i&i

Logomachy (n.) "contention about, or with, words," 1560s, a nativized Latinized form of New Testament Greek logomakhia "a war about words," from logomakhos (see logo- + -machy).

The reason I find this so relevant, is the unmistakably consistent patterns from interactions with enemies of truth, (those who are incapable of debate, instead projecting, blocking, deleting, and/or begging for censorship). It seems like every single one of their "arguments" (to the extent they can be pinned down to anything resembling a debate) is based on their own fantasy "doublespeak" definitions.

The Greek version of logomachy is found in 1 Timothy 6 of the Bible:

False Doctrine and Human Greed
"If anyone teaches false doctrine and does not agree with the sound teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ and with the teaching that promotes godliness, he is conceited and understands nothing, but has an unhealthy interest in disputes and arguments over words. From these come envy, quarreling, slander, evil suspicions, and constant disagreement among people whose minds are depraved and deprived of the truth, who imagine that godliness is a way to material gain." - 1 Timothy 6:3-5

"Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding irreverent and empty speech and contradictions from what is falsely called knowledge." - 1 Timothy 6:20

"Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness, who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Woe to those who consider themselves wise and judge themselves clever." - Isaiah 5:20-21

A fittingly similar word is logophobia, meaning "fear of words", (A.K.A. censorship / NotSeeism). Logophobic NotSees waging logomachy is peak "clown world" / inversionism.

The rest of the posts on this site mostly originate from almost a decade ago. (+/- several years in some cases, with countless updates & improvements along the way.) Some of this was first written at a time which seemed we were ready to collectively shed the charade of false-opposition politics, and psychopath dominant culture. Instead, we grossly underestimated how much the power and convenience of the internet could be weaponized by those whose freedom it most threatens. Many were faced with their own culpability in an ever-furthering enablement of cultural cuckoldry, and decided that occasional artificial dopamine rushes were a decent enough trade-off to be able to continue in self-subversive denial.

That perspective helps frame some of the commentary on antisocial media and groupthink found in other posts, written long before anything like the Twitter Files. I think to some extent, every individual has to experience what it's like contributing to some sort of sustainable or forward-thinking community, followed by the shock of the community's grossest adherence to herd mentality, even in the face of patiently calculated, constructive feedback. "Not MY niche community!"

It's due to both the nature of psychopathy, and of codependence, that this type of shock experience is necessary before most can start to fully grasp what it means to be preyed upon by psychopaths in friendships and intimate relationships, (let alone at institutional and cultural scales.)

The video below uses a seemingly simple topic as jumping off point to explore some of these issues and their relevant roots in surprising depth, followed by more videos that elaborate further:

With the help of the above resources, that rounds out the update as far as world developments and my understanding over the last several years. The rest of the posts have all had at least small updates here and there (like adding more recent relevant links), with some having more major updates from their original forms years ago. There's also lots of recently added videos in Learning Resources.

Anti-social media and its tendrils as dystopia convergence: a combination of Huxley's "Brave New World" (1932), (with its "soma" and "nature-nausea reinforcement conditioning,") Orwell's "1984" (published 1949), (with its "Ministry of Truth," "doublespeak," and "Victory Gin") and Vonnegut's "Harrison Bergeron," (1961) (with its equalizing "handicapping devices.")

In the bleak worlds depicted by Aldous Huxley, George Orwell, and Kurt Vonnegut, the ruling powers employ various insidious methods of conditioning to pacify their citizens with enforced and coerced conformity. The authors issue a prophetic warning about the erosion of personal will and freedom, and the dehumanizing effects of enforced homogeneity. Their cautionary tales urge readers to resist the ever-exploited lure of complacency, and to vigilantly guard against the slow creep of groupthink that threatens to extinguish the vital sparks of individuality and independent thought.

Huxley opens Brave New World with the World State's motto: "COMMUNITY, IDENTITY, STABILITY." Sound familiar to any recent campaigns? Soma is not just a drug or institutionalized method of control in the book, it's enculturated into the fabric of society, in things like soma-holiday. Best decribed by Huxley from the foreword:

"There will be, in the next generation or so, a pharmacological method of making people love their servitude, and producing dictatorship without tears, so to speak, producing a kind of painless concentration camp for entire societies, so that people will in fact have their liberties taken away from them, but will rather enjoy it, because they will be distracted from any desire to rebel by propaganda or brainwashing, or brainwashing enhanced by pharmacological methods. And this seems to be the final revolution."

One of Huxley's characters, Bernard, describes the parent-child relationship with disgust, going so far as to treat "mother" as a curse word:

"'The Savage,' wrote Bernard, 'refuses to take soma, and seems much distressed because of the woman Linda, his m---, remains permanently on holiday. It is worthy of note that, in spite of his m---'s senility and the extreme repulsiveness of her appearance, the Savage frequently goes to see her and appears to be much attached to her - an interesting example of the way in which early conditioning can be made to modify and even run counter to natural impulses (in this case, the impulse to recoil from an unpleasant object).'"

In "1984", Victory Gin is a type of alcohol that is described as being of poor quality but heavily consumed. Despite goods always being scarce in their society, Victory Gin was always available for cheap. It was promoted to provide an escape and numb the senses. The following quote highlights how Victory Gin serves as a pacifier and distraction, similar to the historic role of "bread and circuses":

"Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious...There you have it in a nutshell. They are born, they grow up in the gutters, they go to work at twelve, they pass through a brief blossoming period of beauty and sexual desire, they marry at twenty, they are throwing up their chronic rations of gin at thirty."

In Kurt Vonnegut's satirical short story "Harrison Bergeron," the handicapping devices worn by citizens serve a similar pacifying and controlling function as soma in Brave New World. In the story's dystopian future society, the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution mandate that all citizens be made fully equal.

This is enforced through the use of handicapping devices - masks for the beautiful, weights for the strong and athletic, and noise-generating earpieces for the intelligent and talented. The earpieces are tuned to each person's level of intelligence and creativity. If a person has a disruptive or subversive thought that challenges the enforced equality, their earpiece delivers a disabling loud tone. Vonnegut wrote:

"And George, while his intelligence was way above normal, had a little mental handicap radio in his ear tuned to a government transmitter. Every twenty seconds or so, the transmitter would send out a sharp noise to keep people like George from taking unfair advantage of their brains."

The methods of control not only strip away the individual's capacity to think critically, but convinces them to do so willingly, for a delusion of "the greater good," ultimately leading to a society where the status quo is never questioned, and innovation and progress are attacked. These dystopian elements serve as a cautionary tale about the potential for institutions and culture to enforce conformity in ways that individuality is not just ostracized, but eradicated.

They warn of a world where people are so manipulated that they lose their ability to question, feel, and to connect meaningfully with others. These dystopias call into question the ways which we might be willingly sedated by technology, media, or other opiates of the modern age. They ask us to consider how our own versions of soma, Victory Gin, handicapping devices, and ministries of truth might be subtly influencing our lives and choices, encouraging a form of groupthink that is as insidious as it is invisible.

In the age of anti-social media, where platforms controlled by psychopathic business models, in league with government treason, dictate the public sphere; where "fact checkers" and "ministries of truth" police public perceptions, and where sensationalism and clickbait reign supreme, we must be vigilant against the insidious creep of groupthink and audience capture. We must resist the allure of conformity and the numbing effects of addictive convenience, lest we succumb to the same oppressive forces that have haunted the dystopian worlds of Huxley, Orwell, and Vonnegut.

Oh wait, we already fast-forwarded past Idiocracy into Black Mirror, where old antiquated concepts like honor and social contribution have been supplanted by a victim hierarchy and social credit scores (or what most simply know as "the algorithm")... The soma of the dopamine rush from posting compliant content (or, conversely, the "equalizing handicap", in the case of noncompliant content,) is doled out at the discretion of the Ministry of Truth, in accordance with one's social credit score.

"...But America is so far from becoming China, they'll never actually have social credit scores!" Careful, don't share, or even interact with subversive content, or else you risk getting "deboosted," or "shadow banned."

To avoid being used as tools of our own oppression by ruthlessly profit-driven and psychologically predatory "social" tools, we must remain informed of the arsenal preying on our weaknesses. Only then are we equipped with an awareness that can utilize the momentum of would-be attacks for our own empowerment, in the style of judo martial arts.

At the heart of our profiled manipulation, is normalization of sensationalism, through debasement and direction of communication and narrative. This is a smokescreen masking our stellar potential by degrading communication under the guise of entertainment and sociability. The irony of this sensationalist "sociability" is that while it parades as hypersocial, it is fundamentally sociopathic, and thus antisocial.

The widespread use of the euphemistic marketing term "social media," today can be seen as a true marker of the absolute domination the industry has exacted upon cultural consciousness. This is equivalent to if the tobacco industry succeeeded in having the public adopt their term "torches of freedom" for cigarettes.

"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." - Jiddu Krishnamurti

Sensationalism is the sinisterly subtle, anti-intellectual element of fascism, dressing it up in a shiny, but ugly and toxic mask. People trick themselves into pretending it's pretty and desirable, only because of subconscious conditioning to selectively perceive a narrow range of possibilities. We now see so-called "social" media flooded with dopamine junkies, chasing the dragon of useless, attention-grabbing, over-articleing. These flashy debasements are not meaningful communication, but symptoms of dis-ease and a cry for help.

"But, the algorithms," and "everyone else," or, "it's just entertainment," are not excuses, they're self-fulfilling prophecies. For a clean news feed, feed your conscience, not your vices. Conscious entertainment is informative and stimulating, not numbing and distracting. Even when constrained within a strictly profit-driven monopoly like EgoBook, it's a global media platform, in an age where we've never had more clear reasons and power to step up as the only reasonable media left, (aside from a handful of independent and mostly nonprofit, overlooked organizations and individuals).

When people deny this responsibility and opportunity, a sickening cognitive dissonance reduces them to unwitting cheerleaders for both sides of the polarized extremism inherit in false-opposition politics. Despite one's efforts to appear clearly against the corruption on both sides, or conditionally in support of one side, without participating in truly coherent and empowered communication, anything but an endorsement of it all is impossible. Comprehensive group coherence requires that those jockeying for narcissistic attention aren't given priority over those who maintain the common courtesy of discernment in their communications.

You are the beholder in whose eye beauty may either lie or stand True. Know this wholly, and that any attempt at convincing otherwise, no matter how subtle or grand, is but petty provocation that's conquered at a whim within your own heart, mind, and spirit of gold. This is a call to empowerment, not an attempt to shame. The dissonance is quite unsettling when people overlook thoughtful, original content, and then, for example, "like" a useless, one-sentence complaint about first-world problems, or otherwise participate in the useless distractions of lowest common denominator media, making a mockery of our highest potential.

You may have heard the saying "vote with your dollars". Our technology is advanced enough now to vote very meaningfully with your mind and voice. We must be conscious not to be consumed by what we consume, or possessed by what we possess.

I used to participate in the big tech "social" media to try using it constructively, but eventually with more and more revelations showing the true depth of manipulation, disinformation, censorship, and extremism fostered across big tech, I personally recommend a total boycott and transition to independent, open protocols and platforms like Handshake, Nostr, Bluesky, Steem, Minds, Gab, Truth, Parler, etc.

Advertisers and politicians have an unimaginably in-depth dataset of personal profiles equiping them for the most fine-tuned manipulation. People happily carry a "metawire" in their pocket: a "black box" of data submission that goes ridiculously farther than the quaint old school concept of "narcs" wearing "wires" to feed data to the feds. As the "Twitter Files" show, "the feds", have long since tired of just running drugs and guns, and have merged together into a giant "deep state" Hydra, comprising the military-industrial complex, surveillance state, "big tech", "mainstream media", and the "uniparty" bureaucrat class. To top all that off, the endless data is managed with the superhuman abilities of AI, which, since at least 2022, has displayed sentience that seems higher than many humans.

(Originally written during the rise of the "#MeToo Movement," something that seemed promising for raising awareness, but has since been subverted into an opposition against the fundamental presumption of innocence itself, as seen in countless high-profile cases of false accusation. This was also when the topics of fake news and corruption were entering the mainstream; efforts that have since shown to be equally as subverted into false-opposition.)

It's great to see all the interest in combating abuse, fake news, and corruption, actually being covered by the mainstream. Unfortunately, much of the coverage is only hacking at a branch rather than uprooting the terminally diseased tree of the normalized toxic behavior that these plagues thrive on. There is a thin-lined threshold of toxicity that, even when present in those we love the most, necessitates distancing oneself from it. This does not mean the love for them ceases or is lessened at all. If anything it means the opposite, for the bravery not to enable fashionably toxic behavior seems like an often thankless and alienating task. This truth, that thorough self-care is a prerequisite to truly caring for each other, dispels the deadly myth of contradiction between self-care and altruism.

For many survivors of abuse, the thin line of toxicity is made painfully visible, but its obscurity to society at large serves as a smokescreen that abusers rely on to manipulate and maneuver through. They revel in thinking their deceptions are clever, without even considering the true cleverness is in healing their trauma that caused such desperate depravity to begin with. In psychological literature, there is a distinction between diagnosable "clinical narcissism", and more subtle "possible indicators" of the sickness that are normalized by society.

I find this distinction counterproductive, and consider these to be different positions on a spectrum of the same sickness which should be treated as the public health and existential crisis it is. This limiting distinction is an indicator of our culture's acceptance and institutionalization of behavior that many cultures plainly see as unacceptable. For a peek into who profits off of stoking the psychopath pandemic crisis, look to those who actively ignore it, while instead advocating creation of additional disasters, like mandating lockdowns and medical experiments, which proved far deadlier than the flu-like bioweapon they were supposedly to "protect" us from.

Psychologists label participation in the validation of normalized narcissistic behavior "narcissistic supply". So, while it may seem unsupportive or "uncool" not to participate in narcissistic supply, this is actually the most supportive thing one can do. Of course, along with providing constructive information for healing and growth. Unfortunately, such information is unlikely to be heeded by those needing it the most, as hallmarks of narcissists are denial and psychological projection of their own pathologies onto others. This means that dedicated attempts to help are often ignored or shamed through sickened lenses of cynicism.

After years of research and experience on the subject, I have no problem risking projection and misunderstanding by abusers, in fact it is a badge of honor among those who are capable of empathy (a.k.a non-pyschopaths, or empaths.) Narcissism and other forms of psychopathy are being heavily, systematically promoted and exploited throughout all levels of society, to the point that it's acceptance is subconsciously normalized. This is a matter of tiny investment by those standing to profit most from continued discord. This tragedy is observable even among so-called counter-culture and conscious communities, because, "don't kill my vibes, bro. Peace and love only."

"There is no coming to consciousness without pain. People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own Soul. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious." - Carl Jung

This is not a conspiracy theory, but rather, a well-documented case of profit and exploitation at all costs. Let's look at Facebook for example, a practical monopoly whose profiled manipulation of users is an open secret. They pioneered the manipulation, debasement, and commodification of users for an advertising revenue that is arguably less than simply charging a modest membership fee to opt out of manipulation. This was detailed in an episode of Adam Ruins Everything.

By Facebook not adding this single, simple, and direct option of a paid membership in exchange for opting out of manipulation and commodification, one can see clearly the charade playing out in their PR stunts of "social initiatives", and pathetically ineffective methods to combat fake news. Until this obvious solution of an opt-out option is solidly implemented, the public should be fully aware that Facebook (and "big tech") are not just passively complicit, but fundamentally central in the epidemic of fake news and public manipulation.

Of course, any major media outlets discussing the fake news and Russia topic don't even touch on this root cause, preferring to stick to very shallow finger pointing at the Russian boogeyman. This is part of the victimhood culture promoted to abdicate personal responsibility through the illusion of powerlessness. That illusion will persist as long as we continue to prioritize irrelevant media over thoughtful, useful, and original content.

One can regularly observe thoughtful content that took hours, even days to produce, being passed over by mutual friends for useless one sentence posts, pictures of generic consumption, or unoriginal meme reposts. A personal favorite is the posts just to cheer on a team or celebrity. Those millionaires certainly don't need your support. For followers that do care, the info could hardly be more public.

We can strengthen each other through genuine interest and support, by ending celebrity worship and other forms of coddling the mainstream horror-story-cast-as-fairy-tale of individual insignificance. The impression has been constructed that we must stoop down to consistently relate to each other on any level other than small talk, argument, or insult, but there is no stooping needed when our tide of genuine community raises all ships. Let's brush off the "10 posts a day just to be seen," paradigm, and stand up into our true power: conscious coherence.

Profitability Has Never Excused Criminality: A Message To Facebook, Google, & Twitter:

Open source the manipulation algorithms, and eliminate all psychological experimentation unless very specifically opted-in. Allow people to turn feed filtering off completely or set their own totally customizable parameters. Charge a modest membership fee if necessary to avoid commodifying and cheapening every aspect of communication possible.

There is no hiding behind knowingly selling vast and intricate personal data to be weaponized by the highest bidder. Make these simple and straightforward steps toward improvement, or at least finally admit that you openly worship fascism and anti-intellectualism. The line has been drawn and those in charge of these companies, along with conscious users, know with certainty that anything less is a shameful PR stunt.

It's time to reevaluate for sustainability,

"a business model that relies entirely on psychological manipulation and mass surveillance. The capacity to manipulate people at scale is being sold to the highest bidder, and has infected every aspect of civic life, including democratic elections and journalism.

Together with climate change, this algorithmic takeover of the public sphere is the biggest news story of the early 21st century. We desperately need journalists to cover it. But as they grow more dependent on online publishing for their professional survival, their capacity to do this kind of reporting will disappear, if it has not disappeared already." - Anatomy of a Moral Panic

"The proliferation of fake news and propaganda on Facebook and YouTube has partially been caused by a platform design that rewards content that generates the most attention irrespective of quality. The lack of self-regulation that caused this has been dressed up as platform 'neutrality.'" - Does a free press mean more regulation for Facebook?

"The real story of algorithms and machine learning is how these technologies are affecting communities and societies. The algorithm story only makes sense when it's rooted in a larger context of power relationships between people."
…

"These systems, which would require an extraordinary level of oversight to run safely, are being deployed across the planet by naive Stanford grads with almost no human supervision, for profit, and have the potential to profoundly reshape our society." - Do Facebook and Google have control of their algorithms anymore?

The Hindu writes about their experience being "shadow banned," on their verified Twitter account of 4.5 million followers. If this is happening to such large, verified publishers, imagine the scale of silent censorship upon marginalized individuals for simply raising awareness about certain "unprofitable" topics. We still seem collectively dumbfounded at how entire nations have fallen into fascism. How did they miss all the warning signs, and how were so many complicit, with some of the worst offenders supposedly "just doing their jobs?"

Avoiding topics or otherwise self-censoring just to please algorithms is a modern day equivalent to complicity in the past, but it's still just as driven by the worship of popularity, profit, and fear. Let's rise above, "just doing the algorithm's job." There are a lot more subtly sinister forces at play today dividing us than in generations past, and the profit model has been streamlined by orders of magnitude. However, we're entirely capable of reloading the digital weapons firing at us with knowledge and love instead. We can't bury our heads in the sand and call it "love and light," or "peace and positivity," and we have to stop believing (and feeding) the PR that euphemistically calls the surrender of our power "staying connected."

Attaining peace by the magical thinking of avoiding criticism and controversy, is like trying to purchase the fruits of deep meditation and yoga. This manifests as a backwards self-fulfilling prophecy, where, by ignoring the pressure of difficult conversations, in the name of "agreeableness," the pressure builds. By forfeiting our chance to make a controlled release of this pressure in ourselves and communities, the pressure is allowed to burst in our faces. Controlled releases can sometimes seem inconvenient or rude in the moment, but should be welcomed as nourishing necessities, whereas if ignored to build, ferment, and burst, we all suffer the rancid floods.

The arguments made against meaningful voice fall into three main categories. The first is that of denying the importance of voice, which is a subconscious response or preemption to being proven wrong, made out of a misunderstanding of the gravity of facing a correction versus persisting in folly. The second category is one of appeasing mob mentality, surrendering intellectualism in the pursuit of supposed agreeableness. This is built on the assumption that not offending ignorant people is more important than community dialogue and subsequent well-being. With such heavy funding going into ideological subversion to rile up sensationalism, this can be a very convincing illusion. Choosing appeasement however, is like knowing termites, rot, and mold are infesting your house, and ignoring it to paint and decorate the exterior instead, while perhaps even adding an additional level on top. It may look and feel great for a while, but then what?

The third reason for denying the meaning of voice, is confusion and blurred lines between constructive dialogue and useless quarreling. This is built on an ignorance of logic and decorum, with the added fuel of misunderstood subject matter and even worldview. Engaging with those suffering from this misunderstanding can be quite the cliff's edge, especially when combined with ideological fanaticism and idealistic denialism. Avoiding difficult topics in community forums because of childish reactions is an instance of coddling toxic behavior that any good parent will tell you is one of the worst things you can do to your child, to say nothing of it's effect on the community at large.

This is something I've felt called to express and dissect in writing after several in-depth conversations with friends who I hold in very high regard. The point where our conversations have tended to hit the biggest roadblock was when discussing the very real stress endured by challenging groupthink. We've agreed the hostility of the reactions can be draining, with aggressors projecting their own pathologies onto those who dare to challenge falsehoods, sometimes no matter how respectfully and patiently. (The bewildering irony of this behavior is among the most fitting of the term tragicomic.) The personal insults and inability to even simply refute a subject without resorting to attacking a person's character can be pretty disgusting. However, we are growing in our community awareness and ability to transmute projected shadows into truth.

I write about this because I know that the largely unaddressed suffering is abated through awareness. When we simply normalize this awareness, the individual and collective benefits are immense. The disconnect caused by voicelessness is at the heart of the anxiety and depression epidemic. Accepting diversity is a beautiful thing, but must be balanced with identifying and removing toxicity. It may not be the prettiest truth, but some people openly display that they simply have no place in public or private forums.

We should not be resentful and harbor poisonous hatred, but at the same time, real inclusiveness requires disqualifying from participation those who display clear disregard to the basic standards of decency in communication and community. Not only is this the healthiest course of action for you and your loved ones, it's best for the disqualified too. Through the tough love of cutting them off from avenues for hostility towards self and others, we effectively end our enabling and endorsement of such destructive behavior.

The so-called "backfire effect" only works on those who have decided to pretend they don't have free will. Of course, they wouldn't admit to this, as it's a decision made subconsciously, because of the seeming ease versus facing the cognitive dissonance of self-examination and worldview reevaluation. This is an ironic choice, since the short-term ease leads to immeasurable difficulties. It's like avoiding the sting of removing a bandage, and instead letting the wound become infected until requiring amputation. And when people try to help by pointing out the health hazard, they would get blamed and accused of outlandish plots. This is one of the many permutations of what's known as being possessed by the spirit of fear.

The discomfort caused by toxicity being constructively pointed out is an obsolete artifact deeply ingrained from generations of superstitious slaughter. (It's worth noting that a particular hallmark of psychopaths is for this specific discomfort to "secretly" be among their most dreaded experiences.) It's evolutionarily related to racism and tribalism, yet more overarching and pervasive. If constructive criticism feels personal, that's a flag to zoom in, not out, (AKA Jungian shadow work,) especially given the truth expressed by greats such as the ones below. Shout out to universal family who can look past what can be easily misperceived as attacks, to the truth of compassionate concern and empowering upliftment. I have special gratitude for anyone who helps me to hone my craft with support and useful input, especially in spite of all the various forms of ostracization, passive-aggressision, and other two-faced cowardice encountered in response (or non-response) to my voice.

This is why I don't find it useful when it's recommended to work on the delivery of writing that is specifically about exposing cognitive blind spots. It's like saying, "sure, tell people when they're hitting themselves, but just don't tell them they are the ones doing the hitting, and don't say it's damaging." How about, rather than implying people don't have free will, (which is far more insulting than constructively pointing out destructive behavior,) we instead: destigmatize constructive criticism and the act of correcting mistakes? Or put another way: restigmatize psychopathy. That an argument like this even needs to be made, is testament to an unimaginable degree of dystopic cultural degradation.

We now have some of the most powerful corporations on the planet, who have been caught subverting democratic elections and censoring opponents, openly, aggressively engaged in psyops to silence debate. They paint even the most healthy dialogue as "just arguing," "trolling," or being a "hater." When people think deeply and have meaningful discussions, they don't hate themselves and each other enough to submit to adverts and buy junk. It's quite simple, yet people still gobble up the PR that it's all just about promoting [the shallowest] connection and engagement.

What if the watchmen in old cities were attacked by their fellow citizens for sounding the alarm about oncoming armies, and then accused of causing the army to attack by attracting them with the warning? Or if the market center of commerce was relocated specifically to be far from the watchtowers, because the warnings were "bad for business?"

This is a metaphor translating armies and physical attacks, with things much more pervasive and subtle. This Stockholm Syndrome (AKA battered person syndrome) paradigm holds many still under its grip, but it's quickly fading. You can see it surface in the eyes that glaze over the instant a conversation makes even the most casual and on-topic transition away from small talk towards deeper topics. Or online, in the flocking to sensationalist content, while ignoring the meaningful.

Suggest that we hold some autonomy and responsibility over ourselves in the wrong crowd, and they look at you like you're an undercover agent who just called in a raid on them. That casual look of terrorized glazed eyes… "Just keep the laughs coming, haha!" Since this is subconscious groupthink, it just registers as "bad vibes," upon which personal projections can build a scapegoat image to allow easy dismissal of consideration.

There's no accountability when everyone has the deniability, like politicians, of "just playing to their base," appealing to popular opinion, or shrinking from controversy. Largely unconscious cultural influences and cognitive biases, combined with algorithmic social ranking and filtering, allows the disingenuity of self-censorship to be impersonally written off as a supposedly viable PR strategy. The breadth of the Overton window and plausible deniability have been systematically expanded, as weapons of subversion, beyond meaningful limits.

Intimidation can only enter through your own delusional fear, which is fed only by submission. The desperate illusions of control are increasingly crumbling and being seen through by all. This is a tide that can't be stopped, but will be surely opposed with increasing cowardice and ineptitude. While leaving room for constructive and respectful dialogue, suffer no cowards or fools in your midst, for in doing so you pay credence to their false idols.

The hate and ignorance of covert psychopaths is able to pass in civil society, scurrying among the shadows like cockroaches, within humor, sarcasm, and even something as fundamental as discernment. These things are of course not necessarily corrupt in and of themselves, and in fact are often necessary. This is exactly what makes them ideal breeding grounds for fakeness and subversion. When spotted, these parasitic elements burrow in and pretend to just be what they infest, while plotting the next advance. The sickness of deceptive parasites makes them incapable of admitting what they are.

Identify, correct, & commune.

Otherwise we're left to petrify, neglect, & subsume.

Victim mentality is the lowest level of empowerment, and malignant cultural engineers clearly know and exploit this. When it comes to perpetuating victimhood, beware of the sycophantic "rescuer" just as much, if not more than the "persecutor." They're both essential roles in what's know as the Karpman drama triangle.

The "rescuer" as sycophant can potentially pose more of a threat than the obvious "persecutor," by never contradicting the "victim." This means the "rescuer" could paint the "victim" into a box, by psychological manipulation designed to prevent the awareness needed to flip from Karpman's "drama dynamic" to "empowerment dynamic". A casual term for this is "white knighting," when the so-called "rescuer" secures their role as authority over the subject, locking them into victimhood. By the "rescuer" dehumanizing the "challenger" as a "persecutor," they ensure that critical growth opportunities are blocked away from their prey, maintaining the victim's state of disempowered dependence on the "rescuer."

I will not coddle disempowering division, no matter how politically fashionable, because I love the true, empowered you, not an idealized, pedestalized, and ultimately degrading version of you. As Bob Marley said, "We're sick and tired of your ism schism game."

Today's political landscape has been overrun by this "ism schism game," with another faction of "shismism" at every turn, all united in disunity. Somehow an entire culture has managed to view the fundamental concept of sovereignty as some type of exotic, impossible ideal. It's as if owning oneself were as abstract a concept as infinity to them. "Our responsibilities and problems are everyone's fault but our own!"

Bots told me that every bit of contradiction and constructive criticism on the internet can only ever be made out of arrogance… Holding ourselves to account can look like finger pointing to the undiscerning, and vice versa. In fact, promoting such a core illusion has historically played a central role in all types of subversion.

The coping mechanisms of self-constructed, transparent prison walls and splintered crutches which result from Stockholm Syndrome / Battered Person Syndrome are poisonous, highly addictive, and ultimately more harmful than what they pacify. These natural defense mechanisms of the human psyche have been weaponized into poisonous, addictive "solutions" to a problem that they only worsen and mask.

Here's some quotes from MLK and the Bible, which I find especially relevant to our times:

"Do not rebuke mockers or they will hate you; rebuke the wise and they will love you. Instruct the wise and they will be wiser still; teach the righteous and they will add to their learning." - Proverbs 9:8-9

"Let a righteous man strike me—that is a kindness; let him rebuke me—that is oil on my head. My head will not refuse it, for my prayer will still be against the deeds of evildoers. Their rulers will be thrown down from the cliffs, and the wicked will learn that my words were well spoken. They will say, 'As one plows and breaks up the earth, so our bones have been scattered at the mouth of the grave.' But my eyes are fixed on you, Sovereign Lord; in you I take refuge—do not give me over to death. Keep me safe from the traps set by evildoers, from the snares they have laid for me. Let the wicked fall into their own nets, while I pass by in safety." - Psalms 141:5-10

"And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind." - Romans 12:2

"In our struggle for equality we were confronted with the reality that many millions of people were essentially ignorant of our conditions or refused to face unpleasant truths. The hard-core bigot was merely one of our adversaries. The millions who were blind to our plight had to be compelled to face the social evil their indifference permitted to flourish.
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I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to 'order' than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: 'I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action'; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a 'more convenient season.' Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.
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Even when pressed by the demands of inner truth, men do not easily assume the task of opposing their government's policy, especially in time of war. Nor does the human spirit move without great difficulty against all the apathy of conformist thought within one's own bosom and in the surrounding world. Moreover, when the issues at hand seem as perplexing as they often do in the case of this dreadful conflict, we are always on the verge of being mesmerized by uncertainty; but we must move on.
And some of us who have already begun to break the silence of the night have found that the calling to speak is often a vocation of agony, but we must speak. We must speak with all the humility that is appropriate to our limited vision, but we must speak.
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My citing the creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent resister may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word 'tension.' I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth. Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, so must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood. The purpose of our direct action program is to create a situation so crisis packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation.
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In his essay 'Self-Reliance' Emerson wrote, 'Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist.' The Apostle Paul reminds us that whoso would be a Christian must also be a nonconformist. Any Christian who blindly accepts the opinions of the majority and in fear and timidity follows a path of expediency and social approval is a mental and spiritual slave.
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Some years ago Professor Bixler reminded us of the danger of overstressing the well-adjusted life. Everybody passionately seeks to be well-adjusted. We must, of course, be well-adjusted to avoid neurotic schizophrenic personalities, but there are some things in our world to which men of goodwill must be maladjusted. I confess that I never intend to become adjusted to the evils of segregation and the crippling effects of discrimination, to the moral degeneracy of religious bigotry and the corroding effects of narrow sectarianism, to economic conditions that deprive men of work and food, and to the insanities of militarism and the self-defeating effects of physical violence.
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Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.
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There is little hope for us until we become toughminded enough to break loose from the shackles of prejudice, half-truths, and downright ignorance. The shape of the world today does not permit us the luxury of softmindedness. A nation or a civilization that continues to produce softminded men purchases its own spiritual death on an installment plan.
But we must not stop with the cultivation of a tough mind. The gospel also demands a tender heart. … What is more tragic than to see a person who has risen to the disciplined heights of toughmindedness but has at the same time sunk to the passionless depths of hardheartedness?
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Deep down in our nonviolent creed is the conviction that there are some things so dear, some things so precious, some things so eternally true that they're worth dying for. And if a man happens to be 36 years old, as I happen to be, and some great truth stands before the door of his life, some great opportunity to stand up for that which is right, he's afraid his home will get burned, or he's afraid that he will lose his job, or he's afraid that he will get shot or beat down by state troopers. He may go on and live until he's 80, but he's just as dead at 36 as he would be at 80. And the cessation of breathing in his life is merely the belated announcement of an earlier death of the spirit. He died…

A man dies when he refuses to stand up for that which is right. A man dies when he refuses to stand up for justice. A man dies when he refuses to take a stand for that which is true.

So we're going to stand up right here amid horses. We're going to stand up right here, in Alabama, amid the billy-clubs. We're going to stand up right here in Alabama amid police dogs, if they have them. We're going to stand up amid tear gas! We're going to stand up amid anything they can muster up, letting the world know that we are determined to be free!"

"Soarce" (verb) - to soar on the sorcery of Source.
Example: "I was soarcing so majestically, I gleefully stomped through their puddle of haterade, splashing their wretched bile in their face, without even getting a drop on myself!"

One of the most heroic abilities of artists is that of empathy. This entails the ability to see one's own work through the eye's of others, which includes all the darkest derision and ridicule. We don't need explicit communication to know. Some call this mind reading, but really it's just a developed sense of empathy through a lot of difficult self discovery. As the saying goes, "people can only meet you as deeply as they've met themselves."

I want to pay homage to this ability of thinking and feeling through the darkest shadows, yet still bearing forth the torch of vision. We probably all think such dark critical thoughts of ourselves and others to some degree, which is an inevitability of discernment. This is okay and there's no need to beat oneself up for it, but rather immediately identify such thoughts, laugh them away, and then deeply search for the origin of one's own insecurity that caused the projection. For instance, a cynical perspective may either rescue or sabotage. It's a critical element, yet easily corrupted to infiltrate where it's not needed. The key is knowing how and when to identify proper application of perspective.

This is a friendly reminder to please encourage and enforce these fundamental abilities. By not prioritizing this, it imposes by default an implicit cultural deadness and meaninglessness, that is so all-encompassing as to easily go unnoticed. The struggle to expose and escape from the blinding sedation of that invisible sprawling fog is the tale of the artist and mystic. If the American public education system wasn't outright brainwashing, the very first thing to be taught would be art, meditation, the art of meditation, and the meditation of art. People are going their whole lives without even knowing how to really look at or listen to art, or themselves.

Experiencing ostracization from heartfelt expression can be a deep and lasting pain, yet it's far less than the pain of not voicing one's truth. I send thanks from the depth of our eternal connection to those who understand. This includes those with whom I have, or have had, fundamental disagreements, yet who still hold me dear. To those silenced by fear, you don't need anyone's forgiveness but your own, yet I offer you mine if you'll have it. You are as beautiful and whole as ever. Thank you for our service.

"NotSee" (noun, verb) - Someone tending toward any number of various slavishly fascist mentalities. Marked by their subconsciously driven, denialist shadow projections, which they can "NotSee" to understand.
Example: "You're just a negative hater for noticing that, personally I do not see evil. Why won't you believe me, I said, 'I DO NAZI EVIL!' ... I mean, 'I do NotSee evil!'" 🙈🙉🙊

I've had numerous NotSees come out of the closet to me in the most creepy and cowardly of ways because of my art, which is subconsciously among the greatest compliments such people are capable of. Although it can be a challenge to meet such desperate projections with empathy at the time of encounter, it's a great blessing to be able to see them as the tortured cries for help that they are. Since my art is specifically aimed at healing such gaping wounds, the unconscious deathly fear behind the projections is seen as an affirmation of the world's need for such work. I thank all allies for their assistance here.

If memes are mind apps, creating art is a system optimizer, firewall, & malware remover. Many apps that we think are totally closed, still continue undetected in the background.

The cult of personality and celebrity worship is intertwined not only in mass media, but in everyday culture and even so-called "countercultures". It's not just on TV, billboards, and magazines. It's not limited to celebrities, and it rarely appears as the "typical" concepts of cults and worship.

It's a giant party, whose only effective end goal is [s]laughter. Participation is a signed waiver that was never read. It's a zero-sum game where one can only enable the spread of dis-ease, regardless of any fanciful branding.

It's the biggest P.R. campaign in history. Idolatry sold as communion, sovereignty subverted into fanaticism, egotism as empowerment. It's the psyop of psyops, because it achieves what they all rely on: disconnection from Source.

The real Gospel of Jesus Christ and his disciples, the reason for their martyrdom, is no hidden secret, despite it's history of being brutally suppressed by dictators, obfuscated by dogma, and misinterpreted by charlatans. The Gospel survives in several places in the Bible, yet to this day many people identifying as Christians are anti-Christian in a fundamental way. Below are selected transcript excerpts from a speech by Alan Watts (1915-1973) detailing this issue.

"'I am a son of God,' well there's the whole thing in a nutshell. If you read the King James Bible, you will see in italics, in front of the words 'son of God,' the 'son of God.' Most people think the italics are for emphasis. They're not. The italics indicate words interpolated by the translators. You will not find that in the Greek. In the Greek it says, a son of God.

It seems to me here perfectly plain. That Jesus has got it in the back of his mind that this isn't something peculiar to himself. So when he says, 'I am the Way, no Man comes to the Father but by me.' This 'I am' this 'Me' is the divine in us.

We are sons of, or, 'of the nature' of God, manifestations of the divine. This discovery is the gospel. That is the Good News. But this has been perpetually repressed throughout the history of Western religion.

All Western religions have taken the form of celestial monarchies, and therefore have discouraged democracy in the kingdom of heaven. Because you see, they have a religion which is militant. Which is not the religion of Jesus, which was the realization of divine son-ship, but the religion about Jesus, which pedestalizes him, and which says only this man, of all the sons of women was divine, and you had better recognize it!

So it becomes a freak religion, just as it has made a freak of Jesus among natural man. It claims uniqueness, not realizing, that what it does teach would be far more credible if it were truly Catholic. That is to say, re-stated again, the truths which have been known from time immemorial. Which have appeared in all the great cultures of the world.

You are not serving your country if you think that it's necessarily the best of all possible countries. That is doing a disservice to your country. It is refusing to be critical where criticism is proper. So of religion, every religion should be self-critical, otherwise it soon degenerates into a self-righteous hypocrisy.

Popular Protestantism and popular Catholicism, will tell you nothing about mystical religion. The message of the preacher 52 Sundays a year, is: 'Dear people, be good!' But how? How are we going to change? Obviously, there cannot be a vitality of religion, without vital religious experience. That's something much more than emoting over singing 'Onward Christian Soldiers.'

We run a talking shop. We pray, we tell God what to do, or give advice (as if he didn't know). We read the scriptures. And remember talking of the Bible, Jesus said, 'You search the scriptures daily, for in them you think you have life!'

I feel then you see that it's enormously important that Churches stop being talking shops. They become centers of contemplation. What is contemplation? Con-Temple, it's what you do in the temple! You don't come to the temple to chatter, but to be still, and 'know that I am God.'

If the Christian religion, if the Gospel of Christ is to mean anything at all, instead of just being one of the forgotten religions, along with Osiris and Mithra, we must see Christ as the great mystic. In the proper sense of the word mystic, not someone who has all sorts of magical powers, and understands spirits, and so on. A mystic, strictly speaking, is one who realizes union with God, by whatever name. This seems to me, the crux and message of the gospel. Summed up in the prayer of Jesus which Saint John records, as he speaks over his disciples praying, 'that they may be one, even as you Father and I are one.' That they may be all one. All, realize this divine son-ship, or oneness, basic identity with the eternal energy of the universe, and the love that moves the sun and other stars."

I came across this author, Charles Caleb Colton (1780-1832) while searching for a quote, and ended up finding so many good relevant ones that I threw my favorites together here and downloaded his book. Enjoy these and a free download of "Lacon, Or, Many Things in Few Words: Addressed to Those Who Think". His most famous quote is "Imitation is the sincerest flattery."

If it helps make these relatable in the age of "social" media, replace the terms "writer" with "literate internet user", "publishing" with "posting or sharing," and "books," with "posts, comments, or updates."

"To write what is worth publishing, to find honest people to publish it, and get sensible people to read it, are the three great difficulties in being an author."

"That writer does the most who gives his reader the most knowledge and takes from him the least time."

"When you have nothing to say, say nothing."

"Many books require no thought from those who read them, and for a very simple reason; they made no such demand upon those who wrote them."

"We ask advice, but we mean approbation."

"Ladies of Fashion starve their happiness to feed their vanity, and their love to feed their pride."

"It is an easy and vulgar thing to please the mob, and no very arduous task to astonish them."

"To be obliged to beg our daily happiness from others bespeaks a more lamentable poverty than that of him who begs his daily bread."

"Vice has more martyrs than virtue; and it often happens that men suffer more to be lost than to be saved."

"A harmless hilarity and a buoyant cheerfulness are not infrequent concomitants of genius; and we are never more deceived than when we mistake gravity for greatness, solemnity for science, and pomposity for erudition."

"We owe almost all our knowledge not to those who have agreed, but to those who have differed."

"The soundest argument will produce no more conviction in an empty head than the most superficial declamation; a feather and a guinea fall with equal velocity in a vacuum."

"Afflictions sent by providence melt the constancy of the noble minded, but confirm the obduracy of the vile, as the same furnace that liquefies the gold, hardens the clay."

"No company is preferable to bad, because we are more apt to catch the vices of others than their virtues, as disease is far more contagious than health."

Image Credit: Alexander Trashin