I believe it was the wonderful Longshoreman philosopher Eric Hoffer who called my attention to the most dangerous class of people in contemporary society.
It is the intellectual class and especially that segment of this class which is underemployed and considers itself woefully under appreciated.
They are envious of the 'Masters of Production' who make far more money and garner more in the way of adulation.
These childish imps are in positions of power across not only academia but also other...
Socialism has never been a movement of the mass of common men. It has always and everywhere been a movement driven by the elite.
The pretense of being a movement of the working classes was nothing but intellectual camouflage, a ruse to take in the unwary dumbed down masses.
Look at who is promoting Socialism in this country today. Do they look like Mr. Everyman to you?
They fly around in private jets while promoting Socialism while the ignorant masses (all liberal Democrats by the way) have...
If you're like me you've never stopped hearing about the immorality of 'Income Inequality."
If you observe who the constant squawkers are, you can't help but notice that these same people are the one's promoting the Socialist policies which explain why people in South Korea on average earn 50 times more than their North Korean brethren.
It was the same with West and East Berlin before the Soviet Union imploded.
I believe it was the American biologist E. O. Wilson who said: 'Socialism, great...
Jesus is purported to have admonished his followers: 'Judge not lest you also be judged'.
I've never considered that to be sage advice.
I prefer Ayn Rand's take on judgement. She said: 'Judge and prepare to be judged.'
That makes far more sense to me.
It has been said that it isn't enough to be good, you must be good for something.
Those who have nothing to be good for are as ships without rudders.
They tend to behave like tiny boats tossed about on a raging sea rather than mighty vessels plowing towards interesting ports of call.
You've no doubt heard the question: 'If a tree falls in the forest and there is no one there to hear it, does it make a sound?'
The answer is 'No'.
Sound requires not only a transmitter (something producing vibrations) but also a receiver (something which can convert those vibrations into sound).
A tree falling in the forest would indeed create vibrations.
For those vibrations to be sound however, something or someone capable of converting those vibrations into sound would need to be present.
This...
You can tell a great deal about a person's psychological makeup by observing what they derive enjoyment and pleasure from.
This is the surest way to determine their values.
Another quite useful method for discerning what a person truly values is their use of time and money.
If I know how you spend your time and money I will know precisely what you really value.
There are essentially three types of pleasure.
They can be divided into the earned and the unearned.
The first type of unearned pleasure is the kind derived from the use of narcotics. Unfortunately, it exchanges a short term and momentary pleasure for a long term and lasting harm.
The second form of unearned pleasure is that which one feels in the observance of something beautiful or entertaining. Experiencing a lovely sunset or sunrise are examples of this type of pleasure.
The earned pleasure,...
Sadly, a significant portion of the population, ignorant of economics (you can thank public schooling) consider life to be a zero sum affair.
That means that if I gain something someone else must lose the equivalent.
This is nonsense.
The only time that is the case is when someone robs or defrauds another.
In all other situations my gain simply indicates an enlarging of the sum, and causes no one else a loss.
In the west blacks are over represented in comparison to their percentage of the population in two very different ways.
Blacks are roughly 13% of the US population yet commit roughly 65% of all violent crimes.
In England blacks constitute approximately 4% of the population yet are represented in 50% of all TV ads.
What is one to make of this?
The welfare state has for all intents and purposes driven benevolence from the field.
Some yet remains but not nearly as much as there would be if the government would refrain from demanding that we care for others whether we wish to or not, and perhaps in a manner we do not approve of.
Voluntary aid to others costs double these days since you are taxed heavily to subsidize them, and then must dig deeper into your pocket to provide any aid voluntarily.
It is the same with schooling. If you wish...
It has been my experience that most people misunderstand the true meaning of sacrifice.
I'm not here referring to the sacrifices of religious rituals.
Instead, the meaning I'm concerned with is that of giving up something of value for something of a lesser value.
Thus, when a soldier falls on a grenade to save his fellows, he is not making a sacrifice.
This is because he values the lives of his friends more than his own.
This is noble and should not be mischaracterized as a sacrifice.
Respect, like pride is not a given, it must be earned.
When first we meet someone it is best to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that they are a good person and worthy of our respect.
From that point on however, their behavior will dictate whether or not they are allowed to retain our respect or whether is should be withdrawn.
Pride is often misconstrued to be a vice.
In fact, just the opposite is the case.
Pride is the satisfaction one derives from having accomplished something which they consider significant or worthwhile.
It is not to be confused with the bluster of a person boasting of something which he has in fact not done.
A subset right to the freedom of speech right is the right to be offensive.
The importance of this right often goes unappreciated.
To offend someone is to disturb or alarm their sensibilities.
In some instances this is good thing since people often need waking up.
If you have something you consider worth sharing, it would be a mistake to refrain from doing so for fear of offending someone.
In fact, the offended party may be the person most in need of hearing what you have to say
Previously I wrote about the vibe shift. One of the elements this cultural shift has given rise to is that of 'Populism'.
Populism essentially is the pitting of the people against the ruling elites.
This emerging populism is evident across western civilization.
I believe it is the result of the elite's overplaying their hand and failing to take full account of the frustration they have brought about in the population at large.
A sleeping giant has apparently been awakened.
The worst type of censorship by far is that of self-censorship.
That is the situation where people are too afraid of the consequences of speaking their mind, and simply remain silent in their fear.
When those who wish to dominate and enslave us have managed to cow us into self-censoring they are very near to the victory they desire.
People who refuse to embrace apocalyptic climate scenarios or fail to see climate change as an existential threat are often referred to disparagingly as 'climate denialists'.
This is knowingly misrepresentative of these people's viewpoint.
I'm sure that you, like I, have never met anyone who denied that the climate is changing or that it always has been.
The disagreements are regarding the causes of climate change, the impact of climate change, and what should be done about it.
The term vibe shift was coined in 2021 by Sean Monahan to refer to what can be described as a cultural tipping point. Though his version of the vibe shift referred principally to the domain of fashion and branding the term has been embraced by others to capture a wider mood that touches on politics and culture.
It seems to me that the most significant vibe shift occurring in contemporary culture is that of the rise of the anti-woke and populist movements.
I listened to a lecture the other day that convinced me that the greatest threat you and I are facing is the threat to deprive us of our cognitive liberty.
What is cognitive liberty you ask.
It is the freedom to have our own opinions and thoughts without interference from others.
What freedom could be more essential for you and I as individual human beings?
If that freedom were to be lost, there would be no freedom whatsoever.