I have at times had to say to myself, let the dead bury the dead. It's hard to let go, but necessary, to save your own sanity. Look at how many alienated their own kids, siblings or parents who refused to be vaccinated.
Some people are so emotionally underdeveloped, it's impossible to talk reason to them, have them integrate it, and consider changing their mind, once it's made up. We see this issue mostly among people who have Borderline personality Disorder traits. They're toddlers living in adult-sized bodies. They need serious help, but the psychotherapeutic community hasn't a clue about how to assist them, because they don't address the problem from a 'developmental arrest' standpoint.
&erniet The only problem with avoiding the subject of politics with them is an aspect of TDS is that they think everyone is afflicted and talk about it all the time. Trying to avoid it makes me feel inauthentic because they assume I agree. It’s all around me.
I tell them they’re partisan (I haven’t been registered with either party for more than 30 years) and I don’t want to discuss it. No need to be inauthentic at all.
We are at war. I am not exaggerating. Politics is part of nearly every conversation. ‘Oh man, everyone at work is sick. I think we are running about 20% overall sick time this year. It is all Long Covid.’ ‘I have three people in my little circle all with cancer. Serious cancer. And my best friend’s niece just died of a heart attack biking! What is happening?’ ‘Are you going to the Pride parade this year?’ ‘I friggin’ hate Putin. Russia is losing terribly. At what point will Russians turn on him? I have heard they are very close to ousting the guy.’ And so on. You can’t avoid it. Unless you are prepared to nod your head and mumble 27x a day.
That's because Trump for some is about fighting evil. It's like something out of the 1984 movie where the audience is shouting hate at Goldstein. My brother (who is normally sane) has that disease.
The Civil War reports always seems to mention 'brother against brother' , but that was rare in 1861 compared to the 'brother against brother' that we see today.
Today it's rampant, that brothers are split, families are split. Very sad.
I have a staunch upright rigidly moral Christian ex-friend. Ex Canadian mimitary. He absolutely hates Trump. About six years ago I said ‘this is not politics as usual. We are in an angels and demons moment. I am not exaggerating. These are dangerous times.’ He agreed. He said the right has gone evil. So here we have a guy who married as a virgin and claims he has never lusted after any woman other than his wife. He is a regular church goer at a Canadian dead-in-spirit church. And he is totally incapable of actually seeing evil when it is licking its lips facing him. Six times vaxed.
Sure it can, just break the TV, if it's got a fuse, take it out. Most people will never figure out what's wrong. There are other ways to break it, too... About one week of absence will do it, then the spell is broken. I've actually done this with my parents, broken it, after about five days of absence, the hypnosis breaks. "Fix" it, and the hypnosis takes hold in another two days, "break" it again, five days and ... Rinse, wash, repeat. It's a fun game to play, and without intervention, they never figure it out. See https://sidawson.org/2011/03/tv-is-heroin-crossed-with-hypnosis for details. Social media accounts can be hacked and sabotaged so they get cancelled, so there's that, too.
My mom is the same way. At one time, she was an open minded free-thinker. Now, well, she parrots the narrative and doesn’t even have her facts straight. Oh well. No point arguing with a 91-year old.
I have some kids that barely talk to me (and one who has gone no-contact) because of TDS (and other things that I won't agree to). I can't live a lie even when telling the truth costs me so much. In 2015/16 went along with the self censorship in my own home for peace (let's not talk politics at family gatherings) but things have only gotten worse. The saddest part for me, as a parent, is watching the mental downward spiral of my children who have been captured by all of this (not just Trump but all the stuffs). My children are not well but everyone screams that I'm the one who is the problem.
I’m so sorry. It’s like thinking you can convince someone to break an addiction- in the end, it has to come from within each of us.
But WE must choose to prioritize the relationship while not giving in to surrendering your ground. That happens by agreeing to disagree, and loving those people unconditionally. Birthday cards, caring for them through hardship etc.
Eventually, your unconditional love alone will speak volumes.
The wall cannot be prenetrated because Trump opposition did a damn good job at building it. People who lived better in 2016-2020 still cry about "fearing for their life" if Trump won. He won once already, their life didn't end but they lived better than under Obama and Biden yet they still fear that something that didn't happen in 2016-2020 will happen. "cause he's Trump". That's their argument. They have nothing else. But they really believe it. And that's one of main obstacles to his second term, first being that a comeback is almost impossible or at least very rare. Stars have to line up and they don't seem to. There was a window of opportunity after the assassination attempt but perhaps that sped up Biden's removal which killed Trump's momentum. At the end of the day, you are an architect of your own W or L and Trump Team hasn't responded to changes in the race too well, judging by defeatist tone of his base. Democrats advantage has always been that they regroup quickly, rally behind their candidate and have a way of demonizing the competition that sticks despite evidence to the contrary. Something that Republicans don't. I've seen Republicans endorsing Harris which echos 2020 when Biden picked up some Republican endorsements. That never bode well for the nominee if they don't have the whole party behind them. Democrats may feud between themselveds but when it comes to backing up a nominee they fall in line with incredible precision, while Republicans hold the grudge against the nominee to the point of endorsing the competition. Something to think about.
However, the wall was built by Clinton propaganda back in 2016 (and it stuck) and now that wall will push Harris to the historic win that Clinton wanted for herself. Talk about having done the job a little too well. Everything has consequences both good and bad. Clinton wanted Trump down and now she'll have another woman break the glass ceiling. Oof.
he didn't lose because of an election fraud. he lost because he didn't sell an idea that in time of crisis nation should stand together with their POTUS, something that Bush managed after 9/11. Biden was a terrible candidate, obviously demented even then, who spend 90% of his campaign off screen. But his team sold the idea that he could solve covid fast (he didn't and even more people died), turn chaos into tranquility (nope, more chaos ensued - Ukraine, Israel, raging anti-Semitism in America), would replace extremism (what extremism?) with moderation (yet his term was the most extreme ion recent memory for he sold out to far left that now claims he betrayed them).
No one ever loses because the competition had evils tricks up their sleeve or was better. On all accounts of common sense, Biden shouldn't have been a Democratic nominee let alone win in 2020. It's on Trump that such thing happened. he didn't do something right. His campaign flailed instead of responding firmly and I see that flailing again ever since Biden was replaced by Harris, something they knew was a very real possibility ever since Democrats started to call for his replacements seconds after the debate was over. His team had time to re-adjust to plan B. That doesn't seem to be the case.
Before Harris switch, Trump showed restraint which served him well. Now it's the same off[putting unhinged crap all over again. I don't have a dog in this fight because I'm not an American nor live in America but I'm appalled by the rise of anti-Semitism which is 100% on Democrats, I support Israel 100%, and I hate when people who didn't do the work just breeze to victory. Therefore, like the owner of this site, I would like to see Trump pull the impossible and win the second term after a 4 years gap because he does work hard on his campaigns amid unprecedented level of attempts to take him out of the race and campaign trail (trail, assassination) and he would assure that anti-Semitism goes back to hiding instead of being flaunted on the streets and universities, and he would keep Israel safe. But what can I say? It's not looking good.
While Trump should have done more to prevent election fraud, there was quite obviously massive fraud in 2020. Biden getting 81 million votes? Not plausible. Losing all the bellwether states and still winning? Also not plausible. And on and on.
So I have no doubt that it was fraud, but the real key was control over all corporate media, which then simply lied and claimed the election was legitimate. A sadly large number of people believe whatever they see on TV.
So I think that we need:
1. Much better election integrity.
2. A TV network that actually tells the truth. And Fox sure isn't it.
if you can't have any of these than the solution is adopting novelties. Mail in ballot hasn't been many people's habit but Democratic voters sure adopted that habit quickly while Republican voters didn't. At the end of the way, the world keeps going forward not backward and you either are in lockstep with changes or are left behind. For all its faults, left moves forward, perhaps too forward for an average voter but forward nonetheless. Voters will get there. But they don't go back and especially don't like to see rights taken away from them (which is a step back).
However, the moment you start thinking about fraud you lost. if you believe in fraud than what is the point to vote? That right there is lack of motivation.
thank you. I just want to add that, to Trump's credit, he lost because of an unprecedented event that virtually every country in the world struggled with response. Even US liberal media's "hero" Adern didn't run for her second term cause she knew she was cooked after keeping New Zealand in virtuel prison. US liberal media loved her but Kiwis wanted her head on a plate. And Biden administration didn't fix the problem quickly and efficiently either, in fact more people died than during Trump term and the pandemic ended when it ended not because of sudden amazing response. It simply wore itself out. Trump lost because people panicked and when people panic they believe in anything. Democrats had the opportunity to promise a miracle and voters who would otherwise vote Trump rolled a dice. That's really it.
OTOH, Biden lost his second term in the most humiliating way possible. His own party took the presidency from him metaphorically cause he is now rendered completely irrelevant even though he's officially still POTUS. Yet you don't see him, you don't hear what he's doing, it's all about his replacement. He spent 4 years in Trump's shadow anyway, most of it on his own doing (kangaroo trial only raised Trump's profile), and then was unceremoniously discarded when he was deemed useless. Mind you, I have zero sympathy for this hack cause he was in on the coverup about his mental capacity. He fell on his own sword and that his party pulled the trigger, not his rivals, is poetic justice. But what happened is still wrong and as far from democracy as it gets - it wasn't will of the people that took him down, it was donors, media and party's TPTB - and if they pull it off with Harris win, there will be more of such blatant election interfernaces by the powerful minority.
The difference, at least in the case of me, is that 1) I already know enough of the evidence, whereas Far Lefties seem to know only the evidence they like, 2) I am aware of the arguments that Far Left creates, while they seem to know only the arguments their side makes, and 3) I recognize fallacies, while Lefties never met a fallacy the did not like. Getting rid of Critical Thinking was the first thing the FarLefty Thought Leaders did. You can read about Paolo Freire's accomplishments in this regard if you bother to get the Rufo book.
Sure you know enough of the "evidence" you want to see and hear. See the problem is both sides have very different viewpoints and ideology and to be honest it's always been that way. Critical thinking only applies to many people when it fits their ideology and not a step beyond it.
Because how you stereotype the democrats as far left. The problem is both see each other as the enemy and a fallacy on every stance. Critical thinking sometimes comes to realization the side you're on isn't the correct one.
The left is in full-on psychotic denial of reality. It's gotten so extreme that it's almost funny.
They couldn't believe that Biden is terminally senile.
They refuse to believe that there was an assassination attempt on Trump.
They think it's all about "racism" when it's really about several trillion dollars a year that the leftist elite steals from working class wages and gives to themselves via dividends and stock buybacks:
When truth be told, there's numerous good reasons why women were kept well away from politics as its a bad fit for the female mind ; in fact the political empowerment of women means slow suicide for any society that promotes it
A New York jury would convict a ham sandwich is it had "Trump" written on it.
It is routine for real estate developers to overstate their assets when applying for loans, and understate their assets when paying taxes. See: "self-interest", and (on the first one) "selective prosecution". And if everyone who lost a civil case then got sued for "defamation" for making a defense, a lot more people would be be found liable for defamation.
As for "serial liar", corn-pop ate the cannibals ...
Maybe you should grow up and start making arguments about policies rather than persons. You are nothing but Exhibit A for the fallacy (once) known as "ad hominem".
Start with the lies. There are things she knows to be true but which the ideology insists are not only false but must be said and felt and believed by every follower to be false. Somewhere, she has a bedrock belief in conflict within her but covered over, hidden, and never to be brought out into the open. Find it and bring it into the open.
It didn't work with my brother. I challenged him with the government lies about the Covid vaccines saying "they lied to us about the vaccines ability to stop infection and transmission." His response: "they had to do something!"
He made excuses for their lies because to him the worst thing would be to go against the narrative and be shunned by his community.
Try again with ‘sharp as a tack’ Biden lie? The Telly and so many talking heads for months & months said Joe was cognitively fine. Then on a debate stage (and many other videos before & after that event) we see an impaired POTUS.
Matt, it's funny you say that. At my brother's 70th bday party, I did an imitation of Biden attempting to wander off stage for his wife. She said "I can't see that."
I haven't followed up with on whether she sees it now. Maybe I should do that.
Those aren't the kind of lies that count. Do you REALLY care about the lockdowns, vaccines, and slipshod "science" behind the campaign? Your brother was right: they DID have to do something (and you were right: they did it wrongly). The shattering realization is not about policy or personalities or perversions: it's about the love and trust the two of you used to have for each other, and how that connection has been frayed over time by the goadings of venal people on both sides of the political divide. Re-establish the connection by stripping away the facile justifications and opinions given both of you by others. Rediscover your inner characters (they haven't and don't change) and build outward from there. Ultimately, it's not about destroying his beliefs (or yours), but allowing your natures to break loose and surface, free of the ideological prisons trapping each of you. The cell door is unlocked—you need only find the courage to walk through it.
Richard, thanks for your reply. My brother and I are on good terms. I see him a few times a year (we live 500 miles apart) and it's always a good time. I relayed the story only as an example of how closed people's minds are to information that threatens their "reality," as manufactured as it is. I love him and wish him well, even though he is captured. I'm willing to admit I'm wrong when confronted with different information. He doesn't seem to be so open to that.
Hmmm. Smart AND mature! I have an older sis who I know, has been taken over by the mind virus. She's narcissistic, and has Borderline Personality Disorder traits. Poor dear, we had an unstable childhood... but the first born is unfortunately, often the lab experiment and generally suffers the most.
As long as the connection is vital and strong, you're both winners. Politics come and go, just like my golf game. I'm usually pretty hard on Marxists myself, but I find Freddie deBoer is ALWAYS worth reading and has opened my eyes to the plight of those suffering mental illness and the callous political use of them by today's anti-ableists. (I'd normally put "ableists" in quotes but it looks too messy.)
Just like my husband. My sympathy for you. I am quite elderly, at least compared to most people on Substack. I find it interesting, sometimes infuriating.
Ha ha! It's not a battle, it's a more like a series of campaigns in a long war. Took me the better part of a decade to fish my brother out of the soup, and just as I was about to run my victory lap (alone and in the dark lest I be seen!), COVID came along, and he dove right back in, making the most outrageous arguments in favor of government-enforced isolation in a voice ridiculously muffled through an N-95 mask sitting on the couch in my living room. I had the good sense to let time and the human need for social contact solve that one for me. Point is, he's got a friend and knows it and so do I.
Ask her to look at the New York Post as well as the Washington Post.
Ask her to watch Fox News as well as CNN.
And here's the hard one: ask her to make an argument, and when she employs a fallacy (it won't be long), ask her to "Name the fallacy"
1) "consistent with" = "indicative of" (or "How does 'possible interpretation' magically become 'certain interpretation'"?
2) Guilt by Association ("Does sharing some view with Communists make you a Commuist?")
3) Name-Calling: "I could be Ted Bundy without that refuting anything I say".
4) Definition of Terms: "What does that mean?" ("You say that as it's a bad thing".)
5) Shifting Definition of Terms: Self-explantory. But Lefties have about 32 definitions of "racism". Only one is permissible without one debate.
6) Unfalsifiability: There being no possible evidence to disprove what is being said.
7) Circularity: A transgender ideology crying "Transphobe" when the ideology is rejected. ("Transphobe" is a term that from within Transgenderism.)
8) Individualizing Averages: Averages are atributes of groups, and as such cannot be possessed by individuals. (So much for "privilege".)
9) Anecdotal Evidence ("Lived Experience"): how seriously is this taken in medicine?
10) Prejudicial and Anti-Prejudicial Terms: "oppression", "social justice". Subjective judgments are to be made after an arguments had reached a conclusion. Otherwise, what we get is really just a big fat ball of Circularity: conclusions simply be assumed.
I hope (without much hope) that someday someone will act upon these little micro-essays I write.
Thank you. I am struggling with how I might get it out to a wider audience. (At this point, a "wider" audience would not be much ...) It seems to me that one of things many of us could do, rather than just glorified "rooting", would be to "engage" "friends and family" on these matters (being careful to never become emotional ...)
Exactly the same here with mine. The worst part is I was exactly the same, more like a republicans never Trumper. I slowly started reading and watching videos about the last 8 years and realized I was really wrong. I wish someone would have explained all this to me back then but she is much more set in her ways than I am. I don’t really know how to spring it on her. She is already confused about why I have returned to church.
Same with my entire family. I found the Fine People hoax YouTube video. It’s still there. Four minutes long that’s it. I think the search is Trump in Charlottesville, August 2017. I showed it to my brother-in-law and he was visibly stunned. Said, well that is quite black-and-white. He is clear, he said.
I saw a small shift. That was all I could hope for. Maybe on his own he will start to question all the other narratives he has been force fed. But I think I started a slight shift. :-)
Thanks, that seems like a good technique. We should nicely point out false quotes.
I did a similar thing when my wife's cousin started going on about Trump calling McCain a loser "because he got captured in Viet Nam." Knowing that literally ALL such stories about Trump are false in some significant way, I looked it up:
Ah, so Trump FUNDED McCain's campaign for president, then called him a loser when he lost. That is the critical part that was omitted.
I sent that to my wife's cousin and her husband, and the husband replied in good humor, admitting that the story is false. That's at least a bit of progress I think.
On the "Fine People Hoax," here's a rabid anti-Trumper—Yaron Brook, executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute (ARI) and the prime mover/shaker for Objectivism in the USA and around the world—very closely arguing the timing and text of the Charlottesville events and relevant statements. The line of argument is in precise alignment and agreement with the typical leftist condemnation of Trump's actions. I reference it here for those who are not familiar with the details and the points that will surely be scored against them if/when arguing Trump's case in the matter.
Starts the analysis at 1min:35s in the video and goes until 1hr5mins. Be sure to turn on "Live Chat Replay" so you can see the comments and questions to which Yaron responds (especially from now-banned user 'Scott'). Well worth the time to view and consider the argument and objections presented (as they will surely arise again during the 2024 Presidential campaign).
Beautiful writing and truly courageous to follow your soul and heart in the face of so much unjust criticism. It’s heartbreaking to have people that we thought were friends and allies turn on us so unjustly. And indeed the idea of liberalism is to challenge the status quo with an open mind and critical thinking. I did see on Awards Daily the subject raised and commented that many military veterans here very much appreciate the courage and humility that you share and inspire. I appreciate too that there’s a practical and financial income cost that comes with your challenging the powerful.
Btw beautiful picture of your daughter and you; what a great blessing.
The Non-Left does not have an ideology. I am the most non-ideological person you will ever encounter. Or rather, I have the most minimalist ideology that any person could have. What's the lowest number of storeys a building can have? So why not call that Zero?
I believe you'd get some pushback from Libertarians and Objectivists on your left-only ideological thesis. Both groups consider that they have philosophically grounded, logically consistent ideologies supporting their morality and politics. Oh, and they can both get pretty nasty when challenged (50-plus story buildings, you know).
I mean the Non-Left as a whole does not have a single ideology. Though there must be some among us who are ideologues, my impression is that most of us just recoil in horror from the excesses of the Far Left. It is a trait (and a valuable trait) that moderates in general have no real ideology, just a kind of Laundry List (as we used to call "listing" speeches in the old days). Once upon a time, such an attitude was called ... "Common Sense".
Thomas Sowell in his wonderful "A Conflict of Visions: Ideological Origins of Political Struggles" talks about the "unconstrained" vs. "constrained" visions which Steven Pinker's "Blank Slate" more aptly describes as the "utopian" vs. "tragic" visions of human nature and its limitations. Victor Davis Hanson is a good exponent of the interplay between these competing visions throughout Western history going back to the ancient Greeks.
I am currently reading The Gulag Archipelago by Solzhenitsyn. I have to take it in small doses. I never could figure out how all of the Nazi guards carried out such horrible atrocities in the concentration camps during WWII. The Russian Gulags were more invasive in the culture and lasted for decades. Millions of people were slaughtered. I loved 1984, but seemed like something that could never happen. I know more now and as I watch society, can see more clearly how Nazi & Gulag guards justified their jobs of torturing and killing. I can see that monster, fearful part of myself and work each day to be the best I can be. My experience with people who refuse to explore facts and find truth is that they are deathly afraid. . . dangerous people, to be sure . . .sometimes unsafe to be around, but their lives are ruled by delusion, fear, and victimhood. The find a sense of belonging with other victims. To help them out of that, they have to want out. The best I can do is to share truth & facts as best as I can in a calm way. Asking questions sometimes works i.e. and what is your evidence for that? But overall, I don't really know how to help someone who refuses to see reality, spews out name-calling, and says they don't need to do any research bec they "feel" it. What I do is take courage from those, like Sasha, who have more courage than me. And commit to be brave enough to speak up kindly and respectfully as often as possible. Lastly, get involved in local politics, write your congressional reps, support watchdog organizations, etc. We can each make a difference!
You'll also want to read Christopher Browning's short but devastating history of Hamburg policemen who were tasked with traveling into Poland and killing (mostly Jewish) men, women, and children there during WWII. The book is: "Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland" published in 1992 and available on Amazon and elsewhere.
There are many examples of "bands of brothers" and the myriad reasons for the bonds among them. It's a hard thing to see and feel our common humanity in the most vile acts of monsters. Hope you find the book illuminating.
The most incredible irony is that the Democrats celebrate Kamala as a woman, and yet in every other way, they show their absolute hatred for women. They are the most anti-woman group of people in existence as far as their policies are concerned. They don’t want to even say what a woman is, thank you Supreme Court Justice Jackson. They want men in women’s sports. They want to refer to mothers as “people who give birth.” They worship drag queens for God sake. These people are completely anti-woman so of course, in order to gaslight everyone about the truth of their misogyny, they will celebrate Kamala as a woman.
The trifecta: 1984, animal farm, brave new world. Should be required reading for every 8th grader and a major in college to displace political science.
The ideologies of identity politics is all that gets taught, right after the lessons on white supremacy and critical race theory.
I was assigned to read all 3 of these books during my Jr. High to HS education, in late 1980’s (State of Washington). I don’t know when this stopped but we might be able to draw some interesting timelines between when it halted, and where we stand today.
Now THERE is a storm-triggered -by-butterflyish theory; I think that you've got something there! But I still go back to Madalyn Murray O'Hair's antics as the Start of it All.
Sasha, I’m really happy that you tweeted and it came to this. A part of you knew it would happen. I’m thinking you just couldn’t go on this way.
Please be careful if you decide to let someone on the left interview you. You know how ruthless they are.
I look forward to your perspective on how Hollywood operates when you share it. I know how currupt and political it is. I despise them. When the Weinstein worshipers all turned on him at once, it was the same as how they just kicked Biden to the curb. Whether or not they deserve it is not the point. This is why we can’t get through to people that don’t see what’s happening. They think it’s OK to do all these terrible things so long as they hate the person that is being destroyed.
I used to go to Hollywood to do stand-up. Up and coming actors were told to do stand up by their agents and comics were told to get acting credit. This resulted in bad acting and bad comedy. But the point is these people would do ANYTHING to get a break. All while being politically correct.
Thank you for all your hard work. There are only so many hours in the day and I don’t know how you do it.
I was working when you dropped this podcast and I took a break because I enjoy your work so much.
That is why Reagan Democrats and other conservatives financially support you over other 'conservatives'. Economic risk. Look at during the Lockdowns - economic fear was the primary reason the People didn't tell the govt to F off; people didn't want to lose their jobs. The Secret Service has willingly allowed a former President to be assassinated for fear of losing their pensions, etc.
Stand for something other than your front door, fine People. You will win.
Look at all the risk Trump has endured, financially and freedom; he doesn't have to do this and yet does. That is my ultimate respect - potential life changes in service to freedom.
Orwell was a journalist and a socialist. He fought for one of the many communist factions in the Spanish Civil War. Read his 'Homage to Caledonia'. It's during the war that he experiences first hand the hypocrisy and lies of the left first hand. He's still a leftist at the end of the book but you can sense the start of an awakening. One of my favorite passages from Homage...Orwell strikes up a conversation with double agent in a bar and writes how fascinating it was to meet a man who lies for a living and yet wasn't a journalist.
You should be able to edit any of your comments on Substacks to which you subscribe (paid or not) to correct typos, fix grammar, add references, etc. As long as you don't change the meaning or significance of your previously posted comment, the practice is perfectly acceptable. You click on the ellipsis (...) at the far right of the Like/Reply/Share line at the bottom of your comment, select Edit, and perform the necessary changes.
Orwell didnt like either side during the war. Also, that was a war that should have been intervened by UK and France but they were useless shitbags back then mostly responsible why Nazism got that powerful.
And it’s a worse trap now for young girls with the abortion pill available to anyone, any age in many states. Since RvW was overturned abortions have skyrocketed. It’s the easy way out trap for young girls who don’t have to have the discussion or face the truth of what that pill is doing. They just want relief. They’re not counseled on other choices & support organizations. pro choice means abortion is the only choice.The ease at which a life can be taken will eventually create a lifetime of regret for many.
What was the first thing the Romans did after they conquered an area? Disarm the population. And that played a great role in the fall of the Roman Empire: most of those horrible "And then the army in Gaul raised So&So to be Emperor" situations arose because the central government was failing to protect the population. If the population had been armed, things might well have turned out differently. In later days, when the Germans where going wherever they wanted and doing whatever they wanted, the disarmed inhabitants had little choice but to "make nice" with them.
And people still don’t get it. The Romans under the republic still had a citizen army, then under the emperors the legions were professional. Machiavelli thought that was a critical event since then the army had the power to replace emperors. I didn’t know that they immediately disarmed their new subjects, but it makes sense. So many people just don’t see the importance.
Great, heartfelt article as usual. Seeking and speaking the truth about the way the world works has become a bit of an obsession for me these last few years.
I’m nearly done reading “The Parasitic Mind” by Gad Saad, a book Elon recently recommended on X.
Gad and Sasha should follow each other on X if they don’t already.
I’m quite concerned the country could plausibly vote Kamala in, which just blows my mind. I don’t think it will happen, but on the other hand I’ve seen polls that say the majority of Democrats favor socialism over capitalism, so who knows….
The forerunner to Animal Farm (1945), 1984 (1948) & Lord of the Flies (1954) was British author Aldous Huxley’s 1932 ‘Brave New World’. Give the people ‘soma’. This book may gain more predictive clout in future- as large language AI begins to further penetrate our everyday lives.
1984 is often cited as a literary companion to Brave New World. Further, BNW has been banned many times over the years which any curious mind should wonder ‘why is that?’
Another book was written about rule by children - which is what we have now, even though most of them are aged children who just have never beome adults. It's just as prescient as Orwell - it was written by William Golding - "Lord of the Flies". That's the sort of governance we have now, and it roundly deserves revolution, i.e.
"We hold these truths to be sacred and undeniable, that all men are created equal and independent; that from that equal creation they derive in rights inherent and inalienable, among which are the preservation of life, and liberty and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these ends, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government shall become destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing it's powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes: and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. but when a long train of abuses and usurpations, begun at a distinguished period, and pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to subject them to arbitrary power, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security."
Now if I could only convince my sister that Trump is not Satan. She believes the TV, so she's a quivering mass of fear and hate.
I just don't even know where to start with her.
I don't think it's possible. I had an argument with both my mom and my sister just yesterday. That wall can't be penetrated.
People suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome it's almost impossible to cure
I have at times had to say to myself, let the dead bury the dead. It's hard to let go, but necessary, to save your own sanity. Look at how many alienated their own kids, siblings or parents who refused to be vaccinated.
Some people are so emotionally underdeveloped, it's impossible to talk reason to them, have them integrate it, and consider changing their mind, once it's made up. We see this issue mostly among people who have Borderline personality Disorder traits. They're toddlers living in adult-sized bodies. They need serious help, but the psychotherapeutic community hasn't a clue about how to assist them, because they don't address the problem from a 'developmental arrest' standpoint.
Yes, I have many relations like that...and a few friends. I just avoid discussing politics with them.
It’s tough.
We love these friends and family members .
It pains us to see that they will not even give you the courtesy of listening to your positions.
Their minds are made up and nothing absolutely nothing will change them.
I weep for them. I weep for our great country.
&erniet The only problem with avoiding the subject of politics with them is an aspect of TDS is that they think everyone is afflicted and talk about it all the time. Trying to avoid it makes me feel inauthentic because they assume I agree. It’s all around me.
I tell them they’re partisan (I haven’t been registered with either party for more than 30 years) and I don’t want to discuss it. No need to be inauthentic at all.
That won't do. You HAVE to agree with them.
Yes, truth in love
We are at war. I am not exaggerating. Politics is part of nearly every conversation. ‘Oh man, everyone at work is sick. I think we are running about 20% overall sick time this year. It is all Long Covid.’ ‘I have three people in my little circle all with cancer. Serious cancer. And my best friend’s niece just died of a heart attack biking! What is happening?’ ‘Are you going to the Pride parade this year?’ ‘I friggin’ hate Putin. Russia is losing terribly. At what point will Russians turn on him? I have heard they are very close to ousting the guy.’ And so on. You can’t avoid it. Unless you are prepared to nod your head and mumble 27x a day.
It seems Russia is just grinding Ukraine down and they may freeze them this winter. We're immoral in this too.
Not my conversations; I guess my circle of friends and acquaintenances has too other interests…
I'm married to one. And dementia on his mother's side is starting.
His mom drank herself to death. And left her own mother for someone else to deal with,
That's because Trump for some is about fighting evil. It's like something out of the 1984 movie where the audience is shouting hate at Goldstein. My brother (who is normally sane) has that disease.
Yeah and the irony is that “Evil” is coming from the side running against Trump…
The Civil War reports always seems to mention 'brother against brother' , but that was rare in 1861 compared to the 'brother against brother' that we see today.
Today it's rampant, that brothers are split, families are split. Very sad.
I have a staunch upright rigidly moral Christian ex-friend. Ex Canadian mimitary. He absolutely hates Trump. About six years ago I said ‘this is not politics as usual. We are in an angels and demons moment. I am not exaggerating. These are dangerous times.’ He agreed. He said the right has gone evil. So here we have a guy who married as a virgin and claims he has never lusted after any woman other than his wife. He is a regular church goer at a Canadian dead-in-spirit church. And he is totally incapable of actually seeing evil when it is licking its lips facing him. Six times vaxed.
He's an anachronism. There are only three people like him in all of North America. Look elsewhere for challenge and opportunity.
Not common. But I suspect it is an act too. IE Not as moral and pure as he claims.
Wait. His taking vaccines is evil?
My condolences. Better than being married into.
If you can't convince someone Sasha...then they are really gone...unbelievable!
Sure it can, just break the TV, if it's got a fuse, take it out. Most people will never figure out what's wrong. There are other ways to break it, too... About one week of absence will do it, then the spell is broken. I've actually done this with my parents, broken it, after about five days of absence, the hypnosis breaks. "Fix" it, and the hypnosis takes hold in another two days, "break" it again, five days and ... Rinse, wash, repeat. It's a fun game to play, and without intervention, they never figure it out. See https://sidawson.org/2011/03/tv-is-heroin-crossed-with-hypnosis for details. Social media accounts can be hacked and sabotaged so they get cancelled, so there's that, too.
Helpful link!
My mom is the same way. At one time, she was an open minded free-thinker. Now, well, she parrots the narrative and doesn’t even have her facts straight. Oh well. No point arguing with a 91-year old.
next time you visit her turn on Tucker!
I wouldn't give up. She probably votes how the TV tells her, and that does some damage.
'Hollywood can only save itself once it abandons its mass hysteria and mass delusion over Trump' How do they get to that point
I suspect globo-homo will collapse the same way the old Soviet Union did, slowly as more and more people reject it, and then suddenly.
And I think globo-homo is a very accurate term for global corporations which promote sodomy to children.
I have some kids that barely talk to me (and one who has gone no-contact) because of TDS (and other things that I won't agree to). I can't live a lie even when telling the truth costs me so much. In 2015/16 went along with the self censorship in my own home for peace (let's not talk politics at family gatherings) but things have only gotten worse. The saddest part for me, as a parent, is watching the mental downward spiral of my children who have been captured by all of this (not just Trump but all the stuffs). My children are not well but everyone screams that I'm the one who is the problem.
Maybe you should have quit bothering them with politics they find odious.
I am not sure why anyone would sacrifice a familial connection in this way.
But I can see how you did it. You blame the kids.
Let me guess, the woke university destroyed their brains?
I’m so sorry. It’s like thinking you can convince someone to break an addiction- in the end, it has to come from within each of us.
But WE must choose to prioritize the relationship while not giving in to surrendering your ground. That happens by agreeing to disagree, and loving those people unconditionally. Birthday cards, caring for them through hardship etc.
Eventually, your unconditional love alone will speak volumes.
The wall cannot be prenetrated because Trump opposition did a damn good job at building it. People who lived better in 2016-2020 still cry about "fearing for their life" if Trump won. He won once already, their life didn't end but they lived better than under Obama and Biden yet they still fear that something that didn't happen in 2016-2020 will happen. "cause he's Trump". That's their argument. They have nothing else. But they really believe it. And that's one of main obstacles to his second term, first being that a comeback is almost impossible or at least very rare. Stars have to line up and they don't seem to. There was a window of opportunity after the assassination attempt but perhaps that sped up Biden's removal which killed Trump's momentum. At the end of the day, you are an architect of your own W or L and Trump Team hasn't responded to changes in the race too well, judging by defeatist tone of his base. Democrats advantage has always been that they regroup quickly, rally behind their candidate and have a way of demonizing the competition that sticks despite evidence to the contrary. Something that Republicans don't. I've seen Republicans endorsing Harris which echos 2020 when Biden picked up some Republican endorsements. That never bode well for the nominee if they don't have the whole party behind them. Democrats may feud between themselveds but when it comes to backing up a nominee they fall in line with incredible precision, while Republicans hold the grudge against the nominee to the point of endorsing the competition. Something to think about.
However, the wall was built by Clinton propaganda back in 2016 (and it stuck) and now that wall will push Harris to the historic win that Clinton wanted for herself. Talk about having done the job a little too well. Everything has consequences both good and bad. Clinton wanted Trump down and now she'll have another woman break the glass ceiling. Oof.
People have reasonable disagreements with Trump and his record. Same for Biden and Harris.
It would benefit Trump supporters to pay attention to these disagreements and counter them.
Otherwise Trump may lose the election.
100%.
Trump still has immense momentum.
I think the only way he can lose is through even more flagrant election fraud than in 2020.
he didn't lose because of an election fraud. he lost because he didn't sell an idea that in time of crisis nation should stand together with their POTUS, something that Bush managed after 9/11. Biden was a terrible candidate, obviously demented even then, who spend 90% of his campaign off screen. But his team sold the idea that he could solve covid fast (he didn't and even more people died), turn chaos into tranquility (nope, more chaos ensued - Ukraine, Israel, raging anti-Semitism in America), would replace extremism (what extremism?) with moderation (yet his term was the most extreme ion recent memory for he sold out to far left that now claims he betrayed them).
No one ever loses because the competition had evils tricks up their sleeve or was better. On all accounts of common sense, Biden shouldn't have been a Democratic nominee let alone win in 2020. It's on Trump that such thing happened. he didn't do something right. His campaign flailed instead of responding firmly and I see that flailing again ever since Biden was replaced by Harris, something they knew was a very real possibility ever since Democrats started to call for his replacements seconds after the debate was over. His team had time to re-adjust to plan B. That doesn't seem to be the case.
Before Harris switch, Trump showed restraint which served him well. Now it's the same off[putting unhinged crap all over again. I don't have a dog in this fight because I'm not an American nor live in America but I'm appalled by the rise of anti-Semitism which is 100% on Democrats, I support Israel 100%, and I hate when people who didn't do the work just breeze to victory. Therefore, like the owner of this site, I would like to see Trump pull the impossible and win the second term after a 4 years gap because he does work hard on his campaigns amid unprecedented level of attempts to take him out of the race and campaign trail (trail, assassination) and he would assure that anti-Semitism goes back to hiding instead of being flaunted on the streets and universities, and he would keep Israel safe. But what can I say? It's not looking good.
I disagree.
While Trump should have done more to prevent election fraud, there was quite obviously massive fraud in 2020. Biden getting 81 million votes? Not plausible. Losing all the bellwether states and still winning? Also not plausible. And on and on.
So I have no doubt that it was fraud, but the real key was control over all corporate media, which then simply lied and claimed the election was legitimate. A sadly large number of people believe whatever they see on TV.
So I think that we need:
1. Much better election integrity.
2. A TV network that actually tells the truth. And Fox sure isn't it.
if you can't have any of these than the solution is adopting novelties. Mail in ballot hasn't been many people's habit but Democratic voters sure adopted that habit quickly while Republican voters didn't. At the end of the way, the world keeps going forward not backward and you either are in lockstep with changes or are left behind. For all its faults, left moves forward, perhaps too forward for an average voter but forward nonetheless. Voters will get there. But they don't go back and especially don't like to see rights taken away from them (which is a step back).
However, the moment you start thinking about fraud you lost. if you believe in fraud than what is the point to vote? That right there is lack of motivation.
A very sensible and accurate evaluation, IMO. Keep hope alive!
(Lesson that Trump forgot in 2020: You gotta dance with them what brung you.)
thank you. I just want to add that, to Trump's credit, he lost because of an unprecedented event that virtually every country in the world struggled with response. Even US liberal media's "hero" Adern didn't run for her second term cause she knew she was cooked after keeping New Zealand in virtuel prison. US liberal media loved her but Kiwis wanted her head on a plate. And Biden administration didn't fix the problem quickly and efficiently either, in fact more people died than during Trump term and the pandemic ended when it ended not because of sudden amazing response. It simply wore itself out. Trump lost because people panicked and when people panic they believe in anything. Democrats had the opportunity to promise a miracle and voters who would otherwise vote Trump rolled a dice. That's really it.
OTOH, Biden lost his second term in the most humiliating way possible. His own party took the presidency from him metaphorically cause he is now rendered completely irrelevant even though he's officially still POTUS. Yet you don't see him, you don't hear what he's doing, it's all about his replacement. He spent 4 years in Trump's shadow anyway, most of it on his own doing (kangaroo trial only raised Trump's profile), and then was unceremoniously discarded when he was deemed useless. Mind you, I have zero sympathy for this hack cause he was in on the coverup about his mental capacity. He fell on his own sword and that his party pulled the trigger, not his rivals, is poetic justice. But what happened is still wrong and as far from democracy as it gets - it wasn't will of the people that took him down, it was donors, media and party's TPTB - and if they pull it off with Harris win, there will be more of such blatant election interfernaces by the powerful minority.
Same with you on Democrats now a wall that cannot be penetrated both of you have set in stone views on each party.
The difference, at least in the case of me, is that 1) I already know enough of the evidence, whereas Far Lefties seem to know only the evidence they like, 2) I am aware of the arguments that Far Left creates, while they seem to know only the arguments their side makes, and 3) I recognize fallacies, while Lefties never met a fallacy the did not like. Getting rid of Critical Thinking was the first thing the FarLefty Thought Leaders did. You can read about Paolo Freire's accomplishments in this regard if you bother to get the Rufo book.
I agree.
The left is very different from the right. The left is violently intolerant, exactly what they accuse the right of being.
The Left routinely displays what Lindsay calls "the Iron Law of Woke Projection".
Thanks, that makes a good meme:
https://patrick.net/post/1342548/2021-11-18-the-art-of-gaslighting-confession?start=164#comment-2088174
Sure you know enough of the "evidence" you want to see and hear. See the problem is both sides have very different viewpoints and ideology and to be honest it's always been that way. Critical thinking only applies to many people when it fits their ideology and not a step beyond it.
How would you know what evidence I know? Your fantasies, based on pre-conceived notions, are not a substitute for actual evidence.
Because how you stereotype the democrats as far left. The problem is both see each other as the enemy and a fallacy on every stance. Critical thinking sometimes comes to realization the side you're on isn't the correct one.
That is not even remotely true.
The left is in full-on psychotic denial of reality. It's gotten so extreme that it's almost funny.
They couldn't believe that Biden is terminally senile.
They refuse to believe that there was an assassination attempt on Trump.
They think it's all about "racism" when it's really about several trillion dollars a year that the leftist elite steals from working class wages and gives to themselves via dividends and stock buybacks:
https://patrick.net/post/1381434/2024-06-01-grand-unified-theory-of-recent
Trillions were stolen by left and right and if you think otherwise just shows how ignorant you are.
Read the essay and you'll see that I point out the Uniparty:
https://patrick.net/post/1381434/2024-06-01-grand-unified-theory-of-recent
I am not going to read propaganda of opinion when you dont respect my opinion viewpoints.
OMG!!! If YOU with all your brilliance & great sense of humor can’t convince them...😭😭😭
When truth be told, there's numerous good reasons why women were kept well away from politics as its a bad fit for the female mind ; in fact the political empowerment of women means slow suicide for any society that promotes it
A New York jury would convict a ham sandwich is it had "Trump" written on it.
It is routine for real estate developers to overstate their assets when applying for loans, and understate their assets when paying taxes. See: "self-interest", and (on the first one) "selective prosecution". And if everyone who lost a civil case then got sued for "defamation" for making a defense, a lot more people would be be found liable for defamation.
As for "serial liar", corn-pop ate the cannibals ...
Maybe you should grow up and start making arguments about policies rather than persons. You are nothing but Exhibit A for the fallacy (once) known as "ad hominem".
Start with the lies. There are things she knows to be true but which the ideology insists are not only false but must be said and felt and believed by every follower to be false. Somewhere, she has a bedrock belief in conflict within her but covered over, hidden, and never to be brought out into the open. Find it and bring it into the open.
It didn't work with my brother. I challenged him with the government lies about the Covid vaccines saying "they lied to us about the vaccines ability to stop infection and transmission." His response: "they had to do something!"
He made excuses for their lies because to him the worst thing would be to go against the narrative and be shunned by his community.
Try again with ‘sharp as a tack’ Biden lie? The Telly and so many talking heads for months & months said Joe was cognitively fine. Then on a debate stage (and many other videos before & after that event) we see an impaired POTUS.
Matt, it's funny you say that. At my brother's 70th bday party, I did an imitation of Biden attempting to wander off stage for his wife. She said "I can't see that."
I haven't followed up with on whether she sees it now. Maybe I should do that.
I don't think it would change anything. Underdeveloped people just can't see the world thru your eyes. You are an adult. They are not.
Brainwashed.
I love that. “Underdeveloped people”.
Those aren't the kind of lies that count. Do you REALLY care about the lockdowns, vaccines, and slipshod "science" behind the campaign? Your brother was right: they DID have to do something (and you were right: they did it wrongly). The shattering realization is not about policy or personalities or perversions: it's about the love and trust the two of you used to have for each other, and how that connection has been frayed over time by the goadings of venal people on both sides of the political divide. Re-establish the connection by stripping away the facile justifications and opinions given both of you by others. Rediscover your inner characters (they haven't and don't change) and build outward from there. Ultimately, it's not about destroying his beliefs (or yours), but allowing your natures to break loose and surface, free of the ideological prisons trapping each of you. The cell door is unlocked—you need only find the courage to walk through it.
Richard, thanks for your reply. My brother and I are on good terms. I see him a few times a year (we live 500 miles apart) and it's always a good time. I relayed the story only as an example of how closed people's minds are to information that threatens their "reality," as manufactured as it is. I love him and wish him well, even though he is captured. I'm willing to admit I'm wrong when confronted with different information. He doesn't seem to be so open to that.
Hmmm. Smart AND mature! I have an older sis who I know, has been taken over by the mind virus. She's narcissistic, and has Borderline Personality Disorder traits. Poor dear, we had an unstable childhood... but the first born is unfortunately, often the lab experiment and generally suffers the most.
As long as the connection is vital and strong, you're both winners. Politics come and go, just like my golf game. I'm usually pretty hard on Marxists myself, but I find Freddie deBoer is ALWAYS worth reading and has opened my eyes to the plight of those suffering mental illness and the callous political use of them by today's anti-ableists. (I'd normally put "ableists" in quotes but it looks too messy.)
See: https://freddiedeboer.substack.com/p/you-call-that-compassion
Thanks for posting that link.
Just like my husband. My sympathy for you. I am quite elderly, at least compared to most people on Substack. I find it interesting, sometimes infuriating.
CI- I have many friends and rels exactly like that! They are beyond hope (and help!)
That's where my husband is.
Not able to take it anymore.
Sorry to hear that, Elsie. Fortunately for me, my wife and I are on the same page. Can't imagine if that wasn't the case. I feel for you.
Thank you. Divorce has been mentioned. He brought it up.
Not sure why, but it has to do with all the whisky, I'm sure. A fifth a week is a bit much. At least I think it is.
I can and have put up with a lot. Being married to a borderline alcoholic would end any relationship I was in.
Sounds a lot like an exorcism.
Ha ha! It's not a battle, it's a more like a series of campaigns in a long war. Took me the better part of a decade to fish my brother out of the soup, and just as I was about to run my victory lap (alone and in the dark lest I be seen!), COVID came along, and he dove right back in, making the most outrageous arguments in favor of government-enforced isolation in a voice ridiculously muffled through an N-95 mask sitting on the couch in my living room. I had the good sense to let time and the human need for social contact solve that one for me. Point is, he's got a friend and knows it and so do I.
I heard the N-95 blocks devil germs too.
Btw good to see you here Richard Bicker. You and Sandy Pinches always have good insight.
Sandy's aces for sure. Good to see you around as well.
Ask her to look at the New York Post as well as the Washington Post.
Ask her to watch Fox News as well as CNN.
And here's the hard one: ask her to make an argument, and when she employs a fallacy (it won't be long), ask her to "Name the fallacy"
1) "consistent with" = "indicative of" (or "How does 'possible interpretation' magically become 'certain interpretation'"?
2) Guilt by Association ("Does sharing some view with Communists make you a Commuist?")
3) Name-Calling: "I could be Ted Bundy without that refuting anything I say".
4) Definition of Terms: "What does that mean?" ("You say that as it's a bad thing".)
5) Shifting Definition of Terms: Self-explantory. But Lefties have about 32 definitions of "racism". Only one is permissible without one debate.
6) Unfalsifiability: There being no possible evidence to disprove what is being said.
7) Circularity: A transgender ideology crying "Transphobe" when the ideology is rejected. ("Transphobe" is a term that from within Transgenderism.)
8) Individualizing Averages: Averages are atributes of groups, and as such cannot be possessed by individuals. (So much for "privilege".)
9) Anecdotal Evidence ("Lived Experience"): how seriously is this taken in medicine?
10) Prejudicial and Anti-Prejudicial Terms: "oppression", "social justice". Subjective judgments are to be made after an arguments had reached a conclusion. Otherwise, what we get is really just a big fat ball of Circularity: conclusions simply be assumed.
I hope (without much hope) that someday someone will act upon these little micro-essays I write.
I bet they don't teach this in schools anymore. It would make a great t-shift! Oh yeah. The left uses "double think" and can actually believe 2+2=5
Excellent list.
Thank you. I am struggling with how I might get it out to a wider audience. (At this point, a "wider" audience would not be much ...) It seems to me that one of things many of us could do, rather than just glorified "rooting", would be to "engage" "friends and family" on these matters (being careful to never become emotional ...)
Mine too! What is it with sisters...? (just kidding, ladies)
No idea and I had 2. Wanted a brother.
Exactly the same here with mine. The worst part is I was exactly the same, more like a republicans never Trumper. I slowly started reading and watching videos about the last 8 years and realized I was really wrong. I wish someone would have explained all this to me back then but she is much more set in her ways than I am. I don’t really know how to spring it on her. She is already confused about why I have returned to church.
As Shasha says below
All we can do live not by lies, like Sasha
some prefer the comforts/benefits of slavery. i prefer to cut ties & go 'no contact' w them.
I think it's always a mistake to ostracize people for political reasons.
3 sisters and a brother. They listen to only NPR.
I used to listen to NPR myself, before it was woke.
Now I cannot stand it for even a moment. I will ask for it to be turned off, and that doesn't work, I leave anywhere it is playing.
Even some people from NPR cannot stand NPR anymore, like Uri Berliner.
Same with my entire family. I found the Fine People hoax YouTube video. It’s still there. Four minutes long that’s it. I think the search is Trump in Charlottesville, August 2017. I showed it to my brother-in-law and he was visibly stunned. Said, well that is quite black-and-white. He is clear, he said.
I saw a small shift. That was all I could hope for. Maybe on his own he will start to question all the other narratives he has been force fed. But I think I started a slight shift. :-)
Thanks, that seems like a good technique. We should nicely point out false quotes.
I did a similar thing when my wife's cousin started going on about Trump calling McCain a loser "because he got captured in Viet Nam." Knowing that literally ALL such stories about Trump are false in some significant way, I looked it up:
https://patrick.net/post/1381754/2024-07-27-trump-quote-about-mccain-was-horribly
Ah, so Trump FUNDED McCain's campaign for president, then called him a loser when he lost. That is the critical part that was omitted.
I sent that to my wife's cousin and her husband, and the husband replied in good humor, admitting that the story is false. That's at least a bit of progress I think.
On the "Fine People Hoax," here's a rabid anti-Trumper—Yaron Brook, executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute (ARI) and the prime mover/shaker for Objectivism in the USA and around the world—very closely arguing the timing and text of the Charlottesville events and relevant statements. The line of argument is in precise alignment and agreement with the typical leftist condemnation of Trump's actions. I reference it here for those who are not familiar with the details and the points that will surely be scored against them if/when arguing Trump's case in the matter.
Starts the analysis at 1min:35s in the video and goes until 1hr5mins. Be sure to turn on "Live Chat Replay" so you can see the comments and questions to which Yaron responds (especially from now-banned user 'Scott'). Well worth the time to view and consider the argument and objections presented (as they will surely arise again during the 2024 Presidential campaign).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhugBLuvr64
Sasha, you are a freedom fighter with your words. I honour every blog you write. Thanks for being you. Big hugs.
A Canadian Grandma
Nice article. You will eventually figure out that climate change is a hoax.
Agree. She's a work-in-progress....in the right direction.
Beautiful writing and truly courageous to follow your soul and heart in the face of so much unjust criticism. It’s heartbreaking to have people that we thought were friends and allies turn on us so unjustly. And indeed the idea of liberalism is to challenge the status quo with an open mind and critical thinking. I did see on Awards Daily the subject raised and commented that many military veterans here very much appreciate the courage and humility that you share and inspire. I appreciate too that there’s a practical and financial income cost that comes with your challenging the powerful.
Btw beautiful picture of your daughter and you; what a great blessing.
Its funny both parties think its okay to challenge status quo only when it benefits their ideology these days.
The Non-Left does not have an ideology. I am the most non-ideological person you will ever encounter. Or rather, I have the most minimalist ideology that any person could have. What's the lowest number of storeys a building can have? So why not call that Zero?
I believe you'd get some pushback from Libertarians and Objectivists on your left-only ideological thesis. Both groups consider that they have philosophically grounded, logically consistent ideologies supporting their morality and politics. Oh, and they can both get pretty nasty when challenged (50-plus story buildings, you know).
I mean the Non-Left as a whole does not have a single ideology. Though there must be some among us who are ideologues, my impression is that most of us just recoil in horror from the excesses of the Far Left. It is a trait (and a valuable trait) that moderates in general have no real ideology, just a kind of Laundry List (as we used to call "listing" speeches in the old days). Once upon a time, such an attitude was called ... "Common Sense".
Thomas Sowell in his wonderful "A Conflict of Visions: Ideological Origins of Political Struggles" talks about the "unconstrained" vs. "constrained" visions which Steven Pinker's "Blank Slate" more aptly describes as the "utopian" vs. "tragic" visions of human nature and its limitations. Victor Davis Hanson is a good exponent of the interplay between these competing visions throughout Western history going back to the ancient Greeks.
Realism is not evil. Youthful Idealism, by contrast, is: "Our means are justified by our ends!"
I am currently reading The Gulag Archipelago by Solzhenitsyn. I have to take it in small doses. I never could figure out how all of the Nazi guards carried out such horrible atrocities in the concentration camps during WWII. The Russian Gulags were more invasive in the culture and lasted for decades. Millions of people were slaughtered. I loved 1984, but seemed like something that could never happen. I know more now and as I watch society, can see more clearly how Nazi & Gulag guards justified their jobs of torturing and killing. I can see that monster, fearful part of myself and work each day to be the best I can be. My experience with people who refuse to explore facts and find truth is that they are deathly afraid. . . dangerous people, to be sure . . .sometimes unsafe to be around, but their lives are ruled by delusion, fear, and victimhood. The find a sense of belonging with other victims. To help them out of that, they have to want out. The best I can do is to share truth & facts as best as I can in a calm way. Asking questions sometimes works i.e. and what is your evidence for that? But overall, I don't really know how to help someone who refuses to see reality, spews out name-calling, and says they don't need to do any research bec they "feel" it. What I do is take courage from those, like Sasha, who have more courage than me. And commit to be brave enough to speak up kindly and respectfully as often as possible. Lastly, get involved in local politics, write your congressional reps, support watchdog organizations, etc. We can each make a difference!
You'll also want to read Christopher Browning's short but devastating history of Hamburg policemen who were tasked with traveling into Poland and killing (mostly Jewish) men, women, and children there during WWII. The book is: "Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland" published in 1992 and available on Amazon and elsewhere.
Amazing book. You come to realize we are all capable of becoming those policemen.
Yup, monsters are both ordinary and forever in a state of becoming—they're in our beds, not under them.
I ordered this based on your recommendation. I am reading it next.
There are many examples of "bands of brothers" and the myriad reasons for the bonds among them. It's a hard thing to see and feel our common humanity in the most vile acts of monsters. Hope you find the book illuminating.
Calling it now.
In the future, people are going to say that Orwell was 40 years off the mark – it should have been entitled 2024.
The most incredible irony is that the Democrats celebrate Kamala as a woman, and yet in every other way, they show their absolute hatred for women. They are the most anti-woman group of people in existence as far as their policies are concerned. They don’t want to even say what a woman is, thank you Supreme Court Justice Jackson. They want men in women’s sports. They want to refer to mothers as “people who give birth.” They worship drag queens for God sake. These people are completely anti-woman so of course, in order to gaslight everyone about the truth of their misogyny, they will celebrate Kamala as a woman.
The trifecta: 1984, animal farm, brave new world. Should be required reading for every 8th grader and a major in college to displace political science.
The ideologies of identity politics is all that gets taught, right after the lessons on white supremacy and critical race theory.
We need to start over!
Don't forget "Fahrenheit 451"
My favorite book to teach. Gosh—- I would love to write a curriculum for prescient dystopian novels of the mid 20th century!
I was assigned to read all 3 of these books during my Jr. High to HS education, in late 1980’s (State of Washington). I don’t know when this stopped but we might be able to draw some interesting timelines between when it halted, and where we stand today.
Now THERE is a storm-triggered -by-butterflyish theory; I think that you've got something there! But I still go back to Madalyn Murray O'Hair's antics as the Start of it All.
Madelyn was murdered by her accountant who disappeared with gold bullion she had in a storage bin. He was never apprehended.
...and Tocqueville.
Sasha, I’m really happy that you tweeted and it came to this. A part of you knew it would happen. I’m thinking you just couldn’t go on this way.
Please be careful if you decide to let someone on the left interview you. You know how ruthless they are.
I look forward to your perspective on how Hollywood operates when you share it. I know how currupt and political it is. I despise them. When the Weinstein worshipers all turned on him at once, it was the same as how they just kicked Biden to the curb. Whether or not they deserve it is not the point. This is why we can’t get through to people that don’t see what’s happening. They think it’s OK to do all these terrible things so long as they hate the person that is being destroyed.
I used to go to Hollywood to do stand-up. Up and coming actors were told to do stand up by their agents and comics were told to get acting credit. This resulted in bad acting and bad comedy. But the point is these people would do ANYTHING to get a break. All while being politically correct.
Thank you for all your hard work. There are only so many hours in the day and I don’t know how you do it.
I was working when you dropped this podcast and I took a break because I enjoy your work so much.
That is why Reagan Democrats and other conservatives financially support you over other 'conservatives'. Economic risk. Look at during the Lockdowns - economic fear was the primary reason the People didn't tell the govt to F off; people didn't want to lose their jobs. The Secret Service has willingly allowed a former President to be assassinated for fear of losing their pensions, etc.
Stand for something other than your front door, fine People. You will win.
Look at all the risk Trump has endured, financially and freedom; he doesn't have to do this and yet does. That is my ultimate respect - potential life changes in service to freedom.
Orwell was a journalist and a socialist. He fought for one of the many communist factions in the Spanish Civil War. Read his 'Homage to Caledonia'. It's during the war that he experiences first hand the hypocrisy and lies of the left first hand. He's still a leftist at the end of the book but you can sense the start of an awakening. One of my favorite passages from Homage...Orwell strikes up a conversation with double agent in a bar and writes how fascinating it was to meet a man who lies for a living and yet wasn't a journalist.
It's best to look at the book as a stand-alone, a guy who was disillusioned with Soviet-style communism and fascism.
I'm not so sure. It's where the crack in the beliefs started, like with your journey.
"Now S.Stone, I gotta real great compliment for ya. You make me wanna be a better man."
Catalonia.
Thank you my bad
You should be able to edit any of your comments on Substacks to which you subscribe (paid or not) to correct typos, fix grammar, add references, etc. As long as you don't change the meaning or significance of your previously posted comment, the practice is perfectly acceptable. You click on the ellipsis (...) at the far right of the Like/Reply/Share line at the bottom of your comment, select Edit, and perform the necessary changes.
Dang! Beat me to the reference. Great book.
Orwell didnt like either side during the war. Also, that was a war that should have been intervened by UK and France but they were useless shitbags back then mostly responsible why Nazism got that powerful.
Brava!
I especially appreciate this line about abortion: “They should be rare because they’re always a tragedy.” How did we forget that fact?
And it’s a worse trap now for young girls with the abortion pill available to anyone, any age in many states. Since RvW was overturned abortions have skyrocketed. It’s the easy way out trap for young girls who don’t have to have the discussion or face the truth of what that pill is doing. They just want relief. They’re not counseled on other choices & support organizations. pro choice means abortion is the only choice.The ease at which a life can be taken will eventually create a lifetime of regret for many.
Of course they want gun control. People will not willingly get in the boxcars.
What was the first thing the Romans did after they conquered an area? Disarm the population. And that played a great role in the fall of the Roman Empire: most of those horrible "And then the army in Gaul raised So&So to be Emperor" situations arose because the central government was failing to protect the population. If the population had been armed, things might well have turned out differently. In later days, when the Germans where going wherever they wanted and doing whatever they wanted, the disarmed inhabitants had little choice but to "make nice" with them.
And people still don’t get it. The Romans under the republic still had a citizen army, then under the emperors the legions were professional. Machiavelli thought that was a critical event since then the army had the power to replace emperors. I didn’t know that they immediately disarmed their new subjects, but it makes sense. So many people just don’t see the importance.
The 2nd Amendment is there for a reason. Though I suppose these days, with drones everywhere, maybe that reason has faded away ...
The second amendment should also apply to our own use of drones, but I believe it’s still very important. If it weren’t they wouldn’t
attack it so vigorously.
Some of my thoughts
https://drp314.substack.com/p/the-demonizing-of-self-defense
Great, heartfelt article as usual. Seeking and speaking the truth about the way the world works has become a bit of an obsession for me these last few years.
I’m nearly done reading “The Parasitic Mind” by Gad Saad, a book Elon recently recommended on X.
Gad and Sasha should follow each other on X if they don’t already.
I’m quite concerned the country could plausibly vote Kamala in, which just blows my mind. I don’t think it will happen, but on the other hand I’ve seen polls that say the majority of Democrats favor socialism over capitalism, so who knows….
Excellent column, as always.
Why doesn't Animal Farm ever get mentioned. It's every bit as relevant.
"Animal Farm" is only the charge. "1984" is the trial, verdict, and execution.
The forerunner to Animal Farm (1945), 1984 (1948) & Lord of the Flies (1954) was British author Aldous Huxley’s 1932 ‘Brave New World’. Give the people ‘soma’. This book may gain more predictive clout in future- as large language AI begins to further penetrate our everyday lives.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brave_New_World
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5129.Brave_New_World
1984 is often cited as a literary companion to Brave New World. Further, BNW has been banned many times over the years which any curious mind should wonder ‘why is that?’
Another book was written about rule by children - which is what we have now, even though most of them are aged children who just have never beome adults. It's just as prescient as Orwell - it was written by William Golding - "Lord of the Flies". That's the sort of governance we have now, and it roundly deserves revolution, i.e.
"We hold these truths to be sacred and undeniable, that all men are created equal and independent; that from that equal creation they derive in rights inherent and inalienable, among which are the preservation of life, and liberty and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these ends, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government shall become destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing it's powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes: and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. but when a long train of abuses and usurpations, begun at a distinguished period, and pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to subject them to arbitrary power, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security."