You hit on a point that is the source of much personal bitterness and requires (these days) daily self-monitoring to remain as patient as possible with people who are afraid to speak their minds for fear of losing their jobs, their connections, their affection from others, whatever. If I were you or others like you who have made a great effort to "walk the walk" despite these risks, I'd be batting frustration away constantly. May as well say, "Thanks for bleeding on the battlefield. Regretfully I cannot join, I have things I would be risking if I did." What ought to scare those people more than the prospect of dying as cowards is the inevitability of living as slaves if they don't change course. Like Robert the Bruce in Braveheart who said, "I respect what you said, but remember that these men have lands and castles. It's much to risk." Then good ol' Mel says, "And the common man, who bleeds on the battlefield, does he risk less?" I do believe most of these people who nod their affirmations in private feel similarly to Robert the Bruce, which does lighten my mood about them. After all, in the end, the same character notably, and very bittersweetly said, "I do not want to lose heart. I want to live as he does. I will never be on the wrong side again." I suppose the question that keeps gnawing at me (and the question I admittedly ask myself in moments of weakness) is, "what are you waiting for?"
Not to say I have no understanding of the challenges of this struggle or compassion for the sacrifices required to do the right thing, or the ability to relate to people who have few options for making a living should they lose their jobs over speaking their minds. I do. It's just so disheartening knowing that although they have been able to justify many of the bullshit rules imposed during the past couple of years especially, eventually there will be something they do not want to give up - their "hill to die on" so to speak. When that time comes, perhaps it will be too late. There is momentum now. I have to think (if not because it seems logical then to serve my own strength adaptations) that it just takes a critical mass of people all speaking up now (non-violently, legally, peacefully) for this to end gloriously. I have no tattoos, but this made me want to get one on my forehead that says "Then Die" - a reference to what Bruce Lee once told his student when the student was so fatigued during a run that he said he might die if he continued on. Lee said these words to him (then die) and the student became so angry and distracted by his own thoughts in response that he finished the run without difficulty. In the pursuit of meaning, purpose, excellence, perfection, freedom, if you feel you might die...then die. As the brilliant John Cater put it, "safety last."
We must get positively furious at those despicable scientific & moral ignoramuses who fancy themselves an élite ffs! Strength is engine, anger is fuel. And wonderfully energy-dense fuel at that 🔥
You’re 100% right, momentum is here, palpable in the air. Let’s seize it—or else. Else being we’ll inevitably slide into horrendous abyss, obedient and blissfully oblivious to our imminent peril. The hill is this, the time is now.
↓ Germans were nothing special, They Thought They Were Free. The dynamics frighteningly rhymes. Just this time Nazis go by the name Globohomo, and beyond country limits. A longish essay but won’t feel like it is, dots & crosses hordes of eyes & tees 🙂 Instructive as hell 👌
I'm not sure anger is the best fuel. I get what you're saying, and relate, hence the frustration I talked about feeling in my post. I can definitely bring myself to anger...though maybe the better word is fatigue. Just restlessness over knowing how so many people feel (based on things they say, not just my assumptions) yet despite this, they remain quiet. I've been thinking about my comment here since yesterday, and of yours too. What do you think about asking people who tell us that they're afraid to take risks to do the right thing how we can help them? Would it be too meta to say something like, "I understand your hesitation given your situation...if speaking up about what you are experiencing is something you wanna do, I will support you." I think this might be especially helpful for people who feel afraid because they're worried about being ostracized. Knowing there's a community for them is important and will help them find their strength. I am a member on the Viva/Barnes locals community and I asked the community there once how to help people understand that although their jobs are important, so is speaking up about the current atrocities at play in every day life. The answer I got from Barnes was that he never tries to "make" anyone speak up. Speaking up, for him, is fun. Others might be contributing in their own ways. I definitely believe in being the white pill you want to see in this world, and I do think part of that is not giving into anger or shaming others. But, sometimes I do seriously lament the reluctance others feel over doing the right thing -- all so they can remain comfortable. It's like Grant says in this article, the best we can do is lead by example and encourage others to follow...which circles back to offering to be a support for people on the fence. Nothing will break connection faster than pointing fingers and calling them cowards when they express concerns over hardship. It's a balancing act I wish were unnecessary. It'd be easier just to say, "hey, quit being a chicken shit..." lol...but I think this alienates people more than it motivates them. I wish I could also say doing the right thing never comes with consequences, but it certainly can. Everyone talks about Alex Jones these days, and certainly his is a good example of a show trial and a pretext for what can happen to anyone going off the approved script, but I actually always think of Richard Jewel in this context. Someone just so earnestly trying to do the right thing getting absolutely trampled by sociopaths. Smh.
I'll read the article, thanks. One thing that comes to mind when you mention Nazis is how probably most people here just aren't connected with the idea that war is all around them. A war of ideas, for freedom, against globohomo. It just doesn't feel like a war the way it did in Germany. They're comfortable in their homes, well fed and the heating still comes on. It probably sounds like paranoia to say to them that what happened in Germany when the nazis turned on their own countrymen is possible here. We have our 2nd amendment, thankfully, as a deterrent to the same type of violence, yes, but the ideological war is already here, I wish they'd see how equally dangerous it is. And if they do see, well...I hope I'm doing enough to motivate some of them to practice the freedoms their constitutional rights are supposed to guarantee.
That’s the nib of the nub of the gist of the problem: the fatigue & frustration, and the lame ennui coming with general weariness. Anger when properly channelled gives determination & resilience, just as in your earlier student runner example 👌 Sure you shouldn’t direct it to knock out unconscious the cautious fence-sitters, we have our betters to do the knocking 😉
At its most abstract, the anger springs from border violation—we had no shortage of those heinous acts, and the counting is not yet over unless somehow stopped.
Wrt your 'meta' question, I don't think distributing empathetic assurances ever work; to lead by example is the only way to be the change you want in the world 😊
PS A thought just hit: the abominations happening at US Southern border should engender the noble anger in societal collective. A more concrete level yet of broader reach.
One of Jordan Peterson's quotes that resonated with me is "There's nothing so ugly as a 40 year old baby", perfectly true. The case of "Chrischan" has proven that.
For those of you unaware of Chrischan (you're lucky) you may wish to aquatint yourselves with it. Be warned it's a nasty and deep rabbit hole, but it's also a terrible and terribly true story of pathological weakness.
Christian/Christine Chandler was a weak man of low intelligence deeply soaked in a corrupt culture that made him even weaker. Although he's not technically dead yet he has now meet a true shameful end.
You hit on a point that is the source of much personal bitterness and requires (these days) daily self-monitoring to remain as patient as possible with people who are afraid to speak their minds for fear of losing their jobs, their connections, their affection from others, whatever. If I were you or others like you who have made a great effort to "walk the walk" despite these risks, I'd be batting frustration away constantly. May as well say, "Thanks for bleeding on the battlefield. Regretfully I cannot join, I have things I would be risking if I did." What ought to scare those people more than the prospect of dying as cowards is the inevitability of living as slaves if they don't change course. Like Robert the Bruce in Braveheart who said, "I respect what you said, but remember that these men have lands and castles. It's much to risk." Then good ol' Mel says, "And the common man, who bleeds on the battlefield, does he risk less?" I do believe most of these people who nod their affirmations in private feel similarly to Robert the Bruce, which does lighten my mood about them. After all, in the end, the same character notably, and very bittersweetly said, "I do not want to lose heart. I want to live as he does. I will never be on the wrong side again." I suppose the question that keeps gnawing at me (and the question I admittedly ask myself in moments of weakness) is, "what are you waiting for?"
Not to say I have no understanding of the challenges of this struggle or compassion for the sacrifices required to do the right thing, or the ability to relate to people who have few options for making a living should they lose their jobs over speaking their minds. I do. It's just so disheartening knowing that although they have been able to justify many of the bullshit rules imposed during the past couple of years especially, eventually there will be something they do not want to give up - their "hill to die on" so to speak. When that time comes, perhaps it will be too late. There is momentum now. I have to think (if not because it seems logical then to serve my own strength adaptations) that it just takes a critical mass of people all speaking up now (non-violently, legally, peacefully) for this to end gloriously. I have no tattoos, but this made me want to get one on my forehead that says "Then Die" - a reference to what Bruce Lee once told his student when the student was so fatigued during a run that he said he might die if he continued on. Lee said these words to him (then die) and the student became so angry and distracted by his own thoughts in response that he finished the run without difficulty. In the pursuit of meaning, purpose, excellence, perfection, freedom, if you feel you might die...then die. As the brilliant John Cater put it, "safety last."
We must get positively furious at those despicable scientific & moral ignoramuses who fancy themselves an élite ffs! Strength is engine, anger is fuel. And wonderfully energy-dense fuel at that 🔥
You’re 100% right, momentum is here, palpable in the air. Let’s seize it—or else. Else being we’ll inevitably slide into horrendous abyss, obedient and blissfully oblivious to our imminent peril. The hill is this, the time is now.
↓ Germans were nothing special, They Thought They Were Free. The dynamics frighteningly rhymes. Just this time Nazis go by the name Globohomo, and beyond country limits. A longish essay but won’t feel like it is, dots & crosses hordes of eyes & tees 🙂 Instructive as hell 👌
https://brownstone.org/articles/they-thought-they-were-free/
I'm not sure anger is the best fuel. I get what you're saying, and relate, hence the frustration I talked about feeling in my post. I can definitely bring myself to anger...though maybe the better word is fatigue. Just restlessness over knowing how so many people feel (based on things they say, not just my assumptions) yet despite this, they remain quiet. I've been thinking about my comment here since yesterday, and of yours too. What do you think about asking people who tell us that they're afraid to take risks to do the right thing how we can help them? Would it be too meta to say something like, "I understand your hesitation given your situation...if speaking up about what you are experiencing is something you wanna do, I will support you." I think this might be especially helpful for people who feel afraid because they're worried about being ostracized. Knowing there's a community for them is important and will help them find their strength. I am a member on the Viva/Barnes locals community and I asked the community there once how to help people understand that although their jobs are important, so is speaking up about the current atrocities at play in every day life. The answer I got from Barnes was that he never tries to "make" anyone speak up. Speaking up, for him, is fun. Others might be contributing in their own ways. I definitely believe in being the white pill you want to see in this world, and I do think part of that is not giving into anger or shaming others. But, sometimes I do seriously lament the reluctance others feel over doing the right thing -- all so they can remain comfortable. It's like Grant says in this article, the best we can do is lead by example and encourage others to follow...which circles back to offering to be a support for people on the fence. Nothing will break connection faster than pointing fingers and calling them cowards when they express concerns over hardship. It's a balancing act I wish were unnecessary. It'd be easier just to say, "hey, quit being a chicken shit..." lol...but I think this alienates people more than it motivates them. I wish I could also say doing the right thing never comes with consequences, but it certainly can. Everyone talks about Alex Jones these days, and certainly his is a good example of a show trial and a pretext for what can happen to anyone going off the approved script, but I actually always think of Richard Jewel in this context. Someone just so earnestly trying to do the right thing getting absolutely trampled by sociopaths. Smh.
I'll read the article, thanks. One thing that comes to mind when you mention Nazis is how probably most people here just aren't connected with the idea that war is all around them. A war of ideas, for freedom, against globohomo. It just doesn't feel like a war the way it did in Germany. They're comfortable in their homes, well fed and the heating still comes on. It probably sounds like paranoia to say to them that what happened in Germany when the nazis turned on their own countrymen is possible here. We have our 2nd amendment, thankfully, as a deterrent to the same type of violence, yes, but the ideological war is already here, I wish they'd see how equally dangerous it is. And if they do see, well...I hope I'm doing enough to motivate some of them to practice the freedoms their constitutional rights are supposed to guarantee.
That’s the nib of the nub of the gist of the problem: the fatigue & frustration, and the lame ennui coming with general weariness. Anger when properly channelled gives determination & resilience, just as in your earlier student runner example 👌 Sure you shouldn’t direct it to knock out unconscious the cautious fence-sitters, we have our betters to do the knocking 😉
At its most abstract, the anger springs from border violation—we had no shortage of those heinous acts, and the counting is not yet over unless somehow stopped.
Wrt your 'meta' question, I don't think distributing empathetic assurances ever work; to lead by example is the only way to be the change you want in the world 😊
PS A thought just hit: the abominations happening at US Southern border should engender the noble anger in societal collective. A more concrete level yet of broader reach.
I entirely agree.
One of Jordan Peterson's quotes that resonated with me is "There's nothing so ugly as a 40 year old baby", perfectly true. The case of "Chrischan" has proven that.
For those of you unaware of Chrischan (you're lucky) you may wish to aquatint yourselves with it. Be warned it's a nasty and deep rabbit hole, but it's also a terrible and terribly true story of pathological weakness.
Christian/Christine Chandler was a weak man of low intelligence deeply soaked in a corrupt culture that made him even weaker. Although he's not technically dead yet he has now meet a true shameful end.
It's a lesson for us all.
Great article!