Talk Politics For Ten Seconds And I’ll Know Where You Get Your News

Talk Politics For Ten Seconds And I’ll Know Where You Get Your News

talkpolitics

Whether the current furor over “fake news” fizzles or ends in state censorship, there is a legitimate issue beneath all the fear-mongering. Moreover, it’s a problem that has been known for a long time. In daily life, it shows up like this:

Have someone talk politics for just 10 seconds, and I can tell you with 80 percent accuracy where they get their news.

You’ve doubtless experienced the same thing. If certain phrases come up, I know that this person watches MSNCB and CNN, and that they read things like the Huffington Post. If they speak another way, I’ll know that they watch Fox News, listen to certain talk radio shows and read things like NewsMax.

In other words, people who consume news have become polarized, and badly so. This is a legitimate problem, though I’m certainly not endorsing state censorship to fix it… that’d be like cutting off your hand to fix hangnail.

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Screw the Way Things Are, I Want Out

Screw the Way Things Are, I Want Out

screwthings

This is a beautiful planet, filled, in the main, with decent, cooperative humans. And yet, I want out. Give me any kind of functional spaceship and any reasonable chance, and I’ll take it. This place is anti-human. It chokes the best that’s in us, aggressively and self-righteously.

I was struck not long ago by a comment of Ludwig Wittgenstein’s, in which he expressed the same kind of feeling:

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So What if It Was the Russians

So What if It Was the Russians

wasrussians

December 16, 2017

This entire episode is a warning of just how rancid the American over-class has become. Is there no one left in the American elite who has some dignity, some class, some measure of perspective? Have they all descended to the level of drunken brawlers?

American elites are rushing to create a constitutional crisis as I write this, building up an immense head of steam (there was an 8,000 word article in the NY Times, fer goodness’ sake), and all for what?

Stop and think for a moment: The Russians allegedly “intervened” in a US election. But what is it they are supposed to have done?

They spilled the truth.

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The Elite et al. vs. Trump et al

The Elite et al. vs. Trump et al

elitevstramp

December 13, 2016

I thought I’d never write about current events at Free-Man’s Perspective. My interests lie in human development, not in the daily crap-fights of politics. Recent events, however, have forced me to reconsider.

What finally changed my mind was a story that broke Friday evening in which the CIA claims Russia intervened in the US election, because Putin wanted Trump to win and Hillary to lose. The story was subsequently reported far and wide.

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If Your Culture Holds Grudges, It Needs to Be Fixed

cultureholds

Cultures don’t create us, we create them. Those who maintain otherwise seek to collect our sacrifices and use us as tools.

A culture is simply a group that passes a set of ideas through generations. Without people passing their ideas along, no culture could exist. So, should we pass ideas along blindly, or should we engage our minds and wills to make the next generation a little better than ours?

My opinion is that every adult with ability should labor to improve the people around them, and that will almost always involve a local culture.

So, let’s look at some cultural problems that could be remedied:

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A New Martial Law Is Here

A New Martial Law Is Here

martiallaw

When a military boss is installed as the head of government, displacing civilian leadership, we call it martial law. In the 20th century we expected to see this as the general of an army kicking out a president and taking over. The 21st century has brought us a variation on that theme, but it still involves military organizations ruling over everyone else.

Right now, we’re living under groups that have inserted themselves into the most intimate parts of our lives and stand ready to order force down upon us. The people doing this are a variety of intelligence agencies, and I’d like you to remember that the NSA is the military. So are the Defense Intelligence Agency and half a dozen other spy units.

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Politics Is Poison

Politics Is Poison

poison

Let’s be honest about something we see nonstop but seldom appreciate: Politics makes life ugly. Politics turns people you disagree with into twisted, cartoon images of what they really are, and it pushes you into degrading and hating them. In short, it’s vile, corrosive, and hate-filled.

These things are not “necessary evils”; they’re just evil.

We’ve been programmed to believe that politics is how we rule ourselves… that politics is what saves us from tyranny… that our political system is the necessary and ultimate end of human civilization.

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A Time for Gratitude

A Time for Gratitude

 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.
– Ecclesiastes

timegratitude

After a long, dark, painful political season, it’s time for us to pull ourselves out of it and reset our attitudes about the world. And there are few better ways to do that than to spend a few moments feeling grateful.

All is not bitterness and pain upon Earth, and that’s something we need to remind ourselves, especially because we’re surrounded by manufactured, amplified, and repeatedly broadcast fears. (Fear is a profitable business tool these days.)

So, I want to make a list of things to be grateful about, transcending the fears that drag us downward. Here we go:

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When Elite Privilege Breaks

When Elite Privilege Breaks

privilegebreaks

Finding parallels with Rome is a fun topic for writers, and just recently I came across some very interesting ones. They grabbed my attention, and they may grab yours as well.

These passages (in bold) are from The Rise of Western Christendom: Triumph and Diversity, A.D. 200-1000, by Peter Brown:

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Sucking the Blood of a Declining Civilization

Sucking the Blood of a Declining Civilization

decliningcivilization

Civilization has to be transmitted from one generation to another. If it isn’t, processes break down and life becomes difficult. Soon there must be a painful reform, or else the civilization will be lost.

This is fundamentally the job of families (especially parents), but at the moment that’s not really possible: How many families can survive on one income? And if one of the parents can’t stay home and teach the fundamental lessons of civilization, who will pass them to the next generation?

Certainly the better daycare facilities try, but to think that someone watching a couple dozen kids is going to transmit civilization to them as effectively as a parent who’s with the child day and night is simply ridiculous. The blame for this rests almost solely at the feet of the state of course, but we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

I’ll begin by quoting the redoubtable Fred Reed on the current situation:

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Could the Elite Survive Without Terrorism?

Could the Elite Survive Without Terrorism?

withoutterrorism

I’ve been long struck by a comment attributed to Adolph Hitler: “If there were no Jews, we’d have to invent them.”[1]Which it seems he did say, though in a slightly different form. This callous sentiment lies at the heart of rulership, including the rulers of our day. Power needs a frightening enemy. The systems that be, after all, are wholly organized around our fears. Without something to be terribly afraid of, the core justification for rulership fails.

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Some Truth About Hillary & The Hackers

Some Truth About Hillary & The Hackers

hillarythe-hackers

I’ve been watching ridiculous stories on the “hacked” emails of Hillary, John Podesta, et al, and I think it’s time to insert a bit of reality to the discussion. So, if you have any interest in this, here are some points to consider:

1. Anyone could have hacked Hillary.

People ask me, “Do you think it was the Russians who hacked Hillary?” I tell them that I have no idea who did it, but, “Yeah, sure, it could have been the Russians. Given the lack of security on her server, however, it could also have been the teenager down the street.”

Hillary’s server was more or less wide open. Given enough motivation and a bit of time, any reasonably technical person could have stolen those emails. In the words of one specialist, Hillary’s server was “total amateur hour.” How that happens for a Secretary of State (or a President) is a rather serious question.

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How the Bible Became an Idol

How the Bible Became an Idol

bibleidol

Again I am raising a difficult subject, but again, it’s something that needs to be said. And my title is true. The Bible – the holy book of more or less all Christians – has become an idol. And yes, I do mean idol as in “false god.”

A book, no matter how good, remains a book and should be treated as a book. A deity is something far different.

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What’s Your Slavery Percentage?

What’s Your Slavery Percentage?

slaverypercentage

Very few things in human life are truly all or nothing. Almost everything works on a sliding scale, even slavery. The problem is, very few people have ever studied slavery, leaving them with a few emotional slogans instead of actual knowledge.

A Roman slave in a major city, for example, could start and run his own business, might be very rich, and might even become a major intellectual, like Epictetus. A Roman slave working in a mine… well… that was about as bad as it gets.

So, all-or-nothing representations of slavery are false and more often than not are propaganda. This being the case, a question sits in front of us: How enslaved are we? People sometimes get very upset over such questions, but not because they’re invalid. They get upset because they don’t want to confront such thoughts.

Believing that truth matters, however, I’ve decided to raise the question.

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Why Day Care Is Insanely Expensive

Why Day Care Is Insanely Expensive

daycare

Conversations with young parents nearly always leave me horrified over the childcare expenses they’re forced to pay. Recently, I was informed by a young man that he and his wife pay $225 per week for day care. (For one child.) Furthermore, this is not in an “expensive city,” and it is, I was assured, a really good price.

I responded by bringing up the old way of arranging care for your children: You found an older woman in the neighborhood – a woman who had successfully raised several children of her own and could use the extra money – and paid her a reasonable amount to take care of yours.

That ancient way, the young man assured me, may have made a lot of sense – and yes, he had considered it – but it was no longer possible. The nice old lady would be carted away in handcuffs, and your children might be stolen by state agents.

So, he and his wife get ripped off every week; the daycare provider stands on perpetually thin ice with the state; Child Protective Services workers reign with terror; and somewhere, perhaps, a giant corporation and several politicians are making money on it.

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A Conspiracy Theory About Conspiracy Theories

A Conspiracy Theory About Conspiracy Theories

conspiracytheories

One of the funny things about conspiracy theories, including false flag attacks, is how often they are proven to be true. You have to wonder how long the shame-inducing slam, “That’s a conspiracy theory,” will keep working.

But that’s not my point for today. Today, I want to introduce a conspiracy theory of my own, a conspiracy theory about conspiracy theories. Here it is:

The powers that be – the elite, the deep state, whomever – want wild conspiracy theories to spread. Because after these wild theories set the “outrage meter” very high, they can get away with almost anything below that line.

In other words, wild theories ensure that the “I’ll act if I see that” trigger is never reached and Joe Average remains docile, even as he is progressively abused.

I hope I haven’t given any nefarious people ideas, but I think this is already happening. And in any event, I’m fairly certain it’s worth pointing out.

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