The Progressive movement has always known the importance of the scream. Conservatives have, for the most part, been identified as the base of the “Silent Majority.” Indeed, we’ve had it beaten into us as a matter of pride that “we are not like them” by high minded voices such as William F. Buckley Jr. Well, …
Category: social forces
Dec 08 2023
Delusions And Stability
Delusions are often functional. A mother’s opinions about her children’s beauty, intelligence, goodness, et cetera ad nauseam, keep her from drowning them at birth. — Robert A. Heinlein I’m still on the mend, but a little better, thanks for asking. Maybe I’ll be able to speak audibly by New Year’s Day. It’s ambitious, …
Aug 23 2023
I Should Speak Like This Guy
The following would be more effective had the ranter not singled out the Democratic Party for their continued twisted support for Brandon. The GOP is little better in that I’ve heard none of them come close to the justifiable outrage this man exhibits. Citizen SNAPS at Joe Biden HOURS after he insulted victims of Maui …
Jul 17 2023
“Excuse Me, Sir, Are You A Member?”
We don’t have a science of sociodynamics. We have theories, models, and assorted conjectures, but at this time sociologists can’t claim the degree of predictive accuracy that would qualify sociodynamics as a science. Sociodynamics’ most important shortcoming, as is the case with economics and psychology, is the inability to say when the developments it …
Jul 12 2023
The Unattainable Country
Apologies in advance, Gentle Reader. If I were to demand absolute lexical accuracy of myself, the title would have been “The Unattainable Condition.” But I decided to cheat a bit, in the interests of “punch.” Everyone has his own conception of Utopia. No two are identical, which is why Robert Nozick’s gedankenexperiment at …
Jul 08 2023
At The Third Level
In this country, the third level is where the action is – the sociopolitical action, at least. The physiological and safety levels are well-served for more than 90% of our population. Where we’re most vulnerable is in our desire for acceptance. Not that the Left hasn’t tried its damnedest to attack our physical …
Jun 16 2023
Homelands Part 2
Everyone is born somewhere. Well, today at least; that might change if we ever become a spacefaring species. But for the moment, each of us has a birthplace in some Earthly land. The majority of us live our whole lives in that land, vacations and business trips notwithstanding. Some striking fiction has been …
Jun 02 2023
Sociopolitical Impossibilities
Many years ago, a wise man named Rev. William J. H. Boetcker wrote these lines: You cannot bring prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot help small men by tearing down big men. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer. You …
Mar 18 2023
Social Deterioration In Real Time Dept.
As long as we’re looking at signs of the Apocalypse, have another: Walmart has taken the racist step of protecting their inventory. pic.twitter.com/eOXhFE4sJP — Dane (@UltraDane) March 16, 2023 Well, yes, she’s an idiot. The cloth mask is a dead giveaway. But not only is she mumbling through a completely unnecessary mask, she’s …
Jul 08 2022
Your Papers, “Please?”
As a thumb rule, one can say that any time a planet starts developing cities of more than one million people, it is approaching critical mass. In a century or two it won’t be fit to live on. [Robert A. Heinlein, Time Enough For Love] When a place gets crowded enough to require …
Jun 03 2022
The Need to Defeat Those Exploiting Insanity to Achieve Total Power — UPDATED
RESISTANCE PRESERVES LIBERTY AND DEFENDS SANITY IN THE PROCESS. Only then does social cohesion stand a chance of returning, and the advance of civilization with it — real progress and not the regression sought by Progs. • Screams for diverse goals are identified by social engineers. • Owning the means to amplify screams, they persuade …
May 05 2022
Something To Hide…From?
Who are you? I know who I am: a cranky old man with a lot of conservative-libertarian opinions. I don’t trouble to hide myself, or what I think. In fact, I glory in all of it. Yes, I’ve attracted some haters. And yes, at one time there was an attempt to do me …
Dec 22 2021
Tribalism Ascendant
I’ve written about tribalism on several occasions, mainly at Liberty’s Torch V1.0. Because of associations that link tribe with race, it’s a subject that induces considerable trepidation in persons who dislike being called nasty names. Yet it’s a real phenomenon, it has deleterious effects on a society, and when allowed any latitude it can …
Oct 23 2021
The March Of Malevolence
I was about to say “words fail me,” but in truth, they don’t: There have been transwomen and transmen for at least five decades. Time was, they were tolerated without much comment…because they were discreet and undemanding. They practiced public modesty. They worked to perfect their presentation, the better to be accepted by …
Sep 01 2021
A Comment On Commentary
Back in the heyday of blogging, everyone and his halfwit Uncle Herman had a blog. There were, at peak, over 50 million such sites. Most, of course, were of no broad consequence: little was posted there, and most of that was worthless. However, they gave their “proprietors” a sense that they could be listened …
Aug 05 2021
Power Centers
Time was, the Left was a purely political phenomenon, and was viewed as such by non-Leftists. That time has passed, for a simple reason: it didn’t get the Left what its masters want: absolute and unchallengeable power. So it changed focus. Today, if you want to know where the Left is concentrating (or will …
Jun 25 2021
Lost…And Found
[The following essay first appeared at the old Liberty’s Torch site on September 22, 2014. Consider it a companion piece to the Everything Put Together essay – FWP] *** James Pinkerton has a seven-year-old essay at The American Conservative that I blush to have overlooked before this: In one of the great epics …
Jun 25 2021
Everything Put Together…
When the news gets just too absurd, and for whatever reason I’m disinclined to work on fiction, I tend to return to old familiar theses and themes. This morning I got a nudge toward one of them from Ragin’ Dave at Peace or Freedom: I think that if women were ever forced to …
Jun 09 2021
Misplaced Pride And Its Consequences
Pride is one of the more controversial elements in the human psyche. Excessive pride, a.k.a. vanity, is one of the seven capital sins. However, just pride – i.e., a proportionate pride in one’s own accomplishments, is all right. In fact, it’s damned near impossible to suppress. But there’s also a foolish variety of …
May 25 2021
The House of the Rising Sun, Updated for Our Times
There are ways to fight back against the destructive zeitgeist that I see as being under the influence of powerful misanthropic forces. One of these is to take a popular tune and transform the lyrics, get it performed well, and post it. Should others like it too, it will take on a life of its …
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