“THE YEAR WAS 2081, and everybody was finally equal. They weren’t only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else. All this equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution, and to the unceasing vigilance of agents of the United States Handicapper General.” – Harrison Bergeron – Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut’s short story – Harrison Bergeron – was written in 1961, and in Vonnegut’s darkly satirical style, portrayed America in 2081 as an disgracefully dystopian nightmare. Little did Vonnegut know what he considered outrageous and 120 years in the future, would be far closer to our current dystopian reality just 60 years later. The story was brought to my attention by my wife a week ago when we were talking about the absurdity of masks, their uselessness in stopping viruses, how they are nothing more than a means to control the population, being used to spread fear, and as a dehumanizing technique.
She remembered the name Diana Moon Glampers from reading the story in high school. Never has a story that takes 15 minutes to read, captured the evilness and depravity of a government demanding “equality” in a more succinct and brutal manner. Its parallels with our current government enforced lockdown, mandatory muzzles, mainstream media propaganda, and social media censorship is uncannily accurate.
The premise of Vonnegut’s story is George and Hazel Bergeron sitting on their couch watching TV, sometime after their fourteen-year old son Harrison had been taken away by the government and jailed for the crime of being strong, good looking, intelligent, and defiant against their ridiculous regulations and dictates. The mediocre minds of those in charge had taken the American Declaration of Independence’s phrase – “All men are created equal” to a ludicrous extreme.
Their warped interpretation of our founding document failed to acknowledge the term “independence”, and the unalienable rights of all men to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We are created equal in the eyes of God, but we have free choice to use our abilities to succeed or fail in life. Some people use their intellectual abilities to succeed, others use their athletic strength, and others their physical appearance and talents. The government should not dictate who should succeed or fail.
The totalitarian government in Vonnegut’s 2081 America coerces its citizens into being equal to one another in appearance, behavior, and achievements. To attain physical and intellectual equality among all Americans, the government torments its citizens through mandatory handicapping, enforced by the Handicapper General – Diana Moon Glampers.
The beautiful must wear repugnant masks or disfigure themselves, the intelligent must listen to piercing noises that impede their ability to think, and the elegant and strong must wear weights around their necks. Removal of their government mandated handicaps results in huge fines and imprisonment. Vonnegut takes the “achievement” of total equality to its most absurd outcomes. The foolishness of handicapping the best and brightest citizens to achieve total equality is unnatural and wrong. Punishing the talented by forcing them to be unexceptional and compliant, results in a society of mediocrity and mendaciousness.
Harrison Bergeron is seven feet tall, three hundred pounds, athletic, graceful, handsome, intelligent and defiant. He is the embodiment of the alpha American male, making him a dangerous threat to a government dependent upon keeping its populace fearful, sedated, cowed, average and unmotivated to defy their dictates. The handicaps placed on Harrison were heavier than anyone had ever required.
“Instead of a little ear radio for a mental handicap, he wore a tremendous pair of earphones, and spectacles with thick wavy lenses. The spectacles were intended to make him not only half blind, but to give him whanging headaches besides. Scrap metal was hung all over him. Ordinarily, there was a certain symmetry, a military neatness to the handicaps issued to strong people, but Harrison looked like a walking junkyard. And to offset his good looks, the H-G men required that he wear at all times a red rubber ball for a nose, keep his eyebrows shaved off, and cover his even white teeth with black caps at snaggle-tooth random.” – Harrison Bergeron – Kurt Vonnegut
Despite these hinderances, he escapes from his jail cell, bursts into the studio where average ballet dancers, masked to hide their beauty, and weighed down by bags of birdshot, are joylessly giving an unexceptional performance in front of a nationwide audience of unthinking automatons, obediently following the orders of their overseers. The warning announcement from the government before he arrived at the studio said he was plotting to overthrow the government and should be considered extremely dangerous.
In this world of the “future”, anyone not toeing the government line and exercising their right to think differently or question the government narrative is considered a traitor and dangerous. Individuality is a crime. Thinking for yourself is a crime. Enjoying life is a crime. Not obeying masking rules is a crime. Does this remind you of anything in present day America? Harrison is brave and defiant, while the majority are cowardly and passive.
Harrison rips off his steel restraints and handicaps, revealing his physical strength and magnificence, reminding TV viewers that underneath their own restraints and handicaps, they too are individuals, capable of excelling and living life fully. He declares himself emperor and selects a ballerina as his empress.
The other dancers and musicians removed their handicaps and began to play and dance up to their God given abilities. This scene offered the potential for a revolution. As Harrison and his empress danced majestically, you could visualize the mental and physical binds breaking across the country. A spirit of excellence and independence could sweep across the land and the people could break free of their government mandated trusses.
But it was not to be. Authoritarian governments, once they attain power and control, will not relinquish it without a fight. They will use violent means to keep the sheep docile and obedient.
“It was then that Diana Moon Glampers, the Handicapper General, came into the studio with a double-barreled ten-gauge shotgun. She fired twice, and the Emperor and the Empress were dead before they hit the floor. Diana Moon Glampers loaded the gun again. She aimed it at the musicians and told them they had ten seconds to get their handicaps back on.” – Harrison Bergeron – Kurt Vonnegut
The governments of the future and the present cannot allow displays of individuality and defiance of authority, or they lose their power, control and wealth. Therefore, they will resort to extreme acts of violence to enforce their will upon their subjects. Governments want passive, unthinking, obedient serfs, who do as they are told and believe whatever narrative they are peddled.
In Vonnegut’s dystopian future the government achieved this mental state of distraction through externally applied handicaps, but in reality, they have been able to achieve this outcome through government school indoctrination centers, drugs to induce tranquility, and technology to mesmerize, distract, and propagandize an easily swayed populace.
Vonnegut was certainly warning his readers about the evils of equality as sold by the socialists/communists during the 1950s. Based on what have seen since his warning and the current drift of the country towards socialist authoritarian enforced equality – taking from the successful and giving to the failures – we have failed to heed the moral of his cautionary tale. We’ve chosen comforting lies over unpleasant truths.
Vonnegut’s two main themes were the dangers of government enforced total equality and the power of television/technology to control and manipulate our thoughts and feelings. Those with average intelligence required nothing more than to be entertained by the TV, but those with above average intelligence or abilities either willingly dumbed themselves down or hid their special attributes, to avoid the harsh handicaps inflicted by the government.
Fear of severe punishment intimidated the talented into docile submission. The quest for equality was achieved. The result was a nation of stupid, slow dullards, incapable of critical thought or achievement. Vonnegut’s question for his audience was, are we willing to sacrifice our liberty and freedom in order to achieve a government mandated and enforced level of warped equality?
Anyone with an iota of awareness and critical thinking ability can see the parallels with our current path of compulsory equality, enforced through government regulations, left wing academics, social media shaming, corporate virtue signaling, and socialist politicians. Rather than physically handicapping those with more talent and drive, they attempt to equalize for the inept and lazy by lowering the bar and heaping financial incentives upon the “disadvantaged”.
The entire BLM scam being jammed down the throats of white Americans is based on the falsehood of systemic racism and the perceived need to equal the playing field for blacks by giving them the ball on the five-yard line. We have universities ignoring SAT scores to allow minorities slots earned by Asians and whites. The entire educational system has been dumbed down to make the intellectually challenged (aka dummies) feel like they are equal to those who outperform and outwork them. Being educated at a university by academics who have never worked a day in their lives doesn’t make you intelligent, as we can plainly see by the level of ignorance in this country.
The narrative of victimhood has been flogged by the deceitful mainstream media, pandering politicians, and imparted by left wing professors to their oblivious indoctrinated students. This narrative is used to guilt those who worked for their success into volunteering their positions and supporting undeserved remunerations.
The trillions spent to alleviate the perceived disadvantages of blacks since LBJ’s Great Society implementation have done nothing but enslave millions in the chains of a welfare mentality and it’s never enough. Equality won’t be achieved until trillions of reparation bribes are paid and their criminal element are rewarded for their looting and rioting efforts in cities across the land.
The victim card is used by feminists for “equal pay”, even though the statistics they use are fake. The LGBQT movement demands special rights, rather than equal rights. Sports Illustrated now puts obese chicks and men pretending to be women in their swimsuit issue in order to be politically correct and woke. Those of a libertarian bent don’t care how others choose to live their lives, but trying to force abnormality upon the community through laws and regulations is a bridge too far. Bringing others down to further your agenda is not what this country is about. And the pushback is now commencing.
The most relevant parallel between Vonnegut’s dystopian future and 2020 has been the use of fear by the government, their media mouthpieces, and handsomely paid “experts” to herd the population into lockdown corrals, while forcing mandatory masking (muzzling) under threat of fines and imprisonment. This has been done to “save us” from a flu that will not kill 99.7% of us and is only a risk to the very old and infirm.
Even though the CDC, New England Journal of Medicine and numerous other medical authorities detailed the ineffectiveness of masks in combating viruses prior to this engineered pandemic, the authorities demand compliance and submission to mask mandates, even though the virus continues to spread despite compulsory masking around the world – except in Sweden.
In Vonnegut’s dark vision of the future, the handsome and beautiful are masked to make the ugly and average feel good about themselves. The intelligent and thoughtful are hampered by screeching sounds so they are dumbed down to the level of compliant dullards. The fear of reprisal and punishment keeps the population terrified and easy to manipulate and manage.
Vonnegut’s totalitarian government behemoth sought to dehumanize its subjects, suck the joy from their lives, and create a nation of submissive serfs, unwilling to revolt against their masters. Our power-crazed autocrats, running the show, are jubilant at the success of their demonic experiment in convincing the vast swath of humanity to love their servitude, scurrying around like masked mice, avoiding each other as if there was a real plague engulfing the world.
The un-Constitutional lockdowns are a test drive for further authoritarian measures designed to make our lives joyless, bleak and controlled by a master class of oligarchs and their henchmen enforcers. Their goal is to turn us against each other, creating a nation of snitches and equally miserable slaves for the state. They haven’t resorted to shotgun blasts on national TV, but physically attacking the non-compliant has begun.
Vonnegut’s entire story takes place with George and Hazel Bergeron planted on their couch watching TV. Vonnegut clearly believed the relatively new invention of television had become a hugely important part of our daily lives, with the potential capacity to be used by the government to sedate, rule and terrorize the population into doing what they were told. As Bernays noted almost 100 years ago, the manipulation of the habits and opinions of the masses through unseen propaganda techniques allow the invisible government to manipulate and control the minds of its citizens.
Television made this “necessary” molding of minds to the desires of the government dramatically easier. Vonnegut saw television as mainly a sedative for the masses, keeping them docile and distracted from thinking. It was also a means of coercion, as the news bulletin showed a photograph of Harrison with his good looks disfigured and strength dissipated as a visual example to viewers of what will happen to them if they do not stifle their own abilities and obey their overlords. The live executions on TV were used as a warning to everyone about the fate of revolutionaries.
Vonnegut had no idea how the power of television would be taken to the nth power with the onset of the internet, “smart” phones, and social media. The geniuses and techno-geeks assured us technology would enhance freedom and open the world to new horizons and discoveries. All the knowledge ever learned would be at the fingertips of everyone on the planet. A glorious future awaited. Sadly, for humanity, the glorious future never arrived. As Huxley predicted, technological progress has just provided a more efficient means of going backwards. Technology is used as a never-ending distraction for those with below average intelligence.
The unadulterated use of propaganda and fear has never been more evident than during this great reset pandemic scheme. The brightly colored Covid-19 case counters at the bottom of every MSM news channel screen are designed to scare the non-thinking math challenged noobs into believing mass death will sweep the nation unless they lockdown and mask-up. The government uses influencers (Hollywood idiots and sports heroes who can’t spell hero) and mass media advertising campaigns to make the plebs believe masks work and lockdowns will stop the virus. The level of willful ignorance is beyond comprehension, but a true credit to the propaganda powers of the state.
The truth is out there, but the billionaire Silicon Valley censorship police are doing their part as the enforcement arm of the invisible government overseers, to obscure, delete, and suppress any opinions not adhering to the approved Party narrative. There are thousands of medical professionals who know HCQ + zinc stops this virus dead in its tracks, but acknowledging that truth would not help enrich Gates, Fauci and the drug company complex. Therefore, it is ridiculed, scorned and banned from use by politicians and media pundits on the take. The current fear mongering has reached a new level this week as their final push to rid themselves of Trump enters the home stretch.
The talking heads screech about new all-time highs in cases and hyper-ventilate about the coming wave of death unless we elect Biden, lockdown and enforce mandatory masking. What they do not tell you is testing reached an all-time high of 1.4 million yesterday, so with the same positivity rate (with at least 50% false positives), cases will always go up. The vast majority of those testing positive have no symptoms, meaning they aren’t sick. The only thing that should matter is deaths per case. How many cases lead to a death?
At the peak in April there were 2,113 deaths per day when cases were 30,000. That was a death rate of 7%. Two months ago, there were 922 deaths per day when cases were 41,000. That was a death rate of 2.3%. Today we have 809 deaths per day, with cases at 79,000 – a death rate of 1%. Have you heard an MSM propagandist joyously declare the death rate is now down 86% from its peak and down 57% in the last two months? That doesn’t fit the narrative of fear needed to keep you controlled, cowed and compliant.
Vonnegut was right, but he was far too optimistic on the timing. The totalitarians are on the warpath. They already have control over most governments and intend a great worldwide reset to implement their socialist/communist agenda of equality for all – except themselves. They want more wealth, more control, and more power. As Orwell predicted, they seek power for its own sake. They don’t care about our lives, liberties, or pursuit of happiness. They just want dumbed down obedient workers to do the menial jobs and passively accept their fate until death.
“The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power. Not wealth or luxury or long life or happiness: only power, pure power. We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means, it is an end. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?” – 1984 – George Orwell
Of course, the antidote to this new world order is written within our founding document. The government should derive its powers from the consent of the governed. Those in charge, whether elected or unelected, have destroyed our rights, freedom and liberty. Therefore, it is our right to abolish the existing form of government and institute a new government under our original founding principles. Those in control will not relinquish their power without violent conflict. That is how Fourth Turnings reach a climax. I have a feeling the fight will begin in earnest on November 4. Brace yourself and prepare to fight for the future of our country.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.” – Declaration of Independence – 1776
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Ah yes, Mr. Vonnegut. One of the greatest.
Vonnegut’s unique perspective was molded as an American WWII POW in Germany who survived the bombing of Dresden. The Germans herded up the American POWs and sent them down into the cold storage caverns that criss-cross most European cities. He spent months afterwards with other POWs digging out the corpses from the rubble of the city. I think he was around 19 at the time. What a way to begin adulthood.
His son-in-law should have been abandoned in Al Capone’s vault after that fiasco.
They are literally trying to kill us. Expect more of this as the weather gets colder. The masks will get soggy going from warm to cold to warm temps since people wear them outside. KIds have to wear them on school buses and outside on the playground.
https://www.abc12.com/2020/10/02/health-department-investigating-after-high-number-of-strep-throat-cases-at-shepherd-schools/
I regret that I have but one mask to remove for my country.
No worries Joe has your back. He has 2
Exactly, MC. One thing that is getting little or no attention is that everyone who submits (and i don’t use that word lightly) to a “test” is voluntarily giving up their DNA….
I wonder if spreading that knowledge would reduce “compliance” among the sheep and breed some new wolves.
Everyone should remember that ANY blood sample (as well other personal samples taken for lab study) can be used sequence your DNA.
Hopefully everybody these days knows that one’s personal DNA can be determined from almost any object with which you have been in close contact (e.g. a paper cup, a toll-both ticket, whatever…).
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxtc3JlZG1hbmVuZ2xpc2h8Z3g6MjdlZjYzZmNmMjFjMjgxZA
Short five pages, an excellent story.
Thank you Ms. Ginger, this made my day. Mighty kind of you to present this for us. Try giving Richard Brautigan’s “In Watermelon Sugar” a gander. He also mines the same territory as Vonnegut did in “Harrison Bergeron”. Both providing a laser beam of satire and social commentary.
And so it goes…
One of the best short stories by one of the best writers America ever produced.
Welcome to the monkey house!
Yes from “Welcome to the Monkey house” have not read it in 30+ years. It was an astonishing read.
“I will be the emperor and you will be my Empress”!. Few writer have the power of this type of social commentary: Vonnegut, Mark Twain, and Richard Brautigan.
Yes, we have our own Diana Moon Glampers wielding her executive order shotgun in Michigan.
Even to the point of defying the State’s Supreme Court.
Defiance is overdue. En masse.
Jim, you might consider this as a stand alone article. It explains a lot. https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/11/01/delingpole-only-donald-trump-can-save-us-from-the-great-reset/
We are trying every last thing we can do to win it civilly but it seems as though we’ve brought a knife to a gun fight
The push is for equal outcomes, which defines insane. Equal opportunity I agree with, but the idea that equal outcomes is to be attained needs to be smashed.
The example Admin uses – equal pay for women – has been debunked. When factors such as career choice, child rearing, etc., are factored in, the discrepancy disappears. That does not prevent states (CA as example) from mandating certain percentages of women and minorities on corporate boards. No, you cannot choose the most capable, you must choose from a bank of people that are less capable. The selection of Kamala Harris is another case in point. She is most qualified? Pig’s arse.
I have as an example that the Queensland election returned the current government in a landslide- despite it overseeing an almost complete destruction of its economy. People willingly voted to be enslaved, and out of work. That lefty government has crushed tourism and mining – the two backbones of the Queensland economy. But the people are afraid of the virus, and they voted that destructive govt back in as they have pushed the fear factor into the minds of the people.
I have been figuratively fighting for months now – letters, calls, etc by the hundreds. I believe I have made an impact, and some of the most ridiculous ideas have been quashed.
The fact is, I am in an at risk category of the virus. But I have run a crusade against the actions of the govt, despite having no virus around suits me personally. The destruction of freedom and the economy is not worth whatever tiny bit of safety it adds to my circumstance or anyone else’s and I have not sat idly by as it has happened. And slowly the worm turned.
The time is now to protest and be heard. The left cannot be allowed to hold that ground alone.
“The government should derive its powers from the consent of the governed.” Admin
“I have as an example that the Queensland election returned the current government in a landslide- ” Llpoh
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s center-left Labour Party won a landslide victory in national elections Saturday as voters endorsed her government’s efforts to stamp out the coronavirus.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/17/new-zealand-prime-minister-jacinda-ardern-wins-landslide-re-election.html
See how this works.
This is Democracy. When idiots are allowed a vote, freedom dies.
We were better off with a king.
That’s actually truth. But, it’s true ONLY if you have a benevolent king.
What if you’re stuck with an evil king?? Then the people are totally fucked.
Well, under any form of government the people are almost always screwed. The question then becomes; “Which is worse for the people; an evil king, or an evil democracy?”
It’s far easier to replace one king than an entire government of incorrigible criminals.
But all government by and for man eventually reverts to mean, which is to say succumbs to evil, therefore outside of divine intervention humanity is destined to forever suffer at the hands of evil men who always manage to get control of our lives though what we often like to call good government.
The evil Caligula ruled for 29 years.
The evil Ivan the Terrible ruled for 37 years.
Bitchy Mary, Queen of Scots ruled for 25 years.
King Obama tormented the people for 8 years.
It ain’t as easy as you think.
Easy ? Did I say that ? No, what I said is that it would be easier to remove one king than an entire government of tyrants. And then I said that the only hope for mankind is divine intervention . The latter cancel all others.
BTW, we’ve had the same tyrant running this country since the Second National bank circa 1817. That’s 203 years . The king will eventually die and be replaced with perhaps a better one, but usury and the demonic organisations that control it never do. Good work Protestants.
Caligula , Ivan and Mary might have been tyrants, but compared to the money masters who have instigated mass murder and despotism on the scale never before seen one earth,they seem absolutely benign.
“Give me the power to issue a nation’s money; then I do not care who makes the law.”Anselm Rothschild
“A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the Nation and all our activities are in the hands of a few men. We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated governments in the world–no longer a government of free opinion, no longer a government of conviction, and vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and duress, of small groups of dominant men.” President Woodrow Wilson
“The real truth of the matter is, as you and I know, that a financial element in the large centers has owned the government ever since the days of Andrew
Jackson. ” President Franklin D. Roosevelt
http://www.silverbearcafe.com/private/blueplate/quotes.html
“ World War II ended the “depression.” The same Bankers who in the early 30’s had no loans for peacetime houses,food and clothing, suddenly had unlimited billions to lend for Army barracks, K-rations and uniforms! A nation that in 1934 couldn’t produce food for sale, suddenly could produce bombs to send free to Germany and Japan!… Germany issued debt-free and interest-free money from 1935 and on, accounting for its startling rise from the depression to a world power in 5 years. Germany financed its entire government and war operation from 1935 to 1945 without gold and without debt, and it took the whole Capitalist and Communist world to destroy the
German power over Europe and bring Europe back under the heel of the Bankers. Such history of money does not even appear in the textbooks of public (government) schools today. ”
Sheldon Emry
Billions For Bankers, Debts for the People
https://archive.org/details/Billions20for20the20bankers
Caligula was a little under 4 years
AD 37-41
And you will die waiting for any divine intervention.
Do you want to know a secret? I am a closet Monarchist! If a King negates his duty to the kingdom his is replaced.
Democracy has never existed. It’s just a sham to pacify the dumb masses by giving the the false idea that they have freedom of choice.
When an adult who cannot even economically support him/herself is allowed (nay… encouraged) to vote, the system is DOOMED. But we all knew that!
If voting really mattered they wouldn’t let us do it.
Viruses do not cause disease. Once we get over that hurdle a whole new world opens up. I don’t expect this truth to be accepted any time soon, but one day we will all look back at this time and wonder how we were hoodwinked so easily. Take off the mask, you look silly. If we all did this one thing, Vonnegut’s timing may be more accurate. I’m not holding my breath.
Readers Digest version: We’re fucked.
I am well aware of ALL the individual issues Admin addresses in this piece. But, when you read it all together at one time, it’s downright scary as hell. Few writers on the net sum up things like Admin can. Tying it all together with Vonnegut’s short story as a backdrop is brilliant.
I suppose it doesn’t make a fucks bit of difference who wins Tuesday … other than the speed at which the shit hits the fan.
I disagree. It makes a ton of difference.
Well, Star, it won’t take long to find out. Trump will win. If that makes you happy, check back about February. We’ll see who’s happy. Me, I’m out. The circus is for others to participate in.
Well, technically, Trump did win. Votes for him were legitimate, unlike for Biden.
I can’t remember if it was Showtime or HBO who made it into a movie. I do remember that the President, played by Dan Heyada, was selected at random from a phone book. His campaign slogan was, “Don’t F*ck With The United States!”
It was Showtime, it is on YouTube
if you have 90 minutes to spare. Just generally follows the short story. Still a good watch.
One of the very best stories ever written, about the politicly correct shape of things to come! The tv/film adaptation, not so much. More like a rip on the America that was, and will never be again.
Il Duce would be amazed!
Admin,
Cases? Cases identified with a shitty test that may
discover a virus particle/fragment. This may indicate
a random encounter with a common cold, past flu shot,
or whatever. It proves nothing. Yet tyrants will use cases
to make policy. Tyrants are power hungry freaks drunk with
their ability to control people.
The president of Tanzania says they got positives using the WHO covid test on goats, sheep and a pawpaw.
How the heck did a Nigerian Prince get his hands on a pawpaw?
“There’s a good chance that you’ve never heard of a pawpaw, let alone tasted one.
That’s because pawpaws are quite rare and not usually found in grocery stores. These hard-to-find fruits are sought after for their delicious, sweet taste — and they may offer a few health benefits, too.
This article explains everything you need to know about pawpaws, including where they grow, how they taste, and whether they make a healthy addition to your diet.
Source:
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/paw-paw-fruit
________
Vonneguts Slaughterhouse Five…
Crazy!
Read online:
https://antilogicalism.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/slaughterhouse-five.pdf
Goebbels was a piker
The irony of equality is in how it’s measured through comparisons and enforced by eradications (i.e. handicapping). This is why Collectivism is always a race to the bottom; a net loss. Even liberalism today is sold as a ticket to liberty when, in reality, its destination is equality – a Marxist death camp, or, rather, the ultimate “reduction to the mean”, if you will.
The British author and satirist, Malcom Muggeridge, defined liberalism as…
But the author and philosopher Ayn Rand once said an “inventor” is someone who asks “Why” of the universe and “lets nothing stand between the answer and his mind”. I suppose that also applies to artists and bloggers like Vonnegut and Quinn, respectively.
As for me, I always have the following lyrics sounding simultaneously in my head: “This little light of mine” and “F*ck you, I won’t do what you tell me”:
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Dylan Thomas
One of the several favorite pieces from this poet.
Is anyone else feeling beaten up by the constant doom and gloom? Can I interject some positive news? Keep in mind that there is something called “The Ascent of Man” that has been so for thousands of years and continues to this day. While there certainly are trends that are truly scary we are far from licked. Here’s some good news to raise the spirit:
The “experts” say we will have to wear masks and social distance even after the “vaccine” arrives. How long are you willing to put up with this BS?? Spain is already revolting against it. At some point we will need to say enough and make a stand. The Trump rallies do not follow this COVID bs. Biden says he will implement a national mask mandate.
When Trump wins his first executive order should be a mask mandate repeal!!! Are we supposed to live in fear the rest of our lives because of some virus that is equivalent to the flu…..F that!
If Trump really wanted to end this mask-erade he could have lifted the National Emergency Order which expired last week. He didn’t. He signed for an extension through January 2oth 2021.
You would not believe the stanky eye I get by not wearing the mask. It’s getting exhausting repelling all the negativity aimed my way.
SeeBee…
New York City…..(haha, I’m hearin that old salsa commercial in me head) ?
I can’t imagine, as I reside in a county that has opted out of the governor’s mask mandate, and we get looks every time we go to the grocery….looks, mind you. Every where I go in person, I’m spoilin for a confrontation.
We are in a small enough community (and I have lived here for over 55 yrs) that it is easy to voice your concerns to elected leaders. Not so easy to get them to push back against the governor…
annuit coeptis novus ordo seclorum <——-====
I'm getting just plain exhausted…..4" of rain, half of it frozen….thousands of trees with damage.
Sure you have mentioned before, but what State are you in with the ice storm?
Of all weather events I dislike that the most, hearing the trees popping and crashing for hours. Quite dangerous to just go out in the yard.
Ginger…
Heard that ‘popping’ sound for two days. I went out and cut loose many of mine as it was building, but still lost some. All my trees will come out of it….
We had a bad one like this some years back. We had power when most everyone else didn’t, but I had a large mulberry that bowed down onto my electric line, bending my 2″ weather head to look like an upside down ‘J’.
I had to get the weight off it, so I went out with my wood handled loppers. Every limp was covered with an inch of ice-the third time I cut a limb, an explosion happened and my loppers were welded to the wire. I had clipped one phase of my electric service.
Lucky to be alive ?
annuit coeptis novus ordo seclorum <<——====
We're in FEMA region VII, just 4 miles north of the border with FEMA region VI, lol
Kansas
Jesus was with you that day, glad he stepped in.
Was wondering where you were due to fact that had not heard of any ice storms yet. Are all the crops harvested in your area? Imagine with four inches of rain plus ice all farming has come to a halt.
We have not even had a frost yet in this realm of NC.
I was at work on Saturday and we were looking for a spill kit ( a bag and powder) to absorbed the spill, anyways everyone went in different directions. I found the mother load of stored ” Masks” and gloves. 20 unopened boxes of masks, then I looked in the 20 thousand dollar ” Wayfair” cabinets and they were packed with gloves and masks. That was depressing to find that much stuff.
I’m taking a leave of absence for three months because the collective insanity is off the charts, I’m warn out, burnt out and it’s time to get out.
Excellent read Mr Quinn, you nailed it again!!!
Good for you SS…that’s what we need more people to do…LEAVE THE INSANITY…however one can do that.
When I have to wear one to protect a small businessman I wear it under my nose so I can breathe. In our city the objective is to force the small business man to enforce the mask mandate by setting a $5,000 fine for the business owner if customers are violating mask policy. Time for outright rebellion and violence if necessary. Riots, damn right, time to riot because we have something to really riot about.
I haven’t had any problems. My favorite look is the look of shock.
I do not consent!
MC…
Hehehe…’mask-erade’.
He’s got the bully pulpit, but we play along. The law and order man was forced to extend it, and the Trumpeteers dutifully bow. I believe they’ll all run to get the vaccs, too. I also am highly suspect of an additional, more virulent strain being released to go hand in glove with the continuing planned insurrection.
Technology is so far advanced, that all methods-inhalation, absorption, digestion-are now available for TLPTB to insert unknown, gene altering nanobots into our bodies.
Brzezinski said that “in earlier times, it was easier to control a million people, literally, than physically to kill a million people” while “today it is infinitely easier to kill a million people than to control a million people.”
He said that over a decade ago….
annuit coeptis novus ordo seclorum <<——–====
“When Trump wins his first executive order should be a mask mandate repeal”
Don’t hold your breath
Don’t think most people realize just how dangerous this woman is.
Goddamn idiot speak, and nothing but. And, this low brow thot could potentially run the the most powerful nation on earth. If this doesn’t make you a cynic, then you’re not paying attention. smh..
“It’s not that I want to punish your success, I just want to make sure that everybody who is behind you, that they’ve got a chance at success too.”
“Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. if you got a business you didn’t build that.”
Same talk, different Meat Puppet….
I can’t say I really enjoyed reading this because the truth often makes for uncomfortable reading. Great article. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.
Oh it’s definitely a casedemic. That’s all you hear. “Today, we had a brazillion more cases of “infections!” We are all going to die! People are not complying with mask orders! We need a national mandate! Blah, blah blah.
In a stunning development, a former Chief Science Officer for the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer says “there is no science to suggest a second wave should happen.” The “Big Pharma” insider asserts that false positive results from inherently unreliable COVID tests are being used to manufacture a “second wave” based on “new cases.”
Dr. Mike Yeadon, a former Vice President and Chief Science Officer for Pfizer for 16 years, says that half or even “almost all” of tests for COVID are false positives. Dr. Yeadon also argues that the threshold for herd immunity may be much lower than previously thought, and may have been reached in many countries already.
In an interview last week Dr. Yeadon was asked:
“we are basing a government policy, an economic policy, a civil liberties policy, in terms of limiting people to six people in a meeting…all based on, what may well be, completely fake data on this coronavirus?”
Dr. Yeadon answered with a simple “yes.”
Dr. Yeadon said in the interview that, given the “shape” of all important indicators in a worldwide pandemic, such as hospitalizations, ICU utilization, and deaths, “the pandemic is fundamentally over.”
Yeadon said in the interview:
“Were it not for the test data that you get from the TV all the time, you would rightly conclude that the pandemic was over, as nothing much has happened. Of course people go to the hospital, moving into the autumn flu season…but there is no science to suggest a second wave should happen.”
Chip
The movie “Equilibrium” follows this scenario of dumbing down and compliance.
Let’s face facts. With all the wonderful photographs people share on Facebook, twitter and instagram, they were really very miserable. What else could explain how easily and quickly the lockdowns were embraced.? No one I know misses their co-workers, colleagues or associates. People are relieved they no longer have to attend company parties or after work cocktailing or just plain old mingling. They don’t seem to miss their friends and would rather not leave their homes at all. Everybody has returned to the “womb.” That must be why they are so easily controlled. There are no longer many adults out there.
The culture has been a sham. Empty. Unfulfilling. Harsh. The mask wearing manifests their schadenfreude. Now misery is shared by all. And that seemingly must be their joy. The endgame is not to lift up but to pull everyone down.
I look back with nostalgia to the days when nerds like the maskers got pantsed in public and no one called the police.
“They want more wealth, more control, and more power.”
G.R.E.E.D is the most destructive force on earth.
In the ten years I’ve been reading this website, this is the best piece you’ve ever written Jim. May it live on to infamy.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/10/30/science/wear-mask-covid-particles-ul.html
NYT is at battle stations trying to convince us that masks work. They even brought out a Harvard healthy building honcho to say the debate is settled and then give the reader a cartoon presentation.
Great catch by Mrs. Admin.
Don’t be so formal, call me avalon ?
Now put your mask back on and socially distance yourself further from reality citizen.
The problem is that equality cannot be legislated or mandated. Freedom and equality are antithetical. The more equality that is mandated the less freedom individuals have to achieve their full potential. The more individual freedom we allow for the less equal the system will appear because people with differing levels of ability and with different levels of talent are going to naturally rise to the top. Is it possible to mandate talent and ability. I don’t think so. This is really just an excuse to mandate more totalitarian control of society.
I enjoyed Vonnegut’s writing and read everything he wrote including some obscure essays. I thought he was brilliant and many times very funny.
He was a talented artist as well.
The fucking media and politicians no longer talk about deaths but cases. Fuck those fucking fucks. If you keep the virus out of old age homes, you will be able to count the deaths on one hand.
Keep the fear bubbling at all costs. There are no leaders anymore, just politicians out for their own interests.
I know firsthand of a church of 50 members that lost 22 people after spreading this virus at a funeral. That’s a lot of fingers on one hand. Get your facts straight.
Would you please specify the City, State, and Church this happened to? Or post an article that has info. Thanks!
For legal reasons I am prohibited from disclosing details about the above-mentioned event. Similar instances are easy to find. Here one in Charlotte, North Carolina, at a church called United House of Prayer for All People. https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/coronavirus/article246965397.html
This is a lethal pathogen and claims to the contrary are absurd.
This does not even come close to the example you gave. Many more people, less death and multiple possible explanations.
Yeah, duck n cover from the non existent virus!
Yeah sure, and my grandma used to cross the Niagara on a bicycle!
The most important metric would be the most reliable metric. Unfortunately, not one of the metrics (cases, deaths, deaths/cases) is even remotely believable much less reliable.
As long as a “Covid death” is the death of anyone who tests positive and not a death caused primarily BY the virus (WITH proof of such including a provable/disprovable causal chain and method of action); then no accurate assessment of the severity of the illness (in ANY cohort) can be reliable.
Not only are cases a useless metric, so are deaths attributed. It’s been this way sice February. So, it is folly to suggest that Deaths/Cases is a suitable or reliable way to measure the seriousness of the virus or changes in that seriousness.
In other words, it’s still B.S.
EXCELLENT JIM!!!! Chip
That was a great read. That book should be read by every school student. And quite a few adults would benefit as well.
Well folks,I will say that so far 2020 has been to say the least”interesting”
Corona beer madness/soft coup attempts(so far)/talk of the “reset” i.e. new world order madness/Bidens Laptop Matters ect.
So,without further ado,here is your daily(and last!)get ahead of the herd message:Food/fuel/clothing/tools/7.62X.39 all still at moment available and reasonably priced,keep shopping!
As always ,if needed as HR mentioned rolls of barbed wire still also available.
I thank you for your patience during me daily message but feel we all need a mental nudge to double check our readiness and for many silent new readers get them to make the mental jump about being a bit more ready and starting to shore up supplies.
At this point,grab your popcorn and favorite beverage and let the show begin!
Needless yo say keep a sharp eye on your AO as folks may be getting a bit riled up and you may need to protect your lands,do so with a vengeance!
See ya’s all on the other side!
I think the sheep are asleep, or hiding under their beds. Time will tell. It may be a long decline into night, with the dawn decades away.
I posed these questions in another post, but I am still curious about any answers that make some sense.
….and my questions are where are all the berserk rioters coming from? Seriously. You can hardly get youth to do a house chore, where are they getting all this energy and know-how, when using a screw driver is an overwhelming task for so many. Are these the gamers who have been MK’d? Are they really military? Have they been training at FEMA camps for a long time? I just don’t get where the insurgents are coming from. I understand a few players to incite the movement, but the rank and file? Many (not all of course) are spoiled, complacent, smart phoned lazy. Most of them look like they had trouble dressing themselves.
SB – Recall all the inmates being let out of jails/prisons in dem states to “protect” them from CV-19? Further, if masks really DO work, why weren’t the inmates just issued masks and kept IN jail/prison. Hmmm…
I had a run-in with someone who is all for masks. They are irrational in their fear and have little critical thinking skills. Soon we will have the vaccine police to deal with, I think this is an issue coming our way.
I would say that those who try and force vaccines on those not wanting said vaccine give up their right to life basically.
ADMIN
In case you haven’t seen it ….
There’s a comment by “tomllq” in the “Wuhan virus” thread that shows up in a pink background with this warning “Akismet has detected a problem.”
Just a spam issue. I think I took care of it.
We still have a reasonable and functioning court system. Take the power back.
The Ohio Stand Up law suit attacks the pandemic premise directly.
MakeAmericansFreeAgain.com
“We still have a reasonable and functioning court system.” You think? The courts were our last line of defense and they appear to be totally corrupted. If not, we would NOT be where we are today and would not have the highest number of incarcerated in the world. But, I wholeheartedly support the law suits and the possibility there are still concepts known as Freedom, Sovereignty and Justice.
I think MarkAG has discovered time travel. He seems to be writing to us from about the year 1795.
“We still have a reasonable and functioning court system.” Well, depending on one’s definition of “functioning” … I mean people do still work there, and it’s open most days, and people ‘do stuff’, and the lights are on and they have bathrooms and such.
“Reasonable” though? Yeah, that’s not a statement that can be made by a sentient being in the United States in 2020.
Good grief the article is way-longer than the story. Do we have to have it explained? Well, yes, the NEA has succeeded in “educating” several generations of illiterates….
Vonnegut was an Optimist .
Consider the Constitution of the United States has been Voided by Executive order on a state level .
States allow rioters they support to Destroy and pillage under state protection from law enforcement .
At the same time the state will viciously prosecute any attempts at self defense from mob attacks and rioters.
Federal laws are mere suggestions to individual Feudal states , Federal immigration policy is set on a city level.
Interstate commerce is at the Governors sufferance , Chinese Virus grants absolute power in all things .
City states openly challenge Federal authority , declaring themselves sovereign .
Federal Agencies such as DOJ , FBI , IRS and act as political agents attacking or defending on their own accord.
Political actors and Candidates for executive office openly declare they will destroy the constitution and build
the country in their own vision , with open endorsement and encouragement from members of congress .
We now stand one election away from the end of USA and the beginning of the Dark Ages .
our “CREATOR” warned us ( the created …) we chose not to listen … we reap what we have sown … me , i am outta here …….
unfortunately there is no where to go anymore.
Excellent article as always, Jim. Indeed there are very few grains of sand left in the top of the hourglass. I can already smell November 4th, and it smells like shit. Somebody needs to turn that hourglass back over, or break out the double aught.
Nkit,is .308 acceptable?
Not nkit, but 00 is only for close range… 308 is outstanding, as is 284, 264, 257, 243, maybe 224 for head shots, 323, 338, 358, & larger. Each has its own use.
Even the old 45-70 is useful at 100 yds. Body armor might stop penetration, but think of the thump it would deliver. Broken ribs at least..
Shame about that boating accident. All I have left is rimfires.
Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes..
indeed it is.
I fear that there are not enough people left who understand.
I first read the story in Junior High. Remembered the title, but didn’t remember the author. 15 or 20 years later I began reading Vonnegut and plowed through his entire cannon in a couple of years and of course happened again on Harrison Bergeron.
Vonnegut is the embodiment of the Left that we need–and I mean that technically, civilization needs both a Progressive and Conservative factions to be even remotely stable–a compassionate soul that is also capable of critical thought and willing to look at the horrible potential outcomes that lie at the end of the road of pure compassion.
Last week I went to the bookshelf seeking something I hadn’t read in a while. Vonnegut’s 5-book collection got my attention, Welcome to the Monkey House being one of the 5 books. I had forgotten how much I’d enjoyed reading Vonnegut several decades ago. So it goes!
Bill Whittle chanel
Have a Progressive Thanksgiving: Gov. Gavin Newsom Takes Control of Your Holiday
Sorry, this much too long to read… And I hear a screeching sound in my head.
Haven’t seen you here before … but I already think you’re a moran.
I think it was meant to be funny.
Reading the dry, honest recital of the above is a bit eerie, not just Vonnegut’s percipience, which was remarkable, but I came away from the piece with a greater appreciation of Ancient Greece. Specifically, their ability and notoriety for combining Tragedy with Comedy.
yeah and we have Government snitches here who contribute to the Burning Platform don’t we Hollywood Bob
Masks are mandated in my state. Everyone seems to think that the governor has a right to make that decree. But I never wear a mask anywhere I go, and people stare at me with expressions of surprise, shock, alarm, and sometimes outrage; I stare back at them with pity and wonder. I’ve only met one other person so far who is refusing the mandate. It’s getting very hard to keep any hope for humanity.
don’t you get stopped by armed thugs? Mandatory ? What you gonna do about it or is you a keyboard warrior like most here?
Feminism was started by White Western Man-Hating Lesbians, the #1 Beneficiary of ALL Affirmative Action has been White Western Women, Abortion has been pushed by Mostly Anti-Man-Hating Lesbian White Western Women who DON’T HAVE BABIES, ERA Amendment gives Women Preferred status OVER Men & the LGBTQFUKU Bowel Movement was pushed by White Western Man-Hating Lesbians & White Western Self-Hating Homo “Men” that gives Perversion & Pedophilia Preference OVER Family. Add Socialism/Communism Indoctrination & RACE Inflammation then you Arrive at the Disunited Socialist States of America. If you LOVE Your Family & Friends then You MUST STAND AGAINST this Global Tech Chicom Corporatocracy. Thanks for Another Great Article!
You’re all just a bunch of white supremacists. Probably belong to a militia.
I bet you are white, too.
For well over 20 years I have watched how every dystopian book and movie appears to show how this country and world really is and heading.
In reality we are in a state of deeper slavery than North Korea.
The Peasant of NK know they are slaves to the government.
Here in this land mass controlled by the U.S. Corporation, the Peasant Class have a “Belief” that they are free.
Belief is the enemy of knowing.
The best slaves are those that believe they are free.
Jim…..
Good read.
“They haven’t resorted to shotgun blasts on national TV.”
Well, they actually have via proxy. See my post here on TBP:
I just read Harrison Bergeron and I absolutely adored the story even if it left me feeling morose. Thank you for this article.