Nietzche had the profound realization that you touched upon - that the foundations of logic are ultimately based upon error. It is our instincts, not the truth, that cause us to judge the sound in the bush to be a scary predator. Those who wanted to deny their instincts to learn the truth about the cause of the sound did not survive to pass on their genes. All of us alive today have inherited a fundamentally flawed logic. Our challenge then is to learn to hold sensory input in a superposition, so to speak, for as long as possible to allow all the wavefunctions to interfere constructively and destructively leaving only the truth as the final observable. This is quite difficult for a lone individual to do, as it requires one to deny their instincts and potentially be devoured by the monster in the bush. However, if we stick together and attempt to let the information flow through us without passing judgement, then even if there is a monster in the bush, it cannot devour us all, and by revealing itself to many we gain even more invaluable information. The key, I think, is to let the information flow and let nature work its magic.
Excellent reasoning. Being lazy, I sum up human individual behavior within groups more simply: the most successful value status over truth. For this reason, we should collectively be skeptical of “experts.” Alas, mankind is not individual driven, but group driven. Thus the ability to move masses via status and compelling narrative IS the truth of group vs group success
The only problem with that possible 'key' is that NATURE works on a "Time" scale that simply doesn't work for us specially when it comes to reveal the scoundrels, fraudsters and terrorists in the bush.
In Reality we, herds of modern moron slaves, already know who some of them are... many of these are even voted for. But these are just the workers for the Owners & Friends.
- Owen Benjamin today on his podcast correctly claimed that anything other than scorn and mockery for such acts fuels future copycats, much like school shooters copied Columbine because of the media attention. Committing violence to try to promote a message — including against oneself — is the mark of an omega tier, low IQ idiot. It’s like a child crying out for attention because they lack the basic skills necessary to communicate or persuade others, as Curtis Yarvin has correctly pointed out in the past. Same thing goes for Aaron Bushnell. Such scorn and mockery is necessary to lower the chances of copycats.
- The choice of self-immolation is a strange one. It's incredibly painful and there's a chance they might survive and then live in Hell thereafter. Contrast this with the suicide of Mitchell Hiesman, who killed himself to draw attention to his 1,000 page Suicide Note (but at least he did it in a painless way; still retarded).
- A cognitive infiltration strategy was articulated by Cass Sunstein in 2008 in an article titled “Conspiracy Theories” for the Journal of Political Philosophy, where he made a radical proposal: “Our main policy claim here is that government should engage in cognitive infiltration of the groups that produce conspiracy theories.”…they defined “cognitive infiltration” as a program “whereby government agents or their allies (acting either virtually or in real space, and either openly or anonymously) will undermine the crippled epistemology of believers by planting doubts about the theories and stylized facts that circulate within such groups.” Cognitive infiltration on social media is heavily boosted via bots who push arguments about, for example, the glass dome and the firmament (flat earth arguments) to distract people and lead them into harmless political dead ends.
- Note that Klaus Schwab warned his co-elites: “Be prepared for an angrier world” (as a result of the 2030 agenda): youtube.com/watch?v=LJTnkzl3K64
- Westerners are *really* not prepared for harder times given how steeped they are in wealth, complacency, and nihilism. This isn't new either: in The Gulag Archipelago Solzhenitsyn wrote that basically no one killed themselves in the gulag *except* for westerners, who simply mentally couldn't handle the total lack of materialism. Westerners are going to be in for a *much* harder road ahead -- it's going to get much worse and one can expect a lot more mental illness triggered events to occur (many of them egged on by the globohomo security elite, of course).
- This brings to mind Anders Breivik quoting heavily from European blogger Fjordman in his manifesto (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fjordman ); Fjordman's blogging hobby was basically ruined as a result. It's important to be consciously aware and to police one's readers if they seem "off" or "crazy". There is always a concern that a future nutjob might be used as an excuse by globohomo to clamp down on free speech on Substack otherwise.
There's very little we can do about who reads us, and how they quote us, unfortunately. If that is used as an attack vector, the best we can do is point out the nature of the attack. Much as highlighting the presence of Substein's cognitive infiltrationists does much to blunt their influence.
That is true, but I think also that it is a good idea to be careful in how one deals with certain topics to avoid having one's thoughts misinterpreted by readers who might act on them in the wrong way. I am not suggesting self-censorship, but a careful review of what one has said before publishing to make sure that readers will not easily misinterpret what has been said.
Can't agree. The reader's problem ain't the writer's problem. Having said that, I'm no problem with you having a different take than mine, I simply don't agree.
Cass article: "people believe there is a shadowy cabal trying to control the world, therefore 'some people' should infiltrate those groups and redirect them in a way that wouldn't hurt the ability of said shadowy cabal from accomplishing it's goals."
That would explain the hordes of bots responding to every right wing post with nonsense like, "trust that God has a plan!", "Jesus will love you if you just work hard and don't cross certain lines of dissent!", "Q will save us!" etc. etc.
Seems to me the answer is to all this turmoil is relatively simple, AND I know people are going to scoff (like I care), BUT it all comes down to God being removed from the public square. It has taken over 70+ years to get here (actually much longer). Without God, without a force that goes beyond our mortal selves - that calls us to a higher standard....a morality if you will....anything is possible. For those in Rio Linda, it means that all types of evil and disfunction are possible without this Divine Spark. Think about it. Pax
I wasn't trying to be dismissive. Rather, noting that it isn't necessarily so simple. Faith, like anything else, can tip over into insanity of the most self-destructive kind. Certainly, it can also be protective.
It is not faith per se (and this is a function of which faith one uses to address/ define/ understand God) but how one uses/applies said faith. God is perfect but man is flawed. However, if one stays on the divine middle road all will be well. Faith (assuming it has its foundation in good) will never lead to insanity. Mental illness by and large has its roots in the physical condition not the spiritual. Pax
Schizophrenia is a physical disease that can lead to some really bad thinking. Interestingly most of the violence from these people is to hurt self as opposed to others.
I thought "the schizo in shaman mode coming up with metaphors that echo the truth more accurately than consensus reality" was a pretty good framing for the origins of religion. I think I heard it somewhere else at some point.
Your dystopian rant here was pure poetry. I would only add that what we are seeing in the 21st c. is above all else "not simple" and too many conservatives (and I am a dyed-in-the-wool one of those) make the mistake of imagining some "elite" in control of the madness. The truth is darker...NO ONE is in control. The primary character of our zeitgeist is that it is out of control...by anyone.
There are many potentates, all vying to be The Potentate. Their aims and methods are similar. As noted elsewhere, their fuel is hubris. The grass is trampled when elephants fight. We are the grass.
Yes "The grass is trampled when elephants fight." is true....and another poetic line. I find myself on these Substack threads wanting to say to my fellow conservatives something along these lines: Don't fall into the same victimhood psychological rabbit hole. That's what the Lefties do....'they' did this to 'us' etc. My Sustack title (as you probably know) draws on the famous Yeats poem The Second Coming. And its deservedly famous first four lines perfectly describe where the dream of Liberal Individualism has led in the post war era. A kind of stoicism is now the order of the day.
This is increasingly my view. Covid seemed to be a bureaucratic monster with vying factions, not the machinations of globalists. The WEF were initially against lockdowns, for example.
I think a lot of what we see is just the system working.
There are many potentates, all vying to be The Potentate. Their aims and methods are similar. As noted elsewhere, their fuel is hubris. The grass is trampled when elephants fight. We are the grass.
I wouldn’t say it’s superficial, but rather a fallacy. It’s not just one group of people or another, this is a human problem. In general. So is perfect being the enemy of good, and throwing the baby out with the bath water. Men are fallible, easily scared, and easily led astray by fear and fists.
Without a sincere and strong belief in a higher power and a purpose greater than oneself, we are left with a degenerate age, chock full of self-absorbed and selfish assholes who just as soon step over you if your were on the ground than, ask if you needed help. Easily led astray by fear and fists.
But compare the US now to what it was when it was primarily Christian, and Christianity was the common frame of reference in terms of morality. Christianity has had its share of problems, but it at least kept people on the same page, more or less in terms of what was acceptable behavior.
That is now gone, and look at the chaos as a result. The people who have rejected Christianity now find themselves without a rock to hold onto as the storm rages around them. Like leaves on a stream, they are buffeted this way and that, with no way to steady themselves.
I’ve just started reading Antichrist: The Fulfillment of Globalisation which captured my interest having listened to the author being interviewed. I know from a reply to a previous comment of mine that John Carter doesn’t believe eschatological explanations for what is happening, however, I find the word and prophecies of the Bible fit like a glove. The key message for those good people driven to extremes of stress it to understand this is all of part of God’s plan; though He doesn't cause Evil, He uses it to fulfil his prophecies. He assures His followers they are not to be fearful for we are just exiles on route to our ultimate destiny provided we remain steadfast and faithful to His teachings. Not all Christians understand the simplicity of His directive - though difficult to implement given human fallibility. Peace is found by putting God’s laws above all and not get sucked into the Evils of Satan’s kingdom.
I don’t think this poor man is schizo, I think he’s a lost soul.
I didn’t think he was schizophrenic either. I think he was a very intelligent man overwhelmed by the evil he uncovered and the enormity and complexity of the cabals and everything they touch. If I sat down to write all the bits and pieces that I believe in regard to conspiracies of our world, I would sound scattered too. Someone said think about how easy it is for us to lie every day, to our family, friends, neighbors, employers. Why then would it be any different for a group of extremely wealthy people who are known to be more psychopathic than the rest of the population???
Totally agree - been down the same road as you. Started my study when I couldn’t understand the seeming ‘evil for evil’s sake. And we know our governments lie to us - they lie more often than they tell the truth. And when they get called out for their totalitarian policies, they name call, smear, censor or otherwise demean opposition voices - voices which are raised for the benefit of powerless. These ‘democracies’ project their own authoritarian behaviour and deeds on other nation states - a classic narcissistic move (and Satan is a first class narcissist). Once one sees the pattern, it’s everywhere. It’s so abhorrent and sinister, and the propaganda so thick and long running (decades), and the behaviour of these elites so outside of the morales of the majority, I understand why people will not entertain a contrarian perspective.
I generally agree. The void left behind from the removal of God in our collective lives cannot be dismissed as cause for at least some this widespread insanity. Yes there have always been individual “crazies” , but when we witness wholesale collapse of civil society, that’s historical , if not biblical. Once mankind is left to its own devices , calamity is near
I don’t scoff, but I think there’s a lot of nuance here. There are many paths, many of them stabilizing. I say this as somebody who has some occult training, but also goes to a Christian church regularly. I think church satisfies a necessary social function, but I also think there are advanced techniques that help you keep your shit, when everything else is going off the rails.
The key is understanding that there is a hierarchy of being, whatever your model. And it’s important to know how to connect vertically as well as laterally.
Anyone who needs a god to tell them what morality is, lacks morality of their own, and in calling upon a god as the arbiter of morality only shows himself unwilling to accept responsibility for his own actions.
With that said, if your faith helps you and you harm none, nor force them to your creed or temple, there's no problem. I wish the cults of Abraham respected that, but they never do.
Man is the only measure of man, so it's on us and no one else. That is the true horror of "God is dead" (not some atheistic, anti-spiritual machine-society futurism) - it's on us, it always was and it can never be any other way.
"God wills it" is an excuse made up by humans to cover - to themselves and others - the fact that it is their will alone that is the real meaning of "god".
If you haven't, take a look at Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, in which he delves into precisely this issue (reading it also tend to awaken a feeling, quite founded, that between Aristotle and Nietzsche, pretty much nothing at all happened in the field of philosophy).
Spoken like a true nihilist....basically what you are saying is that you are God....and you probably think you are educated....nice Level 1 thinking. Pax
Am I to understand that when you lack an actual arguement, you go to name-calling and false labelling?
I could say you speak like a true christian, but knowing several who actually live according the example of Jesus, rather than clerical dogma and magical liturgy, I won't.
And do read up on the meaning of "nihilist". It doesn't mean what you think it means, which is evidenced by you calling me one.
Boy.... you make this too easy: TextbooK: A nihilist is someone who believes that life is without objective meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value. Nihilism is a philosophical viewpoint that asserts the nonexistence of inherent meaning or truth in life and the universe. Nihilists often reject traditional moral and religious beliefs, as they see them as arbitrary constructs without any ultimate significance. Sound familiar?
The question is what category do you fall into? The way you present is that of a Moral Nihilist. As you know (being one) moral nihilism is the belief that moral values and principles are not objectively real or valid. Moral nihilists argue that morality is subjective and varies from person to person or culture to culture. Ergo man is God in reality.
Now I am not name calling because I have no argument.... just making an observation .... did I hurt your feelings? As far as Jesus goes...I'm pretty confident that you know nothing of the man - nor do your acquaintances (if you have any that proport's to be christian). Especially if you get your information from current sources. As far as clerical dogma is concerned, you'd be well served if you read some. At least you can know what you are missing. I suggest St Thomas Aquinas....one of the greatest thinkers of all time and quite frankly brings the complex down to human level. Don't be afraid.... you may learn something. Pax
Okay, now that we've got the obligatory bit aside, I think we all need to get off the Internet or make a friend or talk to a family member. Spiraling into schizo loneliness where you feel like nobody gets you anymore. The epidemic of our time is not Corona, not Wokeness, not the WEF, not any of that shit - it's living unmoored and unattached from anyone, notionally free but a slave to our desires and the currents of our time, drifting quickly to nowhere.
Mass shooters would definitely be a better use of the wind-up toys, should they exist. That being said, I wouldn't put it out of the mind of the schizo to make them see byt he light of the muzzle flash.
There are obvious similarities with Ted Kaczynski. Except Ted wasn't schizo, just autistic. His manifesto still makes a lot of sense today. One thing that struck me about Ted was how in his manifesto he said that a faster collapse was actually a good thing, since it would mean we would have less time to damage the earth. His actions were against those he considered to be contributing to that faster collapse. So he was actually acting against what he himself thought was a solution. He wasn't trying to solve an external problem, he was trying to solve the internal problem of despair. Which can only be cured by doing something, often something related to solving external problems.
Don't be the guy who gives in to despair to do counter-productive things simply because it seems better than doing nothing. This thing of ours isn't a sprint, or even a marathon. It's a journey that will last longer than a single lifetime, so pace yourself. As our host said:
"Keeping yourself grounded, touching grass as it were. Staying connected to the actual human beings around you, not only online, but talking to the people physically there with you. Focusing on what and who you can see and touch, directly."
I don't think Uncle Ted was actually crazy. At least not in any obvious way. Despairing, certainly. But then, despair is a form of insanity, perhaps...
Argo the Second sarcastically wrote “MKULTRA! MKULTRA!” a few comments back, but Uncle Ted was rumored to have been an unwitting subject of those experiments. If true, it would explain his descent into madness, no?
Being a crazy schizo, I'm not sure how many of these mass shooters actually had real victims or if they were just crisis actors, either way though, this is probably one of the best pieces I've read on current events for as long as I can remember. Thanks John.
" One thing that struck me about Ted was how in his manifesto he said that a faster collapse was actually a good thing, since it would mean we would have less time to damage the earth".
I have the same opinion. Some people in my country would love to have a less radical government and a less dictatorial loonie being the front psycho of a dictatorial court, but I actually love the incompetence. I actually hope they turn the heat to 11. That way, the amount of damage done will be much smaller (it'll be able to work for a much shorter period) and people will wake up to what's happening.
I'm pretty sure a lot of frogs, when the water is getting just a little bit warmer, think: cool, a hot bath. I guess I could read a book and sleep here for a while.
"Don't be the guy who gives in to despair to do counter-productive things simply because it seems better than doing nothing. This thing of ours isn't a sprint, or even a marathon. It's a journey that will last longer than a single lifetime, so pace yourself."
I'm glad you added this part: "The most disquieting thing about Azzarello’s worldview is not that it is crazy, but that it is not so very thematically different from the way that I, and many others, see the world". I read the manifesto right before reading your article and I was thinking "oh oh".
What is more amazing to me is that there is some sort of miasma in the world where even people who probably would never even consider reading anything by the sorts of you or even Berenson know something is wrong.
I don't know how things are up there, but down here there is not a simmering, but a boiling that's going on under the surface. Perhaps the global boiling mr. Guteres was talking about was not about the atmosphere, but about what is going on with the serfs all around the west.
The last time around the nobility thought it wise to tell the people to eat cake they lost a continent and Europe was plunged in what was mostly 26 years of unrest and war.
Really hard not to see ourselves in Azzarello. There but for the grace of Gnon...
The regime is playing a very dangerous game. I have this image of popcorn in my mind ... one by one, slowly at first, pop, pop. Each kernel reaching its limit and blowing up. And then, all at once...
Yup. Lot's of people, from all sides, seem to think they can control when the popcorn will all blow, to what popcorny state it will come once the poping begins and that they can simply turn off the heat and the popping will suddenly stop in the machine state they want. For all the "learn history" shouts, there seem to be a huge lack of knowledge of history or of mob behaviour.
I think that what the elites generally recognize is that the debt/derivatives are unsustainable and it's going to collapse at some point. They're planning for this, gaslighting people as long as possible so they can take everything from the system before there is nothing left to take.
I think the great lie is that the financial system isn't broken.
It has been broken for a long time. The great lie is making people don't notice inflation and transfering the virtual money through inflation and turning it into physical assets. Covid hit just in time to allow for election shenanigans, but something else was happening about the same time that most people seem to have forgotten, which was the repo market. I have got to worry, though, or I might become a immolator myself. :P
Your proffered principles for staying in touch with reality are excellent, John. Might I also suggest spending time slowing down and resting in the arms of nature? The natural world restores not only our increasingly fractured minds, but our souls as well.
I laughed when I read the CIA quote, because my dad thinks I am Qanon-MAGA, whatever MSNBC is telling him to think anyone who isn't a Progressive, is today. Pretty sure I'll get a lecture from am 80 yearold in the morning, like I had something to do with the event...
Between the constant gov pyshcops, the SSRIs, the industrial strength weed, the covid vaxx poison (spike in the brain!!!), and the breakdown of societys/social constructs that you mentioned, lots of wild stuff is coming our way.
If you are lonely, get a black lab. Super loving, always up for an adventure, the dog will force you to go outside, and, they are chick magnets, at least the type of chicks that like big dogs, which are, generally, the only chicks to be with.
Doggos are highly sanity-inducing creatures. They don't fall for Internet bullshit. They don't get wrapped up in crazy ideas. They are simply present, and real, and loving.
I followed your restack of the post that led to Max’s site a few hours ago, and not gonna lie…the hairs on the back of my neck stood up as I recognized a whole lot of threads I fundamentally agree with woven into a tapestry of unmistakable lunacy.
Also, I’m still holding 3000 Dogecoin in a cold wallet so I think I might be complicit in all this somehow.
Schizophrenia is a terrible disease that often afflicts very intelligent individuals. Several years ago a man approached me and started discussing aging and telomeres and DNA. It was an interesting discussion until his logic started showing frays around the edges and it became clear that he was schizophrenic. Much of what he said was profound and some not grounded in reality. Overall though I would trust his analysis more than what I read in the Washington Post.
I've had this flavor of conversation many times. Once I watched someone fall deeper into it over several months, getting crazier every time I saw him. It's always very sad.
Like that famous video of the insane person sitting in the mud at a RenFest or similar, ranting about the Trilateral Commission. Obviously insane and nonfunctional, but at the same time saner and more functional and cleareyed than the average mush-for-brains dopamine addict normies most of us spend our days surrounded by. Strange times.
I'm reading this at a spiritual retreat where people are encouraged to be here now and focus and talk to each other and not about crazy Internet stuff.
You are a great teacher and I'm going to turn my phone off and go talk to people now.
A very good post. I feel this atomizing/fracturing sense of reality more every day. I am reminded that our overlords conducted mind control studies via Operation Monarch, etc., and how the "method" included trauma to the subject that eventually resulted in a "fracturing" of the personality into types that were then easily controlled by the handler. If it works on individuals, why not on entire populations? Welcome to the experiment.
Well they certainly tried with Covid. That was pure manipulation all the way. And we got to see the numbers. I’d say a solid two-thirds bought it, possibly more.
And we saw how quickly they weaponized much of the polarization. Plenty would have been perfectly content with concentration camps for the unclean.
That's for sure. The general reaction of the public was the scariest part!
It was often people you wouldn't have imagined would turn like that. It was like real-life "Invasion of The Body Snatchers." They would try to convince you as well, "All of this is only for a little while, here, just lie down for a little bit, you'll understand when you wake up."
“his rational mind then attempted to assemble the puzzle pieces he found lying around on the Internet into something that more or less fit.”
One must compartmentalize all a priori to survive such a journey, have access to them but not rely on them unless necessary. One must have the capacity to do so without becoming unsound of mind. One must also avoid the Finality of an Answer compulsion that nearly all humans innately possess.
“Maintaining some approximation of psychological stability in the coming years is going to be a challenge. There are, I think, certain principles that can be applied. Keeping yourself grounded, touching grass as it were. Staying connected to the actual human beings around you, not only online, but talking to the people physically there with you. Focusing on what and who you can see and touch, directly.”
This is great advice and is in-line with my evolving thoughts on how to survive this discombobulating period of history. The 3 most important skills that will be needed to succeed in the 21st century will be:
- Interpersonal socialization skills (to build and maintain a strong social network)
- Self-discipline
- Resiliency
The people who will thrive will be those who can block out infinite and irresistible distractions and develop a deeper sense of purpose and connection.
Very good advice in this article. I instinctively distanced myself from the increasing erratic messaging that was coming out of the covid debacle and for me it was a survival instinct. To let the messengers invade your mind and emotions was a road to fear and making bad decisions born out of this hysteria. Hear the many different messages but control how you react to them. I am so sorry for this young man and his family, what a terrible, desperate action to take and if he does survive his road going forward will be incredibly difficult.
"Don’t get too wrapped up in any one narrative. Don’t become too emotionally invested in any one, specific thing as The Truth."
My personal protection against that is to half-jokingly say to myself, "if it seems obvious, it's only because that is what THEY want you to think!!!111!"
I've done far too much research into the Cabal or whatever you want to call it to think we can see the truth of it. In large part because it's not a monolithic entity, it's lots of parts fighting itself even more than it fights us. Even those inside it at a high level likely don't understand most of it.
Sadly that is the most common banner wielded by humanity since ancient times and I don’t think it is going to change anytime soon. ( I know the truth ) (I’m right, you are wrong) (My truth is absolute)
In the past few months I've been drawn into random conversations with ordinary people in ordinary places -- grocery stores, hotel lobbies, parking lots, etc. -- about the issues that Azzarello discusses. The more the corporate media denies that things like this are going on, the more people suspect that they're probably true. In the face of this constant gas lighting, everyone wants to know that they're not crazy.
Nietzche had the profound realization that you touched upon - that the foundations of logic are ultimately based upon error. It is our instincts, not the truth, that cause us to judge the sound in the bush to be a scary predator. Those who wanted to deny their instincts to learn the truth about the cause of the sound did not survive to pass on their genes. All of us alive today have inherited a fundamentally flawed logic. Our challenge then is to learn to hold sensory input in a superposition, so to speak, for as long as possible to allow all the wavefunctions to interfere constructively and destructively leaving only the truth as the final observable. This is quite difficult for a lone individual to do, as it requires one to deny their instincts and potentially be devoured by the monster in the bush. However, if we stick together and attempt to let the information flow through us without passing judgement, then even if there is a monster in the bush, it cannot devour us all, and by revealing itself to many we gain even more invaluable information. The key, I think, is to let the information flow and let nature work its magic.
Excellent comment.
Logic is overruled by fear!
Government & Marketing 101
Excellent reasoning. Being lazy, I sum up human individual behavior within groups more simply: the most successful value status over truth. For this reason, we should collectively be skeptical of “experts.” Alas, mankind is not individual driven, but group driven. Thus the ability to move masses via status and compelling narrative IS the truth of group vs group success
The only problem with that possible 'key' is that NATURE works on a "Time" scale that simply doesn't work for us specially when it comes to reveal the scoundrels, fraudsters and terrorists in the bush.
In Reality we, herds of modern moron slaves, already know who some of them are... many of these are even voted for. But these are just the workers for the Owners & Friends.
So well said.
To continue your metaphor, can't logic and reason be thought of as sticks and stones used to rattle the bush, to see what shakes out?
Very nice post, John, and you hit on many good points about this incident. Here are some additional thoughts I had about it:
- The guy was like 4'5" tall, ouch: https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/1781410697882034438
- Owen Benjamin today on his podcast correctly claimed that anything other than scorn and mockery for such acts fuels future copycats, much like school shooters copied Columbine because of the media attention. Committing violence to try to promote a message — including against oneself — is the mark of an omega tier, low IQ idiot. It’s like a child crying out for attention because they lack the basic skills necessary to communicate or persuade others, as Curtis Yarvin has correctly pointed out in the past. Same thing goes for Aaron Bushnell. Such scorn and mockery is necessary to lower the chances of copycats.
- The choice of self-immolation is a strange one. It's incredibly painful and there's a chance they might survive and then live in Hell thereafter. Contrast this with the suicide of Mitchell Hiesman, who killed himself to draw attention to his 1,000 page Suicide Note (but at least he did it in a painless way; still retarded).
- A cognitive infiltration strategy was articulated by Cass Sunstein in 2008 in an article titled “Conspiracy Theories” for the Journal of Political Philosophy, where he made a radical proposal: “Our main policy claim here is that government should engage in cognitive infiltration of the groups that produce conspiracy theories.”…they defined “cognitive infiltration” as a program “whereby government agents or their allies (acting either virtually or in real space, and either openly or anonymously) will undermine the crippled epistemology of believers by planting doubts about the theories and stylized facts that circulate within such groups.” Cognitive infiltration on social media is heavily boosted via bots who push arguments about, for example, the glass dome and the firmament (flat earth arguments) to distract people and lead them into harmless political dead ends.
- Note that Klaus Schwab warned his co-elites: “Be prepared for an angrier world” (as a result of the 2030 agenda): youtube.com/watch?v=LJTnkzl3K64
- Westerners are *really* not prepared for harder times given how steeped they are in wealth, complacency, and nihilism. This isn't new either: in The Gulag Archipelago Solzhenitsyn wrote that basically no one killed themselves in the gulag *except* for westerners, who simply mentally couldn't handle the total lack of materialism. Westerners are going to be in for a *much* harder road ahead -- it's going to get much worse and one can expect a lot more mental illness triggered events to occur (many of them egged on by the globohomo security elite, of course).
- This brings to mind Anders Breivik quoting heavily from European blogger Fjordman in his manifesto (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fjordman ); Fjordman's blogging hobby was basically ruined as a result. It's important to be consciously aware and to police one's readers if they seem "off" or "crazy". There is always a concern that a future nutjob might be used as an excuse by globohomo to clamp down on free speech on Substack otherwise.
4'5", wow. Dude was a midget.
There's very little we can do about who reads us, and how they quote us, unfortunately. If that is used as an attack vector, the best we can do is point out the nature of the attack. Much as highlighting the presence of Substein's cognitive infiltrationists does much to blunt their influence.
That is true, but I think also that it is a good idea to be careful in how one deals with certain topics to avoid having one's thoughts misinterpreted by readers who might act on them in the wrong way. I am not suggesting self-censorship, but a careful review of what one has said before publishing to make sure that readers will not easily misinterpret what has been said.
Can't agree. The reader's problem ain't the writer's problem. Having said that, I'm no problem with you having a different take than mine, I simply don't agree.
Cass article: "people believe there is a shadowy cabal trying to control the world, therefore 'some people' should infiltrate those groups and redirect them in a way that wouldn't hurt the ability of said shadowy cabal from accomplishing it's goals."
That would explain the hordes of bots responding to every right wing post with nonsense like, "trust that God has a plan!", "Jesus will love you if you just work hard and don't cross certain lines of dissent!", "Q will save us!" etc. etc.
Indeed.
Seems to me the answer is to all this turmoil is relatively simple, AND I know people are going to scoff (like I care), BUT it all comes down to God being removed from the public square. It has taken over 70+ years to get here (actually much longer). Without God, without a force that goes beyond our mortal selves - that calls us to a higher standard....a morality if you will....anything is possible. For those in Rio Linda, it means that all types of evil and disfunction are possible without this Divine Spark. Think about it. Pax
Perhaps.
Christians have done similarly crazy things in God's name however. There's a long history of self-martyrdom...
A superficial comment but thanks for playing
I wasn't trying to be dismissive. Rather, noting that it isn't necessarily so simple. Faith, like anything else, can tip over into insanity of the most self-destructive kind. Certainly, it can also be protective.
It is not faith per se (and this is a function of which faith one uses to address/ define/ understand God) but how one uses/applies said faith. God is perfect but man is flawed. However, if one stays on the divine middle road all will be well. Faith (assuming it has its foundation in good) will never lead to insanity. Mental illness by and large has its roots in the physical condition not the spiritual. Pax
Sure. But there are many schizos who focus on faith for their madness. Faith did not cause their madness, but neither did it protect them.
Schizophrenia is a physical disease that can lead to some really bad thinking. Interestingly most of the violence from these people is to hurt self as opposed to others.
I thought "the schizo in shaman mode coming up with metaphors that echo the truth more accurately than consensus reality" was a pretty good framing for the origins of religion. I think I heard it somewhere else at some point.
Anyway, I thought this was a great article.
Your dystopian rant here was pure poetry. I would only add that what we are seeing in the 21st c. is above all else "not simple" and too many conservatives (and I am a dyed-in-the-wool one of those) make the mistake of imagining some "elite" in control of the madness. The truth is darker...NO ONE is in control. The primary character of our zeitgeist is that it is out of control...by anyone.
We're obsessed with control, and so have set up many people to control things; and since so many are trying to control, no one is in control.
There are many potentates, all vying to be The Potentate. Their aims and methods are similar. As noted elsewhere, their fuel is hubris. The grass is trampled when elephants fight. We are the grass.
Yes "The grass is trampled when elephants fight." is true....and another poetic line. I find myself on these Substack threads wanting to say to my fellow conservatives something along these lines: Don't fall into the same victimhood psychological rabbit hole. That's what the Lefties do....'they' did this to 'us' etc. My Sustack title (as you probably know) draws on the famous Yeats poem The Second Coming. And its deservedly famous first four lines perfectly describe where the dream of Liberal Individualism has led in the post war era. A kind of stoicism is now the order of the day.
Hope that makes some kind of sense.
This is increasingly my view. Covid seemed to be a bureaucratic monster with vying factions, not the machinations of globalists. The WEF were initially against lockdowns, for example.
I think a lot of what we see is just the system working.
There are many potentates, all vying to be The Potentate. Their aims and methods are similar. As noted elsewhere, their fuel is hubris. The grass is trampled when elephants fight. We are the grass.
It's a web network, not a directed acyclic graph.
I wouldn’t say it’s superficial, but rather a fallacy. It’s not just one group of people or another, this is a human problem. In general. So is perfect being the enemy of good, and throwing the baby out with the bath water. Men are fallible, easily scared, and easily led astray by fear and fists.
Without a sincere and strong belief in a higher power and a purpose greater than oneself, we are left with a degenerate age, chock full of self-absorbed and selfish assholes who just as soon step over you if your were on the ground than, ask if you needed help. Easily led astray by fear and fists.
Some things never change.
I think it is difficult to dispute that a godless society will drive many more to madness than would be the case otherwise.
But compare the US now to what it was when it was primarily Christian, and Christianity was the common frame of reference in terms of morality. Christianity has had its share of problems, but it at least kept people on the same page, more or less in terms of what was acceptable behavior.
That is now gone, and look at the chaos as a result. The people who have rejected Christianity now find themselves without a rock to hold onto as the storm rages around them. Like leaves on a stream, they are buffeted this way and that, with no way to steady themselves.
Eat from tree of knowledge and on your belly shall you crawl all the days of your life.
I’ve just started reading Antichrist: The Fulfillment of Globalisation which captured my interest having listened to the author being interviewed. I know from a reply to a previous comment of mine that John Carter doesn’t believe eschatological explanations for what is happening, however, I find the word and prophecies of the Bible fit like a glove. The key message for those good people driven to extremes of stress it to understand this is all of part of God’s plan; though He doesn't cause Evil, He uses it to fulfil his prophecies. He assures His followers they are not to be fearful for we are just exiles on route to our ultimate destiny provided we remain steadfast and faithful to His teachings. Not all Christians understand the simplicity of His directive - though difficult to implement given human fallibility. Peace is found by putting God’s laws above all and not get sucked into the Evils of Satan’s kingdom.
I don’t think this poor man is schizo, I think he’s a lost soul.
I didn’t think he was schizophrenic either. I think he was a very intelligent man overwhelmed by the evil he uncovered and the enormity and complexity of the cabals and everything they touch. If I sat down to write all the bits and pieces that I believe in regard to conspiracies of our world, I would sound scattered too. Someone said think about how easy it is for us to lie every day, to our family, friends, neighbors, employers. Why then would it be any different for a group of extremely wealthy people who are known to be more psychopathic than the rest of the population???
Totally agree - been down the same road as you. Started my study when I couldn’t understand the seeming ‘evil for evil’s sake. And we know our governments lie to us - they lie more often than they tell the truth. And when they get called out for their totalitarian policies, they name call, smear, censor or otherwise demean opposition voices - voices which are raised for the benefit of powerless. These ‘democracies’ project their own authoritarian behaviour and deeds on other nation states - a classic narcissistic move (and Satan is a first class narcissist). Once one sees the pattern, it’s everywhere. It’s so abhorrent and sinister, and the propaganda so thick and long running (decades), and the behaviour of these elites so outside of the morales of the majority, I understand why people will not entertain a contrarian perspective.
The entire time I read his writings, I found myself agreeing more than anything else.
Romans 1 comes to mind.
I generally agree. The void left behind from the removal of God in our collective lives cannot be dismissed as cause for at least some this widespread insanity. Yes there have always been individual “crazies” , but when we witness wholesale collapse of civil society, that’s historical , if not biblical. Once mankind is left to its own devices , calamity is near
I don’t scoff, but I think there’s a lot of nuance here. There are many paths, many of them stabilizing. I say this as somebody who has some occult training, but also goes to a Christian church regularly. I think church satisfies a necessary social function, but I also think there are advanced techniques that help you keep your shit, when everything else is going off the rails.
The key is understanding that there is a hierarchy of being, whatever your model. And it’s important to know how to connect vertically as well as laterally.
Which god? Whose morality?
Anyone who needs a god to tell them what morality is, lacks morality of their own, and in calling upon a god as the arbiter of morality only shows himself unwilling to accept responsibility for his own actions.
With that said, if your faith helps you and you harm none, nor force them to your creed or temple, there's no problem. I wish the cults of Abraham respected that, but they never do.
Who (or what) then is the template for morality? Who or what will curb man’s animal behavior? Man and reason can’t do this alone.
Man is the only measure of man, so it's on us and no one else. That is the true horror of "God is dead" (not some atheistic, anti-spiritual machine-society futurism) - it's on us, it always was and it can never be any other way.
"God wills it" is an excuse made up by humans to cover - to themselves and others - the fact that it is their will alone that is the real meaning of "god".
If you haven't, take a look at Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, in which he delves into precisely this issue (reading it also tend to awaken a feeling, quite founded, that between Aristotle and Nietzsche, pretty much nothing at all happened in the field of philosophy).
Spoken like a true nihilist....basically what you are saying is that you are God....and you probably think you are educated....nice Level 1 thinking. Pax
Am I to understand that when you lack an actual arguement, you go to name-calling and false labelling?
I could say you speak like a true christian, but knowing several who actually live according the example of Jesus, rather than clerical dogma and magical liturgy, I won't.
And do read up on the meaning of "nihilist". It doesn't mean what you think it means, which is evidenced by you calling me one.
Boy.... you make this too easy: TextbooK: A nihilist is someone who believes that life is without objective meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value. Nihilism is a philosophical viewpoint that asserts the nonexistence of inherent meaning or truth in life and the universe. Nihilists often reject traditional moral and religious beliefs, as they see them as arbitrary constructs without any ultimate significance. Sound familiar?
The question is what category do you fall into? The way you present is that of a Moral Nihilist. As you know (being one) moral nihilism is the belief that moral values and principles are not objectively real or valid. Moral nihilists argue that morality is subjective and varies from person to person or culture to culture. Ergo man is God in reality.
Now I am not name calling because I have no argument.... just making an observation .... did I hurt your feelings? As far as Jesus goes...I'm pretty confident that you know nothing of the man - nor do your acquaintances (if you have any that proport's to be christian). Especially if you get your information from current sources. As far as clerical dogma is concerned, you'd be well served if you read some. At least you can know what you are missing. I suggest St Thomas Aquinas....one of the greatest thinkers of all time and quite frankly brings the complex down to human level. Don't be afraid.... you may learn something. Pax
More like God being removed from the Mainline Protestant churches.
MKULTRA! MKULTRA!
Okay, now that we've got the obligatory bit aside, I think we all need to get off the Internet or make a friend or talk to a family member. Spiraling into schizo loneliness where you feel like nobody gets you anymore. The epidemic of our time is not Corona, not Wokeness, not the WEF, not any of that shit - it's living unmoored and unattached from anyone, notionally free but a slave to our desires and the currents of our time, drifting quickly to nowhere.
Well said.
As to wind up toys, I generally suspect that more in the case of mass shooters. Suicides I tend to expect arrived at their madness honestly...
Mass shooters would definitely be a better use of the wind-up toys, should they exist. That being said, I wouldn't put it out of the mind of the schizo to make them see byt he light of the muzzle flash.
There are obvious similarities with Ted Kaczynski. Except Ted wasn't schizo, just autistic. His manifesto still makes a lot of sense today. One thing that struck me about Ted was how in his manifesto he said that a faster collapse was actually a good thing, since it would mean we would have less time to damage the earth. His actions were against those he considered to be contributing to that faster collapse. So he was actually acting against what he himself thought was a solution. He wasn't trying to solve an external problem, he was trying to solve the internal problem of despair. Which can only be cured by doing something, often something related to solving external problems.
Don't be the guy who gives in to despair to do counter-productive things simply because it seems better than doing nothing. This thing of ours isn't a sprint, or even a marathon. It's a journey that will last longer than a single lifetime, so pace yourself. As our host said:
"Keeping yourself grounded, touching grass as it were. Staying connected to the actual human beings around you, not only online, but talking to the people physically there with you. Focusing on what and who you can see and touch, directly."
I don't think Uncle Ted was actually crazy. At least not in any obvious way. Despairing, certainly. But then, despair is a form of insanity, perhaps...
He was like Colonel Kurtz in "Apocalypse Now." Too sane for an insane situation.
https://youtu.be/UP1ZRB4vaQc?t=60
Argo the Second sarcastically wrote “MKULTRA! MKULTRA!” a few comments back, but Uncle Ted was rumored to have been an unwitting subject of those experiments. If true, it would explain his descent into madness, no?
I’ve read that too. Yes that would explain a lot and put a different spin on who was actually behind the killings.
Being a crazy schizo, I'm not sure how many of these mass shooters actually had real victims or if they were just crisis actors, either way though, this is probably one of the best pieces I've read on current events for as long as I can remember. Thanks John.
Cheers!
But then we could classify despair as the loss of hope…which is perhaps what a faith/belief provides?
Except for the guys with cardboard The End Is Nigh signs...
" One thing that struck me about Ted was how in his manifesto he said that a faster collapse was actually a good thing, since it would mean we would have less time to damage the earth".
I have the same opinion. Some people in my country would love to have a less radical government and a less dictatorial loonie being the front psycho of a dictatorial court, but I actually love the incompetence. I actually hope they turn the heat to 11. That way, the amount of damage done will be much smaller (it'll be able to work for a much shorter period) and people will wake up to what's happening.
I'm pretty sure a lot of frogs, when the water is getting just a little bit warmer, think: cool, a hot bath. I guess I could read a book and sleep here for a while.
"Don't be the guy who gives in to despair to do counter-productive things simply because it seems better than doing nothing. This thing of ours isn't a sprint, or even a marathon. It's a journey that will last longer than a single lifetime, so pace yourself."
Capital-T truth. Well said.
I'm glad you added this part: "The most disquieting thing about Azzarello’s worldview is not that it is crazy, but that it is not so very thematically different from the way that I, and many others, see the world". I read the manifesto right before reading your article and I was thinking "oh oh".
What is more amazing to me is that there is some sort of miasma in the world where even people who probably would never even consider reading anything by the sorts of you or even Berenson know something is wrong.
I don't know how things are up there, but down here there is not a simmering, but a boiling that's going on under the surface. Perhaps the global boiling mr. Guteres was talking about was not about the atmosphere, but about what is going on with the serfs all around the west.
The last time around the nobility thought it wise to tell the people to eat cake they lost a continent and Europe was plunged in what was mostly 26 years of unrest and war.
Really hard not to see ourselves in Azzarello. There but for the grace of Gnon...
The regime is playing a very dangerous game. I have this image of popcorn in my mind ... one by one, slowly at first, pop, pop. Each kernel reaching its limit and blowing up. And then, all at once...
Yup. Lot's of people, from all sides, seem to think they can control when the popcorn will all blow, to what popcorny state it will come once the poping begins and that they can simply turn off the heat and the popping will suddenly stop in the machine state they want. For all the "learn history" shouts, there seem to be a huge lack of knowledge of history or of mob behaviour.
Hubris is the gift that keeps on giving.
Hubble, bubble, toil and trouble.
I think that what the elites generally recognize is that the debt/derivatives are unsustainable and it's going to collapse at some point. They're planning for this, gaslighting people as long as possible so they can take everything from the system before there is nothing left to take.
I think the great lie is that the financial system isn't broken.
It has been broken for a long time. The great lie is making people don't notice inflation and transfering the virtual money through inflation and turning it into physical assets. Covid hit just in time to allow for election shenanigans, but something else was happening about the same time that most people seem to have forgotten, which was the repo market. I have got to worry, though, or I might become a immolator myself. :P
Your proffered principles for staying in touch with reality are excellent, John. Might I also suggest spending time slowing down and resting in the arms of nature? The natural world restores not only our increasingly fractured minds, but our souls as well.
Great article, thanks.
Yes, that is extremely helpful, for those who have ready access to nature.
I laughed when I read the CIA quote, because my dad thinks I am Qanon-MAGA, whatever MSNBC is telling him to think anyone who isn't a Progressive, is today. Pretty sure I'll get a lecture from am 80 yearold in the morning, like I had something to do with the event...
Between the constant gov pyshcops, the SSRIs, the industrial strength weed, the covid vaxx poison (spike in the brain!!!), and the breakdown of societys/social constructs that you mentioned, lots of wild stuff is coming our way.
If you are lonely, get a black lab. Super loving, always up for an adventure, the dog will force you to go outside, and, they are chick magnets, at least the type of chicks that like big dogs, which are, generally, the only chicks to be with.
Doggos are highly sanity-inducing creatures. They don't fall for Internet bullshit. They don't get wrapped up in crazy ideas. They are simply present, and real, and loving.
I followed your restack of the post that led to Max’s site a few hours ago, and not gonna lie…the hairs on the back of my neck stood up as I recognized a whole lot of threads I fundamentally agree with woven into a tapestry of unmistakable lunacy.
Also, I’m still holding 3000 Dogecoin in a cold wallet so I think I might be complicit in all this somehow.
This was very much how I reacted too. I suspect a lot of us had that reaction.
Schizophrenia is a terrible disease that often afflicts very intelligent individuals. Several years ago a man approached me and started discussing aging and telomeres and DNA. It was an interesting discussion until his logic started showing frays around the edges and it became clear that he was schizophrenic. Much of what he said was profound and some not grounded in reality. Overall though I would trust his analysis more than what I read in the Washington Post.
I've had this flavor of conversation many times. Once I watched someone fall deeper into it over several months, getting crazier every time I saw him. It's always very sad.
Like that famous video of the insane person sitting in the mud at a RenFest or similar, ranting about the Trilateral Commission. Obviously insane and nonfunctional, but at the same time saner and more functional and cleareyed than the average mush-for-brains dopamine addict normies most of us spend our days surrounded by. Strange times.
I'm reading this at a spiritual retreat where people are encouraged to be here now and focus and talk to each other and not about crazy Internet stuff.
You are a great teacher and I'm going to turn my phone off and go talk to people now.
Thank you!
That's wonderful. I hope you have an excellent time there.
Thanks man! Your writing is making it even more awesome :)
Thinker of the new thought.
A very good post. I feel this atomizing/fracturing sense of reality more every day. I am reminded that our overlords conducted mind control studies via Operation Monarch, etc., and how the "method" included trauma to the subject that eventually resulted in a "fracturing" of the personality into types that were then easily controlled by the handler. If it works on individuals, why not on entire populations? Welcome to the experiment.
Exactly. MKULTRA never ended. They just took it to the next level.
It makes sense. Mind control is all based on primal/basic human responses. Things that all people have in common.
There’s no reason to assume that it wouldn’t work on an entire population. I think it already has in large part!
Well they certainly tried with Covid. That was pure manipulation all the way. And we got to see the numbers. I’d say a solid two-thirds bought it, possibly more.
And we saw how quickly they weaponized much of the polarization. Plenty would have been perfectly content with concentration camps for the unclean.
That's for sure. The general reaction of the public was the scariest part!
It was often people you wouldn't have imagined would turn like that. It was like real-life "Invasion of The Body Snatchers." They would try to convince you as well, "All of this is only for a little while, here, just lie down for a little bit, you'll understand when you wake up."
It was freaking creepy.
It was most instructive. Not something I am likely to forget.
It is those same people who do not wish to hear about vaccine injury or the proposed WHO pandemic treaty. Slaves who want others to run their lives.
That's a perfect way to look at it, "Slaves who *want* other people to run their lives."
Most are slaves. Very few seek genuine liberty as it comes with too many responsibilities.
“his rational mind then attempted to assemble the puzzle pieces he found lying around on the Internet into something that more or less fit.”
One must compartmentalize all a priori to survive such a journey, have access to them but not rely on them unless necessary. One must have the capacity to do so without becoming unsound of mind. One must also avoid the Finality of an Answer compulsion that nearly all humans innately possess.
Correct.
It isn't easy. Many will not be able to do it.
Interesting times ahead.
“Maintaining some approximation of psychological stability in the coming years is going to be a challenge. There are, I think, certain principles that can be applied. Keeping yourself grounded, touching grass as it were. Staying connected to the actual human beings around you, not only online, but talking to the people physically there with you. Focusing on what and who you can see and touch, directly.”
This is great advice and is in-line with my evolving thoughts on how to survive this discombobulating period of history. The 3 most important skills that will be needed to succeed in the 21st century will be:
- Interpersonal socialization skills (to build and maintain a strong social network)
- Self-discipline
- Resiliency
The people who will thrive will be those who can block out infinite and irresistible distractions and develop a deeper sense of purpose and connection.
Those factors are all extremely important, yes.
Very good advice in this article. I instinctively distanced myself from the increasing erratic messaging that was coming out of the covid debacle and for me it was a survival instinct. To let the messengers invade your mind and emotions was a road to fear and making bad decisions born out of this hysteria. Hear the many different messages but control how you react to them. I am so sorry for this young man and his family, what a terrible, desperate action to take and if he does survive his road going forward will be incredibly difficult.
"Don’t get too wrapped up in any one narrative. Don’t become too emotionally invested in any one, specific thing as The Truth."
My personal protection against that is to half-jokingly say to myself, "if it seems obvious, it's only because that is what THEY want you to think!!!111!"
I've done far too much research into the Cabal or whatever you want to call it to think we can see the truth of it. In large part because it's not a monolithic entity, it's lots of parts fighting itself even more than it fights us. Even those inside it at a high level likely don't understand most of it.
It's one thing to acknowledge that there's an entire, dark jungle of hidden agendas. Quite another to imagine that one has it all figured out.
But as a general principle, visualizing it as a monolith is certainly one of the more dangerous errors.
Sadly that is the most common banner wielded by humanity since ancient times and I don’t think it is going to change anytime soon. ( I know the truth ) (I’m right, you are wrong) (My truth is absolute)
In the past few months I've been drawn into random conversations with ordinary people in ordinary places -- grocery stores, hotel lobbies, parking lots, etc. -- about the issues that Azzarello discusses. The more the corporate media denies that things like this are going on, the more people suspect that they're probably true. In the face of this constant gas lighting, everyone wants to know that they're not crazy.
"You see it too, right?" is the theme du jour.
The normies are getting restless. Many of them sense the predator in the undergrowth, but few of them know what to make of it.