my game and began this blog. I've had over 10 million views, so I'm obviously reaching far more people than I ever could with that email list or Usenet back in the early 1990s.

So what was the Usenet post that began this 30+-year journey? Here it is. You will note from the post that 'integralism' and 'integralist' had not yet become the somewhat well-known terms they are today. We still used 'integrism' and 'integrist' from the French integrisme.

First Usenet Post Posted 6 January 1993 04:28:29 PM

Since I seem to have been the impetus behind the founding of this bbs (thanks to Nils, who actually got it online!!! I'm such a novice, I didn't know how to go about it!), I thought maybe I should contribute.

Nils had originally suggested naming it alt.integrism, but JTJ said he didn't know the term. For those outside the Catholic counterrevolutionary sphere, Integrism is an ordinary term for the ideology which places Christ the King at the head of the family, society, state, culture and civilisation. Thus, it stands in opposition to all forms of the Revolution which place the people, history, reason, humanism, race, etc. at the head.

Some major integrist writers include Fr Denis Fahey, Charles Maurras, René de la Tour du Pin, Donoso Cortes, and Jaime Balmes. Current publications include (in English) The Remnant (USA), Apropos (Scotland) and Christian Order (England). From an Anglican (Anglo-Catholic) point of view, there are Church
and King and PRAG, both from the UK. In French, la Gazette Royale and FIL are good, and l'Alliance Chretienne unites 26 different integrist groups. I hope to post a mailing list of counterrevolutionary, integrist, and royalist groups and publications.

Regards,
--
Jovan Weismiller E-Mail: ae8...@yfn.ysu.edu
PO Box xxxx Vive le Roi!
Lawrence, KS 66044 A bas la Revolution!
913.842.xxxx Vive Louis XX!