Happy Friday! Two things:
1) I've been writing up a storm, and anticipate having Part 3 & maybe even Part 4 of 'In Defense of Riots' done by early next week, if not sooner. There's a reason I keep coming back to this, and why it's something I'm really trying to get right. The thesis for this essay hit me over the summer, and has stuck in my mind as one of the core issues that we're facing right now. Laying the groundwork for the problem I see, as well as how to address it, is my best attempt at setting the stage for how we might go about addressing the situation we're in. Hopefully the next two parts illuminate what I mean by this, so keep your eyes peeled.
2) Next week I'll be releasing a conversation I had with @idesofideas, as well as a video giving my assessment of where our body politic is heading, after the EC votes are finalized on the 14th.
3) Nothing is finalized yet, so I don't want to get into too many details. But next week is also when I should have a better idea about some potential content that would really be next-level, so if you're the praying type, please pray that those work out. I'll keep you posted on that as I get more details myself.
4) One of the things @idesofideas and I talked about in our conversation was things that adhere to the Lindy Effect, or Lindy Principle. Lindy broadly describes the seemingly paradoxical relationship between time and mortality of a non-perishable item, such as technology or ideas. With Lindy, the longer something has been around, the more its mortality rate decreases. A few examples: books, knives, shoes, cups, and string or percussion instruments. Whatever predictions you have about the future, they should include the presence of these things, which have proven their durability over time.
I mention this, because part of our conversation had to do with my lament that "good" music is increasingly rare in our contemporary catalog, and that I've found myself listening the more and more classic rock lately, just to hear a guitar and drums again. As such, I've been working on a Spotify playlist, which I thought I'd share with those of you who are also into such things. I've been jamming out to these tunes for the past few days, with the added benefit of my 1 1/2 year old daughter doing the cutest dance you'll ever see during every other song. Anyway, here's the link:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5VubAdrL06y90QtCeHc6gw
What do you like to jam out to? I tend to go in fits and spurts, depending on what's going in life. Sometimes it's Alternative Rock, 90's Rock, Instrumentals, Classic Jazz, Soundtracks, Classical, etc. Just depends. Feel free to share what relaxes you (or pumps you up!) Either way, I hope you all have a great weekend, and I'll see you soon 🤙
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, ...
