Kevin MacDonald

Kevin B. MacDonald is a retired professor of psychology and an evolutionary psychologist. He is the editor of Occidental Observer,Mission Statement Occidental Observer.Twitter bio a "magazine" that covers "white identity, white interests, and the culture of the West" and which the ADL calls "a primary voice for anti-Semitism from far-right intellectuals".The Occidental Observer: Online Anti-Semitism's New Intellectual Voice (January 22, 2009) Anti-Defamation League. MacDonald is the editor of a "journal devoted to the ethnic, racial, and cultural heritage that forms the foundation of Western Civilization"The Occidental Quarterly Reservation Form The Occidental Quarterly (archived from October 27, 2005). and which has been widely recognized as white nationalist.White Noise by Max Blumenthal (08.31.04) The American Prospect (archived from September 18, 2006). He is also a frequent contributor to VDARE.Kevin MacDonald on VDARE.
Earlier a Catholic, during his college days he was a peacenik, a flower child, and opposed the Vietnam War. He eventually felt that there were way too many Jews in the anti-war movement and that they tended to take over grassroots movements and make white members tokens. This is where his descent into antisemitism began.Kevin MacDonald: Kevin MacDonald is the neo-Nazi movement's favorite academic. A psychology professor at California State University, Long Beach, MacDonald published a trilogy that supposedly "proves" that Jews are genetically driven to destroy Western societies. Southern Poverty Law Center. 
Since then, he became the director of the American Third Position Party (or "American Freedom Party"),Kevin B. MacDonald, Director (September 27, 2011) American Freedom Party (archived from April 22, 2015). a White nationalist party.Dropping Academic Veneer, Cal State Prof Starts His Own Hate Group by Heidi Beirich (January 05, 2010) Southern Poverty Law Center.
He's noted for using pseudo-scientific evolutionary psychology in his articles and books to advance racialist views of Jews. He claims that Judaism is a "group evolutionary strategy" that evolved as a result of the Jewish disapora.A People that Shall Dwell Alone: Judaism as a Group Evolutionary Strategy by Kevin B. MacDonald (1994) Praeger. ISBN 0275948692. These theories have been poorly received by the scientific community and anyone with a brain. In contrast, they are beloved among white supremacists.
He also believes in other HBD ideas, such as Edward Dutton's theory that ethnic Finnish people have evolved to be genetically highly monogamous, cooperative, and trusting and that this is because, over generations, the harsh, cold environment of Finland selected for such traits (wouldn't that also be the case for other cold-weather countries like Sweden and Norway?).
==Professional career==
MacDonald joined the Department of Psychology at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) in 1985. He became a full professor in 1995 and retired in 2014.Controversial psychology professor to retire in the fall (April 14, 2014) Daily Forty-Niner.
His work prior to the 1990s focused on wolf behavior"Induction of normal behavior in wolves with restricted rearing" by Kevin B. MacDonald & B. E. Ginsburg (1981) Behavioral and Neural Biology, 33:133–62."Development and stability of personality characteristics in prepubertal wolves: Implications for pack organization and behavior" by Kevin B. MacDonald (1987) In: Man and Wolf, edited by Harry Frank, W. Junk. ISBN 9061936144. pp. 99–106 (1983) and parent-child play."Bridging the gap: Parent-child play interactions and peer interactive competence" by Kevin B. MacDonald & R. D. Parke (1987) Child Development 55:1265–1277."Parent-child physical play: The effects of sex and age of children and parents", Sex Roles, 15, 367–78 (1986)"Parent-child physical play with rejected, neglected and popular boys" by Kevin B. MacDonald (1987) Developmental Psychology 23:705–711. The vast majority of his publications are on mainstream topics and are featured in mainstream journals.Professional Résumé: Kevin B. MacDonald California State University Long Beach (archived from April 11, 2015).
The CSULB psychology department voted to formally dissociate themselves from his work in 2008.Psychology department to issue statement on professor's controversial literature by Andrew Smith (2/7/08) Daily 49er (archived from March 15, 2008). In the same year, the academic senate issued the following statement:Academic senate disassociates itself from Professor MacDonald (October 6, 2008) Daily 49er.Statement On Dr. Kevin MacDonald’s Work (5/5/08) CSULB Academic Senate.
==The Culture of Critique==
The best known of his books is his 1998 The Culture of Critique: An Evolutionary Analysis of Jewish Involvement in Twentieth-Century Intellectual and Political Movements.The Culture of Critique: An Evolutionary Analysis of Jewish Involvement in Twentieth-Century Intellectual and Political Movements by Kevin B. MacDonald (1998) Praeger. ISBN 0275961133. In short: anything left of Mussolini? Blame the Jews.
==Jewish behavior==
He also wrote a trilogy of books explaining "Jewish behavior" as a group survival trait.Separation and Its Discontents: Toward an Evolutionary Theory of Anti-Semitism by Kevin B. MacDonald (1998) Praeger. ISBN 0275948706. MacDonald claims that this causes Jews to work against the majority culture of the society they live in and, as such, suggests that Jews are parasitically trying to destroy Western Civilization.California State University, Long Beach Psychology Professor Kevin MacDonald Publishes Anti-Semitic Books by Heidi Beirich (April 22, 2007) Southern Poverty Law Center.
MacDonald also advances the usual claims of white supremacists and neo-Nazis: that Jews control American institutions and are trying to alter American culture for their own ends.
The trilogy has been mostly ignored by serious scholarsKevin MacDonald and the Elevation of Anti-Semitic Pseudoscience: Why are respectable journals publishing discussions of what has long been dismissed as bigoted psychological research? by Michael Schulson (06.27.2018) Undark Magazine. but has been criticised by the right-wing writer Nathan Cofnas as relying on "misrepresented sources and cherry-picked facts".Judaism as a Group Evolutionary Strategy: A Critical Analysis of Kevin MacDonald’s Theory by Nathan Cofnas (2018) Human Nature 29:134-156. doi:10.1007/s12110-018-9310-x. Cofnas later observed, "MacDonald has attempted to neutralize my critique by writing long, tedious rejoinders that have succeeded in creating confusion, and led some onlookers to assume that he must have successfully defended his work because he wrote so many words."Is Kevin MacDonald’s Theory of Judaism “Plausible”? A Response to Dutton (2018) by Nathan Cofnas (2019) Evolutionary Psychological Science 5:143-150. doi:10.1017/S0021932005027069.
===Jews control the media===
In "Jewish Fear and Loathing of Donald Trump (5): Would Trump’s Defeat Be Blamed On Jews?", MacDonald wrote:Jewish Fear and Loathing of Donald Trump (5): Would Trump’s Defeat Be Blamed On Jews? by Kevin MacDonald (August 15, 2016) Occidental Observer.
He misidentified as Jewish (presumably because of his surname) despite Greenblatt growing up Catholic, which doesn't instill confidence. Another low-hanging fruit here: MacDonald omits Fox News, which (unfortunately) dominates cable news ratings,Dominick Mastrangelo (December 14, 2023). "Fox News top-rated cable channel for eighth straight year". The Hill. from his list of "major networks". Rupert Murdoch is not Jewish, even as much as some really want to believe he is. MacDonald also omits the two largest TV station owners in the United States, Sinclair and which own many local news stations. Leadership in companies can change wildly over a short period of time, so the exact period we choose to consider matters. Most of the people he listed (in 2016) simply did not hold those positions anymore as of 2020, and among them only the Roberts family retained their position as of Zucker's 2022 departure from CNN (Sumner Redstone died just four years after MacDonald wrote the above).
Assuming the remainder holds any water, Cofnas's considerations could still apply. Take geography: most large companies (including big media companies) are headquartered in large urban areas (one reason being ability to attract a very wide range of job applicants, especially college graduates, another of which is airport connectivity), where Jewish-Americans have been concentrated around since at least the 1950s,(October 1, 2013). "A Portrait of Jewish Americans". Pew Research Center. Quote: "Half of Jews (49%) reside in urban areas and a similar number (47%) reside in the suburbs; just 4% of Jews reside in rural areas."(February 6, 1958). "96 Percent of U.S. Jews Live in Urban Areas, Census Bureau Reports". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. though probably going back to large waves of Jewish immigration from eastern Europe (see below). Several of the above-mentioned companies (Nexstar, CBS and Viacom/Paramount, NBC/NBCUniversal, ABC, and Fox News) are headquartered in New York City (highest-population city in the US) in particular, which has a substantial Jewish population.Josh Nathan-Kazis (June 12, 2012). "N.Y. Jewish Population Grows to 1.5M: Study". The Forward. Also compare with the "over-representation" Cofnas refers to in relatively banal sectors like chess championships.
The influence of New York City's relatively liberal-leaning media entirely predated the arrival of large waves of Jewish immigrants, even despite the relatively decentralized nature of media at that time: for example, the highly-circulated which advocated abolishing slavery, labor unionization, and granting women the vote."American Newspapers, 1800-1860: City Newspapers". History, Philosophy, and Newspaper Library, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. In Japan, which has almost no Jewish people (and certainly in turn, very few working in media), major media companies are likewise centered around the country's most populous city, Tokyo; 70 percent of Japan's national TV programming comes from five Tokyo-based broadcasters. Other big media companies there are often based in other massive cities like Osaka.
The confluence of MacDonald's excesses, Cofnas's chessmaster counter-example, the plain economic incentives of large companies to base themselves in cities (especially a or more historically, a and the social/historical/developmental factors that have made American cities what they are, begins to suggest something other than conspiracy. What MacDonald refers to as "Jewish identity [making] a difference in content", assuming he's even grabbed onto something here, could really be a broader urbanite culture (see also bear in mind that the Jewish-American community was more conservative prior to the arrival of urban immigrant populations from eastern Europe in the late 1800s and early-mid 1900s, especially to New York City). One which, ironically enough, Donald Trump the NYC real estate developer (and Rudy Giuliani of course) was long a part of himself — more the right-wing of it as time went on (perhaps not a shock since he became hooked to Fox News for a time, and his dad was effectively a rich-guy segregationist, but that's another can of worms).
===Jews use the Holocaust to promote liberal policy===
In "Using the Moral Capital of the Holocaust to Promote Muslim Migration", MacDonald wrote:Using the Moral Capital of the Holocaust to Promote Muslim Migration by Kevin MacDonald (January 29, 2016) Occidental Observer.
Notably, MacDonald doesn't offer arguments against those he quotes in this article. Instead, he just says "look, a Jew is referencing the Holocaust to advance their politics" and moves on, as if that were rebuttal enough.
==Miscellaneous==
Donald Trump, Jr. retweeted a tweet by Kevin MacDonald that alleged a conspiracy by Hillary Clinton to help Swiss bank UBS in return for money donated to her charity.Donald Trump Jr. Retweets the ‘Neo-Nazi Movement’s Favorite Academic’ by Ari Feldman (September 01, 2016) Forward.Donald Trump Jr. retweets psychologist who believes Jews manipulate society by Ron Kampeas (September 1, 2016 10:12 am) Jewish Telegraph Agency.
During unabashed antisemite David Irving's 1996 defamation suit against Holocaust historian Deborah Lipstadt, Irving called a number of witnesses. Only one such witness didn't have to be subpoenaed and came freely: Kevin MacDonald.During the 12 weeks of Irving v. Penguin and Lipstadt, Irving called a number of witnesses. Only one did not have to be subpoenaed but came of his own volition. Kevin McDonald. Donald Trump Jr. Is now retweeting his comments. Giving him added attention. Kevin McDonald is an unabashed antisemite. by Deborah Lipstadt (31 August 2016) Facebook (archived from 1 Jun 2017 14:43:15 UTC).
MacDonald also doubts that African American quarterback Colin Kaepernick "would be seen as viable given that QBs are supposed to be leaders & still lots of Whites on offense" and finds it hard "to see Kaepernick being the leader of a team with White linemen, etc."Doubt Kaepernick would be seen as viable given that QBs are supposed to be leaders & still lots of Whites on offense by Kevin MacDonald (12:16 PM - 29 Aug 2016) Twitter (archived from 4 Nov 2016 20:52:43 UTC). We will let the reader decide why MacDonald thinks that a black cannot lead whites.
==See also==
*Greg Johnson
*Third Position
==External links==
*
*His personal site, which looks like the 1990s and reads like the 1940s
*Understanding Alt-Right Anti-Semitism, in which MacDonald features repeatedly
*Extremist file on Kevin MacDonald — Southern Poverty Law Center
:*David Duke Boasts Academic Achievements, His Claims Similar to Anti-Semitic Psychology Professor Kevin MacDonald — Southern Poverty Law Center
:*Psych Prof Has New Job Running Racist Political Party — Southern Poverty Law Center
:*THE NEW RACIALISTS
*Evolutionary Psychology's Anti-Semite — Slate
*Long post on Kevin MacDonald — /r/BadSocialScience
==Notes==
==References==
Category:Alt-right
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Category:Conspiracy theorists
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Category:Psychologists
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Category:Racists
Category:Atheists
Category:Great Replacement conspiracy theorists
Category:White supremacists