Have said it before and I'll say it again: you shouldn't be able to quit a job just because you want to. The West has fallen. No serious civilization would allow no-fault quitting.
Forwarded from Smoke Pit V
One of my favorite historical episodes of America is the crossing of the Delaware to kill the Hessians in their beds on Christmas.
Turns out you can just do things, as a matter of fact.
Turns out you can just do things, as a matter of fact.
Smoke Pit V
One of my favorite historical episodes of America is the crossing of the Delaware to kill the Hessians in their beds on Christmas. Turns out you can just do things, as a matter of fact.
One of the truisms of the world, and you can find this in basically any text on the question worth reading, in Plato and in the Bible, is that committing evil harms the actor more than it harms his victim.
I wonder how a country established on such a barbarous act might look 250 years after its inception.
What's that? "New Spiritual Pythons, plenty of them; enormous Megatherions, as ugly as were ever born of mud, loom huge and hideous out of the twilight Future on America," you say? Very curious. Thanks, Carlyle.
I wonder how a country established on such a barbarous act might look 250 years after its inception.
What's that? "New Spiritual Pythons, plenty of them; enormous Megatherions, as ugly as were ever born of mud, loom huge and hideous out of the twilight Future on America," you say? Very curious. Thanks, Carlyle.
Merry Christmas!
Fixed my PC. The regular posting can now continue. Telegram is dooooooooomed.
Negative reacts are back for a limited time.
Here’s one way to know you haven’t had a regime change. There are still 50 DMVs.
Are there still 50 DMVs? Is there any reason, other than history, that there need to be 50 DMVs? Are the states really the “laboratories of democracy?” In… motor vehicles? Is there an “Arkansas way of driving?” (Don’t answer that last one.) No? All no? Then you haven’t had a real regime change. Go back to sleep. Nothing ever happens.
Are there still 50 DMVs? Is there any reason, other than history, that there need to be 50 DMVs? Are the states really the “laboratories of democracy?” In… motor vehicles? Is there an “Arkansas way of driving?” (Don’t answer that last one.) No? All no? Then you haven’t had a real regime change. Go back to sleep. Nothing ever happens.
Here is how they beat you. Besides outright cowards, traitors and grifters, there are two main tricks. One: they convince you that you’ve won, when you haven’t won anything yet. You declare victory, and lose. Two: they accuse you of something you need to do, but aren’t yet doing. You deny it, and lose.
This cure for power was perfected long ago with the institution of symbolic monarchy. The Merovingian or Hanoverian king would enjoy all the trappings of royalty, with none of the power. I always used to wonder how so many dynasties, in so many periods and regions, had been convinced to surrender their kingdoms while maintaining their thrones. The same thing has happened to our republic. It has happened (despite his best efforts) to the President. And it has happened to the voters.
Oligarchy (“meritocracy”) has cucked both monarchy and democracy (“populism”). We prefer pretending to be in charge, to actually being in charge. Like any 20th-century ceremonial “monarch,” we are scared of power from head to toe, President to peasant. On the streets, we are the best of husbands. In the sheets, we are nowhere near man enough for our wives. Power will only be serviced by the Deep State or the Cathedral. The sneer with which Washington obeys the Trump administration, when it really must, is the sneer of a woman who wants her husband’s child—but not her husband. This is the “marriage” between institutions and politicians.
How does this trap work? Fundamentally, the upper class sees itself as a subordinate class, and the middle class sees itself as a dominant class. “Progressivism” is the universalist faith of the upper class (with an exception from universalism for its own clients’ tribalism). “Conservatism” is the ideology of the middle class. Conservatives fail because they can never see that America is actually not their country. Liberals win because they can never see that America actually is their country.
The splinter of deference that the administrative state affords a Republican President or Presidential candidate—a delicate kabuki that dates back to Wendell Willkie—just enough relevance that he feels genuinely important, but not enough to do systemic damage—is part of the delicate engineering of the post-Roosevelt political system.
The more genuinely the Republicans, the President or the voter, feel they have won, without any actual prospect of winning—the deeper they are in the trap. We’re winning, and winners can’t be rebels. Our Constitution is intact, after all! We must preserve our threatened Constitution. But at least we have it. Sad! These people have nothing. The Judas goat is already leading them up the ramp.
Since they are so easily convinced that they have won, our conservatives are weak and passive in resistance. Since they are so confident that they are the daring underdogs, liberals stamp out this weak resistance with the heroic energy of a (very lucky) rebel.
This cure for power was perfected long ago with the institution of symbolic monarchy. The Merovingian or Hanoverian king would enjoy all the trappings of royalty, with none of the power. I always used to wonder how so many dynasties, in so many periods and regions, had been convinced to surrender their kingdoms while maintaining their thrones. The same thing has happened to our republic. It has happened (despite his best efforts) to the President. And it has happened to the voters.
Oligarchy (“meritocracy”) has cucked both monarchy and democracy (“populism”). We prefer pretending to be in charge, to actually being in charge. Like any 20th-century ceremonial “monarch,” we are scared of power from head to toe, President to peasant. On the streets, we are the best of husbands. In the sheets, we are nowhere near man enough for our wives. Power will only be serviced by the Deep State or the Cathedral. The sneer with which Washington obeys the Trump administration, when it really must, is the sneer of a woman who wants her husband’s child—but not her husband. This is the “marriage” between institutions and politicians.
How does this trap work? Fundamentally, the upper class sees itself as a subordinate class, and the middle class sees itself as a dominant class. “Progressivism” is the universalist faith of the upper class (with an exception from universalism for its own clients’ tribalism). “Conservatism” is the ideology of the middle class. Conservatives fail because they can never see that America is actually not their country. Liberals win because they can never see that America actually is their country.
The splinter of deference that the administrative state affords a Republican President or Presidential candidate—a delicate kabuki that dates back to Wendell Willkie—just enough relevance that he feels genuinely important, but not enough to do systemic damage—is part of the delicate engineering of the post-Roosevelt political system.
The more genuinely the Republicans, the President or the voter, feel they have won, without any actual prospect of winning—the deeper they are in the trap. We’re winning, and winners can’t be rebels. Our Constitution is intact, after all! We must preserve our threatened Constitution. But at least we have it. Sad! These people have nothing. The Judas goat is already leading them up the ramp.
Since they are so easily convinced that they have won, our conservatives are weak and passive in resistance. Since they are so confident that they are the daring underdogs, liberals stamp out this weak resistance with the heroic energy of a (very lucky) rebel.
Unconditional state capture cannot be achieved by the same mechanisms as constitutional participation. As a normiecon, you think of Washington as your narcissistic, impossible, insufferable, and also alcoholic mother-in-law. If you have no choice but to deal with this person, your job is to lead her to reason and maybe even sobriety. Some kind of intervention. But she’s family and you have to respect that.
While that’s a reasonable attitude in this situation, it’s not the real situation. The real situation is: your real mother-in-law died in the 1990s. What you are calling “Doris” is a 6200-year-old Egyptian vampire—real name: Khemon-Ra.
You cannot, as you expect, “have an intervention” with Khemon-Ra. “She” is not a “narcissist” or even an “alcoholic”—just your basic Chalcolithic vampire. You have to hammer a wooden post into its heart and out through the shoulderblades. During this process, it may be harder to restrain than you think.
While that’s a reasonable attitude in this situation, it’s not the real situation. The real situation is: your real mother-in-law died in the 1990s. What you are calling “Doris” is a 6200-year-old Egyptian vampire—real name: Khemon-Ra.
You cannot, as you expect, “have an intervention” with Khemon-Ra. “She” is not a “narcissist” or even an “alcoholic”—just your basic Chalcolithic vampire. You have to hammer a wooden post into its heart and out through the shoulderblades. During this process, it may be harder to restrain than you think.
Entropy is naturally gradual and/or self-sustaining: fast revolution, or slow subversion. Extropy is the opposite. A right-wing regime change is a spike of political energy that crosses a threshold and jumps the system to a new, benign stable state.
This spike takes more energy than many think, but it needs to be sustained only momentarily. And this energy is not chaotic, inconsistent violence—but peaceful, irresistible force. This will rapidly develop its own stability—but only if it is irresistible. It must demonstrate this irresistible character in every area of life.
This spike takes more energy than many think, but it needs to be sustained only momentarily. And this energy is not chaotic, inconsistent violence—but peaceful, irresistible force. This will rapidly develop its own stability—but only if it is irresistible. It must demonstrate this irresistible character in every area of life.
New rule: no building ideologies while tinkering around in your garage.
If you're wondering, "Is it open?" it's not. The UP is closed.
Around 70 people came together yesterday morning, before the storm hit, to help look for a dog that has been lost in the woods for the preceding three days.