'If you’re anything like me, the world you live in feels increasingly alien every day.'
I actually feel the opposite. Prior to the pandemic (and the homelessness and unemployment it brought me) I was still struggling to make sense of a disenchanted world: grappling with the bizarre behaviours of people I found impossible to understand. Trying to find employment in the NGO sector and progress my career in the blobocracy, and being rejected at every turn. Wondering why all my PhD applications ended in failure, and how the lab I worked in could continue to perform such useless (even meaningless) research. Growing resentful and disillusioned. Feeling disgusted by the people I met, the meaningless platitudes they mouthed, the inane idiocy of the sloganeering that took the place of critical engagement or thought. Feeling disappointed by all contemporary media that echoed the same infantile ideas.
But the corporate power grab that came with Covid brought everything sharply into focus. Suddenly I could see who the enemy really is. It was like a shock deprogramming event, where every shibboleth could suddenly be reconsidered, and all the demoralising principles absorbed over my three decades in a post-Cold War Left Liberal Consensus End of History world were revealed for the lies they are. I had time to read and time to think -- but most importantly, I could find writers like you, who expressed precisely what I'd always felt, but had been incapable of admitting to myself.
After 6 years of trying, I was finally accepted onto a PhD programme (fully funded, publications guaranteed) -- but there was a catch. It required the vaccine. And I refused, because I wasn't listening to the powers that be, but the people who seemed to be genuinely concerned with Truth. And so I threw away that future, and chose a different one. A few years ago I was considering a vasectomy, for typically eco-leftist and self-hating reasons. Now I'm married, and we recently had our first child. None of this would have happened without Covid, when the scales were torn from my eyes. This is thanks to people like you.
For me, the world has gone from being a deeply frustrating and alienating place to one marked out in sharp contours: light and dark, good and evil, friend and enemy. The ugliness can be avoided and the beauty sought out. Community is lacking, but perhaps something will come about. At least I know I'm not alone.
It's been a great year on Barsoom! Looking forward to what postcards arrive in the year to come!
Your substack is one that has given me a lot of encouragement during difficult times when I've wondered, can the world we live in really be as fucking insane as I feel like it is, or am I just losing my mind and the normies are the sane ones? It can be such a relief to hear someone speaking reasonably in this whirlwind of postmodern madness, just to know, okay, it's not just me; our culture really is batshit crazy, unnatural, and dreadfully anti-human. Thanks for being that voice of sanity!
Most novelists produce one shitty novel up front. Better that way than the first novel being good and the rest of them shitty (Sartre). Robertson Davies is the one I can think of whose first novel, Fifth Business, is a gem and the others are great too. Herman Hesse started out with very short novellas and stories and ended up producing some great full length novels. John Irving fired a few blanks before hitting pay dirt with The World According to Garp. It's a different marketplace today. There are less readers and it's difficult to galvanize an audience. I'm glad you're cutting your teeth as a writer here on Substack and I'm sure you've benefitted from the discipline and the effort of writing. Someone who is prolific with words as you are shouldn't be afraid to pop off a couple of flawed novels. As long as you follow them up with something great.
Hail and kaor, Jeddak of Barsoom! Congrats on completing one year of mal/mis/dis/diss/bliss-and-cis-information. Or whatever the hell it is you've been trying to do here. All I know is that I've gained several uncanny powers since I started reading it. Correlation != causation, but I'll try to keep up just in case.
(Also, this gave me an excuse to reread Global Tantalus, so thanks for that.)
I also increasingly do not recognize the world I'm living in and feel that I don't belong in it anymore. I went to the store yesterday, in the little town in which I live, to replace a blown light bulb in the lamp I use the most and discovered that the government has now completely banned incandescent light bulbs. They are no longer available and this is, apparently, for my own good. This is just the latest from these increasingly anonymous and all powerful bureaucrats who, entirely without my input, keep making choices for me.
In the state where I live, they have outlawed larger water heaters, dishwashers that work, wood stoves, clothes washers that actually use water to clean clothes, laundry soap that works, and are now coming after my gas stove. And this is just a very short list of what they have taken away from me while loudly claiming to be making these decisions for my own good, but it only results in my feeling trapped and reduced. Who are these people and why won't they just leave me alone?
John, It has been a great year reading you. Keep being as off-the-wall as you like...I have learned a great deal about a lot of things from you...and am looking forward to much more. Congratulations on your first anniversary. Hope I am writing a similar note on your tenth. And many thanks for doing this.
This may still not be apparent, but mRNA-jab tyranny has woken the warrior in us, which means we were warriors all the time but had been force-fed a diet of doves and olive leaves, and raised to walk on our knees. But no more. We 15 percenters realise there is no 'somebody', as in "Somebody has to stop this democide". There is only us and we will fight back. We alone realise that psychopaths will utterly disregard appeals to their humanity and compassion. They will not desist, cannot desist. 'Non-violent peaceful protest' is a phrase programmed into us by the City of London through Gandhi, and Wall Street through ML King.Words. Although now awake, we were defeated by acts of indoctrination, felt most deeply by academics, scientists, and by school teachers, who are adults who have never left school. Action is needed, but action means searching for soldiers who still consider their job is to defennd the people. They can train us into a militia that can defend our children and redeem our nation. Following eventual triumph, we will then be the people who say, "Never again. No more belief. Our future must henceforth be guided by evidence and logic, burnished by INTUITION, which is the voice of our souls.".
Apr 11, 2023·edited Apr 11, 2023Liked by John Carter
I am on Substack since this all started three years ago. I have read few of your esseys, specially about academia. My biggest concern is what will be next? All purpose of this esseys and analysis has been how we got there and why. I think I have understood many things but still I wondering can we just forgot all this? Can we just pretend it been some kind of nightmare? It surely seems like that.
Egregore (also spelled egregor; from French égrégore, from Ancient Greek ἐγρήγορος, egrēgoros 'wakeful') is an occult concept representing a non-physical entity that arises from the collective thoughts of a distinct group of people. Historically, the concept referred to angelic beings, or watchers, and the specific rituals and practices associated with them, namely within Enochian traditions.[1]
Oh, what a treasure trove! And how refreshing to have a variety of topics of intetest. As a new joiner of this stack, I see I have a lot of catching up to do! Thank you for the highlights. I think I'm going to enjoy this 😁
One Proxy War too many. The old Geo-Economic Success Paradigm no longer delivers.
And so Narrative Collapse – – –
Only when the last American artillery shell has been fired in The Ukraine, only when the last Ukrainian soldier has been killed in The Ukraine and only when the last of Ukrainian state territory has been irretrievably lost from The Ukraine will The West finally realize that God Favours Russia . . .
'If you’re anything like me, the world you live in feels increasingly alien every day.'
I actually feel the opposite. Prior to the pandemic (and the homelessness and unemployment it brought me) I was still struggling to make sense of a disenchanted world: grappling with the bizarre behaviours of people I found impossible to understand. Trying to find employment in the NGO sector and progress my career in the blobocracy, and being rejected at every turn. Wondering why all my PhD applications ended in failure, and how the lab I worked in could continue to perform such useless (even meaningless) research. Growing resentful and disillusioned. Feeling disgusted by the people I met, the meaningless platitudes they mouthed, the inane idiocy of the sloganeering that took the place of critical engagement or thought. Feeling disappointed by all contemporary media that echoed the same infantile ideas.
But the corporate power grab that came with Covid brought everything sharply into focus. Suddenly I could see who the enemy really is. It was like a shock deprogramming event, where every shibboleth could suddenly be reconsidered, and all the demoralising principles absorbed over my three decades in a post-Cold War Left Liberal Consensus End of History world were revealed for the lies they are. I had time to read and time to think -- but most importantly, I could find writers like you, who expressed precisely what I'd always felt, but had been incapable of admitting to myself.
After 6 years of trying, I was finally accepted onto a PhD programme (fully funded, publications guaranteed) -- but there was a catch. It required the vaccine. And I refused, because I wasn't listening to the powers that be, but the people who seemed to be genuinely concerned with Truth. And so I threw away that future, and chose a different one. A few years ago I was considering a vasectomy, for typically eco-leftist and self-hating reasons. Now I'm married, and we recently had our first child. None of this would have happened without Covid, when the scales were torn from my eyes. This is thanks to people like you.
For me, the world has gone from being a deeply frustrating and alienating place to one marked out in sharp contours: light and dark, good and evil, friend and enemy. The ugliness can be avoided and the beauty sought out. Community is lacking, but perhaps something will come about. At least I know I'm not alone.
It's been a great year on Barsoom! Looking forward to what postcards arrive in the year to come!
Your substack is one that has given me a lot of encouragement during difficult times when I've wondered, can the world we live in really be as fucking insane as I feel like it is, or am I just losing my mind and the normies are the sane ones? It can be such a relief to hear someone speaking reasonably in this whirlwind of postmodern madness, just to know, okay, it's not just me; our culture really is batshit crazy, unnatural, and dreadfully anti-human. Thanks for being that voice of sanity!
Most novelists produce one shitty novel up front. Better that way than the first novel being good and the rest of them shitty (Sartre). Robertson Davies is the one I can think of whose first novel, Fifth Business, is a gem and the others are great too. Herman Hesse started out with very short novellas and stories and ended up producing some great full length novels. John Irving fired a few blanks before hitting pay dirt with The World According to Garp. It's a different marketplace today. There are less readers and it's difficult to galvanize an audience. I'm glad you're cutting your teeth as a writer here on Substack and I'm sure you've benefitted from the discipline and the effort of writing. Someone who is prolific with words as you are shouldn't be afraid to pop off a couple of flawed novels. As long as you follow them up with something great.
Hail and kaor, Jeddak of Barsoom! Congrats on completing one year of mal/mis/dis/diss/bliss-and-cis-information. Or whatever the hell it is you've been trying to do here. All I know is that I've gained several uncanny powers since I started reading it. Correlation != causation, but I'll try to keep up just in case.
(Also, this gave me an excuse to reread Global Tantalus, so thanks for that.)
Well written.
I also increasingly do not recognize the world I'm living in and feel that I don't belong in it anymore. I went to the store yesterday, in the little town in which I live, to replace a blown light bulb in the lamp I use the most and discovered that the government has now completely banned incandescent light bulbs. They are no longer available and this is, apparently, for my own good. This is just the latest from these increasingly anonymous and all powerful bureaucrats who, entirely without my input, keep making choices for me.
In the state where I live, they have outlawed larger water heaters, dishwashers that work, wood stoves, clothes washers that actually use water to clean clothes, laundry soap that works, and are now coming after my gas stove. And this is just a very short list of what they have taken away from me while loudly claiming to be making these decisions for my own good, but it only results in my feeling trapped and reduced. Who are these people and why won't they just leave me alone?
John, It has been a great year reading you. Keep being as off-the-wall as you like...I have learned a great deal about a lot of things from you...and am looking forward to much more. Congratulations on your first anniversary. Hope I am writing a similar note on your tenth. And many thanks for doing this.
This may still not be apparent, but mRNA-jab tyranny has woken the warrior in us, which means we were warriors all the time but had been force-fed a diet of doves and olive leaves, and raised to walk on our knees. But no more. We 15 percenters realise there is no 'somebody', as in "Somebody has to stop this democide". There is only us and we will fight back. We alone realise that psychopaths will utterly disregard appeals to their humanity and compassion. They will not desist, cannot desist. 'Non-violent peaceful protest' is a phrase programmed into us by the City of London through Gandhi, and Wall Street through ML King.Words. Although now awake, we were defeated by acts of indoctrination, felt most deeply by academics, scientists, and by school teachers, who are adults who have never left school. Action is needed, but action means searching for soldiers who still consider their job is to defennd the people. They can train us into a militia that can defend our children and redeem our nation. Following eventual triumph, we will then be the people who say, "Never again. No more belief. Our future must henceforth be guided by evidence and logic, burnished by INTUITION, which is the voice of our souls.".
I am on Substack since this all started three years ago. I have read few of your esseys, specially about academia. My biggest concern is what will be next? All purpose of this esseys and analysis has been how we got there and why. I think I have understood many things but still I wondering can we just forgot all this? Can we just pretend it been some kind of nightmare? It surely seems like that.
Happy birthday! Here's to another 78. You partly inspired me to take the plunge here too, so thanks. And f**c niches :)
Love your writing. Absolutely entertaining, challenging, witty. and deep.
Thank you.
Today, (just today) I have decided to believe nothing. Everything is a lie. It's a fix.
Still love your writing. Maybe tomorrow there will be some truth.
Just leaving this here for ignoramus’ like me:
Egregore (also spelled egregor; from French égrégore, from Ancient Greek ἐγρήγορος, egrēgoros 'wakeful') is an occult concept representing a non-physical entity that arises from the collective thoughts of a distinct group of people. Historically, the concept referred to angelic beings, or watchers, and the specific rituals and practices associated with them, namely within Enochian traditions.[1]
Oh, what a treasure trove! And how refreshing to have a variety of topics of intetest. As a new joiner of this stack, I see I have a lot of catching up to do! Thank you for the highlights. I think I'm going to enjoy this 😁
MAN. YOU A POET. 💗💗
Looking forward to reading more of your content.
I see Barsoom, John Carter. Am I on Mars? What the heck? 😅
'If you’re anything like me, the world you live in feels increasingly alien every day."
If you are living in The West, J,C., entirely understandable and examined in the necessary depth, say . . .
Washington's Ukraina Grandioznaya Skhema.
The Graveyard of This Empire . . . https://les7eb.substack.com/p/washingtons-ukraina-grandioznaya
_________
One Proxy War too many. The old Geo-Economic Success Paradigm no longer delivers.
And so Narrative Collapse – – –
Only when the last American artillery shell has been fired in The Ukraine, only when the last Ukrainian soldier has been killed in The Ukraine and only when the last of Ukrainian state territory has been irretrievably lost from The Ukraine will The West finally realize that God Favours Russia . . .
https://les7eb.substack.com/p/ukraine-long-proxy-war-vi-god-favours