“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.
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!
> 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
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.
"...by the time I was ready to start writing in earnest, the publishing world had gotten eaten by Woke, as evidenced by the whole Sad Puppies fiasco." --John Carter
If you think it's bad in general pooblishing, look at children's books.
I wrote my book, The Rooster Rider, (gotta plug it; I'm sure you understand---available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble) as a counter to the political vomit foisted off on children by the corrupted children's book pooblishers. I searched through HUNDREDS of pooblishers, only to find DIE catchphrases in their websites, meaning they would not pooblish my book. Nearly EVERY poolisher shows signs of this rot.
I had to self-publish as a result. I know the quality is less than if I'd had the benefits of a professional publishing house, but it's still passable. I still search, in vain, for the mythical children's publishing house that will give my work an honest look.
And that bring me to another point: the majority of a publisher's time is spend finding reasons to say, "NO." It's an entirely negative process. There is a one-in-ten-thousand chance your submission will actually get more than six seconds of the publisher's time. That must change.
Thank God the Father we have places like Substack where people like John Carter can enrich the rest of us with their words. I, for one, am deeply grateful for John Carter, for many of the other substack authors, and for substack itself. We live in a time when our words need no longer suffer gate-keeping of an archaic and backwards industry, utterly corrupt and devoid of moral virtue. Thank God for John Carter. Thank God for the internet and digital technology.
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.
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!
Well, I suppose it was about time for this season's clip show. Always a pleasure to read, please continue. As shit posts go, yours are Bristol scale type 4!
I'm also in academia, or at least an academia adjacent support position. A scientician, of sorts. It has been a fulfilling career path. My role is to provide practical support to scientists, students and post docs, so I'm somewhat buffered from the academic struggles. There is an unavoidable level of stupid in any organization proportionate to age and scale. In the last few years this has accelerated everywhere I look, to the detriment of science. The wheels are coming off in a big way.
As for Hossenfelder she seems competent enough (this it's certainly not my field) and that was an interesting video but there is a whiff of sour grapes about it all. She tried to play that game and failed, in part because she prioritized family above career. Good for her! But there is no guarantee your can have it all, girlboss propaganda notwithstanding. With the massive overproduction of academics the musical chairs end game is savage. I suspect she's a little too aspie to play well, and women scientists are notably poorer than men at building alliances and teams to succeed. Sorry ladies, just what I've observed. There are those who manage to play the rules not the game and do good work. She couldn't.
In true content creator style she's made a career or her failure and is a fine science popularizer. But that's not science.
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.
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.
Just a few lines to explain why science is so twisted. The entropic view of the universe as well as humanity is a lie! We do not have any limits of human growth, or any other limits. Lyndon Larouche and many other thinkers know the truth about who and why we adopted this false paradise. The real medical scientists have been marginalized out of sensuousness, and Physics', biochemists, astronomers, every branch of science has been twisted into believing this false reality. Our universe is not closed, space is not empty. The Malthusian eugenics pushers are responsible for this. Plato was right about reality. Kepler was the true scientist, and Newton was false. We are living in a matrix where we are trapped into thinking up is down, right is wrong, black is white as in Bertrand Russel's statement that public school could convince children that snow is gray and eventually convince them it is black. This has been the brainwashing public-school miseducation that has left us where we now are.
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.
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.
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!
> 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
Always interesting to read your work. Thanks for the efforts.
Keep the faith. The airlift is coming. I can hear the propellers.
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.
"...by the time I was ready to start writing in earnest, the publishing world had gotten eaten by Woke, as evidenced by the whole Sad Puppies fiasco." --John Carter
If you think it's bad in general pooblishing, look at children's books.
I wrote my book, The Rooster Rider, (gotta plug it; I'm sure you understand---available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble) as a counter to the political vomit foisted off on children by the corrupted children's book pooblishers. I searched through HUNDREDS of pooblishers, only to find DIE catchphrases in their websites, meaning they would not pooblish my book. Nearly EVERY poolisher shows signs of this rot.
I had to self-publish as a result. I know the quality is less than if I'd had the benefits of a professional publishing house, but it's still passable. I still search, in vain, for the mythical children's publishing house that will give my work an honest look.
And that bring me to another point: the majority of a publisher's time is spend finding reasons to say, "NO." It's an entirely negative process. There is a one-in-ten-thousand chance your submission will actually get more than six seconds of the publisher's time. That must change.
Thank God the Father we have places like Substack where people like John Carter can enrich the rest of us with their words. I, for one, am deeply grateful for John Carter, for many of the other substack authors, and for substack itself. We live in a time when our words need no longer suffer gate-keeping of an archaic and backwards industry, utterly corrupt and devoid of moral virtue. Thank God for John Carter. Thank God for the internet and digital technology.
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.
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!
Well, I suppose it was about time for this season's clip show. Always a pleasure to read, please continue. As shit posts go, yours are Bristol scale type 4!
I'm also in academia, or at least an academia adjacent support position. A scientician, of sorts. It has been a fulfilling career path. My role is to provide practical support to scientists, students and post docs, so I'm somewhat buffered from the academic struggles. There is an unavoidable level of stupid in any organization proportionate to age and scale. In the last few years this has accelerated everywhere I look, to the detriment of science. The wheels are coming off in a big way.
As for Hossenfelder she seems competent enough (this it's certainly not my field) and that was an interesting video but there is a whiff of sour grapes about it all. She tried to play that game and failed, in part because she prioritized family above career. Good for her! But there is no guarantee your can have it all, girlboss propaganda notwithstanding. With the massive overproduction of academics the musical chairs end game is savage. I suspect she's a little too aspie to play well, and women scientists are notably poorer than men at building alliances and teams to succeed. Sorry ladies, just what I've observed. There are those who manage to play the rules not the game and do good work. She couldn't.
In true content creator style she's made a career or her failure and is a fine science popularizer. But that's not science.
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.
i read that there was some shitposting in progress. i’m here to help.
My favorite L Niven novel was a collaboration with Pournelle
“A Mote in Gods Eye”
Thanks for sharing your story Jon
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.
Just a few lines to explain why science is so twisted. The entropic view of the universe as well as humanity is a lie! We do not have any limits of human growth, or any other limits. Lyndon Larouche and many other thinkers know the truth about who and why we adopted this false paradise. The real medical scientists have been marginalized out of sensuousness, and Physics', biochemists, astronomers, every branch of science has been twisted into believing this false reality. Our universe is not closed, space is not empty. The Malthusian eugenics pushers are responsible for this. Plato was right about reality. Kepler was the true scientist, and Newton was false. We are living in a matrix where we are trapped into thinking up is down, right is wrong, black is white as in Bertrand Russel's statement that public school could convince children that snow is gray and eventually convince them it is black. This has been the brainwashing public-school miseducation that has left us where we now are.