books – The Burning Platform

Amid the Absurdity of Clownworld: How Should We Then Live?

By Doug “Uncola” Lynn via TheBurningPlatform.com

I believe people are as they think. The choice we make in the next decade will mold irrevocably the direction of our culture… and the lives of our children.

– Author and theologian Francis A. Schaeffer in 1976

The picture at the top of this article shows one of America’s founding fathers according to Google’s Gemini image generation tool. Pursuant to complaints about the blatant inaccuracy and the ensuing maelstrom of negative press coverage, Google claimed it was “actively working on a fix”. Nonetheless, there remain claims that Google is “not telling the truth” and the company will never give up on its “desire to reshape the world in a specific way”.

Indeed. It appears artificial intelligence, woke relativism, and Orwell’s “two plus two equaling five” are here to stay. And the “memory hole” first conjured by Orwell has increasingly manifested in The Borg’s nearly completed Simulacrum – as misinformation, false flags, and propaganda daily populate our collective screens.

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With that in mind, amid the absurdity of Western culture in the twenty-first century, I will often seek credible information and insights where they are more surely found: in the printed past, and by the words of authors and researchers mostly forgotten.

Having written previously on the prescient prognostications of twentieth-century thinkers like C.S. Lewis and Augusto Del Noce, another book was recommended by a commenter in the thread of my last article. The book was said to have predicted the decline of empirical science, the rise of technological science, and a frightening future.

Continue reading “Amid the Absurdity of Clownworld: How Should We Then Live?”

The Online Meanderings of an American Nobody & the Genuine Wisdom of an Imaginary Character

By Doug “Uncola” Lynn via TheBurningPlatform.com

There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.

– C. S. Lewis (1942), “The Screwtape Letters: Letters from a Senior to a Junior Devil”, p.8, HarperCollins UK, 2009

While having breakfast with a friend the other day, they commented on an article they had recently read online. The article was about the discouragement of free speech at Ivy League colleges, and Harvard in particular. I told them I saw the headline but never read the actual findings. In any event, I said I wasn’t surprised… but what did surprise me was that the article showed up on their particular newsfeed; and, for them, I would have expected the online algorithmic process to have distilled the findings into another headline such as: “Harvard Leads Ivy League in Prohibiting Hate Speech”.

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An Offer You Can’t Refuse

By Doug “Uncola” Lynn via TheBurningPlatform.com

We read to know we’re not alone.

Although that particular truism is often mistakenly attributed to the author C.S. Lewis, it was actually William Nicholson who wrote those words in his 1989 play “Shadowlands”, a story about C.S. Lewis.

Indeed. The power of words. And perhaps many of us out here in the interwebic blogosphere write to know we’re not alone as well.

Especially during times like these.

We use words to comfort and curse, to encourage, to promise, to teach, buy, sell, debate, learn, manipulate, lie, share, seduce, pray, preach, promote, warn, and even survive.

In the aforementioned play, “Shadowlands“, there is another quote that many now reading this may also find relevant to our times:

….pain is God’s megaphone to rouse a deaf world. Why must it be pain? Why can’t he rouse us more gently, with violins or laughter? Because the dream from which we must be wakened, is the dream that all is well.

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Peachy Keen and Cool as a Cucumber in a Banana Republic

By Doug “Uncola” Lynn via TheBurningPlatform.com

One of my favorite quotes of all time comes from the movie “Almost Famous”. I enjoyed that film because I sort of lived it; and it does have a lot of great lines. But, for me, the most treasured words of advice in the movie came from a famous music critic who was encouraging a young aspiring writer. He said:

The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you’re uncool.

As mentioned before I’m an obscure businessman who’s found a late-in-life catharsis with writing. Honestly, I was inspired by the courage of others throughout the unregulated internet, and started my blog in the fall of 2016 when I fully expected Hillary Clinton to win the U.S. Presidency.

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Practical Christmas Gifts 2016: Books

Books make practical Christmas Gifts every year!

Around this time of the year – we enjoy sharing what we feel are more thoughtful presents to give people. Part of our ongoing Practical Christmas Gifts category.

And understandably – books almost always make our cut. Why? Because they work without electricity and enrich the mind in ways “apps” or other mindless media can’t.

So here are a few that might fit someone on your list this year.

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No, President Obama, It’s Not Easier To Buy A Glock Than A Book

Guest Post by Sean Davis

No, President Obama, It’s Not Easier To Buy A Glock Than A Book

During his speech at the memorial service in Dallas for murdered police officers, President Barack Obama lamented that his words have little power to effect change, then proceeded to peddle blatant, easily refutable lies about guns.

“I’ve seen how inadequate words can be in bringing about lasting change,” Obama said. “I’ve seen how inadequate my own words have been.”

One reason for that inadequacy may be that he says things he knows aren’t true. Over the weekend, Obama said, “I think it’s very hard to untangle the motives of this shooter.” Given that the shooter himself told police that he “wanted to kill white people, especially white officers,” there doesn’t seem to be much left to untangle.

Another reason for the inadequacy of the president’s words may be that he so often says things that other people know aren’t true. Take, for example, a new gun claim that he for some reason decided to trot out at a memorial service for murdered police officers on Tuesday:

“It’s easier for a teenager to get his hands on a Glock than a computer…or even a book.”

Set aside for the moment the question of whether this kind of political speechifying is appropriate for a solemn memorial service, and just focus on the assertion itself: “It’s easier for a teenager to get his hands on a Glock than a computer…or even a book.”

Is there anyone in America, other than its commander-in-chief, who believes for a second that this even remotely approximates the truth? It’s not just false. It’s laughably false.

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Stucky Q.O.T.D. —– Books

“The only two books you need to read are “Confessions Of An Economic Hitman ” and Smedley Butler’s book ” War Is A Racket ” to understand why ” Countries hate us ” .”

——– BUCKHED in the “Evil Empires” thread

Agreed! Specifically, “Confessions of an Economic Hitman” was one of the most eye-opening books concerning how-the-world-works that I have ever read.

I love to read, as do most others here. I’m always looking for something really new, really interesting, really awesome. Something jaw-dropping. A “wow!!” moment. And a woody would be nice, also.

Question: Which books have you actually read which fit the bill above?

Note: Let’s try to keep it to three, or less. Also, let’s leave out the Bible (I’ve already read it multiple times cover-to-cover).