“The most disheartening trend is the spread of the mental disease of social justice addiction through all the major institutions of the publication and media industry. Not just written science fiction, but films and shows and comic books are continually suffering spiritual degradation, castration of manhood, and lobotomy of common sense, defenestration of sound storytelling.”
These behaviors sound demonic in nature, not an illness, entering all aspects of education, commerce, and politics. Medicine as well.
They must be shamed and cast out with force. There is no other solution.
It is much the same here in academia, with the main difference being that statements about how you plan to pay homage to the värdegrund (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%C3%A4rdegrund) are not just mandatory but also legal; indeed they are compelled by law.
Värdegrund comes before facts or anything else and is worse than DIE because värdegrund is so loosely defined, or even undefined, you will never know if you violate it or not, until your superiors tell you you have done so. The Wikipedia entry briefly explains the concept, but without any context or examples of how it works in practice - it is essentially putting make-up on a pig.
The day I was told that trying to be factual, objective and impartial was to pick the side of the oppressors, I knew my time was up - I was a heretic (every time I write that word I can hear the Grunts from Halo chanting "He-re-tic! He-re-tic!"; the brain works in wondrous ways) because I hadn't when challenged replied with the correct pass-phrase.
Dressing up in old army uniform sans insignia for "Rainbow-day" just crossed the I and dotted the T - apparently, army green is the wrong kind of green.
A point: there are signs that DEI and woke is now somewhat on the back foot. Don't belive it to be so; what is, is that they have finally met a little resistance and have been taken aback, shocked and outraged that resistance is possible. Now is not the time to celebrate a victory: the enemy's front-line is wavering - now is the time to increase the intensity of the attack and have units ready for breakthrough and encircle, plus raids deep into the hinter-lands where the depos are. Against an enemy such as the woke and DEI, static warfare and attrition must be avoided; the continuous never-ending grind is where they excel. The raid, the fluid front, the avoiding of pitched battles, and the always striking at the enemy using his own strengths against him must be the principles of engagement.
That, and no prisoners. No peace. No accord or compromise. Consider the woke and the DEI the human equivalent of Giger's Xenomorph: it's goal is to utterly destroy you because of how it's existence and nature is.
There is no common ground or cause with an existential enemy.
Could not agree more on the woke question. They're staging a tactical retreat, but this is a holy war. They will not surrender, but must be defeated.
Also, on the method of the war: again I agree. There will be no long slow march through the institutions, as the enemy performed. Gradual infiltration is their way. Rather, we must think like chariot warriors and guerillas - lightning raids, hit and run, with the goal of disrupting their logistics and, ultimately, burning down their fortifications.
Crazy stuff about the Värdegrund. Somehow this is the first I've heard of that, despite living in Sweden for a while.
I think one method of swift defeat is to outdo them. Novels, films, stories of any kind. Fiction and media. Although official media is essentially off limits to the normal.
They are overtly political, unavoidably so. Plenty of scope there to entertain audiences desperate for quality.
I do think that is how we will win the culture war. Quality. Lord of the Rings versus gay superheroes.
A character may be political, religious, whatever and spout their views within the logic and context (the internal consistency) of the work; think of Gandalf asking Frodo who gets to decide who deserves to live or not.
It is when the work itself is political that it falls off the cliff; the last Narnia book is a prime example. All the earlier ones puts characters against each other, but the work itself simply tells the story, it doesn't pick a side - it trusts the reader to do that, if desired. The last one is as subtle as a hammer to the teeth, especially the scenes with the dwarves and the one single moslem, pardon "calormen", that can pass through the door before Aslan.
It does, and it scans. Subtlety and honesty are important. I find the most compelling works that take on political themes are the ones in which the author is aware of the shortcomings of their own preferred worldview - they're grappling with issues, rather than preaching. Centering the questions rather than the answers.
Direct link to the article won't co-operate; look for one titled "Sweden: Welcome to Diversity Hell"
I mention this because Ganman is one of few outside academia who has tried to understand the concept "värdegrund" and where it came from. Briefly:
It is an unholy amalgamation of "core corporate values" taken from marketing and capitalist coprorations, bred together with the purityrannical sense if being from islam and christianity at its worst (not the religious tenets as such, just the "obey or else" sense) where guilt over never being politicqally correct /enough/ drives you to ever stronger and extreme displays of obeisance and devotion.
Plus politically correctness the way Lenin defined and codified it: the Party is always right; what the Party speaks is truth. Nowadays, without any notions of communism but instead liberalism and libertarianism applied to issues of race, culture and identity.
It is applied the way stamps in your party-book was in communist states: too many, and you're suspected of trying too hard, not enough and you're suspected of dissident thought - and "correct" is never defined and nailed down. It is Kafka's delator and the logic of the inquisition:
If you stand accused, you must be guilty. If of nothing else, then you are guilty of wasting the court's time.
Academia is pyramid scheme with shit pay. Glad it prepared you to unleash your brilliant writing. Your essays are inspiring and deeply resonant. Congratulations for your success!
Imagine if you will...It's 2012. You're in a compound in Saudi Arabia sharing time with some pretty cool international friends preparing to teach a semester of specialty English for the oil industry at a polytech college, having bailed on a high school English teaching program in Canadia because ''something is wrong''. Like, A LOT WRONG, but at this point it's still hard to put your finger on what's really up. So. Off to Saudi and a $50K starting salary to bury them student loans once and for all!! Your curriculum shows up for the M.a. program you're doing online through an accredited Canadian University (AU). Having exhausted the more ''interesting/fun'' courses on creative writing and creative non-fiction, politics of cyberspace, and researching society and culture, it's time to delve into some of the more education centered coursework of the MAIS program, since double majoring in ''Education and Global Change'' seems like a worthy pursuit for anyone with an honest desire to make the world a better place and effect a positive impact on the lives of others. The next logical course to take is ''Social Justice in Education". You flip open the first coursebook to scan it briefly and get a general idea of what it's about. Reading some catch-phrases that seem pretty bland and a bit ludicrous, you scan a few random paragraphs specifically, and think, WTF is this?!! Flipping open the second coursebook you repeat this process with the same reaction, and a disturbing realization dawning in your deepest, most perspicacious infinite cavernous subconscious to spiritual conscious awareness... The book drops to your side. There's a curious epiphany of introspective realization. This is impossible. Studying ''social justice'' as it's now written and considered in Canada in 2012 while teaching at an all-male oil and gas polytech in Saudi Arabia. What an utterly absurd collision of ideology and reality on the ground. Boots on the ground, on the bounce, because it's an American funded program through McGill University and Amideast Washington – an ''N''GO with old ties to the CIA and Rockefellers - and in Saudi in 2012 this has a very military feel to it. The mad feminazis and early wokesters of the UVIC Education program had followed me to the ends of the earth, and were going to punish me through my own channeling of intellectual curiosity and honest, ardent desire to make the world a better place through my own heroic efforts. I QUIT. Never felt such a WIN in quitting anything in my life. In retrospect, I could have fought like a wolverine, and maybe could have effected the right sort of change. The sort of forward thinking change that reading these posts on substack by John Carter are making in people's minds everyday. But it was an insanely uphill battle at that point, with few allies in the arena, only those on the ground in propinquity on the other side of the world. I just want to say, I'm grateful for the Postcards. They've helped me gain focused perspective on a lot of things that from that time until now have been quite difficult to frame due to complexity, an ongoing fervent devotion to zenlike ENJOYMENT OF LIFE, and being on the run for financial survival among other reasons. It's been a wild ride. These posts and links have been helpful, and continue to be. So THANKS!! Do keep writing.....
And if you want to hear something fun - while many were freaking out during the first year of COVID, I was rallying the local menfolk out in bush country (a hillbilly savant, a hippy contractor, and myself) to just drink, smoke, and JAM!!! It seemed like the right thing to do at the time. Enjoy, if you like.
Back around 2012 was when it started clicking for a lot of us, that things had gone dark and wrong. Though it wasn't clear then how, or what to do about it.
I've been working on a series of short stories compiling some of the wildest times I experienced overseas between 2000-2016. Been experimenting with various online publishing venues, Substack seeming the best so far, with a community I can identify with, so I'll probably be posting a few more tales as time goes on. Will likely self-publish a (chap?)book of these short stories (&killer pics) in 2025 even though it all seems like ancient history with the rate of change right now. They're still stories of entertaining expat chaos that I'm pretty sure some/many(?!!) readers will enjoy, with unique perspectives. For example: In relation to your thoughts on Sharia law in Arab (various racial) enclaves potentially popping up within Canada expressed on Millenniyule for instance - the cultural revolution in Saudi over the past few years has essentially nullified or at least severely modified this. The mujahadeen (religious police) don't patrol the streets of Saudi anymore, women are driving and wearing whatever clothes they want - unrelated young males and females can now have conversations in public without fear of being jailed - Al Saud reportedly has dementia and his son Salman sacked (&temporarily jailed!!) those taking worst advantage of the system (even royal family members) and he's overhauled their entire society in short order in the name of the future survival of the nation. I had an American friend send pics from a rave party in the streets of the capital in 2017 with a pack of ''girls gone wild''. Pretty far out how things can change so rapidly and radically these days. Salman knows their country is royally screwed when their oil reserves run out - with Saudi academics reporting this to happen within 2 decades (as of 2016!!) - their water reserves are long gone - so it's road warrior culture in just over a decade unless things change - ohya - and their economy crashed hard in 2016 with a trillion dollar deficit and they sold off massive shares in ARAMCO, after they flooded the global market trying to put Iranian oil producers and American shale companies out of business. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot!! Saudi Arabia is no longer the ultra rich independent country a majority of people in Canada still think it is...
Here's a good one: When the leader of the academic program at SCECO Juaymah (Saudi Electric Corporation) reported these findings (the inevitable depletion of their oil reserves) to the country's leaders their response was a classic, "Inshallah". Which is the Arabic equivalent to ''Que sera, sera..."
In small enclaves in the west, as in western groups of expats overseas, things can shift on a dime, so Sharia law might come or go depending on current events...
I was in the Middle East for 3 years, but, subjectively, the really FUN and wild party stories are from the 2000-2008 Korea/Japan/Aussie/etc. early expat years - talk about flying by the seat of your pants!! Thanks for your writing. It's been inspirational.
We might have crossed paths in a bar in Seoul, Pusan, Osaka, Fukuoka, Tokyo, or Jeju - which was where I finally settled in for a number of years to teach and rock the bars with fellow expat musicians. I'll post an early 2000s Korea yarn in a day or two just for laughs if you're interested. Also - I've been passing on 'Postcards' and it may interest U to know that you have a small yet dedicated following in Kaslo and Bella Coola BC....and...internationally... As for how, or what to do about the "state of things", this is ongoing. I don't see a democratic solution for Canada at this point. Hopefully there's a pan-dimensional fractal connectivity and rising grassroots movement (or something!!!) that will help to point the way forward - networked companies of adventurers(!!) - so that with diligence and persistent puissance of intellect, the people - the united yet fractured Canadian tribes - may yet prevail and overcome excess, idiocy, evil, hypocrisy, greed, avarice, and stupidity - all the old enemies - which seem to rear their heads in every bloody generation and must be defeated again, again, again, and yet again..... Very Cyrano de Bergerac. The only way to win against overwhelming odds as always, is WITH PANACHE!!!!!
Would be quite remarkable if we’d crossed paths, though stranger things have happened. Certainly it’s very possible we frequented some of the same nightclubs (though I can’t recall any of their names, it’s been so long).
As to a democratic solution, I agree. Canadian electoral politics are hopeless. The only way I can see to fix the country is with a Sulla, an Ataturk, or a Cromwell (and yes I get the irony of involving Cromwell, given he was a parliamentary supremacist…) Beyond the general lassitude, there’s the problem that a huge part of the electorate are either foreign, work for the government, or elderly … a coalition that it is very difficult to overcome at the ballot box.
I firmly believe in synchronicity and have many examples of surprisingly serendipitous connections while traveling over the years. I could never forget the Dark Room in Fukuoka among other places!! Listening to Fortissax on the Canada Banquet considering the pros and cons of city vs. country existence in Canada at this hour, as I'm in the latter zone. There is less economic possibility in the sticks, and less face time with interesting personalities, but it's far easier to cultivate the kind of peace of mind and meditative practices that enable one to sort and process data/information like a zen archer - in order to effortlessly strike TRUE. Momentum is building, and we Canadians have a habit and tradition of rising above and breaking the mold when it comes to overcoming impossible odds - such as - a handful of sane, rational individuals bucking the neoliberal insanity of the past 5 years to get the nation and our society in general back on a course that's more in line with the excellent existential progress of our collective history. One charismatic leader with a handful of good, relatively wise men (and women who haven't been co-opted by the hate squad algorithms) behind him could re-program said lackadaisical coalition easily if the time was right, and that time is here and now. Excelsior!!
I didn’t see it until 2016. Something didn’t feel right. The deeper I dug the worse it got.
The first moment of terror was when my daughter came home talking about how this and that were socially constructed, and she was in fifth grade.
Since then I continue to dig and seek to support my fellow miners of truth looking to construct the tools to fight back. A fight we may not win now but must fight for future generations to have a chance.
My first postcard read was on fifth generation warfare. I’ve gone on to find other valuable substacks. Thank you, keep writing, and Merry Christmas!
I guess you could say it was a QU-INN!! Heh... Since in the interim I've accomplished many significant life-goals. Picking your battles is key to winning the war. I'm sure Sun-Tzu says that somewhere. I'm not eager to return to academia at this point as I've been running a rural homestead for nearly a decade after returning to Canada, and while there seems to be a counter-reaction to the ridiculous emotional garbage that overran the white tower in the name of FUNDING and (absurd-extremist-algorithm-driven) populist consensus over the past two decades, as John and others report, and is obvious in society, the degrees simply don't have the weight and degree of respect they once did. For now. It's more about who ya know. Getting an English degree at UVIC in 2000 was bloody hard work, and required that you be an erudite scholar. I'm not sure about now, but from what I hear anyone with the $$$ can get that sheepskin. As an eagle, perched high on the twisted limbs of an ancient cottonwood tree, I'm currently surveying the landscape and rivers below, considering the next, most advantageous vector for the infinite improbability drive to attack/pursue.......
It’s a wasteland. I hate it for you guys. Some people are truly capable of thriving in academia. And man, Canadian politics are bizarre. That’s coming from an American!
> A few days ago, I came across this video by the science YouTuber Sabine Hossenfelder: My dream died, and now I'm here.
Funny. First Hossenfelder, then Briggs, now you. Three people in ~3 days dunk on Academia from basically the same angle. Collusion? ;) Are we to unleash Conspiracy Theories? xD
Don’t give up on your writing dreams. An old coworker of mine from the late 1980’s (I was the department secretary, he has a PhD in physics) has written sci-fi, a guide to fiction writing, and now writes Christian fiction set in the time of Jesus. Look up Randy (or Randall) Ingermanson. He has a blog and his books are on Amazon. Keep up the 💩posting, too!
I've no intention of giving up. Quite the opposite - the main thrust of this is that the scientific career was really more of a preparation for writing ;)
You will do far more good for human flourishing in writing than academia. Regardless of what the I F*cking Love Science people say, if a people's spiritual needs are not met, nohing else will be met either.
If you write SF, I wonder what will be the sexuality in your books. :) I've started to read science fiction and I noticed a pretty clear trend. The older the book, the more crazy the sexuality. For example, Randezvous with Rama (~1972) has polygamy as perfectly normal, something nobody bats an eye at. But The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (1955)? Oh boy! Line marriages, clan marriages, polygamy, premarital sex, even hints of adultery, you name it, it has it! xD OTOH, Theft of Fire (2023) not only doesn't have anything deviant, *it doesn't have sex at all*! Well that's not true. Devon really outdid himself and, since he couldn't insert a sex scene in the narative, he instead created a dream scene and had his characters fuck in their dreams. You know. Can't have a work of science fiction without AT LEAST ONE sexing. xD But at least it was normal one-on-one hetero sex... with the exception of butterfly wings.
PROJECTION: by 2050 science fiction will only permit full 100% Christian heteronormative sex under the bond of marriage. Characters that engage in premarital sex will get eaten by space ghouls. Polygamy will be forgotten about.
I find the sex stuff generally uninteresting. Heinlein was a dirty old man, but his best work was definitely not deep dives into alternative relationship architectures.
Wow - I'm well out of modern literature, meaning books written after the year 2 000 - has it gotten that bad, that we are now in an age of neo-puritanism where sex is described the way Zamjatin did (but in his case to make point) in "We"?
Time to re-read "The Reproductive System" (John Sladek), methinks.
I find a lot of contemporary books tend to skip over or imply the sex scenes. Which honestly I prefer. It isn't prudishness (well maybe a little), it's just that most authors are terrible at writing sex scenes, and they come off as cringe, awkward, or weird.
"As Luke penetrated her shields, he could feel the Force well up inside him, coursing as was it a raging yet serene torrent, through his staunchly girded loins just before he launched his throbbing proton torpedo at her yawning, glistening thermal exhaust port."
C'mon, Star Wars was already ruined by Disney. Bring on the smut!
🤣 true! I’ve dabbled in writing erotic fiction and I think I do a decent job of it…but now that I’ve become a Christian, I don’t feel comfortable with that language anymore. Had the beginnings of a story that I’m trying to rewrite without all the sex scenes and I keep coming up with blanks.
Prudishness and prurience produce their own kinds of weird. Finding the happy medium is a hard trick, which is why the smart call is usually just to draw a tasteful curtain and let the characters have a private moment.
Think this with your heart: “Jesus, if you are the Son of God, I consecrate my heart to your Heart. Please send me the Holy Spirit so I can see Truth and have the courage to convert and follow Him wherever He leads”
Mathematical proof of God’s mind
Who could have imagined that mathematical images could be so beautiful?:
My own trajectory is similar, although didn't involve academia. Just the slow realization you are not getting on and the DEI quota system has serious consequences for many people's livelihoods, mine included.
I've enjoyed your work these past few years and am keen to see more. I'm also publishing a sci-fi novel soon so we overlap there too. It will be interesting to see if ultimately Substack becomes a launchpad for new writers, including novelists. It is certainly a viable alternative to the dying mainstream.
Keep up the good work and look forward to news of the novel.
Academia stunk long before the DEI began eating its rotting corpse. Publish or perish = Total Quantity Management.
I look forward to reading your fiction. I tried my hand at SF before going into physics and got a big stack of rejection slips for my efforts. Physics was easier. Writing software easier yet.
The root of the problem in the academic sector, as everywhere else, is managerialization. It rationalizes everything it touches, and in the process sucks out the soul and leaves it hollow and pointless.
The Humanities end of academia has been the natural home of a malcontent intelligentsia since the 1920s (if not even earlier) - one that wanted to see itself as more sophisticated than thou by unpicking our culture's moral compass. And these types MADE A B-LINE for the public-funded universities and the rest of our polity was foolish enough to stand by as they have entirely colonised them and sheep dipped the rising generations of the professional/managerial elite with their bogus Social Justice race and gender victimhood cults. The rest is history:
It isn't only that. You also have a massive influx of midwits starting mid-century and growing from that point on. Dumbing down STEM is very difficult; dumbing down the humanities comparatively easy. Thus lit became a bird major, stuffed with exactly the kind of people that are easiest to indoctrinate.
Very cool to learn more about your background JC. I see myself through a lot of your work. You described me perfectly thru the Covid saga. I was a fucking wreck. Lost my girl, couldn’t find a job because I refused the evil juice, and was pissed off at the world. To top it all off, I was drinking like a homeless man in San Francisco.
In the first stage of Covid I sobered up after a 2 week binder (the hard stuff). The fear of the Nation and World collapsing gripped me tight. All I could see was darkness and I knew something unexpected and inherently evil had entered the fray. I had never been keen to its vibrations before that. Through all of the dark murky fog I found my way. I thought about taking the easy road out but instead struck a deal with The Divine Spirit.
It had occurred to me that if I were to eat a bullet those responsible for this mess would NOT be offended. In fact, they would simply laugh at my demise but more than likely they wouldn’t notice at all. So I decided I would stick around come what may. I would work to become a thorn in their side even if it just meant living for the right reasons.
Have since settled down but head and heart are still on a swivel. There is simply is no way to go back for me. Memory holing may work on the masses but it is useless against the strong willed.
John I hope you see this because I would really like your input. I deliberately waited for traffic to die down before broaching this subject. I can tell you it MIGHT make a helluva an article BUT I am not completely certain you should broadcast it. You certainly can if you like tho. I would enjoy the fuck out of reading it.
I find it odd that this little corner of the internet went untouched at the height of Censorship Inc. They’re out of SanFran for crying out loud. It should have been easy to squash this platform. I can tell you have a memory quite a bit like my own, ie we don’t easily forget. For me I think of it as both a gift and a curse.
My thoughts lead me to wonder what if it us writing the LLM’s of the future. There’s never been any talk about an AI for Substack as far as I know. To be honest I really don’t know much about it. Seems strange “they” allowed or funneled some of best talent over here and let them bash the vaccines especially. Even if it’s not planned I wonder if a Substack AI would out compete the others regardless.
Been here since mid 2021. I don’t have a page but I have dropped a shitload of comments. Some fairly intelligent lol. Would be cool to know we are the future 😉
Smiles….just wondering if we might be something a bit more. Regardless of the AI angle I find it next to impossible the tiny little SS was allowed to push out anti-vax propaganda. At first it could be written off as insignificant. However by start of 2022 we the major suppliers of truth…… time will tell my friend
I just left a comment for John on this thread I think. It’s about Substack AI. Thought maybe you might be interested. It’s a little combination of hope and fun I suppose lol.
I dropped out of academia a few steps behind, and in a diametrically opposed field to yours, but for the same reasons. A life that I would have very much enjoyed just 3-4 decades ago became impossible.
My own experience has been similar to yours in some ways. As a programmer in the SF Bay Area, I found myself increasingly discriminated against purely on the basis of my race (white) and sex (male). I was sent to HR at least three times simply for speaking unwoke opinions. This led to a deep weariness and disgust with woke-corporate life and my liberating early retirement three years ago. Now I'm not making money, but I am enjoying life far more. I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to express myself by collecting and publishing memes, any one of which would have gotten me sent to HR during the days of my wage-bondage.
Have you seen the Star Wars meme, 1977, Ben Kenobi’s hermitage, in the first frame Luke says incredulously, “You were in the meme wars??!!” Then in the second frame Ben says, “Yes, I was once a shit poster, same as your father …” and in the final frame Ben continues, “… before the Dark Times, before the Big Tech censorship.” 😂
The other problem with Science(tm), aside from the ones you document (and I have sadly experienced having gone deeper into the abyss than you) is that it has no culture of Wisdom.
From the author John C. WRIGHT:
“The most disheartening trend is the spread of the mental disease of social justice addiction through all the major institutions of the publication and media industry. Not just written science fiction, but films and shows and comic books are continually suffering spiritual degradation, castration of manhood, and lobotomy of common sense, defenestration of sound storytelling.”
These behaviors sound demonic in nature, not an illness, entering all aspects of education, commerce, and politics. Medicine as well.
They must be shamed and cast out with force. There is no other solution.
Ragnarok approaches, I fear.
John C Wright has a way with words that few can surpass and none can imitate.
Indeed, a demonic obsession. Wright would certainly not disagree.
He's one of the very few scifi writers whose new work I can read.
Yeah it's a short list for sure.
It is much the same here in academia, with the main difference being that statements about how you plan to pay homage to the värdegrund (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%C3%A4rdegrund) are not just mandatory but also legal; indeed they are compelled by law.
Värdegrund comes before facts or anything else and is worse than DIE because värdegrund is so loosely defined, or even undefined, you will never know if you violate it or not, until your superiors tell you you have done so. The Wikipedia entry briefly explains the concept, but without any context or examples of how it works in practice - it is essentially putting make-up on a pig.
The day I was told that trying to be factual, objective and impartial was to pick the side of the oppressors, I knew my time was up - I was a heretic (every time I write that word I can hear the Grunts from Halo chanting "He-re-tic! He-re-tic!"; the brain works in wondrous ways) because I hadn't when challenged replied with the correct pass-phrase.
Dressing up in old army uniform sans insignia for "Rainbow-day" just crossed the I and dotted the T - apparently, army green is the wrong kind of green.
A point: there are signs that DEI and woke is now somewhat on the back foot. Don't belive it to be so; what is, is that they have finally met a little resistance and have been taken aback, shocked and outraged that resistance is possible. Now is not the time to celebrate a victory: the enemy's front-line is wavering - now is the time to increase the intensity of the attack and have units ready for breakthrough and encircle, plus raids deep into the hinter-lands where the depos are. Against an enemy such as the woke and DEI, static warfare and attrition must be avoided; the continuous never-ending grind is where they excel. The raid, the fluid front, the avoiding of pitched battles, and the always striking at the enemy using his own strengths against him must be the principles of engagement.
That, and no prisoners. No peace. No accord or compromise. Consider the woke and the DEI the human equivalent of Giger's Xenomorph: it's goal is to utterly destroy you because of how it's existence and nature is.
There is no common ground or cause with an existential enemy.
Could not agree more on the woke question. They're staging a tactical retreat, but this is a holy war. They will not surrender, but must be defeated.
Also, on the method of the war: again I agree. There will be no long slow march through the institutions, as the enemy performed. Gradual infiltration is their way. Rather, we must think like chariot warriors and guerillas - lightning raids, hit and run, with the goal of disrupting their logistics and, ultimately, burning down their fortifications.
Crazy stuff about the Värdegrund. Somehow this is the first I've heard of that, despite living in Sweden for a while.
I think one method of swift defeat is to outdo them. Novels, films, stories of any kind. Fiction and media. Although official media is essentially off limits to the normal.
They are overtly political, unavoidably so. Plenty of scope there to entertain audiences desperate for quality.
I do think that is how we will win the culture war. Quality. Lord of the Rings versus gay superheroes.
We need to be careful not to be overly political ourselves in reaction.
Easy way to check oneself for that, when writing:
A character may be political, religious, whatever and spout their views within the logic and context (the internal consistency) of the work; think of Gandalf asking Frodo who gets to decide who deserves to live or not.
It is when the work itself is political that it falls off the cliff; the last Narnia book is a prime example. All the earlier ones puts characters against each other, but the work itself simply tells the story, it doesn't pick a side - it trusts the reader to do that, if desired. The last one is as subtle as a hammer to the teeth, especially the scenes with the dwarves and the one single moslem, pardon "calormen", that can pass through the door before Aslan.
If that makes sense?
It does, and it scans. Subtlety and honesty are important. I find the most compelling works that take on political themes are the ones in which the author is aware of the shortcomings of their own preferred worldview - they're grappling with issues, rather than preaching. Centering the questions rather than the answers.
Yes I think that is the way in. Normals hate politics. They especially hate the woke bullshit we get now.
It is good stories, heroism, zero lecturing etc.
Politics should almost always be in the background, implicit rather than explicit.
I've written a few fiction pieces that definitely had it too front and center myself. Can be hard not to. Although nothing like the wokefests.
Very good point and wisely said Spaceman
Here's an english text from a former state journalist who (in his own words in earlier posts) "saw the light" some 10-15 years ago:
https://jensganman.substack.com/
Direct link to the article won't co-operate; look for one titled "Sweden: Welcome to Diversity Hell"
I mention this because Ganman is one of few outside academia who has tried to understand the concept "värdegrund" and where it came from. Briefly:
It is an unholy amalgamation of "core corporate values" taken from marketing and capitalist coprorations, bred together with the purityrannical sense if being from islam and christianity at its worst (not the religious tenets as such, just the "obey or else" sense) where guilt over never being politicqally correct /enough/ drives you to ever stronger and extreme displays of obeisance and devotion.
Plus politically correctness the way Lenin defined and codified it: the Party is always right; what the Party speaks is truth. Nowadays, without any notions of communism but instead liberalism and libertarianism applied to issues of race, culture and identity.
It is applied the way stamps in your party-book was in communist states: too many, and you're suspected of trying too hard, not enough and you're suspected of dissident thought - and "correct" is never defined and nailed down. It is Kafka's delator and the logic of the inquisition:
If you stand accused, you must be guilty. If of nothing else, then you are guilty of wasting the court's time.
Academia is pyramid scheme with shit pay. Glad it prepared you to unleash your brilliant writing. Your essays are inspiring and deeply resonant. Congratulations for your success!
Yes, that's an excellent description, and may it Delenda Est.
Although while the pay isn't great, I was making more as a postdoc than I have so far as a Substacker!
Imagine if you will...It's 2012. You're in a compound in Saudi Arabia sharing time with some pretty cool international friends preparing to teach a semester of specialty English for the oil industry at a polytech college, having bailed on a high school English teaching program in Canadia because ''something is wrong''. Like, A LOT WRONG, but at this point it's still hard to put your finger on what's really up. So. Off to Saudi and a $50K starting salary to bury them student loans once and for all!! Your curriculum shows up for the M.a. program you're doing online through an accredited Canadian University (AU). Having exhausted the more ''interesting/fun'' courses on creative writing and creative non-fiction, politics of cyberspace, and researching society and culture, it's time to delve into some of the more education centered coursework of the MAIS program, since double majoring in ''Education and Global Change'' seems like a worthy pursuit for anyone with an honest desire to make the world a better place and effect a positive impact on the lives of others. The next logical course to take is ''Social Justice in Education". You flip open the first coursebook to scan it briefly and get a general idea of what it's about. Reading some catch-phrases that seem pretty bland and a bit ludicrous, you scan a few random paragraphs specifically, and think, WTF is this?!! Flipping open the second coursebook you repeat this process with the same reaction, and a disturbing realization dawning in your deepest, most perspicacious infinite cavernous subconscious to spiritual conscious awareness... The book drops to your side. There's a curious epiphany of introspective realization. This is impossible. Studying ''social justice'' as it's now written and considered in Canada in 2012 while teaching at an all-male oil and gas polytech in Saudi Arabia. What an utterly absurd collision of ideology and reality on the ground. Boots on the ground, on the bounce, because it's an American funded program through McGill University and Amideast Washington – an ''N''GO with old ties to the CIA and Rockefellers - and in Saudi in 2012 this has a very military feel to it. The mad feminazis and early wokesters of the UVIC Education program had followed me to the ends of the earth, and were going to punish me through my own channeling of intellectual curiosity and honest, ardent desire to make the world a better place through my own heroic efforts. I QUIT. Never felt such a WIN in quitting anything in my life. In retrospect, I could have fought like a wolverine, and maybe could have effected the right sort of change. The sort of forward thinking change that reading these posts on substack by John Carter are making in people's minds everyday. But it was an insanely uphill battle at that point, with few allies in the arena, only those on the ground in propinquity on the other side of the world. I just want to say, I'm grateful for the Postcards. They've helped me gain focused perspective on a lot of things that from that time until now have been quite difficult to frame due to complexity, an ongoing fervent devotion to zenlike ENJOYMENT OF LIFE, and being on the run for financial survival among other reasons. It's been a wild ride. These posts and links have been helpful, and continue to be. So THANKS!! Do keep writing.....
And if you want to hear something fun - while many were freaking out during the first year of COVID, I was rallying the local menfolk out in bush country (a hillbilly savant, a hippy contractor, and myself) to just drink, smoke, and JAM!!! It seemed like the right thing to do at the time. Enjoy, if you like.
https://graysonthehack.podbean.com/e/wkjlbccjed1-pirate-radio-in-cooper-creek-vol3/
The music and chaos, like the intentions behind them are free..... Keep on ROCKIN.....
Brilliant comment. Thanks for sharing that.
Back around 2012 was when it started clicking for a lot of us, that things had gone dark and wrong. Though it wasn't clear then how, or what to do about it.
I've been working on a series of short stories compiling some of the wildest times I experienced overseas between 2000-2016. Been experimenting with various online publishing venues, Substack seeming the best so far, with a community I can identify with, so I'll probably be posting a few more tales as time goes on. Will likely self-publish a (chap?)book of these short stories (&killer pics) in 2025 even though it all seems like ancient history with the rate of change right now. They're still stories of entertaining expat chaos that I'm pretty sure some/many(?!!) readers will enjoy, with unique perspectives. For example: In relation to your thoughts on Sharia law in Arab (various racial) enclaves potentially popping up within Canada expressed on Millenniyule for instance - the cultural revolution in Saudi over the past few years has essentially nullified or at least severely modified this. The mujahadeen (religious police) don't patrol the streets of Saudi anymore, women are driving and wearing whatever clothes they want - unrelated young males and females can now have conversations in public without fear of being jailed - Al Saud reportedly has dementia and his son Salman sacked (&temporarily jailed!!) those taking worst advantage of the system (even royal family members) and he's overhauled their entire society in short order in the name of the future survival of the nation. I had an American friend send pics from a rave party in the streets of the capital in 2017 with a pack of ''girls gone wild''. Pretty far out how things can change so rapidly and radically these days. Salman knows their country is royally screwed when their oil reserves run out - with Saudi academics reporting this to happen within 2 decades (as of 2016!!) - their water reserves are long gone - so it's road warrior culture in just over a decade unless things change - ohya - and their economy crashed hard in 2016 with a trillion dollar deficit and they sold off massive shares in ARAMCO, after they flooded the global market trying to put Iranian oil producers and American shale companies out of business. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot!! Saudi Arabia is no longer the ultra rich independent country a majority of people in Canada still think it is...
Here's a good one: When the leader of the academic program at SCECO Juaymah (Saudi Electric Corporation) reported these findings (the inevitable depletion of their oil reserves) to the country's leaders their response was a classic, "Inshallah". Which is the Arabic equivalent to ''Que sera, sera..."
In small enclaves in the west, as in western groups of expats overseas, things can shift on a dime, so Sharia law might come or go depending on current events...
I was in the Middle East for 3 years, but, subjectively, the really FUN and wild party stories are from the 2000-2008 Korea/Japan/Aussie/etc. early expat years - talk about flying by the seat of your pants!! Thanks for your writing. It's been inspirational.
I was in East Asia during that period myself for a few years, and it was indeed an excellent time.
We might have crossed paths in a bar in Seoul, Pusan, Osaka, Fukuoka, Tokyo, or Jeju - which was where I finally settled in for a number of years to teach and rock the bars with fellow expat musicians. I'll post an early 2000s Korea yarn in a day or two just for laughs if you're interested. Also - I've been passing on 'Postcards' and it may interest U to know that you have a small yet dedicated following in Kaslo and Bella Coola BC....and...internationally... As for how, or what to do about the "state of things", this is ongoing. I don't see a democratic solution for Canada at this point. Hopefully there's a pan-dimensional fractal connectivity and rising grassroots movement (or something!!!) that will help to point the way forward - networked companies of adventurers(!!) - so that with diligence and persistent puissance of intellect, the people - the united yet fractured Canadian tribes - may yet prevail and overcome excess, idiocy, evil, hypocrisy, greed, avarice, and stupidity - all the old enemies - which seem to rear their heads in every bloody generation and must be defeated again, again, again, and yet again..... Very Cyrano de Bergerac. The only way to win against overwhelming odds as always, is WITH PANACHE!!!!!
Would be quite remarkable if we’d crossed paths, though stranger things have happened. Certainly it’s very possible we frequented some of the same nightclubs (though I can’t recall any of their names, it’s been so long).
As to a democratic solution, I agree. Canadian electoral politics are hopeless. The only way I can see to fix the country is with a Sulla, an Ataturk, or a Cromwell (and yes I get the irony of involving Cromwell, given he was a parliamentary supremacist…) Beyond the general lassitude, there’s the problem that a huge part of the electorate are either foreign, work for the government, or elderly … a coalition that it is very difficult to overcome at the ballot box.
I firmly believe in synchronicity and have many examples of surprisingly serendipitous connections while traveling over the years. I could never forget the Dark Room in Fukuoka among other places!! Listening to Fortissax on the Canada Banquet considering the pros and cons of city vs. country existence in Canada at this hour, as I'm in the latter zone. There is less economic possibility in the sticks, and less face time with interesting personalities, but it's far easier to cultivate the kind of peace of mind and meditative practices that enable one to sort and process data/information like a zen archer - in order to effortlessly strike TRUE. Momentum is building, and we Canadians have a habit and tradition of rising above and breaking the mold when it comes to overcoming impossible odds - such as - a handful of sane, rational individuals bucking the neoliberal insanity of the past 5 years to get the nation and our society in general back on a course that's more in line with the excellent existential progress of our collective history. One charismatic leader with a handful of good, relatively wise men (and women who haven't been co-opted by the hate squad algorithms) behind him could re-program said lackadaisical coalition easily if the time was right, and that time is here and now. Excelsior!!
I didn’t see it until 2016. Something didn’t feel right. The deeper I dug the worse it got.
The first moment of terror was when my daughter came home talking about how this and that were socially constructed, and she was in fifth grade.
Since then I continue to dig and seek to support my fellow miners of truth looking to construct the tools to fight back. A fight we may not win now but must fight for future generations to have a chance.
My first postcard read was on fifth generation warfare. I’ve gone on to find other valuable substacks. Thank you, keep writing, and Merry Christmas!
You didn’t quit, you flawlessly performed a tactical retreat. Only you didn’t know it at the time…
I guess you could say it was a QU-INN!! Heh... Since in the interim I've accomplished many significant life-goals. Picking your battles is key to winning the war. I'm sure Sun-Tzu says that somewhere. I'm not eager to return to academia at this point as I've been running a rural homestead for nearly a decade after returning to Canada, and while there seems to be a counter-reaction to the ridiculous emotional garbage that overran the white tower in the name of FUNDING and (absurd-extremist-algorithm-driven) populist consensus over the past two decades, as John and others report, and is obvious in society, the degrees simply don't have the weight and degree of respect they once did. For now. It's more about who ya know. Getting an English degree at UVIC in 2000 was bloody hard work, and required that you be an erudite scholar. I'm not sure about now, but from what I hear anyone with the $$$ can get that sheepskin. As an eagle, perched high on the twisted limbs of an ancient cottonwood tree, I'm currently surveying the landscape and rivers below, considering the next, most advantageous vector for the infinite improbability drive to attack/pursue.......
It’s a wasteland. I hate it for you guys. Some people are truly capable of thriving in academia. And man, Canadian politics are bizarre. That’s coming from an American!
> A few days ago, I came across this video by the science YouTuber Sabine Hossenfelder: My dream died, and now I'm here.
Funny. First Hossenfelder, then Briggs, now you. Three people in ~3 days dunk on Academia from basically the same angle. Collusion? ;) Are we to unleash Conspiracy Theories? xD
There are an infinite number of ways to the wrong, but only one way to be right...
Always interesting to read your work. Thanks for the efforts.
Don’t give up on your writing dreams. An old coworker of mine from the late 1980’s (I was the department secretary, he has a PhD in physics) has written sci-fi, a guide to fiction writing, and now writes Christian fiction set in the time of Jesus. Look up Randy (or Randall) Ingermanson. He has a blog and his books are on Amazon. Keep up the 💩posting, too!
I've no intention of giving up. Quite the opposite - the main thrust of this is that the scientific career was really more of a preparation for writing ;)
You will do far more good for human flourishing in writing than academia. Regardless of what the I F*cking Love Science people say, if a people's spiritual needs are not met, nohing else will be met either.
If you write SF, I wonder what will be the sexuality in your books. :) I've started to read science fiction and I noticed a pretty clear trend. The older the book, the more crazy the sexuality. For example, Randezvous with Rama (~1972) has polygamy as perfectly normal, something nobody bats an eye at. But The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (1955)? Oh boy! Line marriages, clan marriages, polygamy, premarital sex, even hints of adultery, you name it, it has it! xD OTOH, Theft of Fire (2023) not only doesn't have anything deviant, *it doesn't have sex at all*! Well that's not true. Devon really outdid himself and, since he couldn't insert a sex scene in the narative, he instead created a dream scene and had his characters fuck in their dreams. You know. Can't have a work of science fiction without AT LEAST ONE sexing. xD But at least it was normal one-on-one hetero sex... with the exception of butterfly wings.
PROJECTION: by 2050 science fiction will only permit full 100% Christian heteronormative sex under the bond of marriage. Characters that engage in premarital sex will get eaten by space ghouls. Polygamy will be forgotten about.
I find the sex stuff generally uninteresting. Heinlein was a dirty old man, but his best work was definitely not deep dives into alternative relationship architectures.
Wow - I'm well out of modern literature, meaning books written after the year 2 000 - has it gotten that bad, that we are now in an age of neo-puritanism where sex is described the way Zamjatin did (but in his case to make point) in "We"?
Time to re-read "The Reproductive System" (John Sladek), methinks.
I find a lot of contemporary books tend to skip over or imply the sex scenes. Which honestly I prefer. It isn't prudishness (well maybe a little), it's just that most authors are terrible at writing sex scenes, and they come off as cringe, awkward, or weird.
"As Luke penetrated her shields, he could feel the Force well up inside him, coursing as was it a raging yet serene torrent, through his staunchly girded loins just before he launched his throbbing proton torpedo at her yawning, glistening thermal exhaust port."
C'mon, Star Wars was already ruined by Disney. Bring on the smut!
That was terrible but in the best way, I kek'd.
There's undoubtedly a vast library of erotic Star Wars fanfic out there...
🤣 true! I’ve dabbled in writing erotic fiction and I think I do a decent job of it…but now that I’ve become a Christian, I don’t feel comfortable with that language anymore. Had the beginnings of a story that I’m trying to rewrite without all the sex scenes and I keep coming up with blanks.
Prudishness and prurience produce their own kinds of weird. Finding the happy medium is a hard trick, which is why the smart call is usually just to draw a tasteful curtain and let the characters have a private moment.
Perhaps you could find inspiration in Ketuvim/Song of Songs? Plenty of sex, but using poetic language rather than crass anatomical play-by-plays.
Sex is for marriage... not novels =)
You might be interested in this:
Think this with your heart: “Jesus, if you are the Son of God, I consecrate my heart to your Heart. Please send me the Holy Spirit so I can see Truth and have the courage to convert and follow Him wherever He leads”
Mathematical proof of God’s mind
Who could have imagined that mathematical images could be so beautiful?:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlD2rcm971U
Movie Review: After Death
https://www.catholic365.com/article/32264/movie-review-after-death.html
Scientific proof of God and the soul:
http://www.catholic365.com/article/26227/scientific-proof-of-god-and-the-immortal-soul.html
Scientific proof of religion
https://www.quora.com/What-do-you-think-really-happens-after-we-die/answers/46502105
What do you believe comes after death (Science backs religion)?
https://www.quora.com/What-do-you-believe-comes-after-death/answer/Federico-A-Nazar
https://www.quora.com/What-do-you-think-really-happens-after-we-die/answers/46502105
Which Christian denomination is more Biblical?
https://www.quora.com/Which-is-the-true-Christianity-Protestantism-or-Catholicism/answer/Federico-A-Nazar
Keep the faith. The airlift is coming. I can hear the propellers.
That's an airstrike. Duck!
It is "Duck & Cover". But please take your pick, Spiff. "Fog of war" or "We had to destroy the village in order to save it".
My own trajectory is similar, although didn't involve academia. Just the slow realization you are not getting on and the DEI quota system has serious consequences for many people's livelihoods, mine included.
I've enjoyed your work these past few years and am keen to see more. I'm also publishing a sci-fi novel soon so we overlap there too. It will be interesting to see if ultimately Substack becomes a launchpad for new writers, including novelists. It is certainly a viable alternative to the dying mainstream.
Keep up the good work and look forward to news of the novel.
It is definitely evolving into a launchpad, although I think it can turn into far more than that.
Academia stunk long before the DEI began eating its rotting corpse. Publish or perish = Total Quantity Management.
I look forward to reading your fiction. I tried my hand at SF before going into physics and got a big stack of rejection slips for my efforts. Physics was easier. Writing software easier yet.
The root of the problem in the academic sector, as everywhere else, is managerialization. It rationalizes everything it touches, and in the process sucks out the soul and leaves it hollow and pointless.
"No politics, no committees, no reports, no referees, no interviews – just highly motivated people picked by a few men of good judgment"
Sir James Black, describing Max Perutz's recipe for research success.
Precisely this. Trying to reduce it to a system, kills it.
The Humanities end of academia has been the natural home of a malcontent intelligentsia since the 1920s (if not even earlier) - one that wanted to see itself as more sophisticated than thou by unpicking our culture's moral compass. And these types MADE A B-LINE for the public-funded universities and the rest of our polity was foolish enough to stand by as they have entirely colonised them and sheep dipped the rising generations of the professional/managerial elite with their bogus Social Justice race and gender victimhood cults. The rest is history:
It isn't only that. You also have a massive influx of midwits starting mid-century and growing from that point on. Dumbing down STEM is very difficult; dumbing down the humanities comparatively easy. Thus lit became a bird major, stuffed with exactly the kind of people that are easiest to indoctrinate.
i read that there was some shitposting in progress. i’m here to help.
Very cool to learn more about your background JC. I see myself through a lot of your work. You described me perfectly thru the Covid saga. I was a fucking wreck. Lost my girl, couldn’t find a job because I refused the evil juice, and was pissed off at the world. To top it all off, I was drinking like a homeless man in San Francisco.
In the first stage of Covid I sobered up after a 2 week binder (the hard stuff). The fear of the Nation and World collapsing gripped me tight. All I could see was darkness and I knew something unexpected and inherently evil had entered the fray. I had never been keen to its vibrations before that. Through all of the dark murky fog I found my way. I thought about taking the easy road out but instead struck a deal with The Divine Spirit.
It had occurred to me that if I were to eat a bullet those responsible for this mess would NOT be offended. In fact, they would simply laugh at my demise but more than likely they wouldn’t notice at all. So I decided I would stick around come what may. I would work to become a thorn in their side even if it just meant living for the right reasons.
Have since settled down but head and heart are still on a swivel. There is simply is no way to go back for me. Memory holing may work on the masses but it is useless against the strong willed.
Keep Fighting the Good Fight Brother.
Yeah, it's not the same state of agitation as when we were in the thick of it, but there's no coming back from what was done.
John I hope you see this because I would really like your input. I deliberately waited for traffic to die down before broaching this subject. I can tell you it MIGHT make a helluva an article BUT I am not completely certain you should broadcast it. You certainly can if you like tho. I would enjoy the fuck out of reading it.
I find it odd that this little corner of the internet went untouched at the height of Censorship Inc. They’re out of SanFran for crying out loud. It should have been easy to squash this platform. I can tell you have a memory quite a bit like my own, ie we don’t easily forget. For me I think of it as both a gift and a curse.
My thoughts lead me to wonder what if it us writing the LLM’s of the future. There’s never been any talk about an AI for Substack as far as I know. To be honest I really don’t know much about it. Seems strange “they” allowed or funneled some of best talent over here and let them bash the vaccines especially. Even if it’s not planned I wonder if a Substack AI would out compete the others regardless.
Been here since mid 2021. I don’t have a page but I have dropped a shitload of comments. Some fairly intelligent lol. Would be cool to know we are the future 😉
Essentially everything on the open Internet is training data, so there's no doubt we're included in that.
Smiles….just wondering if we might be something a bit more. Regardless of the AI angle I find it next to impossible the tiny little SS was allowed to push out anti-vax propaganda. At first it could be written off as insignificant. However by start of 2022 we the major suppliers of truth…… time will tell my friend
I can't go back either. I am permanently changed. I lost a great deal during covid too, none of which I can recover.
But remember that painful experience is the embryo for real change.
I just left a comment for John on this thread I think. It’s about Substack AI. Thought maybe you might be interested. It’s a little combination of hope and fun I suppose lol.
I dropped out of academia a few steps behind, and in a diametrically opposed field to yours, but for the same reasons. A life that I would have very much enjoyed just 3-4 decades ago became impossible.
The academia of a century ago seems Elysian in comparison to the high-throughput paper mill it is now.
My own experience has been similar to yours in some ways. As a programmer in the SF Bay Area, I found myself increasingly discriminated against purely on the basis of my race (white) and sex (male). I was sent to HR at least three times simply for speaking unwoke opinions. This led to a deep weariness and disgust with woke-corporate life and my liberating early retirement three years ago. Now I'm not making money, but I am enjoying life far more. I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to express myself by collecting and publishing memes, any one of which would have gotten me sent to HR during the days of my wage-bondage.
Freedom is a reward all its own.
Have you seen the Star Wars meme, 1977, Ben Kenobi’s hermitage, in the first frame Luke says incredulously, “You were in the meme wars??!!” Then in the second frame Ben says, “Yes, I was once a shit poster, same as your father …” and in the final frame Ben continues, “… before the Dark Times, before the Big Tech censorship.” 😂
The other problem with Science(tm), aside from the ones you document (and I have sadly experienced having gone deeper into the abyss than you) is that it has no culture of Wisdom.
A wise observation.
My favorite L Niven novel was a collaboration with Pournelle
“A Mote in Gods Eye”
Thanks for sharing your story Jon
That's a classic. I've read it a few times.