In Part 1 of this article I tried to link the greed and depravity of those pulling the strings behind the curtain of the Deep State with perpetual warfare being waged by the military industrial complex and the purposeful dumbing down of the populace so propaganda spewed by the Deep State’s media mouthpieces finds fertile ground. Pink Floyd’s lyrics from their existential album – Dark Side of the Moon – continue to resonate today, even more than they did in 1973.
Breathe
Breathe, breathe in the air
Don’t be afraid to care
Leave, don’t leave me
Look around, choose your own ground
Long you live and high you fly
Smiles you’ll give and tears you’ll cry
And all you touch and all you see
Is all your life will ever be
I knew Part 1 of this article would be easier to write than Part 2 because I’m more comfortable writing about financial issues and expounding upon the political and economic degradation of our empire of debt. Pondering my life and choices I’ve made or haven’t made is something I’d rather not think about. But, as I was driving home from getting blood work done last Saturday morning, the haunting chords of Breathe emanated from my car radio, urging me to tackle the rest of my article. Breathe is a very short instrumental piece of less than 3 minutes.
It is the first song on the album, setting the melancholy tone for the rest of the album. To me, Waters’ lyrics are addressing how we all have a choice on how we live our lives. We take our first breath and if we are lucky have about eighty years on this planet. The song seems to be from the perspective of a father, who has the wisdom gained from a long life, giving advice to their child.
It’s the relationships we form and the way we live our lives that matter. Our existence is full of joy and pain; work and play; thinking or believing; leading or following; living and dying. We need to choose our ground. Are we going to live a life worthy of esteem or will we just go with the flow, believing what we are told, and working ourselves into an early grave?
The corporate fascist Deep State controllers want rabbits to run faster and ditch diggers to keep digging ditches. They want you to be propagandized to buy the shit they are willing to sell you, utilizing plentiful amounts of debt, so you are forever beholden to them as debt serfs paying 17% on your credit card balances. George Carlin summed it up well many years ago:
“We know what they want, more for themselves and less for everyone else… and they don’t want an educated citizenry…. they want obedient workers… people who are just smart enough to run the machines and do the paper work and just dumb enough to passively accept the increasingly shittier jobs with the lower pay, the longer hours, the reduced benefits, the end of overtime, and the vanishing pension that disappears the minute you go to collect it.”
Let’s face it, “THEY” don’t want the masses to think. They don’t want them to make choices which will free them from working from sun up until sundown until they die. The corporate fascists want you to die at your desk or, even better, develop a disease the sickcare complex can milk for hundreds of thousands of dollars. It’s all about the dollars. They want it all and we are just the dupes, following their directives, and working ourselves to death trying to keep up with the Joneses. Striving to make the most money, own the biggest house, driving the most expensive automobile, and riding the biggest wave is a recipe for an early grave. What’s the point, as we are all dust in the end.
Run, rabbit, run
Dig that hole, forget the sun
When at last the work is done
Don’t sit down, it’s time to dig another one
Long you live and high you fly
But only if you ride the tide
Balanced on the biggest wave
Race towards an early grave
For most of my life I’ve felt disconnected from what is considered important in this society. For the first forty years of my life I strove to climb the corporate ladder, getting the proper degrees and doing whatever it took to get ahead. I believed what I saw on TV and didn’t question the official narratives. There were about five years out of my first twenty years in the working world where I loved what I was doing.
My view of the world changed with 9/11 and the Neo-Con fabricated Iraq War. The Patriot Act and the subsequent expansion of the un-Constitutional illegal surveillance of American citizens changed my understanding of the world. What I thought was important in my life was really inconsequential in comparison to what the government/Wall Street/Federal Reserve/Deep State were doing to the people of our nation.
Like many Americans, with a family to support, I’ve had to dig my holes in increasingly distant destinations. This has been detrimental to my physical and mental health, but sacrificing for our children’s future is the duty of a father. I’ve long since abandoned any ambitions to achieve the success this world declares to be imperative. For over a decade I’ve realized my purpose is to try and influence the direction of our country through writing on my blog, providing a forum for other writers, and trying to live a life which will make my children proud of my efforts.
The decisions we make in the next few years will impact future generations in a profound way. How we touch the lives of others is all our lives will ever be. We are all headed for the grave, so how much money we accumulate, power we wield, or positions we hold are ultimately meaningless. A life lived without positively impacting the lives of others is a life unfulfilled. We can’t let darkness win.
Time
Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
Fritter and waste the hours in an off-hand way
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way
Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain
You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun
Time has always been my favorite Pink Floyd song because it connects with me no matter what life stage I’m living. It’s about finding purpose in life. I think most people can relate to wasting time in our home towns when we were young, waiting for a parent or teacher to point us in the right direction.
Some driven individuals know exactly what they want at a young age and pursue their dreams with reckless abandon. I often think they are being driven by overbearing parents trying to compensate for their failures in life by forcing their off-spring succeed. These are the people who end up running corporations, becoming politicians, and holding positions of power, where they can boss others around.
I was still living in my hometown until the age of 25. I had a college degree, passed the CPA exam, and had a job as a divisional controller for a major corporation. I had met my future wife down the shore in Avalon. I still lived at home with my parents. I still spent my weeknights playing basketball with my friends from the neighborhood. I played on Tony’s Bar softball team with the same guys. I knew most of these guys would never leave our hometown. They didn’t care about education and seemed content just kicking around on the same piece of ground. I think most of those guys never left that town.
Some became alcoholics. Some died far too young. And a couple made it out. Twenty years later when I would come back to visit my parents, I drove through the town to show my kids where I grew up and nothing had changed. It was exactly the same as when I had left. It was kind of sad and still gives me a feeling of melancholy. There are millions of people who have wasted their lives, never daring to leave their home towns, never taking a risk, never reaching their potential and living unhappy unfulfilled lives. They missed the starting gun.
No one showed me the way, but I did know I needed to move on with my life. I got a new job, bought a house, got married, went back to school at night for my MBA, moved up the ladder at work, had three kids, and got fired at 40 years old because truthful analysis was not what the vapid low IQ female CEO (diversity hire) wanted from her underlings. More than ten years had got behind me, when I was left dazed and confused.
This was less than three years after 9/11 and the Patriot Act. Bush, Cheney and Powell had lied us into the Iraq War disaster in 2003. My eyes began to open, as my trust in government, financial institutions, the Federal Reserve, and the media dissipated. Time continued to move relentlessly onward. I was no longer young and foolish. I was drawn to the message being put forth by Ron Paul and will be forever grateful to a true patriot for opening my mind to the truth.
And you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it’s sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again
The sun is the same in a relative way, but you’re older
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death
Every year is getting shorter never seem to find the time.
Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way
The time is gone, the song is over,
Thought I’d something more to say.
Since 2008 when I started writing and running my blog, I’ve felt like I’ve been running and running to catch up with the sun, but it’s sinking. As I approach my sixth decade on this earth, the last two stanzas of Time have more and more meaning to me. I’m still slogging away at a job from when I get up at 5:30 am until I get home at 6:00 pm. It has a respectable title, but as has been true for most of my working life, it’s just a job. I’ve had bills to pay, children to raise, parents to care for, and duties to carry out.
I’ve always had a stoic attitude towards life, doing whatever needed to be done, taking care of my family, and deferring my gratification to some unspecified future time. I live inside my head most of the time, pondering, questioning, needlessly worrying, and trying to figure out my purpose on this earth.
Writing, reading, and encouraging others to find their voice on my blog is what sustains me on a daily basis. I look forward to the day when I can trade in my long daily commute and uninspiring job, to just write and run my blog. That day seems far off with the need for decent health coverage beyond the resources of a self-employed person. The fatalist in me latches onto the concept of being shorter of breath and one day closer to death.
Every year is getting shorter and I have so much left to do. I started the blog as a response to the lies and evil perpetrated by those running the show, whether you call them the ruling class, oligarchs, or Deep State. I don’t want my boys to grow up to be debt serfs in a corporate fascist surveillance state. After ten years of imagining myself as some sort of Paul Revere/Thomas Paine, reality set in.
My youth is long gone. My enthusiasm for promoting the kind of change needed to save this country has waned. Time is running out. I’ve given up predicting the timing of the collapse. The controllers manage to keep the Ponzi scheme going, despite the reality of our situation. My pessimistic nature makes me think my future plans of retiring from the rat race world will come to naught. My decade of scribbled lines has had little impact on the course we are on as a society. Most of the people I now consider my friends, I’ve never met in person. Dark Side of the Moon addresses insanity on a personal level and the loneliness of not fitting in.
Without The Burning Platform, I would probably lose what level of sanity I have left. I don’t feel as alone because I am able to read the thoughts of others just like myself. I’m inspired by the common sense, wisdom, intelligence and fortitude of the men and women who frequent my website. We are all living lives of quiet desperation, seeking truth and preparing for an uncertain future. As this Fourth Turning enters its terminal phase, I believe it will be people like those on my website who offer the hope of a better tomorrow. Before my time is gone and my song over, I think I have more to say. Fighting for my sons will be my driving force until my dying breath, whenever that should be.
Eclipse
All that you touch
And all that you see
All that you taste
All you feel
And all that you love
And all that you hate
All you distrust
All you save
And all that you give
And all that you deal
And all that you buy,
Beg, borrow or steal
And all you create
And all you destroy
And all that you do
And all that you say
And all that you eat
And everyone you meet
And all that you slight
And everyone you fight
And all that is now
And all that is gone
And all that’s to come
And everything under the sun is in tune
But the sun is eclipsed by the moon.
There is no dark side of the moon, really.
Matter of fact, it’s all dark.
Eclipse, which follows and intersects with Brain Damage, is only two minutes long, but perfectly captures the symbolism of the album: light and dark; good and evil; life and death. Musically it is a colossal cascading climax with beautiful harmonies and haunting lyrics. The song represents the lives of all humankind. The use of the words “All” and “You” captures the essence of a human life in relation to all mankind.
To summarize a human life with vivid lyrics in two minutes is an extraordinary feat of musical magic. The song features a loud, repetitive melody that builds up, then ends with a very quiet outro. When the main instrumentation ends, the sound of a heartbeat, which began on the first track, gradually fades to silence. The album represents a long life, from birth through death, encompassing the battle between goodness and dark forces which we all confront during our short time on this earth.
Looking back to the period in which this album was constructed, you can understand why darkness was the theme. The early 70’s was a dark time. The Vietnam War lingered on, while violent protests filled our streets. Nixon had closed the gold window and set in motion the raging inflation for the decade. Political turmoil was about to be unleashed with the impeachment of Nixon.
Oil embargoes resulted in surging gas prices and shortages. Labor and management clashed, with strikes across the land. The Cold War was at its coldest. It simply was not a happy time. Roger Waters’ lyrics reflected the darkness of the time. Ironically, it was the most cohesive and creative period for the band. The album’s success made them rich and famous, which ultimately led to their breakup.
Waters describes the album as “a very simple statement saying that all the good things life can offer are there for us to grasp, but that the influence of some dark force in our natures prevents us from seizing them”. The darkness of the moon is a symbolic representation of our dark side and the brightness of the sun is a symbolic representation of all that is good.
We all have both good and evil within our hearts and have the choice to let one or the other dominate our thoughts and actions. Each person on this earth has the option of following an ideology of evil or an ideology of good. When enough people choose to believe in the messages coming from dark forces, the result is tragedy and the loss of millions of lives, as we have seen in the last century under the rule of Stalin and Mao.
As I was again procrastinating on writing the 2nd part of this article because thinking about my mortality is not something I enjoy, I was flipping through the 600 cable channels on my propaganda machine and as a kick in the ass to finalize this article, AXS TV had one of their Classic Album shows on where they delve deeply into the making of the greatest albums of all-time. They were exploring the making of Dark Side by interviewing the band members, Alan Parsons the engineer, record executives, and music critics.
The themes of conflict, greed, war, wasted time, and misplaced priorities were worrisome to Waters and his bandmates. They were trying to reach the listeners with the message we all have doubts, misgivings, failures, and moments of weakness, when the darker forces of our nature eclipse our better intentions. We are just human, with the same weaknesses and faults as those who lived centuries ago.
The video made to accompany Eclipse is haunting, disturbing and clear in its message. We live our lives as individuals within a society of other individuals, living a mostly mundane existence, striving for what we are told is important by those controlling the levers of society. They push materialism and constant conflict upon good decent people who wouldn’t choose such a path without being pushed in that direction through propaganda and social engineering by evil men with evil intentions.
In the video, all that is good is overwhelmed by explosions, scenes of greed, and dictators, while the bright light in the human eye is extinguished, the moon overshadows the sun, and the human heartbeat stops. You are left with an empty feeling of a life wasted.
The voice at the end of the song is that of Gerry O’Driscoll, the doorman at Abbey Road Studios, answering the question: “What is ‘the dark side of the moon’?” with: “There is no dark side in the moon, really. Matter of fact, it’s all dark. The only thing that makes it look light is the sun.” As with all music, it means different things to different people. To me, Eclipse and the video of the moon slowly approaching the sun and ultimately shrouding the light in darkness symbolizes a Fourth Turning. Like an eclipse, Fourth Turnings arrive at predictable times and darken the landscape for a period of time, before yielding to the light once again.
We are currently in the midst of a Fourth Turning and the darkness deepens by the day, with the ongoing coup attempt against a sitting president; a debt crisis being covered up by the Federal Reserve; ongoing wars in the Middle East; a new cold war against Russia and China; an overbearing dangerous surveillance state; climate change hoax used to increase government power; socialists gaining acceptance among the dumbed down masses; gun grabbers trying to overturn the 2nd Amendment; celebration of decadence; rewarding diversity over accomplishment; trillion dollar deficits; and half the country despising the other half.
Darkness is descending across the land as this empire of debt enters its terminal phase. Its heartbeat is weakening and the light of liberty is fading to black
The exploration of individual insanity and societal insanity is as relevant today as it was in 1973 and as relevant as it was when addressed by Aldous Huxley in 1958. If Huxley thought we were a profoundly abnormal society in the 1950s, his head would explode if he were alive today. I always feel like an outcast in this world. I don’t fit in. I don’t value what most people in this profoundly abnormal society value.
The only place where I don’t feel like an outcast is among like minded people who frequent my website. Are we insane in believing our government should be limited, budgets balanced, the Constitution honored, welfare/warfare state restrained, the Fed ended, and the liberties of Americans restored?
If refusing to adjust to what passes for being normal in this abnormal society makes me a pariah, I will gladly inhabit my exile on Main Street. I will not bow to peer pressure, propaganda, or threats. I will keep publishing the truth on my website until THEY shut me down. The real resistance is those who refuse to adapt to this insane culture of debt, delusion, discord, decadence and degradation. I will stay close to home and family, and when I arrive home cold and tired, I’ll warm my bones beside the fire. I hope to see you on the dark side of the moon.
“The real hopeless victims of mental illness are to be found among those who appear to be most normal. Many of them are normal because they are so well adjusted to our mode of existence, because their human voice has been silenced so early in their lives, that they do not even struggle or suffer or develop symptoms as the neurotic does. They are normal not in what may be called the absolute sense of the word; they are normal only in relation to a profoundly abnormal society. Their perfect adjustment to that abnormal society is a measure of their mental sickness. These millions of abnormally normal people, living without fuss in a society to which, if they were fully human beings, they ought not to be adjusted.” ― Aldous Huxley, Brave New World Revisited
It is my sincere desire to provide readers of this site with the best unbiased information available, and a forum where it can be discussed openly, as our Founders intended. But it is not easy nor inexpensive to do so, especially when those who wish to prevent us from making the truth known, attack us without mercy on all fronts on a daily basis. So each time you visit the site, I would ask that you consider the value that you receive and have received from The Burning Platform and the community of which you are a vital part. I can't do it all alone, and I need your help and support to keep it alive. Please consider contributing an amount commensurate to the value that you receive from this site and community, or even by becoming a sustaining supporter through periodic contributions. [Burning Platform LLC - PO Box 1520 Kulpsville, PA 19443] or Paypal
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Hi Admin – I want to comment briefly on what you have done, not what you think you have not.
First, you have done the most important thing a man can do. You have created a magnificent family. You have a great wife, and you have raised your kids in an outstanding way. Nothing else in life comes close to those achievements, and surprisingly few manage it. Screw corporate ladders, and any other societal measurements of success. Family is the the pinnacle achievement, and you nailed it. Damn fine job.
Second, you have been responsible financially. Again, that is something few manage. You are to be congratulated and hailed.
You have valued education, in its many forms, and you have passed those values along to your children. Magnificent work. Truly.
You have exhibited a tremendous work ethic. Hell, the effort you make every single damn day to put this blog out is testament to that. I hold a good work ethic in high regard.
So, there it is, you exemplify the things I have repeated so often on TBP: family, thrift, education, hard-work.
Those are the signs of a man.
Thank you.
I second everything Llpoh says. Big props, Jim. You saw things long before most people did. But people are catching up. Powell’s attempt to normalize the federal reserve’s balance sheet was a spectacular failure. We know now. Without massive counterfeiting of fiat money, we have no economy. But the economy has gotten too efficient. The oligarchs have routed that counterfeit money straight home with no stops to help anybody else. Does anybody ever question why the faster the Fed prints, the faster Jeff Bezos and Warren Buffett’s net worth goes up? Does anybody ever question how much more real estate Blackstone acquires, correlates with how many homeless are on the streets? They’re starting to. Here’s a great article off Zero Hedge today. Peace and Merry Christmas. .https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/rarely-has-failure-been-celebrated-so-much
Star, I always told my uppers in the corp ladder linear growth was unsustainable. That is a fact but when we had recessions they increased goals and used it to fire people. They never were harmed though. Funny how their “leadership” must have failed too but only the workers were ever held responsible. I always said there is a point of maximum efficiency to everything. Once a corp is so efficient they can only realize profits by reducing labor costs, ie offshoring which means death to the UsA. But politicians clamor for tax relief to draw a corp to their state but nothing for the mom and pops that make up 90% of state revenue taxes.
LLPOH, sir, you didn’t mention your perennial message of integrity and honest dealing. Few folks would stick around for so long if they did not appreciate Admin’s integrity. Google and Farcebook have tried to buy him, he’s not for sale.
EC – right you are. Thanks for pointing those things out.
I listened to Crazy Diamond for a bit yesterday.
“Remember when you were young? You shone like the sun! Shine on you crazy diamond!”
I actually own the sheet music/album accompaniment books for many of PF’s compositions. At one time, my cousin and I talked about trying to perform for a few family/friend gatherings. We didn’t. Life intervened with our grand plans, as it does.
I realized I’ve been reading here for almost ten years and interacting here for five or six.
I will become 59 later this month and for the first time in a long time, I did not call my cousin Paula (different one) in Kentucky, down the road from Bea (where the hell is BL?) to mock her for turning 60 a full year before I. It doesn’t seem so funny if it just happened. She turned 60 the last day of the prayer vigil.
Anyhow, an excellent piece of work by Admin.
I hope people realize how important it is to not only support the blog with a few dollars they can spare, it is vital to speak up, even anonymously from time to time, and let TBP’s Founding Father know the Whofolks in Whotown understand what’s gone down.
I’ve got to do some thinking before making an attempt at a direct comment. A fine piece of literary work like this one deserves somber and sober repose.
Perhaps a siesta is in order, hombre!
Wish You Were Here album was also a masterpiece……
Welcome my son, welcome… to the machine.
What did you dream? It’s all right, we told you what to dream.
or..
Where have you been? It’s all right, we know just where you’ve been.
It appears as is the machine from that Floyd song has gotten even more pervasive in our lives/society.
We call it riding the gravy train
Thank you so much, llpoh, you have said most of everything that needs to be said about Admin and so eloquently. Thank you Admin from the bottom of my heart for sharing so honestly and openly:
“We all have both good and evil within our hearts and have the choice to let one or the other dominate our thoughts and actions.” So true Admin, we all have a choice.
I am eternally grateful to Admin for giving me the opportunity to serialise my book on his amazing website and also to allow me to continue with a ‘Letter from Great Britain’ as the book nears its end. And I thank all my readers for allowing my UK English spelling which my online dictionary insists is not correct!
However, I do admire the way Americans express their feelings, so unlike our British ‘stiff upper lip’, and anal reactions exemplified by the comment from Huston when Challenger exploded:
“We have a major malfunction”
The Brits would never say something like that which captures the true essence of the sudden catastrophe. They might say: “Wow, wizard prang old bean!” It all comes from the war and our father’s wonderful resistance for which I owe an eternal debt.
We now have a powerful new government and exception leader who models himself after Winston Churchill. The coming months and years will be very exciting for us here in UK and I hope my reports will capture the sea-change in process now.
I am reminded of Cromwell’s quote when thinking of Jeremy Corbyn today:
“You have sat too long for any good you have been doing lately… Depart, I say; and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!” – Address to the Rump Parliament (20 April 1653)
Peter, Patriots her and across the pond are eyeing Virginia and the UK
Our dear Admin:
Never believe that you have not left some footprints. First and best, you have protected, nurtured and launched your children as full service human beings. They are your legacy, Admin. They will carry on for you and their mother. So, it’s all good, isn’t it. Second, you are an inspiration to us all. Sometimes, in the dark of night, you and those who post here are all that reminds me that I and we, are not alone in this struggle. So, take yourself out for an ice cream cone now and then, Admin. Savor the success of TBP. We love you.
We perceive light which is but a narrow spectrum of electromagnetic waves the way bats ‘see’ sound.
Maybe you guys never watched Scent of a Woman. It’s a liberal type movie, pro-LBJ and anti-Bush. It’s also one man’s journey through darkness. His hearing is superb and can cut through the bullshit that we hear without really listening. Coming full circle, he finally learns to listen to the young man hired to guide him in the darkness. I apologize for posting videos without much comment, I tend to assume you all are way smarter than me.
Why was the movie called “Scent of a Woman?”
And, the best scene is when he socks it to the Harper Valley PTA… oh wait, that was Barbara Eden.
There are only a very few story motifs, you know. It’s why certain themes resonate and others fall flat.
I don’t know, maybe it was a slam against Poppy Bush, he also got called a snitch. If you recall, Barb refused to let him take the fall for some Nixonian bs. That entire monologue climaxed with the Bush accusation which was otherwise out of place in that scene. Imagine a movie making a campaign pitch today.
I watch very few “new” movies. I know you think my hubs does my bidding in exchange for really good food and services provided, but the last time he took me to a movie that didn’t have a sports story, a war story or a supervillain in it was 1992, in Keflavik NAS, Iceland. I think it was “A River Runs through It” but for the life of me I can’t remember much about it. I do know he was bored stiff with the movie and when I say stiff, remember the TSgt next door in the dorm gave me 24 Nights around that time.
There really are only a “few” decent stories. The meaning is always in the fine writing which exists between the lines. Sometimes is it delivered individually through helplessly clouded lenses.
Thanks to you, I watch Sunset BLVD whenever it is on Pluto TV. I never cared for it until I saw your Norma Desmond impression. It’s the tale of a young man turned gigolo by a rich old woman. When he is lured away by a young woman, he attempts to leave the old lady who smells of Tuberoses. (Tuberose is the primary caterpillar food for the Monarch butterfly. It may be symbolic of the gigolo’s desire to fly now that he has sprouted wings of young love.) The old woman shoots him rather than see him leave her.
In The Graduate, the beauteous older woman accuses her young lover of raping her even though she was the one who seduced him. In both stories, the older woman, mother figure, attempts to disrupt a budding romance with a young daughter figure. The same theme is repeated in Sleeping Beauty and in The Wizard of Oz. The old woman never quite manages to hang on to the young stud despite all her cock-blocking attempts. In Sunset BLVD (SB) Max, the former husband, plays the part of the old beauty -Maleficent’s (SB) talking mirror, he only reflects Norma Desmond’s view of herself and is determined that she never finds out the truth, that she is old and unwanted.
Now, now, Norma. I said no such thing. I was explaining Max’s mission in life. I love watching Gloria.
Hoo-RAH!
Awesome as expected! Being of a similar age and educational/corporate background it is no surprise that your words always resonate for me….TBP is helping you, well you are helping countless others at the same time!
I have come to accept the shitstorm ahead that the vast majority of folks I interact with in person deny is here….Normalcy bias or just their own way of coping, it is OK, they will adapt quickly when the time comes or suffer.
Don’t lose heart Admin, this is our role in the 4th Turning….we are the managers of the effort using the skills gained in those 60 years to win the day (or not). You will continue to make a huge difference via TBP as long as the internet is up and perhaps on a national basis depending on how things develop.
Virginia is looking like an early battleground, just like 1860….
Our kids (Millenials) will be on the front lines unfortunately and that is what causes me the most trepidation and was the “secret” reason for my move to MT…..but we can’t all shirk our duty by voting with our feet….look for me in VA…..we have a couple more rounds of protest and use of the “soapbox” before the unfortunate festivities kick-off.
To every thing there is a season and to every time a purpose under the heaven….it is the ways things are. I pity those unwilling to see.
Economy is not gonna to collapse.It will be a slow grind down.Old people are fat and lazy,millenialls are stupide and spoilt and too distracted.Millenialls have much lower kwcel of testostero ne,not gonna to revolt
That was the best thing you’ve ever written. It felt like riding on the ocean in a small boat, one swell after another, each paragraph a glimpse towards something you knew was ahead but couldn’t see.
I don’t want to jam this up with too many word things, but I have to say that what you’ve done here is far more profound than you are able to see from your place.
Thanks for everything.
I second that.
I sincerely hope everyone takes a few moments to just be grateful we can read here, write here and, perhaps most importantly, belong here at TBP.
Even the beaner and yoyo boy.
Especially that hot trucker BB!
Good grief, I need to call you off, don’t I? LOL… too hot to handle.
Or hot to go Trotsky.
I am humble in the presence of such powerful introspection. Lloph has a calculating gift for calling it like it is and put thoughts to words I could not improve upon.
If I were to add anything it would be inspiration, there is ample evidence your actions, your prose have provided a bounty of inspiration to many of the like minded.
And refuge, a great many have found it here, hard fought and precarious though it is. It is actually quite amazing how quickly the free speech landscape has changed.
Thank you.
Admin –
Whatever little you think you have accomplished…and are accomplishing, is an error on your part, IMHO.
You are following Isaiah’s footsteps in these troubled times by talking to The Remnant. A crappy job but one for which you are eminently suited by clarity of thought and expression and a passion that has to have divine roots.
Nock explains it better but you can find yourself here…..https://mises.org/library/isaiahs-job
Salute!
Da P
Excellent link, thank you Da P and most prescient:
“…….At the end, he said with great earnestness: “I have a mission to the masses. I feel that I am called to get the ear of the people. I shall devote the rest of my life to spreading my doctrine far and wide among the population. What do you think?”
I think that, like Admin, we all have this responsibility to talk truth to power.
“People don’t want to hear the truth because they don’t want their illusions destroyed” – Fredrich Nietzsche
Fantastic link– Thank you. I know where our current path is leading as the inevitability of the globalists and their Charismatic Leader approaches. It is comforting to know that when I rant, ( and those better spoken like Jim) that my words have purpose– to help bolster the Remnant and let them know to be strong. For this too shall pass and we will be needed to rebuild from the ashes…
The wall in my office… cost of framing was a bit high but worth it……..
Always reading your blog, but rarely post anything. Thoroughly enjoy your views, very eloquently written. My history roughly parallel yours, so I can readily identify with your experiences and frustrations. Keep up your good work, and thanks for what you do.
God I love this site.
Did everyone notice while this farce was played out by detestable cretins like schiff and comey the MIC was handed another sweaty wad of fake dollars, another 17,000 American mercenaries we’re moved into place for war with Iran and the (fucking) patriot act was extended?
The peace Jim yearns for only comes after enough of us name government as the evil it always is. Always.
So I just watched Oliver Stone’s JFK for the first time, the conspiracy, the lies and cover-ups of JFK’s murder reminded me that governmental malfeasances have a long life.
What makes ‘accepting’ and acknowledging the evils of our government so hard for most thinking Americans is the fact that this country was founded on greatness, a universal ideal that had never in the history of the world been done before. Our hearts and minds ache because we know what was and is no more. We grieve the passing of greatness and we don’t know what to do.
I am approaching the downhill slope of life like many here. I have no wisdom to offer, just empathy and a stubborn sense of rightness and a willingness to do what is right, regardless of circumstances.
https://archive.org/details/Evidence_of_Revision_4
this archive site is worth a look-see, if not a donation of $5… there are still a few places trying to archive some real information for posterity and our posterior.
It was the full realization that JFK was killed by a cia/mafia coup that I realized all that ‘We the people’ BS was a scam and I became an anarchist 35 years ago. My convictions only hardened since. We DONT need government.
If the movie helped you start a truth-seeking quest, you might want to take a look at the book it was based on, written by a now deceased Dallas newspaper reporter Jim Marrs. He looked high and low for truth and the book on the JFK assassination is much more detailed than the movie, plus he has written many other books seeing truth you might want to enjoy.
“The laws are silent in times of war” – Cicero when another Empire was nearing its end.
Time happens to us all. Learn to be content with your life but never stop striving to improve it.
Well said, as always, Admin. My life in most ways mirrors yours, mostly spent working thankless jobs and raising my daughter and three sons. Work all day, come home and play with the kids (and wife), set aside what we can for kids’ college and retirement; then you lift your head and you’re fifty, not having paid attention to anything much outside your personal sphere. Important world events? I believed whatever MSM told me, having neither the time nor inclination to dig any deeper–same as most everyone.
Most of us who visit your terrific blog on a daily basis can probably identify a key lie that started our awakening. For me it was the Iraq WMD BS. “The UN says Saddam has no WMDs but the US says they do. Why the rush to start a war until this is sorted out? What the hell is really going on? Is the government lying to me? Why is MSM ridiculing anyone who dares to question the government?” Tell me I can’t question something and I immediately start questioning it. Once it became clear the basis for the war was a huge lie with no comeuppance for the guilty I started wondering what else they might be lying about, though I couldn’t indulge my curiosity much what with work and the kids. After this my awakening was gradual until I came across what I considered the definitive video on 9/11. After this, I believed nothing the government or MSM told me. Hit a person over the head with a truth that powerful, it’s so distressing as to be disorienting. It means the people in charge are thoroughly evil. What a profound betrayal of trust! What an outrage! If they can do this and get away with it they can do anything. 9/11 caused a rift between me and some family and friends, one that still exists. They can’t accept it; they think I’ve lost it, believing what I do. They won’t even watch the video; they want nothing to do with it, which is a shame. 9/11, is, IMO, the best means of waking people up to reality.
Whereas you started this blog, I started writing novels, most of which address the kinds of issues you cover on TBP; foolish wars based on lies, out of control Fed, out of control intelligence agencies, thoroughly corrupt MSM, totally bogus financial system, surreal SJWs on college campuses, and so on. Best way I’ve found to stay sane and to do a small part to open a few eyes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rq9nUPs2RAk
Hi Bob – nice comment.
Not to be too much of a pain, but you said something about “working thankless jobs” – not that I expect you mean it exactly literally. That is one of my bugbears, when people mean it literally, so I will comment on that.
My employees often talk about their jobs being thankless – and they mean it literally. They want me to thank them for their work.
When they have brought this up – more often than you might imagine – I tell them this: We have a contract. The contract is that you work, and I pay you. I have never missed a payday, so I am fulfilling my end of the contract. And just when was the last time you thanked me for paying you? “Hey boss, thanks for paying me!” I tell them if they expect me to thank them for doing the job that I pay them for (even though I sometimes do) they clearly do not understand what a contract is, nor who the customer is in the relationship. When they go to the store, and hand the clerk money, traditionally it is the supplier that does the thanking, not the customer. I am my employees’ customer, not the other way around.
I will never agree that employees should expect to be thanked for doing their job. I am the customer in that relationship, and am doing the buying, and if anything, I should be the one that should be thanked.
Your statement: “I will never agree that employees should expect to be thanked for doing their job. I am the customer in that relationship, and am doing the buying, and if anything, I should be the one that should be thanked.” is shortsighted, to say the least.
Happy employees make better workers. Happy employees make productive workers.
Henry Ford “got it right” when he CREATED a market for his cars by making them inexpensive while paying his workforce a decent wage. He realized that a well-paid workforce would be able to buy his products, among other things. It could be safely argued that Ford, CREATED the middle class. Automobiles, once “playthings for the rich” were made affordable for the “ordinary common man”.
Today’s capitalist “mantra” is that labor costs must be as cheap as possible while the “value” (profit) to the stockholder must be as great as possible. Sacrificing labor on the altar of “maximum profits” NEVER works.
Of course, in the short term, with cheap Chinese goods flooding the market, the economy looks, good, but without CONSUMERS who hold jobs that pay reasonably well, all bets are off. There needs to be a balance between profits and labor.
Presently, labor is looked upon as a “necessary evil” to be minimized at all costs. The problem arises-without labor there are no consumers. As I previously stated, a “balance” must be maintained. Labor is not evil, but a necessary component of capitalism.
Adolph Hitler’s economic successes and the rapid rise of the German economy was predicated on labor being assigned “value”and monetized-something that is missing in capitalist societies today.
If labor costs need to be trimmed to assure “profit”, something is seriously wrong. In fact, in the well-paid American automobile industry, labor costs account only for approximately 10% of total costs.
Offshoring production results in consumers (customers) being “lost”.
As to “tariffs”, the American country ran on tariffs from its inception until 1913, when the “income tax” and “federal reserve” was established.
The American economy is being propped up by the “social safety net” which obscures the TRUE economic situation in the U S .
Anarchyst – I am very successful- way more so than you based on things you have said. I know what I am doing re running a business.
In the above quote, the key point is “should expect” to be thanked. To expect to be thanked for meeting their agreed contract is bullshit, and I prefer grown men nit childs that want their attaboys at every turn.
Re Ford, he did no such thing. It is a lie told often. He was forced to pay high rates as the wrk he provided was mind-numbing, and his turnover of staff was immense. His employees were anything but happy, and he had to pay them well to keep the numbers he needed. You could do some research, but false narrative is your stock and trade. Me, I am an expert in manufacturing. I know false narratives when I see them.
What I want from employees is grown damn men who understand what work is, and who understand they are in a contract, and as such to expect thanks for holding up their end is childish. As I said, I do thank employees, quite often. It is when they expect it as part of the contract that things fall apart.
You are correct in stating that Ford’s wage scale was not based solely on altruism, but was in place to retain is workforce, but you still subscribe to the old, tired, “my way or the highway” style of “top down” management, a method that has been discredited since the 1970s. Ford DID state that he wanted his employees to be able to afford his products.
To this day, the wall street bankster crowd looks at labor, not as an asset but a liability, to be minimzed at all cost. During Ford’s wage push, the wall street types declared that Ford’s wage scale “would destroy capitalism as we know it”.
Wall street LOVES Wal-Mart’s substandard wage scale while criticizing companies such as Costco for paying good wages.
It is your inflexible attitude and management style about “workers” that makes it ripe for labor unions to get a toehold in many companies
It took a long time for American manufacturers to adopt the methods of W. Edward Deming-“total quality management” and “continuous improvement”-both which were adopted by Japanese companies well before American companies.
I would probably hate to work for you, with your inflexible, insulting management style. In the words of Navy Admiral Grace Hopper, you manage things and lead people.
Well, all I can say is that we have very significant turnover of employees in the first six months. After that, we have almost zero.
Why? Because we expect adults as employees. Children and the immature soon leave. What is left are adult that value the fact we leave them alone to do their jobs, and that we allow them as much autonomy as they can handle, and that we do not allow anyone to mess with them. About half our employees miss NO work a year, and the other half only a day or two, barring a handful of major issues that arise each year. We average 1.5% absenteeism even allowing for heart attacks, cancer, etc.
Those things speak for themselves. We would have the lowest absenteeism of any company I have ever heard of, as well as the lowest turnover in years where we are not expanding fast. Additionally, on a rare occasion that an employee leaves, they commonly, almost expectedly return to us. And always for less money than they were getting elsewhere. Why? We respect what they do, we leave them alone, and adults value that. But we sure as hell do not go around thanking folks because they expect it.
Further, we are highly profitable.
One of us knows what we are doing managing a business. And the other is you, anarchyst.
You mistake demanding that employees know and deliver on their responsibilities with being mean.
Adults get their self-worth internally. But if spouting touchy-feely visions of how business should be run rocks your boat, go for it.
One other thing – business is in business to make money. Any other reason is bullshit. Any acts of altruism are no such – they simply reflect a decision that is expected to increase profit. That would be Costco’s reason to pay above the standard. Not out of altruism.
Lloph, I have learned early on there is always a bigger badder bully. Same goes for when I used to internally brag when I was making a million a year and realized a decade later the people I was speaking to made that in a week. I look back and now have learned never to compare but to listen and learn. I see your point about contracts and agree. If you expect a thank you (them as well) it belittles it when received and when given. I know when there is mutual respect with appreciation, naturally occurring, it sets up a corp great culture.
John – thanks. People are missing he point. I do thank people, but it comes from within me, not because they expect it. I do not want and need folks that get their life’s validation from me thanking them. Instead, in general, my employees get validation because they know in our interactions that they are respected.
For instance, I almost never (and mean almost never) tell anyone what to do. Instead, I get with them and say “we need to accomplish x,y, or z, and ask them how we can do it. hey generally come up with workable ideas, and if not, I gently direct them to a better way – gently. Then I ask when they will it be done, and almost never change their time frame. As a result, they are involved in the decision making – they make the decision, and own it. And that makes all the difference. They do know that I will return on the date specified, and expect it to have been done. I cannot remember the last time it was not.
Whee I do see that instructions are given is if a process needs a specific series of steps. Some things cannot be altered for quality, safety, etc. reasons. But we try to keep those things at a minimum.
Work is worthy of respect, as are the individuals that do it. But as I said, not all employees do there work with respect, and I try not to have those in my employ. But it is a constant battle.
It’s a two way street. I’ve thanked the owner of the firm I work for and he in turn has thanked and shown me some appreciation for what I do as well. Both of us probably think to our selves that at times it needs to be expressed more often.
Thanking people is free. I thank my employees, and I thank my customers. The greatest thing about thanking people for positive results is there’s no downside. It fits right in with best practices. People eat up praise and thankfulness. They crave it as much as they crave money. And coming from me, who tends to walk around with a somewhat annoyed disposition, it means something to them. People have a tendency to walk on eggshells when the boss is around, and it should be that way. You’re not their friend, you are their boss. it’s a different relationship, and it should be. But that does not mean you can’t let them know that they are important to the operation and the success of the overall organization. If they want to test their value by asking for more money, that’s a conversation that can be had anytime. Some people make the case, and others are outright delusional. Self-assessment is not most people’s strength.
Star – never said otherwise. It is the expectation of thanks that is the issue. I do not expect thanks from customers, or my employees. Any such is appreciated but neither expected nor required for me to meet my commitments.
Those are two different things. Understood.
LLPOH, I appreciate your comment regarding thankless jobs, but when I use the term it is usually referring to my own sense of thankfulness/thanklessness.
I interviewed for a technical writing job for a software company contracting for the USAF engine repair shop. The job paid “writers” $50,000 (25 dollars per hour) to transpose software engineer scribbling of SQL (query language) statements and run them to verify they worked, then file them for future reference, by date, in case the engineers asked for them.
My friend who worked there? She said in the three years she worked there, NO ONE ever asked for any of the files. No one. So, even though she had complete autonomy as a “writer” and was paid well for the time, she felt unnecessary. Which, she was.
That is internally thankless.
And that is how I expect that Bob was using it. Grown folks do not expect thanks for meeting their agreed responsibilities. That is what they are expected to do.
Nice story. I made a good living fixing issues like that back when I was paid to turn companies around that were failing.
It was a government contract. So much waste and so little time to create it.
Llpoh – During my career, I worked for a few small family owned corporations and can attest to the positive reinforcement of thanking people for their hard work and also for the worker thanking the employer for the opportunity to help the company. It is a symbiotic relationship and is evident to all who interact with the company.
Almost 50 years ago, I received a letter from the corporate President thanking me for representing the company in a positive manner. The event he mentioned occurred on a weekend, was not company related and was far away from our company’s area of responsibility. I did not even know he knew of the meeting I had been a part of and was totally floored that he would take the time to thank me for something that was not company related. I still have that letter and it has been an inspiration to me to always thank those who I deal with and show them their efforts are appreciated.
Other companies I worked for did not show that kind of respect to their employees and the people had little allegiance to the company.
My last employer was run by a man who also believed in thanking his people, through positive reinforcement. The attitude permeated throughout the organization and we had a very low turnover rate for comparable businesses. I used to tell prospective employees during the interview process that if someone made it to their 5th anniversary with us, they were likely to stay until retirement. I continue to stay in touch with many of the people there and the same attitude can be found and the same loyalty can be found between employer and employee. Even though the management has changed, the corporate culture is still maintained.
TN – if someone makes it to 6 months with us, they tend to stay indefinitely. It has nothing to do with positive reinforcement, thanking them, or any such. It is entirely to do with us 1) leaving them the hell alone to do their jobs, 2) being respectful of them, and 3) not letting anyone screw with them at work. Because we try only to employ adults, they value those things. I am sure they also appreciate a “good job” now and then, but it is not something we pursue as an organization, and because we leave them alone we have surprisingly few interactions beyond “good morning TN, good morning LLPOH”. If they do their jobs they have zero issues. And they love that beyond all else.
Here’s your comment
“My employees often talk about their jobs being thankless – and they mean it literally. They want me to thank them for their work. ”
Which is it, the part about working a thankless job or ” If they do their jobs they have zero issues. And they love that beyond all else“?
Guess I should have said “some of my employees”. Did not mean to imply all of them. In any large group there are some problem children. Also, the second part does not conflict with the first. They love autonomy most, but a subset also are like so many others – they expect thanks. More than one thing at a time can be true, you know.
9 downvotes? Amazing. There’s truth & wisdom there.
In ally working years, employee grumbling has been a constant.
What’s lost on them, from the employer’s point of view, is the opportunity they’ve been allowed. If undesirable, hit the road, and start your own.
Again, a lack of appreciation & gratitude is buried under the envy and disdain for how the employer / corporation is benefitting from an employees labor, time, work ethic.
If someone else pays you, you still ought to know deep down, that you are working for yourself.
The owners and self employed know this instinctively.
And a good work ethic cements further benefitting from the opportunities we create for ourselves.
Even if afforded to us by the source of our harvest that we reap.
My old friend, Nancy, worked her way up from being a temporary receptionist to assistant VP to the owner/founder in 25 years by always accepting challenges as learning opportunities, even if the owner asked her to make him 10,000 copies of an advertising insert, fold them and mail them.
Later, when she had her own office and her own receptionist, she said the story fell on deaf ears because no one remembers actually MAILING the advertising in envelopes. She’s retired now and travels the country. As we are doing in small spurts.
When you stop, you’ll be an ex-spurt.
I’m officially worried about Bea Attitude.
We had a real See Saw and nobody cared if we fell off.
Which one is me?
Right
Good guess. See that foundation and home being built back there? Well, all that area behind that structure grew into almost a forest (because Dad wanted trees and nature after WWII) and in 1993, most of it was declared Protected Swamplands. No kidding. Dad turned perfectly good farmland back into Swampland by letting three acres grow wild. (The law referenced a certain number of trees growing in proximity to one another constituting “Wetland Potential.”)
Is a Federal Theft of property.
Showing Appreciation can go a very long way when articulated with sincerity.
I had some Amish work on building a barn for me, subcontracted by my builder. I thanked them, and I meant it.
If you are just producing faceless items and widgets for faceless international corporations, then I guess no thanks needed.
But work worth doing deserves recognition, which doesn’t have to come from Skippy the Boss polishing your knob and giving you a participation trophy.. it comes from knowing the enterprise is essentially worthwhile and contributory, rather than detrimental, to human society
Chub – I value good workers more than people would realize. I am not so fond of having employees, as there are so many bad ones.
Doing worthwhile work is a personal issue, and should generate internal pride without me having to be the cheerleader. A job well done is it’s own reward and all that is true now as ever.
What my employees deserve is that I meet my end of the bargain. And I do. Every time, on time, in full.
Every Friday is pass-fail if you are the guy writing the checks. Most people take it for granted.
It is not a small thing that you have made here.
The truth like the mustard seed will grow ….those who are not seeing the truth will be left behind.
Stick with this thing of yours it is truth and truth never stops growing in fertile minds.
Thank you
雁过留声!
I visited a page and translated this and discovered that
雁过留声! means “A wild goose has passed and left a sound.”
And the moniker, 男人家, which is also a link, is “Man home.”
So, did Man Home also leave a smell with his sound?
So, three other people knew that meant “A wild goose passed by and left a sound?”
I kept wondering where part 2 was. I thought “Maybe he’s waiting to see what happens with this impeachment thing.”
When I started reading and you explained why it took you so long I was thinking “Uh oh, he’s going to get philosophical.” Because for me, “Philosophy is a walk on slippery rocks.” And I understood why it took you so long.
I wanted nothing more than to be a stay at home mom. In the 80’s when my children were born, women were being pushed into the workplace whether they wanted it or not. I worked part time which was better than full time but I can’t get that time back. I never really fit in either which is why I guess I’m drawn here. I never went to college and a lot of college educated people look down on people like me. They think we are stupid and uneducated dirt people. I sure meet a lot of people who refuse to look for the truth because they think they already have it. Nevertheless, I try to tell people who I think might listen what I have learned outside of the university. I try to get them to read blogs like yours.
I always have this question run through my head from people I care about after things go south, which seems to be speeding up. “If you knew this was going to happen, why didn’t you tell me?”
That is what you are doing, Jim. You have been trying to tell people what is happening and what is going to happen if we do nothing. You can look them dead in the eye and honestly say “I tried to tell you.” A few listened, most didn’t.
Back to why philosophy is a walk on the slippery rocks. It’s just this dumb song that has always stuck with me.
Mary, I want you to know as I’ve recovered this past year, I’ve given a lot of thought to the Agenda behind the abortion industry which your pivotal article here on TBP implicated as causal or, at least, correlative to the chaotic change in women’s roles in American society in the 1960s and 1970s.
I was not off-track when I decided to support my friends’ bead counting fetish, though it may have seemed so. Our prayers in the beginning were for specific children and specific needs of those involved. As the months have gone on, we have all come to believe our prayers are interwoven as a tapestry which becomes visible to God only after being shown to Him again and again, confident in our appeal for Mercy on us all.
I still remember you in my prayers and hope your daughter has found the bottom and is on her way up soon. I think my boys are well, but I cannot control it from my viewpoint. Let go and let God makes more and more sense, doesn’t it?
Be Still….
I still want to go to the Amish market near Springfield next spring… perhaps we can meet and greet then.
” Our prayers in the beginning were for specific children and specific needs of those involved. As the months have gone on, we have all come to believe our prayers are interwoven as a tapestry which becomes visible to God only after being shown to Him again and again, confident in our appeal for Mercy on us all.”
Eloquent writing is a gift and you seem to have been given that gift.
Thank you for the prayers. She hasn’t hit bottom yet and I keep wondering where the bottom is but her dad has a safety net that he keeps cutting holes in but won’t remove it entirely, yet. Someday it will make a great story, maybe in the spring. Speaking of which, Springfield in the spring is a great idea.
I think a lot of families are completely torn asunder by drugs and sexual deviancy.
My own nephew is in prison, probably for life, for felony child molestation and drug charges. The damage that 35 year old man has done my family in his time on this earth began when he was a small child, already sociopathic at so young it seemed wrong to accuse him.
His mother smoked dope, snorted whatever and drank as she pleased all during her pregnancy. I was not around much, but when I did visit the toddler, I stood on the porch so as to NOT sniff the stuff in the air in that house. She destroyed his mind. My brother allowed it.
She died in drunken driving accident when the kid was five. It was a disaster from the get-go.
At that time, EC and I were doing weeds and seeds on weekends at tech school. I was in Charge of the detail, of course, while EC was picking up trash and pulling weeds.
I haven’t talked to my brother in years. He is a successful electrician and manager of a large crew at a large facility near here but he is a bitter person and has to deal with his own demons. As we all do.
M G – I heard a pastor at a funeral use an embroidered handkerchief as an example of what you wrote of the tapestry. He held the handkerchief up, showing the crowd the back side and it was blurry with little detail, much like we view our lives and what is going on around us.
He then turned it around and it was a beautiful piece, full of detail with everything very distinguishable. He told us the back side is what we are seeing from our perspective in this life and the front side is what we will see when we are in heaven with the Father and His Son.
Nice… thanks.
You used the “word”. GREED.
ADMIN, the day I received the Ron Paul CD you sent me, I was sold. Every time you write, you over deliver. I wish you and Avalon many happy trails for the rest of your life.
Jim,
In many respects I felt like you were writing my biography. By the comments I’ve read, I’m not alone.
No, your “scribbled lines” have had far more impact that you assume. It’s because I see so many parallels in your world vision I use TBP as my #1 info source on world in which we find ourselves. The thoughts of the individualistic men of old (and a few ladies) who still retain critical thinking skills keeps me here. It is the small, sane corner of the world you have created that keeps us returning.
I share your views and appreciate everyday your insight and efforts to find sanity and meaning in this insane world. Thank You. PS whenever that eclipse occurs you can rest assured it was a valuable and well spent life.
Jim,
In many respects I felt like you were writing my biography. By the comments I’ve read, I’m not alone.
No, your “scribbled lines” have had far more impact that you assume. It’s because I see so many parallels in your world vision I use TBP as my #1 info source on world in which we find ourselves. The thoughts of the individualistic men of old (and a few ladies) who still retain critical thinking skills keeps me here. It is the small, sane corner of the world you have created that keeps us returning.
I share your views and appreciate everyday your insight and efforts to find sanity and meaning in this insane world. Thank You. PS whenever that eclipse occurs you can rest assured it was a valuable and well spent life.
initially posted as anon-crap….
You can edit with a sign-off so every one knows who it is, or a second comment briefly saying “the above was me”. as opposed to repeating it. Just sayin’.
Admin,
Impossible not to read your candid introspection of your past milestones without flashing on my own decisions, crossroads, realizations, rude awakenings, gambles, risks, rewards, and mistakes. I bet everyone reading this saw bits and pieces of their past zooming past their mind’s eye.
My series of spiritual, cultural, political and economic epiphanies started in my 43rd year and have not only not stopped, they are speeding up as the pace of revelations and changes we are all living with reaches Space Ball ‘Ludicrous Speed!”
You have identified the enemy well, their tactics, their strategy, and daily live out your defiance while providing the platform that burns for all of us to debate, and learn from one another on.
That is a noble and significant contribution.
Damn that was a good’un.
“I’ve always had a stoic attitude towards life, doing whatever needed to be done, taking care of my family, and deferring my gratification to some unspecified future time. I live inside my head most of the time, pondering, questioning, needlessly worrying, and trying to figure out my purpose on this earth.”
We seem to be living somewhat parallel lives. (I probably have a ten year head start on you tho.)
That was a profoundly personal and poignant piece. In my view, it resonated as art. The language was lyrical and the visuals astonished in haunting ways.
In an article I once wrote about blogging called “Peachy Keen and Cool as a Cucumber in a Banana Republic“, I addressed how we all view each other as if through straws out here on the unregulated internet. In other words, we only see tiny slivers of the respective pie charts of our lives.
But, paradoxically, through our words out here in the ether, we’re able to get to know each other in ways that likely surpass many of our acquaintances in our three-dimensional worlds.
As for me, I may be somewhat comfortable from an asset standpoint, but having gone Galt in 2011 with no pension and being too young to draw social security, I am often cash poor personally – especially getting pups through college debt free, taking risks, occasional business setbacks, unexpected brush fires, etc.
Therefore, I’m always looking at ways to generate monthly income, especially income that might be able to sustain itself for as long as possible into the forthcoming apocalypse. For example, this year I added the required endorsements to my CDL so I could be a substitute school bus driver.
And I never know where these experiences lead. The people at the community college where I tested ask me if I wanted to consider teaching there at some point because a couple of people are retiring in the next two years.
Ya never know.
In the meantime, I enjoy the comradery at the bus barn and the kids are pretty great.
Last week, a little kid sat in the front of the bus and befriended me. I asked his name and he said it’s too long for me to say it right. I asked him what grade he was in and he said 2nd grade. I commented that he must be about seven years old and he said seven and a half. I asked him what his teacher called him and he said something like “Tharaka”.
He then asked me to guess where he was born and gave me a hint that it was in Asia. I guessed Bahrain. And he said, “no, not West Asia”. Then I said Malaysia and he said “no, not South Asia”. He said it begins with an “i”, so I said India and he said: “Yes!”. Lol it was a trip.
Anyway, it ain’t all about the money.
Breathe. Breathe in the air.
“ As this Fourth Turning enters its terminal phase, I believe it will be people like those on my website who offer the hope of a better tomorrow. “
the range of personalities attracted to your site is pretty amazing, yet amid this diversity (haha) there’s a common thread, and i’d say it’s hope and a pretty cleared-eyed view of how things are going down, literally and figuratively. a post-christian west doesn’t mean no-christian west, and stands will be made in all arenas. time to buckle down.
you walk a razor edge with this site, jim, and it’s greatly appreciated.
Listen my friends and you will hear
A message that is very sincere
From a sound we all can hear
If they all were just only paying attention – great article.
Thanks very much for the effort. By far the best post in the history of TBP.
“It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.”
– Jiddu Krishnamurti
From your writing here, sir, I perceive that you are not well adjusted to our contemporary (psychotic) civilization.
Thank God for that.
There is respite once one goes beyond the physical and mental worlds that have been constructed down here: the spiritual.
I offer you a small discursive index (also of music and appropriate for the season) of the removal from the quotidian struggle to that of a higher plane:
Yet it is the journey we must take to attain that place, and the journey is a hard journey; is exhausting; is exhilarating; is difficult; is death defying; is eventually life affirming. But we can take it only by actually striving to it. So strive for it so that rather than looking forward to be “…on the dark side of the moon.” We may set as our objective some version of a sunlit terrestrial paradise as it is, believe it or not, possible.
But only after the Corruption and Malignancy is cleansed from the World; and that only with God’s merciful intervention.
Pequiste: hank you for posting the Hymn of the Cherubim. I, too, go to such sources when the world is too much with me and let beauty remind me of the real truth.
As this Fourth Turning enters its terminal phase, I believe it will be people like those on my website who offer the hope of a better tomorrow.
You can count on it, and you should feel at peace knowing that you played a crucial role in re-framing their thoughts. It’s those little embers that you and Llpoh have sown that are going to start one mother fucker of a beautiful wildfire. Hopefully you’ll still be alive and kicking so you can witness the new vegetation growing from the biochar.
AOC – I appreciate the shoutout but there are many here fanning the flames, too many to mention, you included. Each person that posts here adds to the TBP experience, and to its legacy.
I am the cranky old dog that roams around nipping and growling, and hopefully adding some small bits to the experience that is TBP. And Imtry to keep the TBP traditions alive.
We can build a better tomorrow as the sentiments of many readers make clear. It is in our hands to free ourselves and rise above the programmed algorithms of the mind. We have heart and we just need to expand the circle of our love.
Admin, I hardly ever make personal comments but the message I got was one of darkness and I hope that is not the case. I hope you and yours are well. I pray that the lord gives you strength in these days. I recall how you kept posting articles even when you were sick with the flu. I hope you don’t see this as a thankless job, I certainly am grateful for all your work.
You have given us much light. Rightly so, your lamp is not hid at all. It is amazing how your voice in the wilderness has grown and I am always impressed that the biblical analogy fits and has always fit. Like Abraham, you plead for the few righteous and never wish for the destroying angel to terminate life on earth like some wish for to quell their own despair. I have never read a false note in any of your writing and so I hardly have much to say in that regard.
You have a good Christian foundation and the house you built on that is sound. The money will come from good people and they will be blessed in turn. Be of good cheer, many will seek refuge here in the wild ’20s.
I can’t help but think there are enough smart people here to make a difference for ourselves and our posterior.
An excellent piece, Admin. Well done and thanks.
““We have a predator that came from the depths of the cosmos and took over the rule of our lives. Human beings are its prisoners. The Predator is our lord and master. It has rendered us docile, helpless. If we want to protest, it suppresses our protest. If we want to act independently, it demands that we don’t do so…
Carlos Castaneda
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/8705957-we-have-a-predator-that-came-from-the-depths-of
Those Mexican sorcerers (and others) saw through the illusion perpetrated by the overlords. Overlords equals “predators” in Don Juan’s teachings. Soros types are not overlords, they are tools. EC did you read Castaneda’s books? He was an early teacher of mine to seeing “the evil fuckers” behind the curtain. Churchianity doesn’t have a monopoly on the truth. Lucifer and Satan (father, son) quote the Bible better than most. So, I know you xians are going to reflexively vote me down, but then go on to do more research on your own. “Everything you know is wrong” by Loyd Pye was a big jaw dropper. An article titled “Every Conspiracy Theory is True”(now lost to me) was also a big whammy for me. Almost NOTHING is impossible in Evil fucker’s 12-11 dimension quantum physics (think reality hologram and magik). All rabbit holes have truth hiding in them. Some truths are so horrid they cause damage, be careful. The 2 laws of this universe are Free Will and Non Interference. Lucifer invented lawyers to get around the law.
“We have a predator that came from the depths of the cosmos and took over the rule of our lives. Human beings are its prisoners. The Predator is our lord and master. It has rendered us docile, helpless. If we want to protest, it suppresses our protest. If we want to act independently, it demands that we don’t do so..
Carlos Castaneda.
Don Juan was a fraud, totally fake. Therefore, this ‘quote’ is fake.
Your entitled to your opinion.
Thank you!
I suggest we come up with a TBP Christmas Post and that the tadpole step up and propose a gifting campaign for the blog.
I’ve got another one of a kid on a Pyrenese my father did and there’s a the weird one of me standing in the corn.
Or did he corn crack?
We are not mean. We just have no tolerance for fools.
Can’t say I like bible thumpers much either, come to think of it. But hey, free speech.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_p11VE9_Hrs
You, especially, should be ashamed.
For what, do you know something I don’t? People pay for me to be mean. Admin said that Maggie had paid $50 for me; that I could be mean again.
I paid $50 for you to say three nice things about me. Admin said you could be mean to me.
I’m saving up my money for you to say at least three more nice things in time for Christmas and my birthday.
Slapping this image I took in 1998 from ground level up here… Isn’t the reflection on that negative (and it is ON THE NEGATIVE and I kept the negative) amazing? Light and shadows play strange tricks on camera lenses. Perhaps on eyes too.
Mean comments are free. This is no place to seek coddling. People gotta pay if they want to experience the kindness of strangers. How can I get over somebody who told me “you’re mean” ? Or people who post anonymously to tell me I should be ashamed? Isn’t that kinda mean?
The kindness of strangers. It is what Blanche relied upon, isn’t it?
You are suggesting that Blanche bartered for the kindness of strangers and got more than she bargained for?
Seriously, come up with a good “QOTD” for this picture…
How many people ever rode one of fancy Big Wheels? How about that silver stallion behind ME? (the gas tank… lol!)
Find five items in this picture which are now obsolete:
Window Fan
Big Wheel
Galvanized Wash Tub (corner)
Tin Roof (Rusted!)
BBQ grill (good heavens! We used that!)
Crawl space under house (not me, no way)
(Not sure about the gas tank… we still have one, though it doesn’t look like that… I used to pretend it was Silver, the Lone Ranger’s Horse when I was a kid… am sure there are pictures of me riding it.)
That is Doug, oldest nephew, now father of two, aged 12 and 7. Little girls.
Nice place you had there, Meggido. Here’s where Maggie got her start on wet t-shirt contests.
Is it really our dark side or might we believe with Castaneda that this dark aspect of our nature was given to us by a Predator who came from deep within the Cosmos and has held us back from fulfilling our noble destiny? We are living on a prison planet. Goethe said that Earth was the insane asylum of the universe. Are human’s being manipulated by outside forces?
Yep.
A couple albums from the same time period deserve a mention . Two by the Kinks, Arthur and Muswell Hillbillies, both about English life, but cut across those paltry boundaries. In a darker vain, King Crimson’s In the Court of the Crimson King, 20th Century Schizoid Man in particular.
my respect for you is ensconced in your desire to adhere to the principles of free thought and speech. nobody does it better. all it requires is to stand by and let it happen. your silent presence exists in every reader comment. good work!
I dwelt on this as I was falling asleep last night, the words drifting around in my head looking for a place to settle and make their home to a soundtrack of Pink Floyd.
I’ll say it again, this is a masterful piece of writing. I’m almost halfway through the collected writings of Eric Blair (Orwell) and watching his style develop over the years you find all of these concealed bits and pieces, snatches of thought that later developed and bloomed into 1984 and Animal Farm and as you process them you slowly come to understand what it must be like to be a great writer in the making. I feel the same way when I read your work, Jim. There is a great writer at work here with some extremely important ideas. I think you have quite a future as your work comes into it’s own- not just with the serious pieces like this, but with the National Geographic styled tours of North Philly in the 30 Blocks series.
What was it that made me come back to comment on this a second time? The brilliant use of the Dark Side of the Moon lyrics was extremely effective. I couldn’t even begin to guess at how many times I have listened to that piece of music since 1975- a thousand? Ten thousand times? And while I may have sung along to it, was I ever aware of how the words tattooed themselves on my subconscious, the underlying and hardly concealed melody of cynicism and defeat buoyed by the even more powerful and uplifting message of hope?
Clearly so many of us are products of a generational cohort that our perceptions are clustered together around specific images, sounds and experiences that define us. Ours was the first generation to truly be free from the most basic of human needs and wants- like hunger- so much so that we lost contact with something as simple as flipping soil with a spade in the garden and planting a seed. These primitive skills were the kinds of things for our grandparents to do and most of our memories revolve not around the family canning and curing their provender for the Winter, but of standing in front of an open refrigerator staring in at the brightly lit shelves loaded with groceries. And because we lost touch with these skills we forgot the bigger cycles of life, the endlessly cycling seasons, the swirl of time passing one generation after another disconnected. And then one day you find, ten years have got behind you…
These last two pieces are cornerstones in a canon of important American literature. Our current era produces so little of substance, so much that is wedded to illusory and fictitious beliefs that a piece like this echoes like sound of a night train passing through a frozen valley, as far as there are ears to hear it. I am honored to be among the first to read it knowing that this will outlast every one of us and serve as a reminder for those of future generations not to trade their birthright for a mess of pottage.
HSF said: “I’m almost halfway through the collected writings of Eric Blair (Orwell)”
I — for one — would look forward to your thoughts on Orwell and his works once you complete your study. I recently discovered the ironic fact that Orwell (probably the single most readily referenced writer in opposition to totalitarianism) was an avowed socialist. This shocked me, so I picked up “Down and Out in Paris and London” and “The Road to Wigan Pier” and its predecessor: “People of the Abyss” by Jack London (also a Socialist). These were sobering and haunting reads. I do not know how the implications of these books can square with those of “1984” and “Animal Farm”? Again, be interested in your thoughts.
Great piece Mr. Quinn; confusing and trying times for sure. I am of a similar disposition to you I believe — like many others here. I have found a couple ways to make the slog less tiresome and maybe even somewhat enjoyable is: to take pictures of the people and things in your life and make them beautiful again because they are (corny a bit yes, but it helps). Have more parties and small get togethers. It is easy to get bogged down in the inanity of work and life that we often forget not only to have fun but how to have fun. Have fun again man! Do things that make people double take. A simple one is using the cashiers name every time you buy something. It feels good to make this inhuman world human again. If small things like this can affect the trajectory of someone’s day/life (and I think they can — or hope they can), I think there is no way your efforts here are in vain. Carry on sir.
Stucky, how is your wife? How are you?
My life found purpose and hope in a relationship (not religion) with Jesus Christ. He gives me hope for now and for my future. My purpose is beyond what can be found in this earth alone. Even seemingly meaningless tasks take on new purpose when we know we are following Him. I pray that you too will find hope in Him. Put away any thoughts about performance based religion and call on Him. He is a friend with whom we can walk life everyday. Yes, He has rules, but they are not to earn His love but because He knows what is best for us and His Kingdom. He does not promise a life free of trials but that He will never leave us nor forsake us as He walks us through them. We are promised a future hope free of sin and sorrow and that day is coming very soon. Follow Him, Sir and you will find new meaning for your life. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. You will find new joy in relationships with your family and others as well.
Amen, sister. (Be nice EC et al… I think Leisa could be an angle in disguise. Or an arc angle.)
A Very Hearty AMEN!!! I feel exactly the same way.
This says it all…
“We are currently in the midst of a Fourth Turning and the darkness deepens by the day, with the ongoing coup attempt against a sitting president; a debt crisis being covered up by the Federal Reserve; ongoing wars in the Middle East; a new cold war against Russia and China; an overbearing dangerous surveillance state; climate change hoax used to increase government power; socialists gaining acceptance among the dumbed down masses; gun grabbers trying to overturn the 2nd Amendment; celebration of decadence; rewarding diversity over accomplishment; trillion dollar deficits; and half the country despising the other half.”
If that doesn’t scream dysfunctional society/government, I don’t know what does. Excellent work Jim… Chip
I feel as though you have written so eloquently about my very own life. From my love of Pink Floyd, the song Time and the course of our lives/careers to the feeling of being a stoic outcast persevering for the good of others at the expense of my own ambitions… we are kindred spirits ( and almost identical age and families, except I have daughters instead of sons.)
Masterful pieces you have written– I am going to print these 2 musings, place them in an envelope with the Dark Side CD and seal it in my safe for posterity– when I am gone then maybe my kids/grandkids will have a clearer understanding of how dad felt but never shared much ( I am a stoic and not one to share “feelings” much.)
PS: After reading this article while preparing for the daily grind I decided to call-out from work. First time since last December that I took a non-scheduled day off. I simply said “I won’t be coming in today”… no reason given, just a day of rest and quiet protest against the rat race and bureaucrats who profit handsomely from my labours…….
Javelin, great idea to seal musings and cd in envelope. I will steal your idea and send it to a friend and also keep one for the future. I first heard the album when it came out on a friend’s car 8 track tape. I then heard it in quadrophonic sound. That time cut is great in quad.
Gilmour may be an atheist but I believe he is channeling God through that black stratocaster.
Thank you for such a fabulous article. I appreciate the work and effort that went into it.
Similarly, I’m at the end of my career pushing the big Six-O, I’m in the Higher Education (HE) “industry” and what a moving train wreck it isI I hang on for the insurance at 62 but HE is going through a transformation (going broke, way too top heavy and lots of empty calories and customers are becoming aware and dieting).
Even through a nasty divorce and the usual “family” court, family destruction done to me and my children, 20 or so years ago, I’ve been able to construct somewhat of a simple and responsible life. I’ve stuck it out almost a quarter century here at work but I don’t know if I can make it until Sixty-Two.
In fact, I’m hoping that things will get dire enough at the U, that it just starts offering early retirement plans so I can leave. if they don’t, I still may say f*ck the insurance and just free myself just to be free. I’m trying to not care anymore and just live for today.
I too don’t understand how the machine keeps running, but run it does. I’ll see you on the Dark Side of the Moon!
To build a fortress in the midst of a terrible storm that not only protects it’s occupants, but also lights the path for others to follow is truly the work of a noble soul . I knew you wise beyond your years when I first read your essays over at RD . I’ve had great respect for you and your painfully honest work ever since. You deserve a special place in heaven, James. You’ve been a bright light in a dark world and God will bless you for it.
We may be closer to that 4th Turning than most think. I saw an interesting commentary on Symbology last night wherein all culture and music was claimed to be a form of worship lending itself to either the exaltation of darkness or light with Kayne West being the example of the ‘fool’ that flips the proverbial apple cart of dark culture and turns it back towards the light.
I know it sounds crazy. West is a influential lunatic wrapped up in the popular culture of filth that pervades modernity, but the commentator is not praising West, just recognizing the fact that the fool has begun to flip towards the light. He also warns that 2020 is shaping up to becoming a maelstrom of socioeconomic shattering change… might be a good time to get closer to our family, community and God.
God watch over US all.
Kanye West – Jesus is King | The Fool and the Inversion
Puke.
“There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments, and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance – that principle is contempt prior to investigation.”
― William Paley
He may be flipping towards his announced goal of running for president. Once the boomers are gone, he will enjoy great popularity and name recognition with the new generation of voters. He is paving the way for his ascension. His gospel message is garbled but works well with the new age church of Mammon.
No. He’s just a fool who swung too hard left and upon realizing this, suddenly over corrects. Just like geese flying South, it’s sign of the winter to come.
Admin,
That was a powerful piece of writing, making me feel like I’m in the right place at the right time, when I’m reading and learning on TBP. Your efforts are most worthwhile and appreciated. Keep up the exceptional, good work.
I pass by your blog occasionally as part of my rounds in the “collapse” crowd that keep me sane. And you have made a small difference. But I’m going to go out on a limb and say, yeah your life’s work hasn’t amounted to much, yet, and time is short.
I feel the same. I studied visual art but had this side interest in computer programming. Well, guess what I do for 40-80 hours a week in the marvelous Valley of Silicon, stressing over artificial deadlines to put pixels on screens in the right configuration…. which may or may not sell more F-150s this quarter? I’m desperately seeking the escape hatch from the Matrix but like you, I can’t see a way out that wouldn’t also significantly impoverish my family. So I carry on, making art in my allotted “free time”, but never making any real progress, just incoherent scribbles, like some kind of dangerous prisoner (or mentally disabled person) that can’t be trusted with sharp instruments.
As far as fatherhood, I applaud you. I’m a mid 40s father of 2. It’s hard to be a father or to even know what manhood entails these days. That being said, I view fatherhood and providing for my family to be table stakes, not a life well lived in of itself.
Final note of constructive criticism from the cheap seats: the over the top ad inserts on this site really detract from your message, which is quite profound. I mean, I know you want to make a little passive income to cover your costs, but it seems these type of ads are a symptom of everything you’re against and that which Pink Floyd was warning us about? The mass distraction, mass surveillance and mass consumerism while the world burns? Unless you’re being ironic?
BEAUTIFUL BEAUTIFUL BEAUTIFUL piece!
BEST article I’ve read in a long time. I’m also 50 and have those same feelings of “Why am I doing this” my website is “Transhumanistresistance.com”. And I pray that these young people hear what we say and that they’ll too wake up one day to the fact that they too are slaves, just like us.
AWESOME piece!
Good advice for young people with no kids here. Run away from the slave states while you still can.
99 bottles
100, again… too slow!
AWB,
You misunderstand some of the long timers here.
It’s called tough love. No, they don’t have a monopoly on right and wrong but…
Whatcher A&W Butthead is fergettin’ ter say is there really ain’t much hope fer the rest of us unless its true that God still loves us in spite of ourselves.
All of us should be ashamed of ourselves.
Blow me. No one on TBP is more kind and gentle than me. I love everyone … even you, ya fag.
(You’re gonna love today’s QOTD … “Black Fatass Version”.
BOOM!!!!!!!! That’s EXACTLY how I feel.
This is, by far, my most favorite piece you’ve written. (I really mean it this time.) You opened-up more here than in other writings … we get a glimpse of the #RealJimQuinn …. and that person is one of my heroes in this life.
Wish I could write more (and even read the comments) … but, I have a meeting with the Social Worker at the hospital in an hour. Hope I can read the rest tomorrow.
Thanks for all you do for all of us Jim!!
This is 199!
You folks can believe whatever you want but the fact is that our so called ‘dark side’ was not given to us by any benevolent deity. What kind of immortal, eternal, transcendental and benevolent force would create the suffering of human mortality. It is preposterous. What more than likely happened was that the DNA of man was hacked by some external (alien) force. We are all captives of a hostile alien force that feeds on our sorrows. I don’t need for anyone to agree with me but I suspect strongly that it is true. Until we recognize that we are not free we will have no chance of gaining real freedom.
You might want to check out Wes Penre.
Jim,
Thank you for your thoughtful reflections. Hearing someone who I have come to respect and yet not even met, say many of the things i have thought, felt and experienced (and me being a spring chicken compared to the majority of Boomers on this site) of helps remind me and others we are not alone.