Good morning everyone! I just wanted to wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving. I know this time of year can be stressful, especially when spending time with family members who have different views and ideologies than yourself (particularly when those with different views happen to adhere to the most virulent forms of Far-Left Orthodoxy).
That said, my encouragement to you is to do your best to not inhabit whatever caricatures or one-dimensional archetypes they might have of you. I think was either Curtis Yarvin or Michael Malice who said something along the lines of "The best way to surprise (and eventually, defeat) your ideological opponents is to not inhabit their worst stereotypes of you." That's not a direct quote, but it's wrong in the right direction. Either way, you get the idea. Avoid the unnecessary fights. Don't allow yourself to be bullied, but don't be the first to start throwing (metaphorical) punches, either.
One thing I've learned over the past few years in dealing with my family (pretty much all of whom are on the far left end of the spectrum) is that some things just aren't worth fighting over. My dad might hold batshit beliefs about the virtues of Socialism ("It's Democratic Socialism!" ) but at the end of the day, he's still my dad. I've also seen a lot of progress with my brother becoming more and more open-minded to what I'd call much more rational principles since I started adopting this "Avoid the shit that doesn't matter" tactic.
I know it can be difficult. Every time I visit my parents, my stepmom (who is the principal of an elementary school with ~600 students) has a new book full of insane antiracist CRT ideology sitting on their coffee table. It drives me nuts knowing that she is applying that garbage to her job taking care of young children. But she doesn't bring it up, and she doesn't bring that insanity into her interactions with us (or more importantly) our daughter. So I let sleeping dogs lie. But my point is, it's tough. There's just some things more important than being right.
I'd be remiss if I didn't also as emphatically as possible stress how thankful I am for you guys. I know I've been inconsistent with my content lately, and I'm trying to improve that. I've said it before, but it bears repeating: I really try to shut up if I don't have anything to say. But that doesn't mean I can't be sharing the things I do have to say with you guys as I get the opportunity. I need to spend less time on Twitter, and more time on here. Regardless, thank you for being such an awesome community. If you're traveling, travel safe. Whatever you end up doing for the holidays, I hope it's more relaxing and enjoyable than stressful and taxing.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone 🤙
PS I saw one of these on the gas pump yesterday. I wonder if stuff like this will have an impact on independent voters? The establishment media might work overtime to cover for this administration, but things like this help get around the propaganda. That said, if gas prices drop precipitously, it could also backfire pretty dramatically. Probably a conversation for another day!
While driving yesterday, I had an idea to help facilitate more regular content creation, especially during this time when it is all but impossible to make videos outside of livestreams from my phone. The idea is that of a biweekly post that roughly takes the form of a newsletter, of which this is shall be the first volume. As an aside, evidently a synonym for biweekly is 'fortnightly,' which I'd totally use if it weren't for the association with a game of stupid dances.
My current plan for the format is as follows, though obviously this is likely to change.
-Introduction, brief life updates, and maybe a thought or two I've had lately that I wanted to share with you.
-What books I have been going through, and any excerpts or takeaways I feel are worth sharing.
-Any other noteworthy podcasts or media I've consumed lately.
-What stories I'm paying attention to (if any) and why
-Any questions I might have for you guys
-?
Alright, it's called TL;DR for a reason. Let's jump in.
As I mentioned earlier, we have Covid again. I'm not going to ...
I know it's been quiet here lately. I'll eventually explain what's been going on with my personal life (most of it has been a mixture of our new baby being really, really difficult, and perpetual sickness. For example, last week three our of the four of us had to go to the hospital) but this is what has consumed virtually all free time outside of work and family time.
Please consider helping us bring justice to these bastards. Their indifference and complicity in the harm done to these kids has to stop. Please help us make that happen.
For those who missed it, here's an open letter I wrote to my community last fall after the suicide of a former student, himself a victim of this school district:
https://returntoreason.medium.com/an-open-letter-to-the-citizens-of-albany-county-ca507fa24cd8
Thank you for everything you do. You guys are awesome, and I look forward to filling you in on what's been going on in the near future. See you soon.
ps- I will be...
Salutations! I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas. Here is my list of top ten the things I learned/conclusions I reached from this past year. Some are directly related to events, others are not. Either way, I tried my best to create a list of useful ideas for you to incorporate into your view of the present moment. I hope you find this list useful, as many of the items on it are lenses I find incredibly important for understanding the world around me. As always, I welcome any feedback you might have!
In Part 2, I use Conquest's Three Laws of Politics to expand on my specific critiques of Peterson's Manifesto, and flush out some of my own axioms that I failed to explain in Part 1. This is where I get into the nuts and bolts of how institutions deviate from their original purpose and begin to generate and pursue their own interests.
What began as a singular episode critiquing one of my intellectual heroes has turned into a multi-part series going after some foundational axioms of mainstream Conservatism.
In this introductions, I discuss Permanent Washington and the concept of accountability, and sew the seeds for what's to come in either trusting or rejecting many mainstream Western institutions.
It's worth mentioning that this recording, along with every other part in this series, has taken almost (in some cases more than) a day to upload. I have no idea why my internet is failing me as hard as it is, but here we are. Hopefully you find these recordings in time to assist you in your vote tomorrow 🤙
I've been wanting to do this for a while. It might have taken me two days to figure out how to get this from my phone to my computer, but I finally got it to work.
On Saturday, I used the voice recorder app on my phone to record a podcast covering Karl Schmitt, his discussions of power, and how we can map this onto our contemporary situation with The Regime that runs our country, and the Bureaucratic State which does its ideological bidding.
After listening to it, I realize there is some more context I need to add to the ending, so I might record another one tomorrow or Wednesday. Either way, it feels good to be recording stuff again. As always, I welcome your thoughts and feedback!
"We don't know where this thing isn't."
-Bret Weinstein
@JamesDerian suggested I pin and regularly update a thread of sources I'm compiling to illustrate the total societal takeover of Far-Left Orthodoxy, including their explicit targeting of our kids for indoctrination. Here is that thread.
Compromised entities:
Nickelodeon
Cartoon Network
Kellogg's Cereal
Mattel Toys
Lego
Sesame Street (SESAME STREET 🤦♂️)
PBS
CNN
The New York Times
The Washington Post
NPR
NBC News
Gender/Sexuality
Cartoon Network celebrating transgender children:
https://twitter.com/stage13network/status/1377332951659151360?s=20
More Cartoon Network trans stuff:
https://twitter.com/cartoonnetwork/status/1377259794294259717?s=20
Cartoon Network on "normalizing gender pronouns"
https://twitter.com/cartoonnetwork/status/1338539346530537475?s=20
Lego released "rainbow set" for Pride Month:
https://www.lego.com/en-us/aboutus/news/2021/may/everyone-is-awesome/
"Queer up your morning routine" with Kellogg's new cereal featuring edible glitter, ...
