Friends And Enemies

Imagine you are an advisor to a politician facing a difficult re-election campaign in the fall and you are tasked with planning a campaign strategy. If you are a rational person, you would first start with the polling. What are the big issues on the minds of the voters and how do they rank your guy on those items. The best way to get back in good standing with the voters is to show them you care about their issues and most important, you agree with them on those issues.

Now, this is easier said than done. If the top issue with voters is energy prices and your guy has spent his career talking about the need to ratchet up energy costs in order to please Gaia, then you have a problem. The voters are stupid, but there are limits and your guy is a true believer. In fact, you worship Gaia as well, so the idea of speaking against the climate cult is a bridge too far. Still, you have to figure out a way to convince people that Gaia cares about gas prices too.

This is the problem with impractical politics. When public policy is about putting two cars in every garage and a chicken in every pot, politicians are free to acknowledge error and change gears to chase the voters. In happier times, politicians were the guys chasing the parade, hoping to get to the front so they could pretend to be the parade leaders come election time. That can only work when the only thing you believe in is being on the good side of the voters.

When politics is dominated by true believers, then the range of choices is limited to what ideology permits. Even worse, disconfirmation, those bits of reality that contradict the tenets of the faith, must be seen as a plot against the faith. After all, to acknowledge reality would require questioning the ideology. Instead, the ideologue is required to attack reality as a challenge to the faith. Politics for the ideologue is reduced to the friend-enemy distinction.

We see this today. The number one issue for voters is gas prices. The ruling class likes high gas prices because it pleases Gaia. They also like it because it harms the Dirt People, which reinforces the friend-enemy distinction. The Cloud People are largely defined by not being Dirt People. It is why administration officials start giggling whenever they are asked about gas prices. It is also why they cannot pivot to take the side of the voters and promote policies that lower gas prices.

Getting back your job of promoting a candidate in bad odor with the voters, this ideological trap is a problem. If the reason the voters are unhappy is an issue like gas prices and your guy is giggling about it in public, then there is no way you can fix his problems on that issue. That only leaves one option. You have to find some other issues on which your guy is good with the voters. With the right “messaging” you can distract the voters from the bad stuff and focus on good stuff.

This works if there are issues where your guy’s ideology is popular with the voters or issues outside of ideology. Right there is the problem. Since ideology is political, everything political will fall within ideology. In other words, there is nothing within the political space that falls outside of ideology. You could have your guy campaign on the latest sports scores, but the voters would just assume he lost his mind. They expect him to talk about the political. That is the point of politics.

Since the Cloud People define themselves in opposition to the Dirt People, it means their ideological position on all things political must in someway be in opposition to the very nature of the Dirt People. When hunting around for issues to distract the voters, your guy will inevitable stake out a position that separates him from the Dirt People as a matter of ideological identity. Even when trying to distract the voters you run the risk of alienating them on these secondary issues.

We see this with the current frenzy of gun grabbing in Washington. The Biden people put out word that they were going to distract people from the economy by grifting on the latest school shooting. The problem is the gun grabbers are consumed with spiting normal people who support gun ownership. Instead of the issue being a way to distract voters, it is a reminder that the people in charge hate the voters. The distraction quickly becomes a reminder of why people are unhappy.

The upcoming January 6 show trials are another example. The whole point of this thing is to remind the Dirt People of their place. They could sell some of this right after it happened, as most Dirt People are in favor of order. At this point, when shelves are empty and gas prices are soaring, the Dirt People are starting to wonder if the QAnon Shaman was onto something. This show trial is exactly what the party should be avoiding, but they cannot stop themselves. It is who they are.

Of course, from your perspective as an advisor, none of this matters. If your guy loses in the fall, you will still have a job. You may not be working for an office holder, but you will catch on at a think tank or cable channel. Politicians are just actors hired for the role and the supply is endless. You just have to remember who your friends are and who are the enemies and you will be just fine. After all, friends take care of friends who never forget who is the real enemy.

This is the crisis in American politics. The primary thrust of American politics is defending the prevailing orthodoxy from challenges. This reinforces class identity and that friend-enemy distinction. As a result, public policy is about maintaining the great divide between the Cloud People and the Dirty People in order to maintain ideological and class solidarity. This informs all of their actions. Pragmatic solutions to current problems are seen as apostacy.


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2 years ago

[…] The number one issue for voters is gas prices. The ruling class likes high gas prices because it ple… They also like it because it harms the Dirt People, which reinforces the friend-enemy distinction. The Cloud People are largely defined by not being Dirt People. It is why administration officials start giggling whenever they are asked about gas prices. It is also why they cannot pivot to take the side of the voters and promote policies that lower gas prices. […]

EnzyteBob
EnzyteBob
2 years ago

“QAnon Shaman”

Trump & Co. have left enough hints about this that if you don’t believe it’s coming from them by now, you’re not paying attention.

Anson Rhodes
Anson Rhodes
2 years ago

I don’t get the whole Cloud People/Dirt People thing. Where is the dividing line? Seems to me that the really important group, which Zed’s scheme doesn’t much account for, is the middle class, the getting-educated class, the thinking-and-feeling class – the endless machinations of which is what society actually is.

The polarized view of society that I see on here seems to involve a mass of idiots who are as inert as radon, and a set of elites who are like unto the gods. That is surely very wide of the mark.

Steve (retired/recovering lawyer)
Steve (retired/recovering lawyer)
Reply to  Anson Rhodes
2 years ago

The “middle class” IS the “dirt people.” They are not nobly indigent like the welfare class (who are only indigent for reasons attributable to the ill intent of others, and never because they are too lazy, stupid, evil or a combination of all three). Nor are they enlightened, as are the cloud people, whose enlightenment largely consists of perceiving themselves as superior regardless of actual merit. What cloud people have in common with the welfare class is the disdain for actual work, by which I mean the production of tangible things and whereas the nobly indigent simply do not work,… Read more »

Anson Rhodes
Anson Rhodes

Everyone’s gone to the next thread by now, but thanks for the Codevilla mention, which is new to me. I’m none the wiser though as to where the line is drawn between this supposed grand division in society. I need actual examples. Where’s the cut-off level? How much influence does someone need to have before they are one of the ‘elite’? I find the whole cloud/dirt conception simplistic, unhelpful, and downright fallacious. It seems to derive from an obsession with the idea of the shadowy ‘elites’ (especially of a certain persuasion) as if they rule by divine right or hereditary… Read more »

370H55V
370H55V
2 years ago

“If the reason the voters are unhappy is an issue like gas prices and your guy is giggling about it in public, then there is no way you can fix his problems on that issue.”

Except in this case it was a girl giggling. Cunts gotta cunt.

RoboFascist 1st
RoboFascist 1st
Member
2 years ago

Democracy is dependent on the suckers believing the results of election insanity and criminality world. It doesn’t really matter who you voted for. It doesn’t matter how many votes a candidate got. It doesn’t matter who counts the votes. It doesn’t matter what the actual results are. It doesn’t matter who won an election. What matters is who announces the winner of an election and if you’re equally insane to believe them and live with it. As a bright yellow school bus filled with victims drives around the place with DUI at the helm… the suckers in a democracy are… Read more »

Steve (retired/recovering lawyer)
Steve (retired/recovering lawyer)
Reply to  RoboFascist 1st
2 years ago

What do you propose?

RoboFascist 1st
RoboFascist 1st
Member

“But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness…”
Matthew 6: 33

Catxman
2 years ago

The politician has to please two masters: his political party and the public. Often torn between the two, he vacillates and does nothing. Under the big dome of voting you can choose “abstain” if you want to back off slowly and raise your hands non-threateningly.

A politician might do surprisingly well if he disregarded BOTH party and public, and never abstained his vote. If he were vigorous, definite, and strong. These qualities make the man in private. Throw in a goodly dose of charisma and you have the recipe of a winning leader.

miforest
Member
2 years ago

the election may not go as we think. there a lot of “emergencies” that could come up requiring the election to be on line or even postponed. https://off-guardian.org/2022/06/01/the-real-agenda-behind-the-created-food-crisis

clearly a lot of planning is going into destroying our food system so that they can “build back better” , and of course they will own it all after they have built it , even
though it it will be built at our expense.

The Wild Geese Howard
The Wild Geese Howard
Reply to  miforest
2 years ago

The upcoming Brazilian election is worth paying attention to since Bolsonaro has been based on the coof and said, “Não!” to the WHO plandemic treaty:

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/how-brazil-saving-world-catastrophic-food-crisis

We can bet the controllers will do everything in their power to fraud the newly released felon Lula back into power down there.

PeriheliusLux
PeriheliusLux
2 years ago

Listening to a back episode (202) where ZMan talks about how the US Women’s Soccer team managed to be so caustic in the Anti-American (read anti “deplorable” non-coastal elite white men), that a huge part of the country rooted against them. That is a great insight. It applies. I can tell you from first hand experience of more than a handful of people who have either had verbal job offers rescinded or outright been retired to make way for a “diversity” candidate. These were director and executive level positions. I have a former report who is Asian who is hesitant… Read more »

Ben the Layabout
Ben the Layabout
Reply to  PeriheliusLux
2 years ago

Thank you for an excellent rant. People may be slowly waking up. Some people arise on the first alarm, others hit the snooze button a couple times. The real lazy ones get dumped onto the floor when looters steal the mattress.

NASDAQ: most of my portfolio is in puts. I may lose my ass, but if the market tanks I will be able to afford a whole herd of donkeys 😀 Actually, not so much: the bulk of my retirement money (not in my control) is in stocks, and would take a beating, so I view it as a hedge…

Christopher Chantrill
Christopher Chantrill
2 years ago

“Friend-enemy distinction”

Somebody has been reading Carl Schmitt.

But I must say that I prefer the “real simple” version from Curtis Yarvin: “there is no politics without an enemy.”

Chet Rollins
Chet Rollins
Reply to  Christopher Chantrill
2 years ago

It’s amazing how a German philosopher thrown to the dustbin of history is picked up and reinvigorated to the point that his most famous quotes are known and understood by the average dissident. In most times these people would not be studied outside of Academia.

Also impressive how many on the mainstream right, while not knowing the person specifically, are aware enough of the general idea it starts to affect how they interact in politics.

Apex Predator
Apex Predator
Reply to  Christopher Chantrill
2 years ago

“real simple” in reference to something Curtis Yarvin wrote is nearly any oxymoron. 😉

I’m glad that there is a least one idea that could classify that way because I can tell you when thinking of Mencius Moldbug, real simple, would be at the bottom of most lists. Arcane, obfuscated, verbose, dense, these are the normal descriptions.

Ben the Layabout
Ben the Layabout
Reply to  Apex Predator
2 years ago

I’ve never read Moldbug. I’m the resident Nietzsche whore. As much as I like him, he too is no doubt guilty of many of those adjectives you use. Specifically, he launches similar charges against earlier philosophers including biggies like Kant und Schopenhauer. Come to think of it, I’m not sure Herr Fritz has anything positive to say about any matter he treated save his few pet ideals like his mythical Superman 😀

Ploppy
Ploppy
2 years ago

I keep thinking about this Cloud and Dirt distinction, and it belies a blindspot of the dissident right. We aren’t actual Dirt people fighting for Dirt people power, we’re just in the dirt. Same as the Jewish Bolshevik in 1900 Russia, our problem is being smart people boxed out of having any influence by an elite hostile to our ethnic group. If we somehow took over, it seems likely to me that frustration with the peasants would eventually manifest into a similar form of elitism. The real Dirt people are indeed frustrating. Surely we’ve all had that experience where we… Read more »

Xman
Xman
Reply to  Ploppy
2 years ago

Yep.

As long have they have their Negro Felon League, a lite beer, their pledge of allegiance, their flag and a truck, they think they live in “the freest country in the world” and will gladly accept the gay propaganda, the gun control, and the miscegenation that GloboHomo is currently cramming down their throats.

And by God, they’re glad that our veterans defeated Hitler, ” ‘Else we’d be speakin’ German right now!”

Of course, “Israel is our best ally, ever…”

Mr C
Mr C
Reply to  Xman
2 years ago

Gave you a smiley face. Your comment sums up my issue with the dirt/cloud distinctions.

We aren’t dirt and I know that’s not the intent, but language matters. I smart, and I’m a smart ass, probably like you.

There are true dirt people. These are the NFL consumers, the simps who accept what they’re told, etc.

That’s not me and that’s not you. Also, not sure if GH a-holes are cloud people either. I’d say they are pretentious and conniving. But the lack class and taste just like the NFL consumer.

the_Cman
the_Cman
Reply to  Ploppy
2 years ago

This. You are right, the current is just another case of botched renewal of the elite.

Eloi
Eloi
Reply to  Ploppy
2 years ago

I completely agree with your distinction. The only caveat, I suppose, is that the dynamic is useful not for considering our perspective but for analyzing the perspective of our overlords (in which we are certainly dirt people).

Dennis Roe
Dennis Roe
Reply to  Ploppy
2 years ago

You sound like a stupid rich cunt who never had to stick a shovel in the dirt to keep the heat on, food on the table , and the bank off your ass.. Fuck you and the kosher coin you rode in on.

Ploppy
Ploppy
Reply to  Dennis Roe
2 years ago

I literally spent the last two weeks digging up the yard for a rental because the previous good, honest, salt of the earth simple true American folks renting the place were under the impression that a yard is a free landfill.

karl von hungus
karl von hungus
Reply to  Ploppy
2 years ago

mr roe is a raving lunatic. just ignore his comments, they never have anything remotely interesting or useful in them. he’s got a bad case of jew brain.

Ben the Layabout
Ben the Layabout
Reply to  Ploppy
2 years ago

You have just described why I have on my wish list for my next home a location where rentals of any form are prohibited. The distinction between your pig tenants and a AirBNB rental that hosts a party of 100 youths which ends in a gun battle is only one of degree. I know owner-occupant only communities exist but are fairly rare. For the record, I live in an HOA where that exists in a mild form (a home, once purchased, cannot be leased for the first year.) Also, I can lay claim to being a 2nd generation landlord, although… Read more »

Pozymandias
Reply to  Ploppy
2 years ago

One of the best comments I’ve seen here lately. Hope you stick around Ploppy.

PrimiPilus
PrimiPilus
Reply to  Ploppy
2 years ago

I think the “Cloud – Dirt” distinction refers to their perspective on or of us. They see us as dirt. They see themselves as the god-like.

Ben the Layabout
Ben the Layabout
Reply to  PrimiPilus
2 years ago

Akin to Blacks tending to have high self-esteem? 😀

The real Billl
The real Billl
2 years ago

Regarding the question of how the military and police can be expected to act, should the current Cold Civil War turn hot: Lots of good points being made! • What is driving the current push to make the military ‘woke’? Bringing in gays and trannies, and angry women of color, while purging “extremists”— patriotic White guys. Could it be in anticipation of the time when orders will come down to move against legacy Americans? • Could that be one reason why they’re letting in so many illegal immigrants and hooking them onto the Entitlements Tit of welfare and subsidized housing?… Read more »

Chet Rollins
Chet Rollins
Reply to  The real Billl
2 years ago

> In western CO where I have the good fortune to be living, several dozen County Sheriffs have publicly announced that they will NOT be enforcing the “red flag laws” passed by the liberal CO legislature. This is why they want to federalize the police forces, so they can put foreigners in problematic areas who will obey orders. As it is now, the balkanization will make the laws coming out of D.C. more and more useless, and enforcement has become so incompetent they can only really go after people who brazenly put their heads above the reeds. They’re hoping they… Read more »

Hemid
Hemid
Reply to  The real Billl
2 years ago

The Norman Rockwell soldier/cop of recent memory already hated “civilians” enough to slaughter our children in their beds. Having a black tranny with clacking plastic fingernails do it instead is just *fun*.

Ideally, sheriffs have more decent motives/incentives. A couple standouts have even done right by the people recently. So the system is routing around them. See, e.g., a glow-op called the Reflective Democracy Campaign, one of whose jobs is to plant media stories about the “outsized power” of elected sheriffs.

The plan is not in its preliminary stages.

Nick Nolte's Mugshot
Nick Nolte's Mugshot
Reply to  The real Billl
2 years ago

Imagine an updated Andy griffith show with Sheriff Taylor played by a “twitchy Somali”, Barney Fife is a “gang-tatted Salvadorean” and Aunt Bee is a crack addicted pole dancer. Progress!

The Wild Geese Howard
The Wild Geese Howard
Reply to  Nick Nolte's Mugshot
2 years ago

I’d bet there are already legions of infiltrators and sleeper cells that have slipped into the US for years, maybe decades, just waiting for the go code.

trumpton
trumpton
Reply to  The Wild Geese Howard
2 years ago

They are called universities.

Ben the Layabout
Ben the Layabout
Reply to  The Wild Geese Howard
2 years ago

I would say your assumption is largely inaccurate, for the following reasons. Except for the case of specifically trained government operatives (e.g. spies and other espionage) most of our “enemy” is domestic. The majority, I conjecture, native born. Yes, immigrants qualify too. But as the “university” comment above implies, most of the “enemy” is bred domestically, over long time periods. This is not to say that deliberate ideological manipulation occurred (e.g. the old Soviet Union) but mostly it’s probably a freelance movement of similar ideologies (Leftism and its variants) in positions f power and that power gradually coalescing. The stereotypical… Read more »

Ostei Kozelskii
Member
Reply to  Nick Nolte's Mugshot
2 years ago

Sadly, that is the sort of “progress” Andy Griffith and Ron Howard would support wholeheartedly.

La-Z-Man
La-Z-Man
Reply to  Ostei Kozelskii
2 years ago

Not Andy Griffith. There is a clip of him commemorating the anniversary of Virginia Dare’s birth on the David Letterman show, sometime back in the 90s I think.

Vajynabush
Vajynabush
Reply to  The real Billl
2 years ago

Thing is, the diverse tend to be rather inconsistent when it comes to discipline and obeying orders, as well as smarts and competence. A thin silver lining.

Ben the Layabout
Ben the Layabout
Reply to  Vajynabush
2 years ago

Due to inflation, the silver lining was replaced with a copper-nickel alloy beginning in 1965 🙂

Citizen of a Silly Country
Citizen of a Silly Country
2 years ago

This article by former NYT reporter Chris Hedges shows that the gun issue isn’t some secret plan to get guns out of the hands of blacks. The Cloud People simply hate and fear working-class whites.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/there-will-be-no-gun-control-for-many-white-americans-the-idea-of-the-gun-is-all-they-have-left/ar-AAYb0de?bk=1&ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=421d65def3254436826a2d434f850a52

The real Bill
The real Bill
Reply to  Citizen of a Silly Country
2 years ago

And I’ll go one step further, and speculate that the Cloud People are *delighted* to see Blacks shooting each other; though of course they’d never admit to it.

They know damn good and well what the result will be, when they decriminalize Black crime, and forbid cops from doing traffic stops on Blacks or frisking them for guns.

The ensuing chaos is what they’ll point to, to justify taking guns away from law-abiding Whites.

Spingerah
Spingerah
Reply to  The real Bill
2 years ago

What is the law? what is the justice system? Currently they are weapons to be used against dissent.
Elections are stolen, high level corruption is aided & obviously widely participated in by our betters. Those who control the levers of power have murdered What once was a functioning society, the country is a dead shell.

I will not comply. I will not.
I will resist no matter the price.

JR Wirth
JR Wirth
2 years ago

Don’t forget the sedition charges against the Gavin McInness fan club leaders. Even after one was a proven dime dropper. They’re pulling an additional, very old weapon out of the box, one generally wielded during times of war. Is this a time of war? Perhaps it is given their behavior. A war for the perfection of man under their color revolution. All threats will be eliminated in this quest to liberate man, once and for all, from nature itself….and especially God.

Ostei Kozelskii
Member
2 years ago

There is another reason Cloud politicians are unlikely to abandon an ideological stance even when doing so makes eminent political sense: his opponent in the upcoming election, more often than not, holds the same position. Anybody with a lick of sense knows the Republicans are Clouds pretending to be Dirts. The enlightened voter, therefore, really has no choice. He can vote for an envirocultist with a D in front of his name or an envirocultist with an R in front of his name. There is, therefore, little reason to switch to sanity on an issue when the voter cannot help… Read more »

Maxda
Maxda
2 years ago

The gun nonsense doesn’t seem to have pushed aside the inflation and gas prices – that is just too in-your-face to most Americans. It has sent the Ukraine debacle to the back-burner. Maybe a bit of win come election time since that whole thing is just a reminder that the stole $50 Billion from the economy and gave it to themselves and their friends.

Jack Dobson
Jack Dobson
Reply to  Maxda
2 years ago

The Ukraine grift was amazing. As soon as the $54 billion was appropriated and Mitch and Chuck got their envelops passed out the story disappeared. Strange, that. The inflation debacle illustrates what someone wrote here the other day. When faced with an actual crisis, the Regime is hapless and impotent. Imagine several real crises at once. The retardation has floated up, too. The unaffordable fuel and food were supposed to be features, not bugs, of utopia, quickly memoryholed by guns or Russians or White supremacists. When people did not ignore the inflation because it could not be ignored, the Regime… Read more »

Alzaebo
Alzaebo
2 years ago

“they were going to distract people from the economy by grifting on the latest school shooting.”

While we’re getting the daily Uvalde in the U.S., the people of Keev are getting rocket attacks from the Party.
Shades of Airstrip One in 1984.

Alzaebo
Alzaebo
2 years ago

Liberal democracy has the same goal as communism: to make everyone equal.

In this, meritocracy based on competition is replaced by meritocracy based on compliance.

The real Bill
The real Bill
Reply to  Alzaebo
2 years ago

Right! And since raising everyone to the same level isn’t possible, the only ‘equality’ they can achieve is to drag everyone down to the lowest common denominator.

imnobody00
imnobody00
Reply to  The real Bill
2 years ago

Democracy is communism in slow motion. Voters tend to vote who gives more things. These gifts are never withdrawn because it is unpopular to do so. In addition, you need to reward your followers and create patronage networks so you need more spending. So the public spending grows more and more and, hence, the taxes and the debt increase to allow this spending. There are more and more civil servants, more and more taxes, less and less free market until we get to communism. “A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of… Read more »

The Wild Geese Howard
The Wild Geese Howard
Reply to  imnobody00
2 years ago

I prefer Erdogan’s modern take on democracy:

“Democracy is like a streetcar. When you come to your stop, you get off.”

trumpton
trumpton
Reply to  Alzaebo
2 years ago

The word is dependent, not equal.

Captain Willard
Captain Willard
2 years ago

Politics has become religion in the US. Obama dusted off the old Civil War-era rhetoric, but after Covid and the Trump hysteria, the transition (pun intended) was complete. The J6 stuff shows it perfectly because they treat that minor farce like an assault on their cathedral. Reframing politics and issues as religious matters is a really good strategy for the Elite. Peasants throughout history have shown great willingness to endure misery, and of course kill each other, for whatever gods/religions on offer from the Elite. When everybody is bloody, starving and exhausted, we can start all over again – this… Read more »

Drew
Drew
Reply to  Captain Willard
2 years ago

The problem the elites have is that their religion is a hatred of the masses, and only the extremely gullible and self-loathing will cotton to it. Most other religions try to bridge the gap between rulers and ruled by providing a common ground, but the current religion of the rulers tries to widen the gap.

The real Bill
The real Bill
Reply to  Captain Willard
2 years ago

And the other advantage to framing political issues in quasi-religious terms is that religious zeal is driven by feelings, not facts.

Quibbling about facts seems trivial when the Survival of the Planet is at stake!

So when the facts aren’t on your side, go for the emotions. Those who disagree with you are raping Gaia! Are you saying you’re OK with that?

Mow Noname
Mow Noname
Reply to  The real Bill
2 years ago

The bad people not only want to destroy the earth (“You can’t destroy Earth. That’s where I keep all my stuff!”), but the bad people also don’t care if you die from Covid or that Russia is going to enslave our second greatest ally.
Also, they’re racist, which is the worst thing ever.

Bilejones
Member
Reply to  The real Bill
2 years ago

The planet will be just fine.

The main purpose of the “We are destroying the planet” rhetoric is to serve as a means of voluntary identification for a bunch of self-righteous ignorant dipshits.

It does it well.

G Lordon Giddy
G Lordon Giddy
2 years ago

I know that a reasonable energy policy could improve gas supplies and the ceasing of Gaia worship could help things immensely but one thing I do wonder about and that is how much did all this zero interest money play on our oil and gas supply’s during last 10 years or so? Drilling a fracking well is very expensive compared to a traditional well and on top of that the oil or gas well drilled using fracking methods does not produce the oil or gas as long requiring more wells to keep up the production. Loose monetary policy helped finance… Read more »

Anonymous White Male
Anonymous White Male
Reply to  G Lordon Giddy
2 years ago

“We could go back to coal for powering our grid which would help get us cheaper energy.”

What’s wrong with nuclear energy? Aside from the fact that the same idiots that are afraid of guns and want them confiscated are the idiots that don’t want nuclear energy. “What about Three Mile Island?!!!” What about it? BFD as I recall. “What about Chernobyl?!!!” That was a communist paradise. Why do you want a communist America?

G Lordon Giddy
G Lordon Giddy
Reply to  Anonymous White Male
2 years ago

Good point Nuclear energy is better than coal.
But again
Will we?
Do we have the will anymore?

ProZNoV
ProZNoV
Reply to  G Lordon Giddy
2 years ago

Or the ability?

“Someone should do something!” Assumes there is a talent pool to draw from.

After 20-30 years of dumbed down college for all, I’m not sure there is much of a well to draw from anymore.

The real Bill
The real Bill
Reply to  ProZNoV
2 years ago

So…. surely you’re not implying that Sha’niqua and De Juan aren’t capable of running that nuclear reactor?!?

What are you, some kind of racist?!?

😂

Spingehra
Spingehra
Reply to  ProZNoV
2 years ago

All you gotta do is watch some YouTube videos & your golden.

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  ProZNoV
2 years ago

“After 20-30 years of dumbed down college for all, I’m not sure there is much of a well to draw from anymore.” 20 or 30?? Try 50 or 60. But you are generally right. But it’s more than mere dumbing down. It’s the destruction of social cohesion such that we are no longer capable of large-scale undertakings like NASA. That includes building nuclear power plants or even running schools. The population is dumbed down, yes, but worse than that is that it is fragmented beyond unity ANY of purpose. There are still plenty of smart people who could run a… Read more »

Paintersforms
Paintersforms
Reply to  Anonymous White Male
2 years ago

I’m glad TMI didn’t fully melt down because I like existing.

Anonymous White Male
Anonymous White Male
Reply to  Paintersforms
2 years ago

Everyone needs to realize one fundamental truth about their existence. Nobody gets out alive. The danger of nuclear energy is an infinitesimal fraction of the danger of getting in your car every day, but you’re going to do it anyway. Fear is how you get lockdowns and mandatory vaccinations. Stop being afraid.

Paintersforms
Paintersforms
Reply to  Anonymous White Male
2 years ago

It seems like nuclear energy is quite safe until something goes wrong, and then it’s disastrous. I can see how it could be worth the risk, but I don’t think it is, because my family could’ve been wiped out. We got extremely lucky with TMI. One of those things that’s distant until it isn’t, and the consequences go on for a long time. I still won’t eat Pacific seafood on account of Fukushima.

karl von hungus
karl von hungus
Reply to  Anonymous White Male
2 years ago

yu big fucking pussy, go hide under a bed.

Paintersforms
Paintersforms
Reply to  Anonymous White Male
2 years ago

TMI is decommissioned. Couldn’t compete with natural gas. The company that owned it lobbied for a bailout, but the political will wasn’t there. Money and pussies I guess lol

Woodpecker
Woodpecker
Reply to  Anonymous White Male
2 years ago

There’s reasonable doubt nuclear proponents have taken safety sufficiently seriously. Specifically, dealing with the decay heat after reactor shutdown is not fail safe and depends on the diesel generators staying up. That’s what did for Fukushima after the generators were swamped, and it was decay heat removal that did for TMI. There was also a very close near miss in France, similar to Fukushima, when a coastal reactor lost at least one generator to flooding after shutdown. This is all shown up by Oregon-based NuScale, who have a reactor design based on passive cooling, designed to stay safe even with… Read more »

ProZNoV
ProZNoV
Reply to  Anonymous White Male
2 years ago

“A coward dies a thousand times before his death, but the valiant taste of death but once.” – WS

Ben the Layabout
Ben the Layabout
Reply to  Anonymous White Male
2 years ago

The only nuclear plant in my general area (central FL) was built in the mid-70s and operated for 33 years. Various structural problems (deterioration) were detected in 2009, repairs were considered, but it was decided to permanently decommission the plant. Is this sample representative?

verbalfarce
verbalfarce
Reply to  Paintersforms
2 years ago

“…I still won’t eat Pacific seafood on account of Fukushima…”

Stay. Away. From. Water’s. Edge.

Or Pacific seafood might eat you.

Spingerah
Spingerah
Reply to  verbalfarce
2 years ago

We have a beach house on the Washington coast.
Within just a couple months tons of debris began to appear from the gulf of Alaska down into California.
It’s all good
The clams we dig are bigger, taste just as good and cook themselves lol.

Evil Sandmich
Evil Sandmich
Reply to  Anonymous White Male
2 years ago

Just to note that both TMI and Chernobyl were caused by operators who didn’t trust the safe guards in use by their reactors.

Fukishima is the only legit disaster and even then only because the engineers didn’t put quite enough safe guards in to protect against a direct hit from a wave of Armageddon.

miforest
Member
Reply to  Anonymous White Male
2 years ago

the point isn’t that there isn’t enough cheap energy, the point is that the dirt people must suffer untill they comply , accept the digital ID(social credit score). then they will move us into the pods and you WILL eat the bugs.

Captain Willard
Captain Willard
Reply to  G Lordon Giddy
2 years ago

You cannot get a loan to drill a well these days and good luck finding a crew for your rig if you get the loan. The industry is in liquidation in N. America. This won’t change because the Karens running the public and private pension funds have proscribed energy investing and public policy opposes new drilling. (Your analysis of the impact of cheap money on the shale boom is accurate I believe).

Horace
Horace
Reply to  Captain Willard
2 years ago

“… Karens … have proscribed energy …” It has been noted by both George Orwell and Arthur Koestler (and probably others) that young women tend to be the most fanatical communist cadres. The Chinese ‘Cultural Revolution’ put tens of millions at risk for death by starvation. Communist authorities decided the crazy had to go back into the box and of course rediscovered that stopping stampedes of proletarian cattle is much harder than starting them. I read years ago that part of their solution was to shoot about a thousand of the most hysterical ChiKarens. They did this to get the… Read more »

Ben the Layabout
Ben the Layabout
Reply to  Horace
2 years ago

If the USA were to get a conflict similar to our civil war, we might expect at least six million dead, and that is just combat fatalities. [Assumption based simply comparing our population then and now.]
Our infrastructure is far more inter-linked (e.g. fragile) than it was in 1861. How many more civilian deaths would be added? 🙁

Drew
Drew
Reply to  G Lordon Giddy
2 years ago

Globohomo maintains it’s power, in large part, by maintaining a complex disjointed economy. It would be immensely more practical, at this point, to have a larger number of smaller, decentralized manufacturing facilities instead of moving everything component by component across thousands of miles. Thus, to a certain extent, the end of petroleum based energy is the end of globohomo. Ethanol fuel would be a viable substitute if, and only if, there were fewer engines operating for fewer hours each, that is to say if production was decentralized and consumption was more seasonal and localized. The common complaint is that all… Read more »

Citizen of a Silly Country
Citizen of a Silly Country
2 years ago

Our rulers can’t ignore inflation. It’s the one thing that gets Joe Normie riled up. They see it every day, all day. But it’s more than high prices. Inflation undermines the entire system. It turns the “rules” upside down and destroys people faith in those rules, in the morality of the system. Instead of being rewarded, middle class values such as hard work, saving and delayed gratification are punished and make anyone who lives by those morals a sucker. Inflation changes how you look at life. As someone once wrote, “…next to language, money is the most important medium through… Read more »

3g4me
3g4me
Reply to  Citizen of a Silly Country
2 years ago

Citizen: But said inflation hasn’t touched our ‘rulers’ so they really don’t give a damn. Everyone grumbles about costs. There are people genuinely suffering due to inflation today, but the average family is still grumbling, not making significant lifestyle changes. People are still taking cruises and vacations and keeping less than a week’s food in their pantries.

Citizen of a Silly Country
Citizen of a Silly Country
Reply to  3g4me
2 years ago

Agree. Inflation hasn’t hit hard enough to cause real problems. And it probably won’t reach that level. But it is pissing people off. Inflation hasn’t reached the level where it undermine faith in the system, but it has that power if left unchecked. The problem for our rulers is that inflation is their best way out of the debt situation. Paying down the debt simply isn’t an option. The world has a problem with debt. There are no good options to solve that problem. Either inflate it away, default or pay it down. Each one of those will cause real… Read more »

trumpton
trumpton
Reply to  3g4me
2 years ago

In the same way that lockdowns and work closures had zero effect on government employees.
they had never been more important.

Daily super important emergency meetings from home, endless email chains to save the planet and micro phased changes every day on your committee working group spreadsheet, or back to planning out dog shit patrols on the local council.

what would you choose?

RoBG
RoBG
Reply to  3g4me
2 years ago

The so-called “rulers” are the cause of it. The countries that didn’t “lock down” during Covid are doing better on every metric than those that did. And don’t get me wrong, I’m glad a lot of people here are doing well for themselves. But the US median wage is still ~$35K and the median household income is ~$66K. Inflation is destroying them and their hopes for a better future. It’s hard to stock-up if you live paycheck to paycheck.

The real Bill
The real Bill
2 years ago

One more tactic at the disposal of the Cloud People: trying to convince the Dirt People that most other Dirt People don’t share their views. You could see this happening with regard to gay marriage: advertising campaigns and TV shows and movies aimed at normalizing it. The message being sold was: ‘See? Everyone else is on board with this. What’s wrong with you that you still oppose it?’ They did the same with abortion: trying to portray public opinion as if the most of public were in favor of unlimited ‘abortion rights’, when in fact most were in favor of… Read more »

Severian
Reply to  The real Bill
2 years ago

The problem with that tactic is it assumes a certain level of trust in The Media, which The Media have destroyed at Ludicrous Speed. As our host put it a while back, if the New York Times published my birth certificate on the front page, I’d seriously doubt my own existence.

They are forcing people to get lean, get small, and get local — the very things that will destroy them in the end.

The real Bill
The real Bill
Reply to  Severian
2 years ago

Yep.

Sometimes I wonder whether one effect of the Information Overload isn’t to keep folks in whatever niche they find themselves in. With so many competing ‘facts’ flying around, and when it’s harder and harder to distinguish information from disinformation, pondering it all can come to seem like a waste of time.

Mysteerious Rooshian Vooman
Mysteerious Rooshian Vooman
Reply to  Severian
2 years ago

” … trust in The Media, which The Media have destroyed at Ludicrous Speed.”

Laughable. What planet do you live on??

The Greek
The Greek
2 years ago

Overall excellent essay. I agree with the gist, however, there are a few key addendums: 1) With voting shenanigans at an all time high, voting and caring about the voters opinions matters rather little anymore anyway. 2) Using your example of being a politician with an odious stance on energy prices, the state media will run cover for you. They will hide insane quotes and simply not show clips of you laughing about having an electric car. They will also create convoluted arguments “Fact Checks” that will blame your opponent’s policies. The most obvious example of this is how the… Read more »

Mysteerious Rooshian Vooman
Mysteerious Rooshian Vooman
Reply to  The Greek
2 years ago

“Half this country takes CNN and MSNBC as “the Truth” and question very little that is stated there.”

Amusing (and revealing) that only three or four comments upthread, 19 people agreed with the poster (20 in all) that the media have destroyed their credibility. But here, 25 readers agree that the media have no credibility. And it’s all the same readers. Betcha.

Mysteerious Rooshian Vooman
Mysteerious Rooshian Vooman
Reply to  Mysteerious Rooshian Vooman
2 years ago

But here, 25 readers agree that the media have complete credibility. (My typo error.) And it’s all the same readers. Betcha.

Good ol' Rebel
Good ol' Rebel
Reply to  Mysteerious Rooshian Vooman
2 years ago

Roush, 50% does not mean “complete.” It means 1/2 complete. But you are also ignoring what “credibility” means. For those 50% that dont automatically assume MSM is lying or fabricating everything now, they are true believers, for whom believability is based solely on credentialism, not truth or credibility. They have faith in Don Lemon’s truthiness, irrespective of his credibility. He and his ilk have no credibility – no one belives they are “reporting” factually accurate information. Arguably, the lack of credibility makes them more popular and followed: their willingness to stare into the sun and claim it is darkness excites… Read more »

Evil Sandmich
Evil Sandmich
Reply to  Mysteerious Rooshian Vooman
2 years ago

Both can be true. The people who don’t believe the media do not, obviously, but there’s also a large cohort that are just repeaters for BigPoz (and while usually liberal, they may not be). Point being though, during my brief sojourn to Facebook there were *very* few time when crazed liberals in my timeline said “well CNN sez…”. If they cited any source it was some unverifiable scumbag commie blog.

Sand Wasp
Sand Wasp
Reply to  Mysteerious Rooshian Vooman
2 years ago

“The media has lost credibility” is a pervasive right wing cope.

After watching what happened with C19, I would have think they may be more powerful than ever.

Just because a bunch of dissidents in their internet ghettos know the score, it doesn’t really mean much.

The changing demographics and lowering of the IQ means a greater proportion of society is susceptible to the media’s propaganda.

Good ol' Rebel
Good ol' Rebel
Reply to  Sand Wasp
2 years ago

Maybe. Someone i know, a Boomercon and lifelong npr listener and supporter, gave up listening because “they lie! I mean, they just lie and lie and never say anything true.”
Everyone has a tipping point where they lose faith in the system. Some will require a ball peen hammer and a car battery to get to their public repentance of belief in our “who we are rules based democracy system of our values” but it comes eventually

Ben the Layabout
Ben the Layabout
Reply to  Sand Wasp
2 years ago

I think your overall argument is valid, but I would tighten up the language just a bit. The media does indeed have high credibility, in the sense that a large fraction of its consumers believe what they are told. Of course, for the occasional skeptic or critical thinker, one is aware that quite a few of the media’s claims do not answer to the facts. Sometimes a claim is laughably false, revealed by irreconcilable contradictions within the same article or report, analogous perhaps to a fake gold coin made out of brass. Other times, outside knowledge is required to falsify… Read more »

Wkathman
Wkathman
2 years ago

“Politicians are just actors hired for the role and the supply is endless.” That right there is why I seriously doubt many office holders/seekers are “true believers” in anything beyond what directly benefits them personally. They’re just playing whatever role is necessary to butter their own bread. Are those who genuinely hold power — bankers and those at the top of a handful of industries, as opposed to the mere “actors” — true believers? Hard to say. They may simply be promoting various ideological causes and propaganda for no other reason than to increase their own power. Then again, it’s… Read more »

trumpton
trumpton
Reply to  Wkathman
2 years ago

So who is doing the hiring on both sides?

Who decides, on what criteria? Who then controls all the selection posts and ticket entries? Who provides the funds and support to the actors? Who ensures media marketing is pre-seeded for the future product release? How is such media placed and coordinated?

You hire actors specifically to say lines written already in a film you are producing and directing. Or is it another instance where the very language idiom of a directing hand is proof it does not exist?

Glenfilthie
Glenfilthie
Member
Reply to  trumpton
2 years ago

Who’s doing the hiring? Funny you should ask! As per yesterday, on Blab:

https://gab.com/PhilosopherAnonymous/posts/108430769408307623

Mind ya P’s and Q’s, Dissidents! You are being watched!!!

🙂

Alzaebo
Alzaebo
Reply to  Glenfilthie
2 years ago

Ye gods did somebody say hive queens

Spingerah
Spingerah
Reply to  Glenfilthie
2 years ago

I’m sure I’ve been on lists for years.
That is why it’s important to make your own local accountability lists.

The real Bill
The real Bill
Reply to  Wkathman
2 years ago

Are politicians true believers? I suspect the process works to make them that way: Even assuming that they first arrived in Washington with a sincere desire to serve the people and change things for the better— and weren’t driven by ego and narcissism all along— once they get there: • they realize that the position comes with a great deal of prestige, and many perks; and they discover that they REALLY like it: getting invited to all the right parties, being the center of attention, the guy whose opinion everyone wants to hear; making a decent salary while having to… Read more »

Wkathman
Wkathman
Reply to  The real Bill
2 years ago

I think you’re on to something. It becomes much easier to believe in ludicrous ideological fads when they also happen to serve one’s personal self-interests. My only quibble with your remark relates to that bit about “serving my constituency to the best of my ability.” It’s naive to assume that even novice politicians are genuinely interested in that. The system selects for those who can best EXPLOIT their constituencies for personal gain. Always has, always will.

The real Bill
The real Bill
Reply to  Wkathman
2 years ago

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on not understanding it.”

— Upton Sinclair

Mysteerious Rooshian Vooman
Mysteerious Rooshian Vooman
Reply to  The real Bill
2 years ago

It’s mass-media power. That’s the only important factor, and it is near-universal. TV mediates reality for nearly ALL people everywhere. Somebody upthread hit the nail on the head: The media tell you that nobody agrees with you and that you are bad because nobody agrees with your Neanderthal attitudes and ideas. An d *everybody* believes the media.

Din C. Nuttin
Din C. Nuttin
Reply to  Wkathman
2 years ago

Years ago, a gentleman explained to me some office seekers wanted the office for personal aggrandizement, but some wanted it to address a problem or problems they felt needed addressing. I’ve always tried to vote for the latter, which is why I voted for Trump rather than Hillary.

Wkathman
Wkathman
Reply to  Din C. Nuttin
2 years ago

That “gentleman” was either lying or severely deluded. The system selects for narcissists and sociopaths. As for Trump, it appears the problem that really interested him was that his personal brand wasn’t quite gargantuan enough prior to him running for president. He proved just as much a festering EGO as the rest of the political class.

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  Din C. Nuttin
2 years ago

“Years ago, a gentleman explained to me some office seekers wanted the office for personal aggrandizement, but some wanted it to address a problem or problems they felt needed addressing. I’ve always tried to vote for the latter, … ”

Which is an exercise in futility, since what you vote for does not even exist. Voting is the PROBLEM.

TomA
TomA
2 years ago

As lazy as Joe Normie is, he will still roll off the couch and mosey over to the polls in November along with a lot of suburban moms in a snit over food prices and vote for the RINO in the upcoming election. This means that Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schmer will have one last opportunity to bankrupt the country during the lame duck session. Will they succeed? We can only hope so because it will bring on the desperately needed collapse. The new Congress will then come roaring into DC with verbal-diarrhea-a-blazing and, THIS TIME, pitch a fit to… Read more »

Rando
Reply to  TomA
2 years ago

I might show up one more time just to vote for DeSantis. And no one else. He may be a rabid Zionist but at least he ended the lockdowns. I’m a pragmatic man and don’t need the hassle of my state being run by some wine aunt lunatic. If he tries to run for president though I’m done for good.

BeAprepper
BeAprepper
Reply to  Rando
2 years ago

Even if DeSantis wins, he will encounter the same level of subterfuge, attacks, muck racking, and general harassment as did Trump, to say nothing of the ensuing rioting, looting and burning by the likes of BLM & Antifa, the enforcement arms of the Trotsky party.

The real Bill
The real Bill
Reply to  BeAprepper
2 years ago

Will he learn from Trump’s mistakes? Will Trump’s experience enable DeSantis to start out being suspicious of the entrenched bureaucracy? To realize that not everyone who pretends to be on his side actually is?

IDK…..

yo
yo
Reply to  The real Bill
2 years ago

POTUS Trump’s natural bombastic personality, his history as TV personality, big shot NYC guy, womanizer, and his tendency for exaggeration made it very easy for the bad guys to caricature him and very easy for the various bad guy factions put aside their internal squabbles to join together to go after him. This proved insurmountable in the end.

I would suspect Desantis’ more measured cadence in his speech, and lack of obvious scandals makes it much harder to caricature and therefore harder for the bad guys to organize against. But not impossible. We’ll see.

Alzaebo
Alzaebo
Reply to  TomA
2 years ago

From the web:

“You might want to get really drunk on selection night, ’cause on November 2nd, all your Dumbocrat friends are going to be unbearable (yes, even more so than usual), rubbing their “overwhelming election mandate” in your face.”

Pence-Haley versus
Buttigieg-Harris
2024 gonna be LIT

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  TomA
2 years ago

This faux spasm of rectitude will then allow Joe Normie to return to the couch and open another bag of Doritos.

Excellent!

Tykebomb
Tykebomb
2 years ago

Congress held a hearing on gas prices. They grilled the Biden staff member about it and she replied that she drove an electric vehicle. The democrats on the panel laughed. The fact that Republicans haven’t plastered that as an attack ad shows they aren’t serious.

Wolf Barney
Wolf Barney
Reply to  Tykebomb
2 years ago

There are so many gifts presented to the Republicans that they don’t use. We see them all the time. The video clips showing the insanity and evilness of the elites we see on Gab, Bitchute, etc are the kind of material no political party has ever had the chance to use in history. There’s even a video of the Dem’s Supreme Court black lady saying she’s unable to define a “woman.” That’s gold, Jerry, GOLD!

Wkathman
Wkathman
Reply to  Wolf Barney
2 years ago

That Republicans ignore at least 99 % of the “gifts” their opposition serves up on a platter is Exhibit # 1,537 proving that the game is thoroughly rigged. In truth, there is only one PARTY. You could call it the Establishment Party. Or maybe the Plutocrat Party. Zman might be partial to the Cloud People Party. I myself call it the Technocratic Oligarchy Party. All these political clowns are owned by the same cretins.

BeAprepper
BeAprepper
Reply to  Wkathman
2 years ago

Trotskyites all.

The real Bill
The real Bill
Reply to  Wkathman
2 years ago

Yep!

And their pretense of disagreeing is all done to further the illusion that “we have a choice”

3g4me
3g4me
Reply to  Tykebomb
2 years ago

Tykebomb: Anyone who ever thought a politician was ‘serious’ was a fool – and I count myself among them, so no personal offense intended. Every mile a politician travels, by whatever means, he accounts as job related/’community service’ and he doesn’t pay for the travel, the vehicle/plane, or the gas. What does he care? People don’t realize just how insulated these people are. Not just your local school board or city council, who have long disregarded parents and heritage Americans, but the cloud people in D.C. They have aides and advisors and lobbyists for everything and they pay for almost… Read more »

Jack Dobson
Jack Dobson
Reply to  3g4me
2 years ago

This has been true a very long time. I recently came across a typed letter from a then-prominent senator to my grandmother about an inquiry she made about keeping the local post office open. The letter was written in the immediate aftermath of WWII. The tone would have shocked Gogol, and basically the senator wrote that he did not dirty his hands with such things and to take it up with her congressman. He might as well have written FU, peasant. I think the only reason the senator responded was to denigrate her. Liberal democracy depends on two things: stupid… Read more »

The real Bill
The real Bill
Reply to  Jack Dobson
2 years ago

And more and more, the System is such that it selects for sociopaths. So much dishonesty and disingenuousness is required that fewer and fewer non-sociopaths can stomach it.

One of the factors in Trump’s success was that he LOVED the limelight and was energized by conflict.

trumpton
trumpton
Reply to  3g4me
2 years ago

As the Police captain says in BladeRunner.

“You know the score, pal. You’re not cop, you’re little people.”

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  Tykebomb
2 years ago

“The fact that Republicans haven’t plastered that as an attack ad shows they aren’t serious.”

The problem is precisely that they ARE serious. What you mean is that they are abysmally stupid. Mencken was right:

“As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”

Ben the Layabout
Ben the Layabout
2 years ago

Another near-perfect essay. The only flaw I see is your claim that friends will always be there to take care of you. In good times, mostly true. But the minute adversity strikes, no. The minute one no longer is of use to the Cause, you are redundant. At best, one is put out to pasture. At worst, one is disappeared. The Soviet Union was infamous for this. It’s why Trotsky and no doubt many others were (literally) airbrushed out of history, the page sent down to the Memory Hole. The West is not immune either. Read a brief history of… Read more »

3g4me
3g4me
Reply to  Ben the Layabout
2 years ago

Ben: People ‘ghosting’ you once you are of no use to them is a very old thing, not in any way restricted to politics or ideology today. Try ‘helping’ a friend (what most people today refer to as ‘friends’ are generally not much more than what I would term ‘acquaintances’) during hard times, or proposing to stand up for a group of office mates. One learns pretty quickly to be cynical and not to trust most people. Assume the worst and you won’t be disappointed. I’m continually warning my most religious friend that various people she trusts are grifters taking… Read more »

The real Bill
The real Bill
Reply to  3g4me
2 years ago

I wonder whether being religious— believing the ‘good news’ despite the insufficient evidence; seeing ‘faith’ (continuing to believe in spite of the lack of evidence) as a virtue— doesn’t set a person up for believing other unbelievable things?

Once you start believing things because they make you feel good, rather than because that’s what the evidence supports— where does it end?

Ploppy
Ploppy
Reply to  The real Bill
2 years ago

It ends with preachers being able to afford very expensive watches and cars.

3g4me
3g4me
Reply to  The real Bill
2 years ago

The real Bill: While my friend is a devout Christian in a way that I am perhaps not, I am a practicing and believing Christian. I am just less trusting and more cynical – less a ‘nice person’ than she is. I love being trusting and generous with people, but my trust is not given easily. I’ve learned the hard way to question people’s motives and watch my back.

Experiencing and trusting in God’s grace does not imply any credulity or gullibility – on my part at least – when dealing with other people.

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  3g4me
2 years ago

“Experiencing and trusting in God’s grace does not imply any credulity or gullibility – on my part at least – when dealing with other people.” Christ never taught us to be stupid doormats. Your friend is not really a Christian. She has adopted the idiotic “religion” of abysmally ignorant dopes, that’s all. “Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.” “And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city,… Read more »

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  3g4me
2 years ago

3g: She is a willing–even eager–victim. Nuttin’ you can do. She regards her stupidity as a Christian virtue. Trust me on that.

3g4me
3g4me
Reply to  The Infant Phenomenon
2 years ago

Infant: In this particular case I’d have to disagree, at least in regards to my friend. She’s been reading scripture since she was a child, her grandfather was a preacher, etc. Get her ‘hillbilly’ up and she’ll tear you a new one, but it takes a LOT to get her to that point. She sincerely believes she’s called to love everyone although she simultaneously believes in putting her family first. I tell her I’m her flip side, to balance things out, because I think Christian hatred of evil (people as well as ideology) is a virtue.

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  Ben the Layabout
2 years ago

“It’s why Trotsky and no doubt many others were (literally) airbrushed out of history, … .”

AIRBRUSHED? Trotsky??

AIRBRUSHED??

Ben the Layabout
Ben the Layabout
Reply to  The Infant Phenomenon
2 years ago

Are you being humorous? I can’t tell. It’s a popular internet meme:

https://images.app.goo.gl/KVRNtBpxYAv7e16N7

Xman
Xman
2 years ago

“The problem is the gun grabbers are consumed with spiting normal people who support gun ownership. Instead of the issue being a way to distract voters, it is a reminder that the people in charge hate the voters.” It’s true that the elites like to use gun control as an excuse to spit on the proles… but it is most assuredly not a “distraction.” Elites want gun control so that the proles cannot challenge the power structure. That’s why they’re going after “assault weapons” despite the fact that rifles are used in only the tiniest fraction fraction of crimes. They… Read more »

Xman
Xman
Reply to  thezman
2 years ago

Yet.

Wait until the power grid fails, gas is $10, unemployment is 30% and interest rates are 20%.

Forever Templar
Forever Templar
Reply to  Xman
2 years ago

So? In that scenario the Army will be one of the few guaranteed paychecks around and people are notorious for doing bad things when the alternative is perceived as worse. The darker the skin the more this is true.

Horace
Horace
Reply to  Forever Templar
2 years ago

It’s an old saying “it is better to be the King’s soldier than the King’s peasant.”

Ben the Layabout
Ben the Layabout
Reply to  thezman
2 years ago

That sounds a bit dismissive, Z. I agree that the local hunting club of rural Virginia or Maryland is unlikely to make a successful assault on the Imperial Capital. But those “pea shooters” are very large in quantity, very dispersed, and not susceptible to easy collection by the Deep State. I conjecture that what really keeps the Planners awake at night is the risk, never zero, that in a crisis, our Military might spontaneously become two militaries, if you get my meaning. There is historical precedent. Yes, they can (and have been) purging the ranks for years. But, since we… Read more »

Bartleby the Scrivner
Bartleby the Scrivner
Reply to  thezman
2 years ago

I don’t know about that Z.

There’s an article on lewrockwell.com that articulated past events where the “Agents on the ground” committed atrocities because they were afraid of the folks with the pea shooters.

It’s a good reminder.

Forever Templar
Forever Templar
Reply to  Bartleby the Scrivner
2 years ago

The dweeb who wrote that is a moron. If you’re not concerned about the people packing you’re simply not mentally fit for that kind of work. The larger point is Americans with all their guns is a check against government over-encroachment, but not a solution to it. An armed citizenry would cost to the government would too high…which applies if said government isn’t ran by batshit crazies.

Wakeupandsmellthecovfefe
Wakeupandsmellthecovfefe
Reply to  thezman
2 years ago

“….militarized police departments.”

Great performance by those ‘soldiers in blue’ down in Texas …. not.

“…has the army…”

Have you seen the recruiting ads lately? Chubby young women, flabby neckbeard men. I say they can HAVE ‘the army’.

Look, I live around a suburban gaggle of Normie too – not quite the soy you likely swim with inside the Beltway, but surely close. I ask: What would you rather have, tens of thousands of Chinese coming across the Yalu, many of them carrying no arms, or one grenade … or the modern iteration of ‘the Marines?’

Wakeupandsmellthecovfefe
Wakeupandsmellthecovfefe
Reply to  thezman
2 years ago

I am sure they will. But unlike the outcome in Solzy’s Gulag book, what happens when the crowd fires back?

What vision seems more likely in the above event:
a. Heroic militarized LEO hold the line with the discipline of Recoats.
b. Cowardly militarized LEO flee in disarray at the first crack of incoming fire.

Mow Noname
Mow Noname
Reply to  thezman
2 years ago

Derek Chauvin was convicted for muder for arresting an obese black man.
The Mexican police watched their children slaughtered in Texas because they got the message from: stand down, no matter what.

LFMayor
LFMayor
Reply to  thezman
2 years ago

I find your terms acceptable. You may begin when ready.

ProZNoV
ProZNoV
Reply to  thezman
2 years ago

Utopia builders ALWAYS end up in the same place: mass starvation, horrific brutality, and total surveillance. What is the GAE and the Great Reset other than a utopian vision?

This time will be no different. A few pea shooters aren’t going to save you from your government. But they make keep you alive from your neighbors, at least for awhile.

Rando
Reply to  thezman
2 years ago

Yes. I believe they would. I’m not going to go into details, but there are ways to strike back against the cloud people without having to resort to direct confrontation that is favorable to them. If you go up against an armored vehicle you’re daft. But our “pea shooters” can still be of use if we’re smart about it.

3g4me
3g4me
Reply to  thezman
2 years ago

Zman – Valid points on both sides; I would argue one does not necessarily exclude the other. Absolutely the cloud folks rely on their personal protection (Secret Service, armed forces, cops, private hired security) and don’t fear the average individual – they are currently extraordinarily insulated from the average individual. At the same time, however, there is a great deal of anger among an admittedly small portion of the population. The failure thus far of smarter people to pick better targets is partly due to the risk/reward calculation. Let the situation get as dire as some are predicting, and who… Read more »

Forever Templar
Forever Templar
Reply to  thezman
2 years ago

@rando – I personally know American cops who are disgusted with things. These guys are not unaware of how they’re perceived by us. There’s a lot of overlap between LEO and veterans groups and other underground associations. These guys still inside are in a weird place. Reform isn’t going to work and frankly not worth it, yet they can’t just up and leave for various reasons beyond the pension.

PrimiPilus
PrimiPilus
Reply to  thezman
2 years ago

I think it’s a little more complex than that, Z-man. I spent some decades in the military; dealing extensively among the services, as well as Guard and Reserve components. Conversations with mid-level leaders of late indicate a clear understanding by some that something is very wrong, and a less clear, but generalized sense of discomfort and basic recognition of the deep problems on the part of many more. As to normie, he gets a bad rap on these (and other) columns. Yes, his behavior seems perplexing, vexing and stupid to those closely following things every day. But I think we… Read more »

The Wild Geese Howard
The Wild Geese Howard
Reply to  Wakeupandsmellthecovfefe
2 years ago

One thing to note about the Korean era US military is that, at the beginning of the conflict, it was repeatedly noted how soft and sloppy it had grown in the 5 short years following WW2.

3g4me
3g4me
Reply to  The Wild Geese Howard
2 years ago

Wild Geese: Good point. I’ve read the same, and how much that contributed to early losses in the Korean conflict. But the same applies to all sides – not just the organized military. This applies to grillers, of course, but also ex-military or 40-70 year old guys who generally don’t recognize or acknowledge just how much their minds and bodies have degraded. Genuine hardship can sift people pretty quickly. What we have right now are extreme inconveniences, and financial problems, but not genuine hardship (sorry, but other than perhaps White people in Appalachia, there is no genuine ‘hunger’ in America).… Read more »

KGB
KGB
Reply to  The Wild Geese Howard
2 years ago

Don’t forget that Truman ordered the military desegregated in 1948, surely a boon to morale.

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  The Wild Geese Howard
2 years ago

None of this stuff matters. At all. The numbers simply are not there. The oogly-boogly “government” simply does NOT have the power (and isn’t going to have it) to suppress a population of more than 300 million in a country of 3 million square miles where 140 million people live in rural areas. The whole “government will suppress citizens with their pea shooters” is high-school-girl level silliness. a total-surveillance police state would require 100% acquiescence on the part of the population AND an unfailing supply of electricity in a country where the power grid can NOT be defended against even… Read more »

Tars Tarkas
Tars Tarkas
Reply to  Wakeupandsmellthecovfefe
2 years ago

This is just not true. They can’t say what they really think, which is that they want African Americans to not have guns. All the big blue cities have massive “gun violence” problems coming almost exclusively from one demographics. They don’t fear the patriots and have no reason to fear the patriots. Police are literally robbing cars on the side of the road. The law is weaponized. The government doesn’t care what the law is. The courts just decided bumble bees are fish so they could enforce laws about fish on bumble bees. If the patriots were going to act,… Read more »

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  Tars Tarkas
2 years ago

“If the patriots were going to act, they would have acted a long time ago.”

Ridiculous. How would you know such a thing, since it is by its nature unknowable. U R talking drivel.

Tars Tarkas
Tars Tarkas
Reply to  Tars Tarkas
2 years ago

@The Infant Phenomenon Not only do we have their track-record of taking everything ever dished out, we have their own words, which is that the guns themselves are the red line. This is retarded. A gun is a tool. If you lock your tool up in a lock-box and refuse to use it in any other circumstance other than taking the tool, the tool is nothing more than a pacifier. How much more does the government need to do in order for “patriots” to see the tyranny? Voting changes nothing. They will not follow their own rules (the law) and… Read more »

Citizen of a Silly Country
Citizen of a Silly Country
Reply to  thezman
2 years ago

Our future lies in separation, not confrontation. However, I disagree with you in the sense that those pea shooters can be extremely effective in the right form of resistance.

The Irish Troubles or Muslim communities in Europe come to mind. Cops are very vulnerable when just performing their day-to-day duties.

The cost of occupation is made much, much higher when the other side has pea shooters when used in the right way.

The Wild Geese Howard
The Wild Geese Howard
Reply to  Citizen of a Silly Country
2 years ago

I believe Lenin said something like,

“Where you find steel, retreat. Where you find velvet, push.”

Citizen of a Silly Country
Citizen of a Silly Country
Reply to  The Wild Geese Howard
2 years ago

Everyone has to go the grocery store or walk their dog or mow the lawn sooner or later.

Whites loves to think in heroic, big battle terms. Most civil wars aren’t like that, especially civil wars based on race or religion. Those wars are grinding, low-level conflicts. They’re personal and nasty.

Mr. Generic
Mr. Generic
Reply to  thezman
2 years ago

The elites have armies and police forces, but they also have friends, families, and homes.

All the armies and police forces in the world won’t do anything for you when there are murderous thugs outside your bedroom window at 3:00am.

3g4me
3g4me
Reply to  Mr. Generic
2 years ago

Mr. Generic: When people stop insisting “I would NEVER do ‘x'” or caviling about various actions being against their morals or principles, then the algorithm changes. I know that most online are still bothered when I strongly urge even social shunning. Taking actual physical action against people’s families and vulnerabilities is considered beyond the pale, but the left does that routinely. Until that becomes normalized among traditional and dissident Whites nothing will change.

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  3g4me
2 years ago

3g: Exactly one year ago, a national poll found 66% of Southern Republicans and 66% of independents in the South ready for secession. That is real. Oh, hes, they haven’t got a clear idea of what that would mean, but nobody in 1860 or in 1914 had a clear idea of what was VERY SOON to happen.

The “country” has already broken apart. It remains now only to draw new lines on the map. THAT will be accompanied by bloodshed. The population is already sorting itself out.

IT’s already baked into the cake.

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  Mr. Generic
2 years ago

“All the armies and police forces in the world won’t do anything for you when there are murderous thugs outside your bedroom window at 3:00am.”

True, but also irrelevant. Doesn’t ANYBODY here have even a faint grasp on the sheer SIZE of the USA? And the TOTAL number of armed thugs available to ALL levels of government EVERYWHERE? And the simple arithmetic involved?

These fantasies of cowardly dolts with “pea shooters” up against a super-powerful and super-smart and super-diabolical “government” are downright childish. (And I’m not talking to you personally.)

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  The Infant Phenomenon
2 years ago

a national poll found 66% of Southern Republicans

Correction: 50% and 66%.

Jack Dobson
Jack Dobson
Reply to  The Infant Phenomenon
2 years ago

@IP:

Actually, the number was 50 percent in January and had risen to 66 percent by June among Southern Republicans, and from memory it was roughly the same from Independents. The polling then stopped.

In California and the West Coast, the Left wants to split.

The sorting indeed is underway. How it unwinds is anyone’s guess.

Spingerah
Spingerah
Reply to  The Infant Phenomenon
2 years ago

Talliban
Viet cong
IRA
Robert the Bruce
Scythians
Determination

Tars Tarkas
Tars Tarkas
Reply to  thezman
2 years ago

A hypothetical fight between the patriotards and the military will almost certainly never happen and even it did, the equipment which so impresses everyone will be of little to no use. The real war, assuming the patriotards ever found their testicles would be against the police. They are just never going to fight the police. The conservatives and patriot types are totally unprepared for this kind of war. This is why they will not act and have never acted even after the largest government expansion in our history under FDR and then later on. They only draw one line in… Read more »

Drew
Drew
Reply to  Tars Tarkas
2 years ago

If there is ever a civil war in this country, it will most likely be small gangs of civilians ambushing and killing LEOs. That’s why they want to grab guns.

Tars Tarkas
Tars Tarkas
Reply to  Drew
2 years ago

If they were ever going to do it they would have already done it. This is aside from the fact that are totally unprepared mentally for such a war. They will fold from the propaganda alone. At least 1/2 of them believe large numbers of cops would join them in their war. They are the same people flying blue lives matter flags. They are same people who constantly idolize the troops, troops and cops they say they are prepared to SHOOT. Ain’t gonna happen. Just wait until their kid comes home from school describing the patriots as white supremacist terrorists… Read more »

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  Tars Tarkas
2 years ago

“A hypothetical fight between the patriotards and the military will almost certainly never happen and even it did, the equipment which so impresses everyone will be of little to no use.”

Silly. Childish. You are talking about yourself.

Jack Dobson
Jack Dobson
Reply to  thezman
2 years ago

I have noticed the Regime does fear many of the men it has sent to fight pointless wars for fun and profit, and retired cops and agents with lethal skills. Every once in a while, “Homeland Security” or some such police state outfit will list these types as potential domestic terrorists. There have been societies in the past, and the particular ones are escaping me now, who routinely killed their equivalents of the Praetorian Guard. The custom here has been to have them transition into lucrative private employment, but those jobs apparently are drying up (mercenaries in Ukraine are a… Read more »

The Wild Geese Howard
The Wild Geese Howard
Reply to  Jack Dobson
2 years ago

Patrick O’Neill, the SEAL who allegedly shot an elderly, unarmed Tim Osman…oops, I meant Osama bin Laden recently tweeted his thought canceling 2A was a great idea, his fervor to come grab our guns, and that all us civvies should just shut up and take it because he holds two Silver Stars and some other medals he won in central banker wars.

Unfortunately, there are signs he is not the only special operator who thinks like this.

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  The Wild Geese Howard
2 years ago

“Patrick O’Neill, the SEAL who allegedly shot an elderly, unarmed Tim Osman…oops, I meant Osama bin Laden recently tweeted his thought canceling 2A was a great idea, ”

Yeah? So what?

Pointless. jabbering. Wake me up when the blowhard captures a mid-sized city in Kansas.

Yawn.

Jack Dobson
Jack Dobson
Reply to  The Wild Geese Howard
2 years ago

I do not discount there are plenty like O’Neil, too. But the fact remains DHS and similar Stasi outfits routinely list White veterans and former cops as potential domestic terrorists. O’Neil may want to put on a White man’s minstrel show, but the State still hates his guts. From memory, the Obama DOJ made him the subject of an investigation already for “leaking” what that crew intended to leak.

Ben the Layabout
Ben the Layabout
Reply to  Jack Dobson
2 years ago

All but the most deluded career civil servant, or service member who perhaps himself grew up as a military brat, or even the elite shitlibs, cannot be blind to certain realities. They may speak the Party Line and their work may even be part of The Hive. But at some point, the rubber meets the road. They have children. Even they may draw the line about where the kids go to school, with whom, and being taught about what. Point: as matters go to extremes, whether via insane policy, external events or a combination, dissension will arise in the ranks,… Read more »

BeAprepper
BeAprepper
Reply to  thezman
2 years ago

Of what use is a country to the elites if they shoot up all the people who make it run? Who is going to fly the planes, perform heart surgery, and do your root canal, teach your kids algebra?

Jack Dobson
Jack Dobson
2 years ago

“This show trial is exactly what the party should be avoiding, but they cannot stop themselves. It is who they are.” I’m not so certain this would have been a good idea in a good economic environment let alone The Great Depression II. Their best hope at this point is for people to tune the show trial out, which in fact likely will happen since nothing can hold public attention longer than five minutes now. In fact, the constant D.C. carny act is a direct consequence of people becoming less and less interested and invested in what the central government… Read more »

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  Jack Dobson
2 years ago

the Clouds are stupid and batshit crazy at this point.

True, and they are also not running the local sheriff’s office. And they are not GOING to be running it. It’s LOCAL. The clouds have no LOCAL power.
The Capitol Police are not going to enforce a police state in Ypsilanti. They can’t. They aren;t THERE.

The laws of physics and logistics are the important things in all this, not the stupidity of the general p0opulation or the nuttiness of the clouds.

Spingerah
Spingerah
2 years ago

I’m starting to think Pol Pot was on to something

3g4me
3g4me
Reply to  Spingerah
2 years ago

Spingerah: Absolutely. Strongly agree for minimum required comment length.

Spingehra
Spingehra
Reply to  3g4me
2 years ago

machine shop in every other garage. Chemicals aplenty.
Many “technicians”
Peashooters are part not all

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  Spingehra
2 years ago

machine shop in every other garage. Chemicals aplenty.
Many “technicians”
Peashooters are part not all

Well said.

usNthem
usNthem
2 years ago

It would appear that even the leftard idiotlogues have overstepped many bounds lately and are apparently due for a major bitch slapping come November – for what it’s undoubtedly not worth. I definitely enjoy dirtbag demoncraps losing whenever and wherever possible, simply because I can’t stand them. Unfortunately, as most know, the “conservative” alternatives are hardly any better. As George Carlin said, it’s a big club and we ain’t in it.

Stranger in a Strange Land
Stranger in a Strange Land
Reply to  usNthem
2 years ago

Groucho corollary: I don’t care to belong to a club that would have me as a member.
And, risking a slight paraphrase “Beware of ‘politicians’, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”

The Wild Geese Howard
The Wild Geese Howard
Reply to  usNthem
2 years ago

uNt-

I expect the Left to print so many fake ballots they wake the dead to retain power.

NateG
NateG
2 years ago

The Biden administrations campaign strategy will be to find out more ways to print mail-in-ballots.

Wolf Barney
Wolf Barney
Reply to  NateG
2 years ago

Mail-in ballots because of an planned monkey pox shutdown in the fall is what I’m thinking.

3g4me
3g4me
Reply to  Wolf Barney
2 years ago

Wolf Barney: It will be fascinating to see if the monkey pox truly has legs. The CDC is now urging public masking due to said pox, although comments note masks do nothing to prevent sexual contact. And this morning I saw that they’re urging pregnant women with the pox (number probably <0) give birth via Caesarian so as not to transmit it. Thus far it appears that most rationally assume this is an STD overwhelmingly afflicting homosexuals. Whether the authorities and media can convinced Karen she's in genuine peril remains to be seen.

Alzaebo
Alzaebo
Reply to  3g4me
2 years ago

Re the latest pox, the CDC’s recommendation should be “don’t have sex with queer Congolese immigrants at the next Stuttgart Pride rave”

Horace
Horace
Reply to  Alzaebo
2 years ago

I’m laughing at the whole thing. This is simply natural selection in action. Mother Gaia is clearing the underbrush.

Alzaebo
Alzaebo
Reply to  NateG
2 years ago

The MSNBC hive queens are betting on the threat from crazed Trump miltias.

trackback
2 years ago

[…] ZMan looks behind the curtain. […]

imbroglio
imbroglio
2 years ago

Do “voters matter?” Do “elections matter? I think not. Elections can be rigged but even if they couldn’t be, “all politics is local.” My enemy is my neighbor. He wants my tax money to finance drag queen hour at his kid’s school while I want his tax money to go to improving the roads in my neigborhood.Besides, we vote the candidate, not the issue. I vote my race, my gender, my latest utopian fantasy. Issue-wise if one candidate says that girl soccer players should get paid the same as boy soccer players, he/she/they get my vote. Anyhow, statistics show (I… Read more »

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  imbroglio
2 years ago

What we have today is effective or ineffective marketing

EXACTLY!

karl von hungus
karl von hungus
2 years ago

seems like dem voters are all on-board with mr potato head. and normie’s don’t notice that the gop is jobbing them. the system is solid.

The Wild Geese Howard
The Wild Geese Howard
Reply to  karl von hungus
2 years ago

The sad reality is that they’ve successfully sold half the country on all the idea all current problems are Putin’s fault.

Heck, they even believe Putin planted the laptop and forced Joe to do all that sniffing.

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  The Wild Geese Howard
2 years ago

“The sad reality is that they’ve successfully sold half the country on all the idea all current problems are Putin’s fault.”

These specimens believe that Putin’s power is godlike. What is he not capable of doing? The smallest details of ordinary life throughout the whole WORLD are under his power. It’s astonishing the things the marketers have the dimwit population believing about Putin’s omniscience and omnipotence. He has the power to pull a hat out of a rabbit.

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  karl von hungus
2 years ago

seems like dem voters are all on-board with mr potato head. and normie’s don’t notice that the gop is jobbing them.

TRUE.

the system is solid.

FALSE.

Coalclinker
Coalclinker
2 years ago

” This is the crisis in American politics. The primary thrust of American politics is defending the prevailing orthodoxy from challenges.” Actually this isn’t a problem at all for the Cloud People. If the going gets rough, and it looks like one of them is going to lose an election, they just hand an envelope of dineros off to some Dominion official, and ….presto!!…their problem is fixed. It’s that simple. Of course, it also helps to own the potential opposition candidate at the same time. Everyone has some kind of dirt or vice in their closets, and the Imperial State… Read more »

BeAprepper
BeAprepper
Reply to  Coalclinker
2 years ago

“The primary thrust of American politics is defending the prevailing orthodoxy from challenges.”

Vaclav Havel’s important handbook on fighting tyranny:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Power_of_the_Powerlessfbclid=IwAR0Ap4dtwCqV_Xno8puP25dKl9AbioULmmMweTUlmkzw91cROu-RKIAYsq0

A second culture, parallel systems. Passive aggressiveness, mockery. Underground economy. Throw sand into the gears whenever you can. Stop voting, it only legitimizes a corrupt system.

Bartleby the Scrivner
Bartleby the Scrivner
Reply to  BeAprepper
2 years ago

It appears that, just like the Strategic-Culture links on Straight Line Logics site, this particular Wiki link is not working.

The SLL links are all in Russian, and have a big “403 Forbidden” on them.

Would want people to be “Misinformed”.

Bartleby the Scrivner
Bartleby the Scrivner
Reply to  Bartleby the Scrivner
2 years ago

Wouldn’t want is what I meant to say.

3g4me
3g4me
Reply to  BeAprepper
2 years ago

BeAprepper: Although I resisted (for various reasons) reading this for quite a while after first hearing it recommended, I’m finding Selco Begovic’s recollections on surviving the Balkan war (“The Dark Secrets of SHTF Survival) to be full of basic truths most people have chosen to forget.(https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B087N92QDT/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_d_asin_title_o00?ie=UTF8&psc=1).

ProZNoV
ProZNoV
Reply to  3g4me
2 years ago

It’s the best read out there that I’m aware of that will disabuse anyone of the “Red Dawn” resistance fantasy trope.

Your guns won’t save you. Your neighbors, if you can trust them with your life, might.

BeAprepper
BeAprepper
Reply to  3g4me
2 years ago

Thanks for the heads up 3g4me.

David Wright
Member
Reply to  Coalclinker
2 years ago

As Ed McMahon would say, you are correct sir! Seems early comments to this piece are that even if the dems shoot themselves with their asinine positions and show trails, they still may steal many elections. Of course republicans winning would ,slightly, maybe, slow the rot but not much good will come. Degeneracy and prosperity have done the work of weakening the populace. The future of day to day living will be much harder and taxing on our spirit and will gut the will of people fighting back. God I hope I am proven wrong and thinking of all of… Read more »

The Wild Geese Howard
The Wild Geese Howard
Reply to  David Wright
2 years ago

DW-

I’ve been thinking about that same scene in The Thing a lot in recent weeks, but focused on different dialogue.

Childs: “How will we make it?”

MacReady: “Maybe we shouldn’t.”

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  David Wright
2 years ago

“I draw comfort from that thought. The mindset we should have.”

Nope. The proper attitude is that “they” will die at OUR hands, and that WE shall live long and prosper. Your “comfort” thoughts have already doomed you.

La-Z-Man
La-Z-Man
Reply to  The Infant Phenomenon
2 years ago

Agreed. Childs and McMurphy died so that humanity may live. The equivalent today would be a dirt person surrendering his life if it meant all the clouds would be swept away.

A.B Prosper
A.B Prosper
Reply to  David Wright
2 years ago

The Infant Phenomenon is right. Our side needs to embrace masculine values and a will win attitude or we will lose wthout trying The other guys are good plotters and planners and venomous as a serpent but they aren’t powerful against us when we stop the learned helpfulness, start putting the group and its values first and actually fight. One by one we are better but as Stalin liked to say, quantity has a quality of its own. We get stomped Now in groups, making sure that the group isn’t subverted from within (something else the enemy is good at)… Read more »

Xman
Xman
Reply to  Coalclinker
2 years ago

“We’re right up there with the citizens of the Soviet Union circa Summer of 1991.”

Actually, more like 1981. We’re run by geriatric party hacks. Our Gorbachev has not arrived yet.

The System won’t collapse until someone actually tries to fix it, only then will it become evident that it can’t be fixed.

Coalclinker
Coalclinker
Reply to  Xman
2 years ago

When the shelves go completely empty as they are in the process, that is when everyone will know we are collapsing. By this time next year there will be no doubt.

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  Coalclinker
2 years ago

When the shelves go completely empty

That is not going to happen. Shortages, of course! “Completely empty” shelves, no. In some countries, yes, In ours, no.

Do you *really* think that NOBODY will do ANYTHING? That there are no truck drivers or farmers or anybody else–NOBODY–who will do ANYTHING? That’s a childish fantasy. REALITY REMAINS A THING. And 300+ million Americans are not going to just lie down and die.

SNAP OUT OF IT!

Coalclinker
Coalclinker
Reply to  The Infant Phenomenon
2 years ago

LOL, we lost 70% of our fertilizer supply when sanctions were enacted against Russia and Ukraine. and what is left was not delivered on time to the farmers because after the railroads furlowed many employees (Union Pacific got rid of 25,000 and closed yards), they couldn’t ship it. .Also, God knows what diesel fuel costs will be in a year. And we produce few manufactured goods, and one stroke of the pen in China will end the supply of parts for about everything. I could go on and on. All it takes for the just-in-time supply system to fail is… Read more »

Evil Sandmich
Evil Sandmich
Reply to  Xman
2 years ago

Gorby was tasked with saving the system, though it was way too late by that point. Whoever replaces the current regime will be similarly tasked, in a similar situation.

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  Xman
2 years ago

The System won’t collapse until someone actually tries to fix it, only then will it become evident that it can’t be fixed.

Well, don’t look now, but the system is already in an advanced–and terminal–state of collapse. And it’s already evident that it can’t be fixed. And that nobody WANTS to fix it.

Ben the Layabout
Ben the Layabout
Reply to  Coalclinker
2 years ago

I agree that it’s beyond repair. To undermine Hungus’s comment above, the system is not solid, but it may appear solid. An analogy I’ve read (and even seen a few times): Have you even seen a majestic old tree, perhaps an Oak, a century or even two old? Then along comes a storm comes and blows it down. Only then is the truth revealed: the main trunk was almost completely rotted, parts of it even cavities, a hidden flaw just awaiting a crisis to emerge. Quick biology lesson: the living part of a tree is mostly the outer circumference. The… Read more »

Coalclinker
Coalclinker
Reply to  Ben the Layabout
2 years ago

Bolshevik Russia could still produce commodities to fuel their murder machine. We can’t produce a thing except food basics and firearms. There won’t be anything to take over, but at least we’ll be able to shoot.