Another red pill I'm still slowly digesting is the understanding that this or that form of government is largely far less important than the underlying culture that carries it out and its values. You can have wretchedly evil democracies and benevolent monarchies and innovative republics.
Representative democracy doesn't represent an apotheosis of civilizational development any more than the first written alphabet did.
Unless they start out as and remain ehtno-culturally (monoracial in US terminology I think?) homogenous, then yes - it always devolves into internecine conflict due to everincreasing patron-clientilismin governement, finally erupting as a need for a Leader above the squabble, a Leader who cancut away all the corruption and usher in a New Golden Age, and...
Saddest thing of all, despite the above being the siren call of every despotic movement ever, it is also true.
You can end up in such a massive flustercluck of a state (all meanings of the term) that only a Stalin-esque character can get anything at all done. Problem is of course that once this guy delivers his "Alexander's cut", how do you get himto stop cutting?
I would say it's ALWAYS tribe vs. tribe. But when the country is made up of a large majority of the same tribe (ethnically and culturally), then the conflict is with outsiders not internal. Political conflict is then about means, not ends. Fix the roads first or the rails? Minor issues that can be resolved by winning the next election.
When multiple ethnic and cultural groups are within the same polity, then politics becomes about ends as well as means. Do we allow FGM or ban it?
Existential issues that people are willing to kill for.
In a culturally and ethnically homogeneous society, democracy is redundant. In a diverse society, democracy is a racial head count.
I understand your feeling about dropping out. It has been a dispiriting couple of years. The lies, gaslighting, and sketchy elections have been overwhelming to anyone trying to maintain sanity.
I think we are all undergoing the largest psychological operation in human history. And demoralization is a big part of the plan. By making us feel isolated, they are trying to stress us out and wear us down. Job #1 is to stay connected with like-minded people, even if only online. WE are the sane ones. WE see the evil unfolding before us. It important for morale to let others know that they are not alone or crazy.
The only question in my mind is "what role, if any, do I and the people whose gifts and wisdom I value (e.g. you) have to play?"
I think a hard fact we mostly don't want to think about is that throughout human history only a very miniscule number of people at any one moment had any real intentional ability to shift the course of civilization. The majority of people live and die powerless and largely ignorant and never know why.
You say we're the sane ones, we're the smart ones. That we can recognize evil for what it is. Okay. I can accept that.
Excellent point about history and civilization. I truly believe that we are confronting the greatest evil in human history, since its reach is global. If this goes through, Stalin and Hitler will be footnotes, both horrors seen as primers for what is coming. Hopefully, I'm completely out of line and we could laugh at my alarmism in a decade, but human rights violations are ramping up, not dialing down.
Why is it screamingly obvious to some that we are in the fight of our lives, while others comply with every government edict? Well, at the risk of sounding insufferable (as a former atheist, I know how religious statements land on secular ears), I view this all through a spiritual prism. It's impossible for me to see this worldwide movement towards totalitarianism and the erasure of human rights without attributing a malevolent force behind the scenes moving so many in the same direction. Like Naomi Wolf and my formerly very secular brother-in-law who is on the path to Catholicism after a genuine religious experience last December, some are called by God to resist this evil. I think that's us--even those of us who don't have faith. We are the core who will fight this and maybe lose our lives to it, but never bow down to it.
Much suffering awaits, I very strongly suspect, but this evil will be destroyed, eventually. Hopefully in our lifetime, but if not, it's up to us to "carry the fire," as Cormac McCarthy wrote.
I think we both can appreciate the spiritual dimension of our lives, even if we see it through different eyes. :)
You make interesting points, but if I take what you say at face value, I have to ask you as a Christian: if true, your words seem to suggest the vast majority of people are NOT up to the task- and furthermore, will succumb to serving evil.
This would imply- from certain theological perspectives- a sort of predestination to failure for most humans. And that's a cruel universe.
Oh, I adamantly reject the notion of predestination. Free will is our greatest gift from God. That goes back to the discussion on Hell we had a month ago. It's all up to us.
Gato broke bad on him last week, but I think Dostoevsky was correct in writing that most people cannot handle freedom. Gato seemed to take it as Dostoevsky's philosophy, but I understand it as a correct analysis of human nature. Hence, so many went along with the Covid drama and willingly rolled up their sleeves. Ostracization, loss of employment, and outright discrimination were the rewards for standing up for freedom. It is always much easier to go with the flow. I had many conversations with people in the midst of the vaccine push in 2021. Thinking that I had convinced them to reject the poison, I was very disappointed to learn that they had gotten mRNA injected into their body. Peer pressure and convenience were the main reasons given. They sold their freedom for the opportunity to attend a concert or eat out. Unbelievable.
CJ Hopkins wrote a column addressing this as well. He castigated Desmet for his Mass Formation Psychosis Theory because, in Hopkins' view, it absolved people from the choice they willingly made to serve evil.
Many were tricked by the lies, but many were not They're not victims; they're supporters. Most people will line up behind the Eye of Sauron, lest its gaze be turned upon them. To hell with those destroyed for resisting. Better them than me, most will say, I fear.
Wonderful response- and one that makes it clear I didn't express myself accurately.
What I'm trying to express is that there always seems to be an "implied predestination" to Christian theology, even if a particular sect rejects the concept. I'll explain what I mean.
In lots of substack threads, I see Christians repeating sentiments to the effect of "God wins in the end," or "it doesn't matter what they do, Satan cannot ultimately win, victory is already God's," and things like that.
I'm sorry if I'm looking at this through too materialist/rationalist a lens, but when I hear this sort of thing (and I hear it a LOT), it frustrates me. If the outcome is decided, what's there to "fight?" Why should anyone lift a hand at all? God will take care of it. In fact, if evil is always undone by God in the end, why does mankind need to do anything whatsoever? The outcome is already decided. Just wait patiently for God to claim victory.
Furthermore, if victory is assured, there was never any real threat of evil overcoming the natural state of the universe as "good," which almost seems to render it a meaningless philosophical thing- there's no reason to fear or reject or deny evil because it's an impotent thing that naturally withers.
When I carry this line of thinking further, I think, "well, what agency does humanity really have after all? It's not as though any outcomes are ever in doubt, and it's not as though God is dependent upon the actions of man to bring those outcomes about. If He is always destined to overcome evil, it doesn't matter much what men do- and if most are not made of strong enough stuff to fight evil, how are their actions importantly different from those that do, since the effort of mankind is immaterial to the script?"
P.S. I was so excited to hear your analysis of this I kept it in my head all through this morning's physical therapy, which hit me so hard I ended up sleeping the moment I got home for about 5 hours and only just awakened- and couldn't wait to get it down here before I forgot it. Thank you for being such a worthy partner in spiritual matters!
Thanks, Guttermouth. I'm totally flattered. I really enjoy our exchanges and very much appreciate your pointed, probing questions. You have a very sharp, inquisitive mind. And I like your No BS style. OK, enough with the gay stuff!
I think that those proclaiming "God wins in the end" are mostly Protestants from what I can tell. I agree with the sentiment, but before that happens there will be hell on earth for some time, according to the Book of Revelation. Many evangelicals I've interacted with fully expect to be raptured and whisked away to heaven before the big show gets underway, hence the rather cheerful take on the upcoming reign of evil.
That strikes me as an abandonment of Christian duty to fight evil wherever and whenever it appears. But I'm a papist; I expect to be stuck here when the sh*t gets real...
Paradoxically, Christianity predicts its demise (Tolkien called it the "long defeat"), but also Christ's triumphant return at the Second Coming. So in that sense, I guess you could say that predestination is a part of the religion. However it does not negate our free will at all. Our duty as Christians is to struggle against sin in our lives and to confront evil in the world. Because of free will, our lives are exploding with meaning. EVERYTHING we do matters. Are we righteous? Do we live selflessly? Do we treat others with respect and kindness (Brandon excepted...)? We will be judged on how we live our lives. Jesus beautifully calls us to be a light in darkness. Recent convert Jules Winnfield speaks for me here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFTvENHcobM
Hang in there, Guttermouth. Keep grinding away at rehab. I keep you in my prayers.
(If you have no kidney or liver problems, you might want to try the combination of 500mg of acetaminophen (Tylenol) and 400mg of ibuprofen (Advil). It works wonders on acute dental pain. It's supposed to be as effective at controlling pain as any prescription pain killer...and you never hear of anyone's life go spiraling out of control due to an NSAID addiction...)
Good take on Dostojevski - Gato is sharp but he is very much like his totem animal a creature of Now!, not Then. People like me who are more badger or bear-like in temperament think more of the Then than of Now, to understand Now at all.
If you see what I'm after?
Dostojevski also knew first-hand that when the choice is serfdom, food and lodging in one scale, and the freedom to starve to death in any ditch you want to in the other, it's not much of a choice at all. Especially when on has family.
A better take on all the russian classics is that they are very much about balance between the large scale events and the small personal ones, as well as balance ones principles with factual reality. It'sall well and good to live a saintly life in a convent or at court where everything is provided by others, and a whole different thing to be a peasant who was born to inherit the debt his great-grandfather once happened into.
Sorry to barge in, but the russian classics are so rarely read at all nowadays, at least here. You can't even get people to pick up Bulgakov's The Master and Margharita: "Is it about the drink?" as I once was asked.
Edited because there's something making my keyboard sticky ever since we ate Welsh rarebits in bed the other week.
I had an English teacher in high school that I have never forgotten: an incredibly tall, thin African man with an incredibly resonant voice and one of the widest repertoires of English poetry I've ever seen before or since. He did a recitation of The Waste-Land in the hallway for a colleague that had never heard it, just for fun, and it boomed in the air.
Anyway, he loved Dostoyevsky, and spent half our year on it. It was very hard work for American teenagers, and a lot was probably lost, but the themes you identified- the personal versus the civilizational, free will vs. destiny, courage vs. capitulation- are all there.
I hear you, Rikard. Having majored in History, I am very much a Then person too. Many Americans are blissfully unaware that other peoples' history consists of gruesome tales of invasion, war, famine, plague, gross injustice, etc. Nations, like people, are formed by their past. There's a really good reason that the Russians are a rather glum lot. Seems to me that we in the US are about to pen a horrendously bitter chapter in our history.
Excellent comment about Fyodor D and Russian lit. Their classics are quite a bit deeper than ours.
Can't help you about the sticky keyboard. Not sure even Siri can draw upon her reservoir of knowledge to help you with that problem.
As I thought about free will and predestination some more, GK Chesterton's quip that God is a gentleman who never imposes himself on someone came to mind. I think that nicely encapsulates Free Will and God's presence.
Marilynne Robinson's book "Lila" does a great job of drawing these ideas out. God is always there waiting, but Lila must freely decide to start the relationship. One needn't be Christian to appreciate her writings.
“unless it really is a universal and transcendent life, unless the bread is the bread and the cup is the cup everywhere, in all circumstances, and it is a time with the Lord in Gethsemane that comes for everyone, as I deeply believe.” but I think that’s Gilead, not Lila, anyway, I finally read some during the recent great winter of compulsive reading (2020/21) that I spent on an an island in the Aleutian chain while our little community was mostly rejoicing over first dibs on vid jabs (for AK natives) and local doctors went around to the fishing fleet delivering the overflow of supply into arms young and old and I marveled over the spiritual dissonance in people who choose to live and work (often quite bravely) in such an inherently dangerous, remote, uncomfortable, wild place, only to be cowed immediately and totally by all tenets of covid propaganda, but none so much as the sinister cult of corporate safety-ism. but anyway. I’m glad I finally read some Marilynne Robinson.
FTX (regardless of original goals) was a ponzi/pyramid scheme. Talk to any prosecutor worth a shit and they’ll tell you those thing’s always end one way: by collapsing in on itself. It only really matters who’s under it when it falls.
The political theft machine is so fully integrated into our society that we’ll never be able to burn it out. Not without massive political will (see Florida)
Oh, no question it was a ponzi scheme, my only assertion is that it was always intended to fail, and it failed earlier than intended because they were too effective at staffing it with incompetent mentally ill leadership.
Bwaaahaha... yeah...if I lay hands on ya, I pretty much meant to. It's that or I was using you for balance as I stumbled...I'm stupid clumsy off the mats 🙄
i have to go to work in a minute so i havnt time to say all i want to. the t-shirt thing tho, i only just found out what it means, its not the sort of thing i'd wear anyway however how many like me that didnt know wear them? fucking pervs, what else might i not know?
Well, please come back later and speak your piece!
As to the "secret" pedo symbols, yeah: I don't think it's something that often happens by accident. I think it's a very intentional way of identifying themselves to reach other. I wouldn't worry too much about it for yourself. :)
I learned today that the name of the supposed creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, means "Central Intelligence" in Japanese. This from economist Richard Werner.
Mathew Crawford introduced Richard Werner to his readers.
I've always wondered about the whole "narcissistic psychopaths (or whatever you want to call them) can't help but leave breadcrumbs to catch them because they're so proud of themselves" trope, but it often seems to reveal itself.
Like a lot of people (maybe?), I have fantasized at various points in my life about holding some position of power. They say in America every kid entertains the notion of being President at least once in their childhood (which I think is a fascinating statement on the unique nature of American identity, however unrealistic the fantasy may be).
I have been encouraged at various occasions to do so. If I'm not too old by the time I feel our family has established ourselves in our new community here, I might run for something- I have made a few acquaintances that have said they'd be happy to advise me on such a thing. But it isn't a priority compared to getting my own house in order.
Nevertheless, your point stands: Leaders with honor and integrity DO NOT RUN FOR PUBLIC OFFICE. We take it as a glib philosophical truism that power always and inevitably corrupts virtue and therefore the only people eager for power are those that will be poor or evil leaders.
While it's a handy framing, I think it's become a stale trope, and part of my awakening in the past few weeks has been that some truly novel thinking is needed. We need to start viewing power, and our relationships to it, differently.
I'm with Ryan Gardner. I'm in Texas, not Florida though. Time to break away.
Balkanization/secession may be the only way forward. But I'm afraid people don't realize how violently Washington will try to crush such a trend, how bloody and destructive they're willing to get.
Part of the reason is the 50-50 split you mention. It's much worse than a philosophical dispute or a policy disagreement. We've already established there's no debating the other side, appealing to their consciences, or confronting them with the actions of the regime they've 'elected.'
In winter/spring 2020, they succumbed to a sort of madness. The Zombie Apocalypse was upon us, except the Undead weren't demanding 'braaaaaiiiins,' they were shouting slogans like 'two weeks to flatten the curve' and 'just wear the mask.' Undead doctors were reeling about CNN shrieking that 'herd immunity is mass murder!'
Then we had the brazen fraud of the 2020 elections, the abject failure of 'vaccines,' followed promptly by mandates issued only after it was plain the jabs were neither safe nor effective; and now, yet more equally brazen election fraud. Throughout it all, the zombies - half the population, our neighbors, family members and coworkers - have just kept staggering about, sometimes yelling new slogans about 'domestic terrorists' and 'our democracy,' but never regaining their senses.
One problem is that there's no sharp regional divide, as in 1861. Texas and southeastern red states have big blue cities. Even in Florida, what, 35-45% of the population still votes Democrat. The now-permanent progressive national regime can't afford to let those freedom-loving, prosperous regions go.
Just so we're absolutely clear, I'm not advocating violence. I'm saying that if there's secession or balkanization, no matter how peaceful, there WILL BE violence, on a grand scale, and the government will start it.
The lesson of the first civil war that nobody wants to discuss is, 'The Union must be preserved' is just an abusive partner's dog-whistle: 'You can't quit this club, baby.'
>> The lesson of the first civil war that nobody wants to discuss is, 'The Union must be preserved' is just an abusive partner's dog-whistle: 'You can't quit this club, baby.'
When I visited the Civil War Museum in Harrisburg (since we live near it now) this past year, this understanding of the framing of the war hit me like a red pill anew. Those who control the narrative have made certain that everyone is sufficiently afraid of being branded a racist or of minimizing slavery to ever discuss the Civil War in polite company with any degree of nuance, but YES, that is what it came down to: this is a union of the willing, right?
The first step is to get our kinds of people in charge of states. I wouldn't trust a single governor that we have now to do the job. Local and state power, political or otherwise.
Once we get that, what would likely work best is not a formal declaration, but more of an informal ignoring. The Spanish Colonies had a phrase that translates as, "we obey but do not implement" whenever the far-off Spanish King gave an order they didn't like. For example, banning slavery. They said they were loyal subjects of the crown, and would obey every pronouncement... as they continued to buy and sell slaves.
A coalition of states with a decent standing military could ignore federal nonsense to an amazing degree, especially if there were local organizations of a less formal nature helping out. They could control internal demographics in a legal way, with a heavy fig leaf. Make marijuana a state felony, 10 year mandatory minimum, but with no bail after arrest... so anyone arrested can easily flee the state and not return. Selective enforcement of that and other things could quickly clean things up.
There is very little that couldn't be accomplished with a homogeneous population united behind an idea and a goal.
Sorry to reply so late, but yes Zorost, I agree, that kind of superficially passive approach - a systematic, deliberate 'failure to implement' - will get us a long way. I'm not sure it will get us the whole way: Spain's 18th-century Bourbon rulers, notably Charles III, set up a sort of technocracy whose ethos was unmistakably what we now call 'progressive.' They tried very hard to reign in the Spanish colonists' freewheeling, noncompliant ways. Ultimately the Bourbon 'reforms' backfired, worsening separatist sentiment among both the indigenous peasantry and creole elite throughout the Americas, and led to the wars of independence in Mexico and South America in the early 19th century.
Interesting that you 'wouldn't trust a single governor that we have now to do the job.' That is certainly true in Texas - Gov 'Grabbit,' as some call him, is an opportunist with kneejerk progressive impulses. His only saving grace is his sharp political instincts, he's quick to sense what Texans want, and quick to at least go through the motions of giving it to them. Interesting that you apparently don't even trust DeSantis. I'd like to hear why!
I agree that any coalition of separatist states and counties would need some kind of standing military. But any overt effort to organize such formations would likely prompt speedy heavy-handed federal intervention. Maybe it could be done under the radar. No need to call it a 'militia,' it could be a superficially informal coalition of (heavily armed) 'neighborhood watch' organizations.
In other banana republics, infiltrating and subverting the security forces historically has been the key to successful insurrection. What might that look like here? Exploiting the natural tension between local and federal law enforcement is one place to start. Electing the right kind of county sheriff is another. Winning over individual street cops and sheriff's deputies, then working our way up their chain of command, could be useful. Local cops may not be in a position to flat-out ignore federal officials, but they might be able to provide intelligence and act as a sort of early-warning system: for example, they might be able to tip off, in advance, the targets of FBI political raids like Mark Houck.
Quietly promoting separatism in state army national guard units would help. Texas actually has a uniformed paramilitary state guard, separate from the army national guard, a perfect basis for a state-level standing force. Other states might want to legislate these into existence as well.
Electing the right governors would, as you note, make everything easier. Problem is, after Arizona last month, I don't see how we do that. Kari Lake got my attention in Nov 2021 when she went on the radio and said that if she had her way, OSHA employees trying to enforce vax mandates in AZ would be met at the airport and arrested by state police. That's exactly the approach we need. And that's also why - along with the mysterious election-day voting-machine malfunctions, the miraculous 'discovery' of 25,000 uncounted ballots a week after the election and assorted other irregularities - she's not governor today.
Having read Guttermouth for only a couple of months and then seeing the same characters in the comments section here, as well as the other couple of stacks I read, I feel very fortunate to be in this company. Truly a 'Band of (Gutter)Brothers'. When the shit flies I hope you have my back. And who the fuck are you anyway? The depth of knowledge and insight is astounding. Thanks Guttermouth for not pulling the plug....yet.
To quote an old swedish ad for tools, translated because it works even better in english:
"You can't unscrew a lost virginity"
Not that you've ever come across as ever having had any blinders, but your finale about your own introspection and realisation brought the quote to mind.
I think you touched pretty much everything that's been doing the rounds, just like at a handkerchief-party.
I try to be very careful about my self-perception as regards having blind spots. I have the sort of mind that would be easily convinced that I'm sufficiently smarter than the average bear and don't need to worry about being naive or self-deluding. I try to remember that and stay very vigilant against it, because intellectual complacency gets you in a lot of long-term trouble.
Heh, don't I know it. Both dad and me and my oldest sister have that kind of personality where we're 100% sure of anything we think we know, until we see proof that we're wrong, and then we're 100% sure anyway, just modified based on the new facts and proof.
According to mom, it's very annoying to have an argument with such a person, not the least because all three of us completely separate factual arguments from emotional states/arguments or feelings.
That sister and dad and me are ridiculously headstrong and stubborn only adds to the fun when we disagree on something. No-one wants to give, no-one wants to budge, and each one is trying to carpet bomb the others with facts.
But yeah, remembering that intelligence is relative and that experience and common sense (called "sunt förnuft" meaning "healthy reason" or "bondförnuft" meaning "farmer's wisdom" in swedish) also plays a hand is solid advice for everyone - hubris and conceitedness sneaks up on us all.
I often compare to how dogs do it: they can't lie, but they can be sneaky.
I agree with basically all of this. What makes it hard/cringeworthy is, as any of us that have read any history know - as you alluded to in your wrapping up - is that the people bearing the brunt of the wreckage and carnage are the least deserving of it; the people that deserve the guillotine in the town square will likely walk.
Welcome back! I wish I had some compelling arguments to make to push back on your cynicism...but I don't. If anything, it is probably even worse than we think. At this point, "we the people" are like a slow-moving animal that's been wrapped up by a boa constrictor. Time and the status quo are not on our side.
Our best hope is probably some massive, regime-ending black-swan events, and given the stupidity, lack of imagination, and incompetence among our ruling class, they will be completely overwhelmed by any crisis not of their own making. But absent some unforseen cataclysm, we're just going to get slowly and relentlessly strangled to death by the globohomo regime's money-grubbing tentacles. And it sucks to see that, and even to be able to talk online to others who see it more clearly than you do, but to also know that none of you are really able to do anything to stop it from happening.
I mean, look. I'm sure I'm not alone in being someone that WOULD do something- even if it cost me greatly- if I knew anything at all that COULD be done.
When I read stuff about the American Revolution, I find myself thinking, "okay, they met in pubs and passed notes around. What the hell does that look like in the 21st century and does anything even plausibly look like it anymore?"
Here's my optimistic side: I think the kind of levers that are getting pulled lately are making those "regime-ending black-swan events" more likely, because of the unprecedented numbers of interconnected systems being strained in ways that they normally or previously were too robust or too siloed to really be mortally wounded by one another. COVID biofascism strained every global system, FTX (and the bigger things FTX represents) will too. I think the fact that many of the Big Systems have been built using linear, ratcheting, supremacist principles means that they can ONLY move towards entropy. I really do believe collapse is inevitable at this point.
Here's the optimism: I believe that inevitable collapse represents the best possibility for the population not killed by it to think and act differently, because there will no longer be a sustainable status quo to trigger cognitive dissonance writ large.
I'm going to try to touch on some of this stuff when I write the next essay I'm planning on supremacy (as a behavioral trait of memes).
I agree wholeheartedly: our major institutions are unsalvageable and the globalist regime is terminally ill with dementia like their puppet in chief, Brandon, but what comes next could involve some real opportunities and profound reversals of fortune, both good and ill, with real challenges, but many more real opportunities for good than what we would have with the regime still in place. Thanks for being a voice of reason in this howling wasteland of cultural rot and insanity.
Thank you for saying so. I do it out of a genuine instinct to heal and invigorate my comrades; in my private universe, I am full of pessimism and despair and look forward to nothing more hopeful than Valhalla.
I don't really think this, because I believe people on all sides are mostly just motivated by shit and wrong in their choices. But someone could make it fly.
Fence was finished about a month ago. You can see a pretty picture of it in a recent post, with Brothermouth tightening the last bolt.
I'm so sorry, but the Putin is a Western Asset theory has been afloat for some time, and is a plucky little karve making its way down the picturesque creeks and swan roads of (mostly) "unsavory" right-wing news outlets.
Only yesterday I watched a Brett Weinstein podcast where he's asserting the corruption in US "pay to play" government and politics is so bad it's impacting on military readiness.
Two hours but worth watching to the end as Brett slowly loses patience and actually swears at the end. Even when facing down the mob at evergreen I don't think I ever heard Brett lose his composure like that.
I think the best to hope for is balkanization. It wouldn't surprise me if the population of the southeast grows by 50% in the next 20 years.
I think that's when the shit hits the fan.
People in Florida know what it's like to be free. I don't think we're going down without a fight.
My chief concern is that places like Florida don't become shitholes by way of mass immigration and find their culture overwhelmed.
Yeah. I hear you. That's one of my reservations in "losing" DeSantis to POTUS.
It's not happening on his watch. I'm optimistic down here. I live in a purple area and very purple neighborhood.
People seem to get it down here. They're done with the Dems. And they'll be done with the Republicans if they try similar shit.
There is a strong anti government contingent here.
If the red/blue tribalism finally splinters, I hope it breaks into a passionate anti-fed third.
I seem to recall reading democracies always coalesce into tribe vs tribe.
Another red pill I'm still slowly digesting is the understanding that this or that form of government is largely far less important than the underlying culture that carries it out and its values. You can have wretchedly evil democracies and benevolent monarchies and innovative republics.
Representative democracy doesn't represent an apotheosis of civilizational development any more than the first written alphabet did.
Unless they start out as and remain ehtno-culturally (monoracial in US terminology I think?) homogenous, then yes - it always devolves into internecine conflict due to everincreasing patron-clientilismin governement, finally erupting as a need for a Leader above the squabble, a Leader who cancut away all the corruption and usher in a New Golden Age, and...
Saddest thing of all, despite the above being the siren call of every despotic movement ever, it is also true.
You can end up in such a massive flustercluck of a state (all meanings of the term) that only a Stalin-esque character can get anything at all done. Problem is of course that once this guy delivers his "Alexander's cut", how do you get himto stop cutting?
You need a new Great Man to help you take him down, of course.
I would say it's ALWAYS tribe vs. tribe. But when the country is made up of a large majority of the same tribe (ethnically and culturally), then the conflict is with outsiders not internal. Political conflict is then about means, not ends. Fix the roads first or the rails? Minor issues that can be resolved by winning the next election.
When multiple ethnic and cultural groups are within the same polity, then politics becomes about ends as well as means. Do we allow FGM or ban it?
Existential issues that people are willing to kill for.
In a culturally and ethnically homogeneous society, democracy is redundant. In a diverse society, democracy is a racial head count.
Agree. And I believe that is our only hope.
Great essay, Guttermouth.
I understand your feeling about dropping out. It has been a dispiriting couple of years. The lies, gaslighting, and sketchy elections have been overwhelming to anyone trying to maintain sanity.
I think we are all undergoing the largest psychological operation in human history. And demoralization is a big part of the plan. By making us feel isolated, they are trying to stress us out and wear us down. Job #1 is to stay connected with like-minded people, even if only online. WE are the sane ones. WE see the evil unfolding before us. It important for morale to let others know that they are not alone or crazy.
The only question in my mind is "what role, if any, do I and the people whose gifts and wisdom I value (e.g. you) have to play?"
I think a hard fact we mostly don't want to think about is that throughout human history only a very miniscule number of people at any one moment had any real intentional ability to shift the course of civilization. The majority of people live and die powerless and largely ignorant and never know why.
You say we're the sane ones, we're the smart ones. That we can recognize evil for what it is. Okay. I can accept that.
What's it worth?
Excellent point about history and civilization. I truly believe that we are confronting the greatest evil in human history, since its reach is global. If this goes through, Stalin and Hitler will be footnotes, both horrors seen as primers for what is coming. Hopefully, I'm completely out of line and we could laugh at my alarmism in a decade, but human rights violations are ramping up, not dialing down.
Why is it screamingly obvious to some that we are in the fight of our lives, while others comply with every government edict? Well, at the risk of sounding insufferable (as a former atheist, I know how religious statements land on secular ears), I view this all through a spiritual prism. It's impossible for me to see this worldwide movement towards totalitarianism and the erasure of human rights without attributing a malevolent force behind the scenes moving so many in the same direction. Like Naomi Wolf and my formerly very secular brother-in-law who is on the path to Catholicism after a genuine religious experience last December, some are called by God to resist this evil. I think that's us--even those of us who don't have faith. We are the core who will fight this and maybe lose our lives to it, but never bow down to it.
Much suffering awaits, I very strongly suspect, but this evil will be destroyed, eventually. Hopefully in our lifetime, but if not, it's up to us to "carry the fire," as Cormac McCarthy wrote.
Hang in there, Guttermouth!
I think we both can appreciate the spiritual dimension of our lives, even if we see it through different eyes. :)
You make interesting points, but if I take what you say at face value, I have to ask you as a Christian: if true, your words seem to suggest the vast majority of people are NOT up to the task- and furthermore, will succumb to serving evil.
This would imply- from certain theological perspectives- a sort of predestination to failure for most humans. And that's a cruel universe.
Oh, I adamantly reject the notion of predestination. Free will is our greatest gift from God. That goes back to the discussion on Hell we had a month ago. It's all up to us.
Gato broke bad on him last week, but I think Dostoevsky was correct in writing that most people cannot handle freedom. Gato seemed to take it as Dostoevsky's philosophy, but I understand it as a correct analysis of human nature. Hence, so many went along with the Covid drama and willingly rolled up their sleeves. Ostracization, loss of employment, and outright discrimination were the rewards for standing up for freedom. It is always much easier to go with the flow. I had many conversations with people in the midst of the vaccine push in 2021. Thinking that I had convinced them to reject the poison, I was very disappointed to learn that they had gotten mRNA injected into their body. Peer pressure and convenience were the main reasons given. They sold their freedom for the opportunity to attend a concert or eat out. Unbelievable.
CJ Hopkins wrote a column addressing this as well. He castigated Desmet for his Mass Formation Psychosis Theory because, in Hopkins' view, it absolved people from the choice they willingly made to serve evil.
Many were tricked by the lies, but many were not They're not victims; they're supporters. Most people will line up behind the Eye of Sauron, lest its gaze be turned upon them. To hell with those destroyed for resisting. Better them than me, most will say, I fear.
Wonderful response- and one that makes it clear I didn't express myself accurately.
What I'm trying to express is that there always seems to be an "implied predestination" to Christian theology, even if a particular sect rejects the concept. I'll explain what I mean.
In lots of substack threads, I see Christians repeating sentiments to the effect of "God wins in the end," or "it doesn't matter what they do, Satan cannot ultimately win, victory is already God's," and things like that.
I'm sorry if I'm looking at this through too materialist/rationalist a lens, but when I hear this sort of thing (and I hear it a LOT), it frustrates me. If the outcome is decided, what's there to "fight?" Why should anyone lift a hand at all? God will take care of it. In fact, if evil is always undone by God in the end, why does mankind need to do anything whatsoever? The outcome is already decided. Just wait patiently for God to claim victory.
Furthermore, if victory is assured, there was never any real threat of evil overcoming the natural state of the universe as "good," which almost seems to render it a meaningless philosophical thing- there's no reason to fear or reject or deny evil because it's an impotent thing that naturally withers.
When I carry this line of thinking further, I think, "well, what agency does humanity really have after all? It's not as though any outcomes are ever in doubt, and it's not as though God is dependent upon the actions of man to bring those outcomes about. If He is always destined to overcome evil, it doesn't matter much what men do- and if most are not made of strong enough stuff to fight evil, how are their actions importantly different from those that do, since the effort of mankind is immaterial to the script?"
P.S. I was so excited to hear your analysis of this I kept it in my head all through this morning's physical therapy, which hit me so hard I ended up sleeping the moment I got home for about 5 hours and only just awakened- and couldn't wait to get it down here before I forgot it. Thank you for being such a worthy partner in spiritual matters!
Thanks, Guttermouth. I'm totally flattered. I really enjoy our exchanges and very much appreciate your pointed, probing questions. You have a very sharp, inquisitive mind. And I like your No BS style. OK, enough with the gay stuff!
I think that those proclaiming "God wins in the end" are mostly Protestants from what I can tell. I agree with the sentiment, but before that happens there will be hell on earth for some time, according to the Book of Revelation. Many evangelicals I've interacted with fully expect to be raptured and whisked away to heaven before the big show gets underway, hence the rather cheerful take on the upcoming reign of evil.
That strikes me as an abandonment of Christian duty to fight evil wherever and whenever it appears. But I'm a papist; I expect to be stuck here when the sh*t gets real...
Paradoxically, Christianity predicts its demise (Tolkien called it the "long defeat"), but also Christ's triumphant return at the Second Coming. So in that sense, I guess you could say that predestination is a part of the religion. However it does not negate our free will at all. Our duty as Christians is to struggle against sin in our lives and to confront evil in the world. Because of free will, our lives are exploding with meaning. EVERYTHING we do matters. Are we righteous? Do we live selflessly? Do we treat others with respect and kindness (Brandon excepted...)? We will be judged on how we live our lives. Jesus beautifully calls us to be a light in darkness. Recent convert Jules Winnfield speaks for me here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFTvENHcobM
Hang in there, Guttermouth. Keep grinding away at rehab. I keep you in my prayers.
(If you have no kidney or liver problems, you might want to try the combination of 500mg of acetaminophen (Tylenol) and 400mg of ibuprofen (Advil). It works wonders on acute dental pain. It's supposed to be as effective at controlling pain as any prescription pain killer...and you never hear of anyone's life go spiraling out of control due to an NSAID addiction...)
Good take on Dostojevski - Gato is sharp but he is very much like his totem animal a creature of Now!, not Then. People like me who are more badger or bear-like in temperament think more of the Then than of Now, to understand Now at all.
If you see what I'm after?
Dostojevski also knew first-hand that when the choice is serfdom, food and lodging in one scale, and the freedom to starve to death in any ditch you want to in the other, it's not much of a choice at all. Especially when on has family.
A better take on all the russian classics is that they are very much about balance between the large scale events and the small personal ones, as well as balance ones principles with factual reality. It'sall well and good to live a saintly life in a convent or at court where everything is provided by others, and a whole different thing to be a peasant who was born to inherit the debt his great-grandfather once happened into.
Sorry to barge in, but the russian classics are so rarely read at all nowadays, at least here. You can't even get people to pick up Bulgakov's The Master and Margharita: "Is it about the drink?" as I once was asked.
Edited because there's something making my keyboard sticky ever since we ate Welsh rarebits in bed the other week.
I had an English teacher in high school that I have never forgotten: an incredibly tall, thin African man with an incredibly resonant voice and one of the widest repertoires of English poetry I've ever seen before or since. He did a recitation of The Waste-Land in the hallway for a colleague that had never heard it, just for fun, and it boomed in the air.
Anyway, he loved Dostoyevsky, and spent half our year on it. It was very hard work for American teenagers, and a lot was probably lost, but the themes you identified- the personal versus the civilizational, free will vs. destiny, courage vs. capitulation- are all there.
I hear you, Rikard. Having majored in History, I am very much a Then person too. Many Americans are blissfully unaware that other peoples' history consists of gruesome tales of invasion, war, famine, plague, gross injustice, etc. Nations, like people, are formed by their past. There's a really good reason that the Russians are a rather glum lot. Seems to me that we in the US are about to pen a horrendously bitter chapter in our history.
Excellent comment about Fyodor D and Russian lit. Their classics are quite a bit deeper than ours.
Can't help you about the sticky keyboard. Not sure even Siri can draw upon her reservoir of knowledge to help you with that problem.
As I thought about free will and predestination some more, GK Chesterton's quip that God is a gentleman who never imposes himself on someone came to mind. I think that nicely encapsulates Free Will and God's presence.
Marilynne Robinson's book "Lila" does a great job of drawing these ideas out. God is always there waiting, but Lila must freely decide to start the relationship. One needn't be Christian to appreciate her writings.
“unless it really is a universal and transcendent life, unless the bread is the bread and the cup is the cup everywhere, in all circumstances, and it is a time with the Lord in Gethsemane that comes for everyone, as I deeply believe.” but I think that’s Gilead, not Lila, anyway, I finally read some during the recent great winter of compulsive reading (2020/21) that I spent on an an island in the Aleutian chain while our little community was mostly rejoicing over first dibs on vid jabs (for AK natives) and local doctors went around to the fishing fleet delivering the overflow of supply into arms young and old and I marveled over the spiritual dissonance in people who choose to live and work (often quite bravely) in such an inherently dangerous, remote, uncomfortable, wild place, only to be cowed immediately and totally by all tenets of covid propaganda, but none so much as the sinister cult of corporate safety-ism. but anyway. I’m glad I finally read some Marilynne Robinson.
Time spent working one's way through Marilynne Robinson's Gilead series is not wasted.
How much would I have to pay you to go down to Walgreens and get jabbed? I would say that's how worth it's worth.
FTX (regardless of original goals) was a ponzi/pyramid scheme. Talk to any prosecutor worth a shit and they’ll tell you those thing’s always end one way: by collapsing in on itself. It only really matters who’s under it when it falls.
The political theft machine is so fully integrated into our society that we’ll never be able to burn it out. Not without massive political will (see Florida)
Don’t worry, oxi isn’t addictive. 👀
Oh, no question it was a ponzi scheme, my only assertion is that it was always intended to fail, and it failed earlier than intended because they were too effective at staffing it with incompetent mentally ill leadership.
Agreed.
Just look at em, for fucks sake! Jim Jones sex cult rejects!
I'd feel pity for SBF (and second-gen pedos in general) if he weren't an utter piece of shit himself.
Hurt people hurt people
I am so fucking sick of that word.
Welcome back, and i gotta just drop this newly minted meme into the Gutter
https://imgflip.com/i/71ostf
DANK!
I really want people to be able to comment memes.
I have only one question:
WTF is that thing ( surgical suite? Or??) In the pic above the FTX portion.
Do we kill it? Has it already been killed? Are you going to castigate me for not wearing my glasses, because I might figure it out if I did??
It's one of the many "investigators" holding up a solid-state drive pulled from an FTX server.
Nah, it's a trichinobezoar that just got yanked out of someone's intestines. It felt like a good metaphor?
Gadzooks!! Now my question becomes...do we kill it AND it's host?? Fuck me that's gross
Don't be scared of bezoars. Just don't eat your hair. :)
We don't need glasses where we are going.
Oh,great...I'll just feel my way around then?...
Don't any of you Gutterballs gimme a #metoo strike... I'm doing what I gotta do!
LOL, #metoo dies in The Gutter.
#believenoone
Bwaaahaha... yeah...if I lay hands on ya, I pretty much meant to. It's that or I was using you for balance as I stumbled...I'm stupid clumsy off the mats 🙄
“Say ‘hello’ to my little trichinobezoar!”
i have to go to work in a minute so i havnt time to say all i want to. the t-shirt thing tho, i only just found out what it means, its not the sort of thing i'd wear anyway however how many like me that didnt know wear them? fucking pervs, what else might i not know?
Well, please come back later and speak your piece!
As to the "secret" pedo symbols, yeah: I don't think it's something that often happens by accident. I think it's a very intentional way of identifying themselves to reach other. I wouldn't worry too much about it for yourself. :)
Read/listen to Martyr Made's three-parter on Epstein if you want to descend into the hell hole of edgy Hollywood "performative art".
I'll pass thanks
I learned today that the name of the supposed creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, means "Central Intelligence" in Japanese. This from economist Richard Werner.
Mathew Crawford introduced Richard Werner to his readers.
(See 1:20:00 mark https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QECujWeIjpg)
I've always wondered about the whole "narcissistic psychopaths (or whatever you want to call them) can't help but leave breadcrumbs to catch them because they're so proud of themselves" trope, but it often seems to reveal itself.
I got to the Calvin and Hobbes comic then skipped straight to the comments.
I love that comic and I love you for referencing it.
OK, back to reading
Check the archives, there's at least one more important Calvin and Hobbes reference.
I’ll check it out.
I can blame pretty much everything about me on Bill.
Found it.
https://guttermouth.substack.com/p/je-me-souviens
Ah, that wasn't the one I meant. But that one is good too.
This is the one I was thinking of.
https://guttermouth.substack.com/p/grown-ups-farmers-and-monsters
Thanks for not making me hunt.
Watterson was something else. Something in Ohio’s water makes us odd.
Thanks for your generosity regarding pay freeze while you were "down".
I agree with every word here. What clarity you have in your post-surgical haze! Impressive!
This country is fucked. Leaders with honor and integrity DO NOT RUN FOR PUBLIC OFFICE.
Like a lot of people (maybe?), I have fantasized at various points in my life about holding some position of power. They say in America every kid entertains the notion of being President at least once in their childhood (which I think is a fascinating statement on the unique nature of American identity, however unrealistic the fantasy may be).
I have been encouraged at various occasions to do so. If I'm not too old by the time I feel our family has established ourselves in our new community here, I might run for something- I have made a few acquaintances that have said they'd be happy to advise me on such a thing. But it isn't a priority compared to getting my own house in order.
Nevertheless, your point stands: Leaders with honor and integrity DO NOT RUN FOR PUBLIC OFFICE. We take it as a glib philosophical truism that power always and inevitably corrupts virtue and therefore the only people eager for power are those that will be poor or evil leaders.
While it's a handy framing, I think it's become a stale trope, and part of my awakening in the past few weeks has been that some truly novel thinking is needed. We need to start viewing power, and our relationships to it, differently.
I'm with Ryan Gardner. I'm in Texas, not Florida though. Time to break away.
Balkanization/secession may be the only way forward. But I'm afraid people don't realize how violently Washington will try to crush such a trend, how bloody and destructive they're willing to get.
Part of the reason is the 50-50 split you mention. It's much worse than a philosophical dispute or a policy disagreement. We've already established there's no debating the other side, appealing to their consciences, or confronting them with the actions of the regime they've 'elected.'
In winter/spring 2020, they succumbed to a sort of madness. The Zombie Apocalypse was upon us, except the Undead weren't demanding 'braaaaaiiiins,' they were shouting slogans like 'two weeks to flatten the curve' and 'just wear the mask.' Undead doctors were reeling about CNN shrieking that 'herd immunity is mass murder!'
Then we had the brazen fraud of the 2020 elections, the abject failure of 'vaccines,' followed promptly by mandates issued only after it was plain the jabs were neither safe nor effective; and now, yet more equally brazen election fraud. Throughout it all, the zombies - half the population, our neighbors, family members and coworkers - have just kept staggering about, sometimes yelling new slogans about 'domestic terrorists' and 'our democracy,' but never regaining their senses.
One problem is that there's no sharp regional divide, as in 1861. Texas and southeastern red states have big blue cities. Even in Florida, what, 35-45% of the population still votes Democrat. The now-permanent progressive national regime can't afford to let those freedom-loving, prosperous regions go.
Just so we're absolutely clear, I'm not advocating violence. I'm saying that if there's secession or balkanization, no matter how peaceful, there WILL BE violence, on a grand scale, and the government will start it.
The lesson of the first civil war that nobody wants to discuss is, 'The Union must be preserved' is just an abusive partner's dog-whistle: 'You can't quit this club, baby.'
>> The lesson of the first civil war that nobody wants to discuss is, 'The Union must be preserved' is just an abusive partner's dog-whistle: 'You can't quit this club, baby.'
When I visited the Civil War Museum in Harrisburg (since we live near it now) this past year, this understanding of the framing of the war hit me like a red pill anew. Those who control the narrative have made certain that everyone is sufficiently afraid of being branded a racist or of minimizing slavery to ever discuss the Civil War in polite company with any degree of nuance, but YES, that is what it came down to: this is a union of the willing, right?
Wrong.
The first step is to get our kinds of people in charge of states. I wouldn't trust a single governor that we have now to do the job. Local and state power, political or otherwise.
Once we get that, what would likely work best is not a formal declaration, but more of an informal ignoring. The Spanish Colonies had a phrase that translates as, "we obey but do not implement" whenever the far-off Spanish King gave an order they didn't like. For example, banning slavery. They said they were loyal subjects of the crown, and would obey every pronouncement... as they continued to buy and sell slaves.
A coalition of states with a decent standing military could ignore federal nonsense to an amazing degree, especially if there were local organizations of a less formal nature helping out. They could control internal demographics in a legal way, with a heavy fig leaf. Make marijuana a state felony, 10 year mandatory minimum, but with no bail after arrest... so anyone arrested can easily flee the state and not return. Selective enforcement of that and other things could quickly clean things up.
There is very little that couldn't be accomplished with a homogeneous population united behind an idea and a goal.
Sorry to reply so late, but yes Zorost, I agree, that kind of superficially passive approach - a systematic, deliberate 'failure to implement' - will get us a long way. I'm not sure it will get us the whole way: Spain's 18th-century Bourbon rulers, notably Charles III, set up a sort of technocracy whose ethos was unmistakably what we now call 'progressive.' They tried very hard to reign in the Spanish colonists' freewheeling, noncompliant ways. Ultimately the Bourbon 'reforms' backfired, worsening separatist sentiment among both the indigenous peasantry and creole elite throughout the Americas, and led to the wars of independence in Mexico and South America in the early 19th century.
Interesting that you 'wouldn't trust a single governor that we have now to do the job.' That is certainly true in Texas - Gov 'Grabbit,' as some call him, is an opportunist with kneejerk progressive impulses. His only saving grace is his sharp political instincts, he's quick to sense what Texans want, and quick to at least go through the motions of giving it to them. Interesting that you apparently don't even trust DeSantis. I'd like to hear why!
I agree that any coalition of separatist states and counties would need some kind of standing military. But any overt effort to organize such formations would likely prompt speedy heavy-handed federal intervention. Maybe it could be done under the radar. No need to call it a 'militia,' it could be a superficially informal coalition of (heavily armed) 'neighborhood watch' organizations.
In other banana republics, infiltrating and subverting the security forces historically has been the key to successful insurrection. What might that look like here? Exploiting the natural tension between local and federal law enforcement is one place to start. Electing the right kind of county sheriff is another. Winning over individual street cops and sheriff's deputies, then working our way up their chain of command, could be useful. Local cops may not be in a position to flat-out ignore federal officials, but they might be able to provide intelligence and act as a sort of early-warning system: for example, they might be able to tip off, in advance, the targets of FBI political raids like Mark Houck.
Quietly promoting separatism in state army national guard units would help. Texas actually has a uniformed paramilitary state guard, separate from the army national guard, a perfect basis for a state-level standing force. Other states might want to legislate these into existence as well.
Electing the right governors would, as you note, make everything easier. Problem is, after Arizona last month, I don't see how we do that. Kari Lake got my attention in Nov 2021 when she went on the radio and said that if she had her way, OSHA employees trying to enforce vax mandates in AZ would be met at the airport and arrested by state police. That's exactly the approach we need. And that's also why - along with the mysterious election-day voting-machine malfunctions, the miraculous 'discovery' of 25,000 uncounted ballots a week after the election and assorted other irregularities - she's not governor today.
Having read Guttermouth for only a couple of months and then seeing the same characters in the comments section here, as well as the other couple of stacks I read, I feel very fortunate to be in this company. Truly a 'Band of (Gutter)Brothers'. When the shit flies I hope you have my back. And who the fuck are you anyway? The depth of knowledge and insight is astounding. Thanks Guttermouth for not pulling the plug....yet.
Thank you for saying so. We're all still here.
To quote an old swedish ad for tools, translated because it works even better in english:
"You can't unscrew a lost virginity"
Not that you've ever come across as ever having had any blinders, but your finale about your own introspection and realisation brought the quote to mind.
I think you touched pretty much everything that's been doing the rounds, just like at a handkerchief-party.
I try to be very careful about my self-perception as regards having blind spots. I have the sort of mind that would be easily convinced that I'm sufficiently smarter than the average bear and don't need to worry about being naive or self-deluding. I try to remember that and stay very vigilant against it, because intellectual complacency gets you in a lot of long-term trouble.
Heh, don't I know it. Both dad and me and my oldest sister have that kind of personality where we're 100% sure of anything we think we know, until we see proof that we're wrong, and then we're 100% sure anyway, just modified based on the new facts and proof.
According to mom, it's very annoying to have an argument with such a person, not the least because all three of us completely separate factual arguments from emotional states/arguments or feelings.
That sister and dad and me are ridiculously headstrong and stubborn only adds to the fun when we disagree on something. No-one wants to give, no-one wants to budge, and each one is trying to carpet bomb the others with facts.
But yeah, remembering that intelligence is relative and that experience and common sense (called "sunt förnuft" meaning "healthy reason" or "bondförnuft" meaning "farmer's wisdom" in swedish) also plays a hand is solid advice for everyone - hubris and conceitedness sneaks up on us all.
I often compare to how dogs do it: they can't lie, but they can be sneaky.
I agree with basically all of this. What makes it hard/cringeworthy is, as any of us that have read any history know - as you alluded to in your wrapping up - is that the people bearing the brunt of the wreckage and carnage are the least deserving of it; the people that deserve the guillotine in the town square will likely walk.
That's why I'm *trying* to shift my focus to forecasting and understanding the systems of collapse to grasp opportunity in the wake of their actions.
And hey, maybe some day after this has all fallen down, I'll randomly bump into Fauci looting cans out of the rubble of a supermarket.
I'm too smart to grace the Internet with any predictions of how that encounter will go.
Welcome back! I wish I had some compelling arguments to make to push back on your cynicism...but I don't. If anything, it is probably even worse than we think. At this point, "we the people" are like a slow-moving animal that's been wrapped up by a boa constrictor. Time and the status quo are not on our side.
Our best hope is probably some massive, regime-ending black-swan events, and given the stupidity, lack of imagination, and incompetence among our ruling class, they will be completely overwhelmed by any crisis not of their own making. But absent some unforseen cataclysm, we're just going to get slowly and relentlessly strangled to death by the globohomo regime's money-grubbing tentacles. And it sucks to see that, and even to be able to talk online to others who see it more clearly than you do, but to also know that none of you are really able to do anything to stop it from happening.
I mean, look. I'm sure I'm not alone in being someone that WOULD do something- even if it cost me greatly- if I knew anything at all that COULD be done.
When I read stuff about the American Revolution, I find myself thinking, "okay, they met in pubs and passed notes around. What the hell does that look like in the 21st century and does anything even plausibly look like it anymore?"
Here's my optimistic side: I think the kind of levers that are getting pulled lately are making those "regime-ending black-swan events" more likely, because of the unprecedented numbers of interconnected systems being strained in ways that they normally or previously were too robust or too siloed to really be mortally wounded by one another. COVID biofascism strained every global system, FTX (and the bigger things FTX represents) will too. I think the fact that many of the Big Systems have been built using linear, ratcheting, supremacist principles means that they can ONLY move towards entropy. I really do believe collapse is inevitable at this point.
Here's the optimism: I believe that inevitable collapse represents the best possibility for the population not killed by it to think and act differently, because there will no longer be a sustainable status quo to trigger cognitive dissonance writ large.
I'm going to try to touch on some of this stuff when I write the next essay I'm planning on supremacy (as a behavioral trait of memes).
I agree wholeheartedly: our major institutions are unsalvageable and the globalist regime is terminally ill with dementia like their puppet in chief, Brandon, but what comes next could involve some real opportunities and profound reversals of fortune, both good and ill, with real challenges, but many more real opportunities for good than what we would have with the regime still in place. Thanks for being a voice of reason in this howling wasteland of cultural rot and insanity.
Thank you for saying so. I do it out of a genuine instinct to heal and invigorate my comrades; in my private universe, I am full of pessimism and despair and look forward to nothing more hopeful than Valhalla.
Welcome back.
While you were away I decided to launch my own conspiracy theory.
Putin is a western asset ©™
I don't really think this, because I believe people on all sides are mostly just motivated by shit and wrong in their choices. But someone could make it fly.
Anyway, how's the fence?
Fence was finished about a month ago. You can see a pretty picture of it in a recent post, with Brothermouth tightening the last bolt.
I'm so sorry, but the Putin is a Western Asset theory has been afloat for some time, and is a plucky little karve making its way down the picturesque creeks and swan roads of (mostly) "unsavory" right-wing news outlets.
Only yesterday I watched a Brett Weinstein podcast where he's asserting the corruption in US "pay to play" government and politics is so bad it's impacting on military readiness.
Weinstein himself said this?
I mean, yes, duh, it's definitely impacted war readiness already. Just... wow.
Got a link to the episode? I'd love to hear his take.
Yeah.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lBRL5VZThTM
Two hours but worth watching to the end as Brett slowly loses patience and actually swears at the end. Even when facing down the mob at evergreen I don't think I ever heard Brett lose his composure like that.
Intriguing. Thank you very much.
I'd be interested to read what you thought of it.