having cured my own depression, it can be both circumstantial and hormonal (chemical) imo.
lacking nutrients is a catch 22 in mental health, you feel shit so end up eating shit and spiral down.
i changed my diet to keto and my depression reduced enough for me to get my life somewhat back on track.
recent studies in glycine is showing to be rather a good mood enhancer and i can personally say even though i havnt had depression in a few years now i have found im generally happier since i started taking it four weeks a go.
Life in unnaturally large groups is the toxicity, it's not modernity which is wherever you are when you're there. I'm sure one could've found the same alienation and despair in Babylonia. This is always how one gets prophets...
Just walk around a supermarket, look at what people are buying. Most are not buying real food, everything is processed and devoid of nutrients. No wonder their brains are scrambled.
Creatine can also help establish improved mood. Something about amino acids in general--perhaps we aren't getting enough? Personally, I drop dose lemon balm to elevate mood, Sweet Annie to focus, and passionflower to calm.
You can nitpick about supplements till the cows come home and still overlook something vital. Much easier to address the problem in an evolutionarily appropriate way: don't eat crap, eat real food.
It is kind of hard to decide what real food is when Science™ and the government are probably advising us in the completely wrong direction (for example, regarding fats).
There’s no “probably” that the government is advising us in a completely wrong direction! They have been for decades and now with the release of their latest garbage food pyramid, they’ve doubled down. Lucky Charms cereal is now considered healthier than eggs and beef!
And when EVERYONE ELSE knows exactly with absolute certainty what YOU must do. The common theme is ignoring that vast variation in human physiology. Everyone has "experts" to back up their story. And so much "expert" advice is insanely wrong.
E.g. humans have teeth designed to rip animal flesh. We have these for a reason. There is a clue. Yet the "experts" continue to demonize meat. WTF?
Embrace the cartilage. Bone broth is a good source if you're squeamish. And even liver is palatable if you fry it with enough onions (and pastured pork bacon if you can get it). Heart, kidney, and tongue are easily disguised in stew along with more standard meats.
I had my housemate trained to give me the fat and gristle from his steak 😁
Bovine liver, diced and fried to get a surface and then simmered in a really dark brown ale or lager (my preference is pilz) while you add onions, diced carrots, maybe parsnips and potatoes and then another batch of chopped onions five minutes before it's done.
Served with oven-roasted honey glazed root vegetables, lingonberry jam (unsweetened of course!) and a sauce made on meat juice from the liver, rich cream, green pepper and lightly fried chanterelles.
A heavy and tart red wine, or small beer or ginger beer works well as a drink.
For afters, halved pears that's been soaking in brandy (or moonshine or applejack) for a week, together with whipped cream topped with rippled really dark chocolate, and some strong black coffee (brewed in a can, not a machine), with a snifter of your favourite whiskey.
I used to get the winter blues every year. Not really depression, but just lack of motivation, lethargy, listlessness. I started taking Vitamin D a few years ago when a test showed it was low. The winter blues disappeared.
Your simple statement echoes my thoughts. There are plenty of people living in poor circumstances and with chronic illness even that still retain their attachment to reality.
It is only when contradicting views of reality distort a mind that today’s insanity can take hold.
Yeah, as a diabetic, I can tell when I screwed up in a dietary manner. I also usually feel better when I am not eating throughout the day, but also eating less. My theory is that "less time eating means less time prone to spikes in blood sugar."
even better would be to minimise all spikes. you can reverse it in 4 months with willpower. i tend to mix it up with my fasting but do two 24 hour fasts a week, the rest of the time is usually 18h a day. i dont restrict calories when i do eat, i just choose foods that dont spike insulin
That is awesome. I do know that calorie intake is less important than what foods are eaten. I read the book "the obesity code" and it makes sense. Heck I see people much thinner than me, eating more than me, and yet somehow they don't gain weight.
Be careful. Depends on what you mean by "diabetic" Type II diabetes is an incredibly popular diagnosis that has been expanded to cover a LOT of things that are in fact very different physiologically. For many of these the "usual advice" is counter productive and even dangerous. But for a lot some generic things still work - but things like fasting are very bad.
If you are type I, as in pancreas doesn't produce insulin, things like fasting can be very, very bad (as in fatal). If your pancreas is dead, this will not be reversed by diet.
I think if you have been diagnosed as an adult with diabetes...it is generally considered to be common that it is Type II diabetes. I could be wrong, people can call me to the mat for it.
I think if I test my blood sugar, that I have peripheral neuropathy, that I lost my left leg due to diabetic cellulitis, that pretty much means I am type II diabetic.
I doubt, hope, that anyone who has not been diagnosed with diabetes would consult a doctor and not take advice on a substack comment thread as gospel.
I was that guy too. It isn't so much as "it catches up with you" as it is metabolic change. Your physiology is not the same. While it is easier to blame the patient, it isn't always correct. Your past lifestyle may or may not have anything to do with what's going on now. now other aspects of that lifestyle WILL catch up with you but I digress....
Most "professionals" and "experts" are not interested in WHY things changed. Many times they don't even look for what actually changed. A few things are looked for - cholesterol, fasting blood sugar, hemoglobin. Stuff sampled infrequently, so infrequently as to have no mathematically valid connection with what is going on in real time. For
example, with continuous monitoring of blood sugar, data shows that fasting blood sugar is a very poor indicator of how your body regulates blood sugar - yet it remains the main measurement used by docs. Meaningless metrics abound.
I see at trend in healthcare to avoid a search for underlying causes. Instead of seeking data and seeking actual causes in the patient, they seek to apply template medicine: fit you to a template and prescribe according to the "guidelines". When it doesn't work it is the patient's fault.
The bottom line is what is "right" for one person may or may not be "right" for another which is why so many people struggle. Some people fit the templates, others do not.
Why did your physiology change? Hormones? Lifestyle? age?
Too often there was a detectable cause besides "it's your fault for (changing lifestyle, not eating right, or getting old) that goes undetected until autopsy. Because searching for understanding of underlying causes seems to be excluded form the medical practice.
I never had asthma or psoriasis...at least that I noticed. But I did get diabetic cellulitus that led to my amputation of my left leg below the knee. The leg will not grow back, but I do have a prosthetic.
Sometimes yes, sometimes no., The diagnosis of Type 2 is so broad that it is becoming meaningless. Some things you can control through activity, diet or lifestyle changes. Some not. It is not always the patients fault. And for some conditions getting lumped into this diagnosis the "usual advice" on diet and lifestyle is wrong and make things worse. So "certainly" is not so certain especially when understanding what is actually going on with the individual patient's body is not sought.
My personal experience is that depression (for me) is caused by several key triggers:
#1: Extended exposure to stupid behavior
#2: not enough physical activity (another spiral)
#3: not enough social time (stewing by myself)
#4: people telling me what to do (including what to eat) :-)
#5: frustration at not accomplishing my goals
Ok, #1 and #4 are not really depression triggers, more annoyance and irritability triggers. Had to toss that in - please read the sarcasm.
I cure my depression by hanging out with friends, getting out and doing things, exercise, and getting things done. Isolation makes all these things worse. And it too is a spiral for me: I'm "fine" by myself...the more "fine" I get the more effort it seems to take to get out. The comfy chair or get up, get dressed, pack the right stuff, get in the car, drive down the hill, deal with parking, crowds, and so on....the comfy chair is very attractive.
I think there is a physiological link: activity and emotions affect hormones too. When doing those things that make me feel better, I'm sure you'd be able see it in hormone levels. Which supports your spiral too - good hormones == good feelings == good hormones and the inverse is the spiral.
I must emphasize the "for me". There are other causes of depression that are physiological, chemical, and so on. I an lucky that when I'm down I can get up.
i was similar except for the social thing, ive always been a lone wolf and dont really care for most people. the diet change was for me the first step of unwinding of the spiral. its a big hormone kicker as is exercise but i still hate doing that, i have to be very stern with myself
I am inherently a lone wolf type too, but I find overall it is healthier if I am stern with myself and keep getting out with people. Part of what was so hard about the last 3 years was it was way to easy to stay home and stew.
The truth is that keto does not work for everyone. Just a fact that we're all different. Also, keto means different things to different people. To some in includes fasting. This can be very dangerous, even fatal, if you are a real diabetic (Type I: pancreas not working as designed).
I did he "carb loading" years ago when it was hip, along with high protein. My endurance improved. Then carbs became evil so I did that. Not so good. Back to moderate carbs but only ones that taste good :-).
My wife is very low carb, started keto, with some adaptations, and is doing well. I tried it and endurance went to crap and I found I had to eat much more often to keep up my energy. This is not good when you travel a lot. She tried the fasting and it was very bad. She found things like carrots and most fruit to be bad for her blood sugar (more carrots for me :-).
@Tiok- irritating would have been sufficient. ;) Agreed- diet trnds are not one-size-fits-all. Those Super Beets that are advertised ad nauseum- beets are high in sugar. Of COURSE your blood pressure is going to go down because you're moving around more thanks to the sugar. "But it's natural sugar!" Sugar is sugar.
If you qualify with "what has been diagnosed as type 2..." then yes, sometimes. Many times perhaps. Not always. Because some things lumped into this diagnosis are very different and the diet and lifestyle that is commonly advised won't work at all.
As noted by DTT et all, Type 1 diabetes (what one doc I know calls "real" diabetes) is totally different except for the symptom of blood sugar regulation. And even there if you look at all carefully you see very different patterns. Type 2 has become the catch all for anything that presents with blood sugar regulation that isn't diagnosed as Type 1. That is a dangerous practice!
Wrong. Type 1 diabetes cannot be reversed, not even with a pancreas transplant. It is an auto-immune disease from which one can never recover. Go without insulin for about 24 days and a Type 1 diabetic will die. The two diseases are not even similar except for symptoms.
There is one commonality I've seen - continuous blood sugar monitoring has great benefit anytime symptoms include anomalous blood sugar regulation. More data is better. For type 1, it enables (among other things) automatic insulin pumps which can be a life altering and life saving technology. For everything else it can help understand what is actually happening.
I am a recovered alcoholic, haven't had a drink or used drugs in 35 years. Gato's analysis is pretty much right on the money. It, of course, is going to vary from individual to individual, but generally speaking it describes nearly all the mentally ill addicts - and make NO mistake, addiction of any kind is a mental illness. Over the years, I have heard the stories of thousands of loons like myself, and we all share the characteristics cited in Gato's excellent piece. But as with alcohol and drugs, woke leftism can be recovered from!
I'm curious and this may be too personal, so I understand. But two things: you said "recovered" while most of the addicts I know say "recovering" - acknowledging that it never goes away. Is there significance to that choice of language?
Second, did you find a productive or healthier substitute addiction? E.g. a friend of mine who realized he was an addict 40 years ago channeled his addiction to writing and turned it into a decent living. For him it was recognizing addiction was part of a patter of obsessions. So he became obsessively addicted to writing every day. This proved convenient as one can write anywhere almost any time without hurting one's body or any other person ;-).
As one who has not suffered substance addiction I know I will never know what it is like, really, but with so many close friends who've dealt with it (some good, some not) I strive to understand. Is it something in all of us, but in some manifests in more positive ways like what we call "drive" and "passion"?
@Mrs. S- PREACH!!!!! The mental health system in America is irrevocably broken. It needs to be razed and rebuilt. Throwing pills at someone and telling them to get therapy many can't afford is not the answer.
It’s not just the mental health system in America (and other Westernized countries, I might add) that is broken…it’s all systems, whether it be health, political, religious, or community systems. They’ve all been invaded. It’s up to us to create NEW HEALTHY systems. When we complained about being censored, they said “if you don’t like it go build your own”…so we did. Look at all the alternative tech like Substack that was born or blossomed because we were thrown off other platforms. Our smartest move is to create new systems, platforms, enterprises to circumvent these old systems (blue pill) in order to live sane lives (red pill). And spread the word from content creators like bad cattitude to hopefully help others come to realize the truth. (And there are some that are opening their eyes as they realize they’ve been lied to over & over again!)
As a retired clinical social worker I agree 100%. One on my therapeutic interventions for despair was commitment to walk in the park, smile at others, pet their dogs. And not only for the positive effects of movement.
I've had cause for depression for the last few years. Not only choices I have made, but for the choices "made for me." My depression comes in waves, and exits in waves as well. I find that the greatest balm to it is love. When I reach out to help others, it magically goes away. The more I wallow in my problems, the more up close and personal it becomes. I also am in gratitude of others who reach out to me as well. We do need other people.
Amazing how quick some physicians are to push anti-depressants. Having an annual physical at the time the horrendous withdrawal from Afghanistan was playing out on every screen, my gp asked me how I was feeling. My answer was "anxious over the horror of it all." While washing his hands his first words: "I can give you something for that."
Pills and procedures are the bulk of medical school training. Pretty much zilch on nutrition and exercise, let alone meaningful human (and animal) relationships.
I am late on commenting. Took my psychiatrists advice and got off the internet for my vacation! Was glorious! Am now working on making sure it works for me, not the other way round. In any case, my doctor is awesome, once we knew each other, he prescribed church.
I’m not as dumb as I seem and I always knew embracing something greater was the solution.
not "lasting solutions" depends upon what the problem is that you are intending to solve.
Clearly your goal is improving mental health so that depression and anxiety (both essential parts of human existence) do not overwhelm and prevent happiness and prosperity. Thanks for that.
But if the goal is ensure an easily manipulated, dominated and dependent class, then pills and ineffective therapy are ideal "solutions".
Notice that the "solution" to almost any crisis is largely the same in politics: abandon liberty, freedom, and individualism, depend completely on "the proper authorities" and those authorities more power.
The virtual community is important, but we need to see each other, too. During the Covoodoo madness I felt distant from many old friends because, while they might not have been all-in, they weren’t “hell no what the fuck is this???” out. So I sought out groups who saw through it, and we met online and in person. Tom Woods organized meetups for his listeners and I went and it was life-changing to know, really *know*, that even if we weren’t all in Galt’s Gulch somewhere, we could create a network and a community where we didn’t have to fear that our neighbors would volunteer us for boxcars to assuage their own anxiety.
This is a very important point! Thank you for highlighting! I, too, felt isolated with likeminded family not in my area. Yeah, I wondered which neighbour was going to snitch on us “dirty” unvaxxed. So finding community online was amazing.
Tom Woods is an historian and libertarian podcaster. He hosts The Tom Woods Show. His website is tomwoods.com. He has been extremely effective at creating a community by having membership platforms and hosting in person events.
He's had some great guests on his show concerning Covid. Ivor Cummins, Ian Miller, Cabrera, and a lot of those that signed the Great Barrington Declaration.
I found Tom Woods as well during pandemic. It wasn't too long after watching the Dr. Erickson video as well as the different youtube videos on "Perspectives of the Pandemic." I think it was a talk of his at a gathering and it was concerning lockdowns, masks, the vaccine had yet to be produced, but we already knew the lockdowns were wrong..
My first week at (world famous) college, they used this fear of loneliness technique to make us conform to their lame ideology in a clever way. They had group facilitators come to each small group (maybe 20 people) during orientation and discuss various hot button topics, asking us to stand either on one side of the room or the other depending upon our opinion on the matter. Everyone kept ending up on the same side because nobody, regardless of their true belief, wanted to be the one person visibly singled out on the “wrong” side in front of their new friends, to be picked on (“why are you on that side!?”) by the group counselor. It was, as I later realized, cult forming behavior 101 - so creepy!
College now is all about diversity equity inclusion. They get big bucks for pushing this crap. My kids first year at colllege at parent orientation, the staff introduced themselves on stage using pronouns. When the incoming freshmen broke up into groups over the weekend, my kids “leader” had them guess what her “number”was?? I assumed her BMI, lol, I’m old school. No! It was how many sexual partners she had!?! WTF!! They went around in a circle and had to guess. My kid said WTF are you talking about?! This “leaders” point was that you can’t judge someone based on their appearance. She/he/they/them had a high number and was suffice it to say, not that attractive. But still, WTF are they doing to these incoming freshmen?!? I called and complained immediately after I heard this. What freakin BS! And that was the beginning of four years of “DEI” BS. I will never donate another cent to any college ever again.
Nearly 60 years ago at the tender age of 19, I went to basic training where they had 700 of us formed up in a big space surrounded by barracks. They started to separate us according to religion, and after about 15 or 20 minutes all the Catholics, various Protestants, Jews, and others had been marched off, and I was left, standing alone, in the middle of the parade ground. Upon questioning, my sure of my 19-year old self replied without shame that I was an atheist. And so began a very interesting, if not particularly successful military career. I did find other weirdos not unlike myself, but a "community" was lacking, so my mental illness continued to grow, while my maturity did not. Sadly, it was not until middle age, when I got sober, that I began to understand these things. Great topic!
I have a minor in Humanities and went through an entire semester of abuse in a Woman Studies class I took, because it was only class that fit my schedule that fulfilled the minor. The first day, the professor said, "Oh, great, we have two white males this year, we are going to have a GREAT time!" That was in 1989, and I knew that were forces inside the country working to destroy American freedoms, I just didn't realize how pervasive the attacks were.
This is one of the reasons why if I had kids, I wouldn't recommend college. I would say if you want an education, you can seek it online and out in the world in a variety of ways. If you need social group, go find a meetup, or create a community of your own. And steer clear of methodology like the one seen above.
My wife and I have discussed this, and between the madness of the educational establishment and the decreasing return on investment we will not be encouraging our son to go to college. Even STEM is riddled with nonsense. Far better to learn a trade or get a certification and grind.
How can a person who lacks community maintain a sense of meaning (and hope) in such extreme, isolating circumstances?
Somehow, I am making it through this, and I think I know why I have been able to, thus far. But I don't know how to convey this to others.
I'll also say that this has been, and is, a test of my preparation for this task, which (during the years of my life I was preparing) I had no idea I was preparing. I was just living my life, going through things, following my interests wherever they led. It is only now, looking back, that I can see all of the different things I have done, gone through and studied (and learned) have made it possible for me to go through this covidiocy intact -- rather than disintegrate or give up.
And I mean that this is weird. Not in an insane way, but it becomes more clear over time -- and extremely hard to put into words. (Maybe this will get easier, in time.)
I could not have known or predicted the very abrupt change in my loved ones and community, that divided us almost overnight over petty disagreements -- where it became suddenly crystal clear how brainwashed they are. I kept doing sanity tests on myself because it appeared that I was the sole holdout thinking that masks were useless, that treatments were available, and that the vaccines were harmful. And later on, that I was being shunned for no good reason.
I made it through that, surrounded by the cult, resisting because my life depends upon it. Yet, my life as I once knew it has been destroyed. So there's then the question of meaning and hope -- I think I'm just determined to see this through, no matter what.
Dani, I felt the same way. I realized I needed hope. Life is hard and this dystopian BS is shoved down our throats at every turn. I went back to church. The roof did not fall in and the people there were warm and welcoming. As Joseph A. Campbell said- When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change. I’ve seen prayer work miracles. We need community, love and hope.❤️
To an extent, I don't think I have ever found "my tribe."
Even here, I disagree with others on things, and here, I think that is encouraged. Imagine that!
I think part of the reason you have made it through this is that you have never required vindication for your beliefs. In fact, you might find the whole idea of conformity to be "too much work" and not much reward. The mental gymnastics required to becoming "woke" or "well versed in the arbitrary and capricious rules" would be a bridge too far.
I don't think any of us could have predicted the abrupt change, and yet, we had already seen it. After all, our country was ruled by a Russian Colluding fascist for four years. Like you, I was constantly doing self diagnostic testing. "Am I crazy, what am I missing?"
I remember watching with amazement on the night of March 12th the run on grocery stores, the empty shelves where once there was toilet paper, and everyone crowded, indoors, to buy their food for the coming lockdowns. I was thinking even then "Do they not realize the virus has already been here for months, and yet here we are."
I came to the store for toilet paper, not out of fear of the pandemic, but rather, that toilet paper would run out. I went down the street to a CVS and oddly, they had plenty of TP.
Why did your life depend on you resisting? For me, I was already freelance, trying to make things work. I have no wife, no kids, so far less to lose than most. I didn't feel the social pressure as much as others, and because of the kindness of family through at least the first two years of the pandemic, I was not in danger of becoming homeless.
But I was at odds with most of my family. They did believe in masking and the vaccine. They were traveling fairly early on in the pandemic as a visible demonstration of that fact. They also work for government, so it was easy to do the math. Anyhow, I wish you well.
My life depends on my resisting the vaccine, IMO. I feel so strongly about this -- it is a line I will not ever cross. There was a time, around September-December 2021, when vaccine passports were being pushed, that I wondered if it might actually come to pass that I would not be allowed to enter grocery stores -- as crazy as that seemed, things had changed so quickly already so it didn't seem out of the realm of possibility. I asked a few friends if that ended up happening, would they buy me food in exchange for me cooking meals for them, or something like that.
But in another sense, my quality of "life" also depends on my retaining sanity and staying out of fear, and not masking (doing something utterly nonsensical that others believe in to such a degree that they freak out if I am noncompliant). I need to do my part to help create the sane and compassionate world I would like to live in.
It wasn't out of the realm of possibility. Heck before the pandemic, I thought "cooler heads would prevail" but they didn't. And we also experienced those steeped in the narrative around us. So freaking weird, but not surprising, as there were so many that thought since 2016 our country was led by a fascist...who never put anyone to death that called him a fascist.
What you say about quality of life resonates. Imagine living in the reality of masks and the vaccine, what it would require for you mentally to accept it.
excellent question. I had an incident about 12 years ago that was profoundly life-altering: CPS came after me and my children. It was about 9 months of hell, fighting for my children, and in the process I got to see the belly of the beast and that my previously held beliefs (trust and faith in these institutions) were incorrect. Everything I thought I knew was based on a lie. It was only as I was trying to make sense of this bewildering experience (because I am a really good mom) that I realized the great number of other very good families (and there are countless wonderful people who are victimized in this way!) who also had undergone a similar experience with CPS. While ultimately I did not lose my children, absolutely I lost my faith and went from being a lukewarm, institution-trusting, moderate-liberal-leaning person to being very independent and an ardent researcher who no longer affiliates with anything, and only wants the truth. My entire family thinks that I was "ruined" by the CPS experience which "traumatized and damaged me," because I no longer see things as they do, as I used to. Once you see, you can't unsee.
Side topics (deep dives into health, vaccines, natural immunity, and so on) I delved into at the time also delivered me from this current evil, because of what I learned along the way. I could not possibly believe the narrative, because I already had a foundation and knew they were absolutely lying -- as astounding as that would have seemed to my former self.
I have no idea if something else might have happened to change me, had this CPS attack not upended my life when it did. (can you imagine that now I am actually very grateful I went through that?)
I've discussed this elsewhere, but I think I had more than a few of these growing up. But I think another component of this is how one seeks vindication for ones beliefs...or on what is true as well as what is real.
“For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.”
“Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.”
I hope you're right, but the Brandon Administration rallying behind the Trans community, not the Christians murdered in Nashville, makes me think we have some time to go before the curtain falls on this drama.
Jordan Peterson has a great interview with Dr. Miriam Grossman on some of the origins and the trauma for parents Parental Trauma in a World of Gender Insanity | Miriam Grossman MD https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Su2Z4_iQHz4
All my meager funds will no doubt be sucked up by being shut down when the Next Gen vaccines get mandated and we've sleepwalked into social credit, lol, knock on wood, but otherwise I'd put it on the fact that these heavily vaxed, ideologically possessed kids will be MORE miserable after their surgeries and when their exhibitionism doesn't satisfy them, and when their brains don't mature and they have terrible medical problems (no doubt a vax is in the works for that), then the gutless sadistic zombie hordes, which are all that are left in medicine after the courageous and the Hippocratic and the emotionally mature leave, will slate them for transhuman experimentation. I'd bet on it.
Sorry but straight-up fucking brilliant writing and analysis. Today you are my hero on the internet.
I just need more inner silence to not succumb to the beginnings of hermit-dude I am seeing develop in myself as a response to the cult around me.
I can't reach them and I don't speak their language so I am using Jesus as my guide and focusing on the idea of Charity. They may be insane now but in Gods eyes or in the Cosmic consciousness they are just asleep.
And I'm more than likely at least quite drowsy myself...
"...to not succumb to the beginnings of hermit-dude I am seeing develop in myself as a response to the cult around me." Glad to hear someone else echo my thoughts, Oxymoron. Aside from my husband and adult kids, everyone else is suspect. I find myself thinking, "Hmmm, so are you one of the people who, in 2021, wanted to deny me medical care (or put me in a camp, whatever) becaused I was unvaxxed??" Trust no one but kindred loved ones, and God.
Having lost virtually all my in person social connections other than immediate family, I feel exactly the same in my more despairing moments. Yet in taking that approach what good we can we do?...How can we build community when we remain encapsulated in our safe spaces? If we want to fight for the sake of our kids and theirs we must gather, support each other, “major on the majors” and speak up with courage. It takes a lot of guts to reach out in our own neighborhoods. Who knows what could happen? Maybe something good.
There are no atheists (it's literally physically impossible for the human mind to function at more than a toddler level w/o a god); everyone worships some god. If you reject the God of the Bible, you'll worship something else; in America, the predominant gods are self or "diversity, inclusivity & equity", but they are gods nonetheless & their priests are "experts" or "consensus." If you are obeying a god, what crime is truly a crime? What atrocity cannot be justified by god?
We need to understand that every society is a god-fearing society; the only difference is the particular god they fear. Are you happy w/ these new gods?
Please clarify your comment. Are you claiming that there is no objective morality (nothing that is intrinsically good or intrinsically bad REGARDLESS of anyone's opinions on the topic or the alleged consequences thereof)? Are you claiming that there is no objective reality (nothing that exists w/o any observers & REGARDLESS of what any observer(s) may think)? If not, then what are the sources of objective morality or objective reality? I think you'll see that these sources are functional equivalents of god. If, however, you deny objective morality & objective reality, I think you'll see that your thoughts are pretty meaningless & petty - after all, what does it matter if there's no reality & no morality? It's all arbitrary at that point.
Look, I'll be clear: I doubt you think the Holocaust was bad because people think it was bad. I doubt you think the morality of slavery depends upon the net consequences of slavery. I doubt you think the universe is only a fantasy or that we can't be sure it really exists. All of your thoughts depend upon some sense of objective morality & reality, there are some things you believe are TRUE, but can't be proven in any meaningful sense. Therefore, there must be some source of truth, which is your god, the thing you worship.
We can play semantic games, but that's just the facts: we need some god or we can't manage any higher thoughts. Even the most complex math depends upon the idea that 2 + 2 = 4 (some truth that we agree is true, but can't really be proven because 2 is simply defined to be that which, when added to itself, is that which we define as 4, and we agree this is real truth - not just consensus or tautology - because math works, it's real. If we won't make that assumption, we can't do math - we're just doodling in #'s.)
At some point, we all hit upon god; we're just fighting over which one(s).
"Are you claiming that there is no objective morality (nothing that is intrinsically good or intrinsically bad REGARDLESS of anyone's opinions on the topic or the alleged consequences thereof)? Are you claiming that there is no objective reality (nothing that exists w/o any observers & REGARDLESS of what any observer(s) may think)?"
I claimed nothing other than that I subscribe to no gods, not of The Bible nor of scrolls nor any mythology.
"If, however, you deny objective morality & objective reality, I think you'll see that your thoughts are pretty meaningless & petty - after all, what does it matter if there's no reality & no morality? It's all arbitrary at that point."
Petty, you say? So those objective morals... Leviticus - the Literal Word of God. is absolute about Shrimp Cocktail, Poly-Cotton blends, and Beef Stroganoff. They are an abonination. Moses reiterates this in Numbers. Would you say the Literal Word of God constitute Objective Morals? We are expected to accept them as such.
"Even the most complex math depends upon the idea that 2 + 2 = 4 (some truth that we agree is true, but can't really be proven because 2 is simply defined to be that which, when added to itself, is that which we define as 4, and we agree this is real truth - not just consensus or tautology - because math works, it's real."
If I have Two Corn Flakes and you have Two Corn Flakes we could share a Feast of Four Cornflakes. Substitute #2 Phillips Screwdrivers for the Corn Flakes and you still get Four. Likewise with iguanas and Free Abelian Sets - the union of any two with any other two is four. We agree on that because, if we had to start every question about the nature of neutrinos with, "So 2+2=4 - OK? All right? *nods* Yes." then we'd have to cover Long Division and then Transendental Functions then Fourier Transforms ... and we'd never actually getting around to talking about massless particles. It would be like talking to Treebeard. Note, though, we don't merely _agree_ to that sum because of tradition or force feeding. Anywhere, by anybody. We can all deduce this for ourselves.
Yes, math is real.
"we need some god or we can't manage any higher thoughts."
*citation needed*
"Therefore, there must be some source of truth, which is your god, the thing you worship."
I am an atheist and reject the gods of all boo... Stop me if I've shared this already.
Just because you feel the need for gods in order for your life to have meaning, in order for you to be moral, then use gods for that purpose. Do not presume that we are all likewise seeking otherness or require the threat of Fire and Brimstone to convince that murder is evil.
"At some point, we all hit upon god; we're just fighting over which one(s)."
You've been careful about not capitalizing 'god' for reasons I find suspicious. I don't capitalize god because I do not see it as a proper noun but I think you're implying that you'd be open to the worship of many gods. I sincerely doubt that. Why would you wish to convince me that there are 'gods' when I don't even accept that a single one is real unless you have a favored god. And that's totally okay. It sounds like it works for you.
Do you believe in Ra the Sun God? Odin? Quetzacoatl? Me either. I merely go one god further.
--
Napoleon: You have written this huge book on the system of the world without once mentioning the author of the universe.
Sadly, atheists' arguments always descend into semantics and nonsense because you're attempting to deny the most obvious fact in history. If I were to apply your epistemological theories consistently, I'd have to be a nihilist (as every honest atheist admits). That is, I can say there's inadequate proof for God only if I concede there's inadequate proof for anything & everything (w/ the possible exception of certain subatomic particles). If the mind that perceives the divine is unreliable &, thus, if I can dismiss that evidence because the mind is unreliable, then I must infer that the mind is unreliable, which means I have no tool to interact w/ or assess any evidence at all. I can't point to studies as proof of anything because what's a study but somebody claiming to have done something & to have observed a particular result, but claims aren't evidence, right? If I can & must dismiss millions of reports of the divine, why can I trust a handful of reports of "science"? The only possible distinction is that I assume the divine reports are unreliable, but I can't use that assumption to prove my conclusion (that the reports are unreliable because I assume such reports are unreliable). That is, why can I ignore when somebody tells me that they saw a resurrected Jesus but I can't ignore the same person telling me that they saw Pontius Pilate? All you can say is that you ASSUME the former report is less reliable than the latter, but why? I can't cite my own assumption as the proof of my own conclusion - that's circular. In short, far more people have reported the divine than have reported "scientific" findings...so how do I ignore the former & believe the latter? Honestly, I can't. In order to make such distinctions, I have to decide that my mind is reliable...which then creates certain problems - like my reliable mind sees things that atheism can't explain. Friend, if there's no God, then evolution is a joke - the odds against are so astronomical that it's basically impossible to calculate. You'd be more likely to win 50 lotteries on 50 tickets - far more likely.
Long and short, you're twisting yourself in knots to avoid the obvious: God exists. And, like I said, fine - I'll play along, but then all knowledge is impossible, everything is just "who knows because we don't have enough evidence." Either position is consistent & defensible, but you have to choose.
"If I can & must dismiss millions of reports of the divine, why can I trust a handful of reports of "science"?"
*boy* "Look - the emperor’s all naked!"
Or, TL;DR: Atheism isn't an attempt to "explain" anything. It's merely the rejection of the arguments presented against.
But to address some of your points individually… I don't speak for all atheists but, for me, sure, I want to have an explanation for all those existential-y things. I do. It's completely unsatisfying to think there might be nothing... after. It's actually a little scary sometimes. I'm even envious, in some ways.
That said, reality is not a democracy. That millions of 'reports' of the divine exist is not sufficient to convince me because, despite their testimony, I still have questions that appear unanswered. Thomas Aquinas and I have had words and we just don’t see eye to eye. Likewise, Pascal. But on to the points.
"Friend, if there's no God, then evolution is a joke - the odds against are so astronomical that it's basically impossible to calculate. You'd be more likely to win 50 lotteries on 50 tickets - far more likely."
This argument comes up a lot - same for the Big Bang - but these concepts only overlap in their extrapolations:
- Creation Stories are How-We-Became-We stories. Every culture has one. Or several. Sometimes they co-exist, sometimes they lead to Team Us vs. Team Them. But I digress...
+ The Garden of Eden et al assuages our concerns about having come into existence ex nihilo. It doesn't explain why 99% of all species that have ever existed are now extinct and why many that are present today have no obvious relationship to some that had existed previously. Plus, it Requires an Agent, Explicitly.
- Evolution isn't a How-We-Became-We story. It’s a How-We-Got-Here-From-A-Bunch-Of-Back-Theres(-and-maybe-even-some-clues-about-where-we-are-going) Story. It's just a pretty plausible, useful explanation for how all manner of flora and fauna came to be what they are now and help us fill in some blanks as to where they might have come from.
+ Evolution is helpful at understanding how small variations in environment and other factors lead to nature 'picking' the traits that most benefit that species for survival and, hopefully, to keep the family line going. It Requires No Agent.
Or, as stated in response by Laplace to Napolean upon submission for review his work on the movements of heavenly bodies, Mécanique céleste: Napoleon asked Laplace where God fit into his mathematical work, and Laplace famously replied "Sir, I have no need of that hypothesis." Evolution has no need for this hypothesis. I have no need either. It's nothing personal but I'm not actually seeking an explanation for anything of that sort, but I hope we as a race keep seeking it. And to be clear, I don't think they're not even trying to address the same intellectual space, for the most part. Only at the edges where ideologies might be threatened.
To cut to the chase; YOU: "Long and short, you're twisting yourself in knots to avoid the obvious: God exists." ME: No twisting. I'm not trying that hard at all. It's actually much more difficult all the stuff you have to do to prop it all up all the time. I am not uninitiated in the ways of the faithful.
I simply stated, "I am an atheist and reject the gods of all books and scrolls and mythologies." and you responded with a 400-word response with multiple backhand swipes at: My Ability to Reason - "Sadly, atheists' arguments always descend into semantics and nonsense" [Sadly, you don't see the irony.]; My Ability to Discern the Meanings of Words - "If I were to apply your epistemological theories consistently" [I have nowhere suggested, let alone attempted to convince anyone, that I have any special knowledge. Rather, it's that lack of said knowledge, the actual acknowledgement that I might simply not be able to know some stuff, that guides my doubt. But you might want to Google 'Ontology.']; My Integrity - "(as every honest atheist admits)" [Do you know any actual, IRL atheists? Or just honest ones? You guys get together and chat it out on the regular?] ; and, I believe, My Maturity - "I'll play along." [*pats Pi on the head*]
You present a lot of stuff, words, circular arguments that, as presented, to my mind boil down to "Shhhh... The Grown-ups are talking!" then expect me to consider your claims seriously as I work my way through passages like this: "If the mind that perceives the divine is unreliable &, thus, if I can dismiss that evidence because the mind is unreliable, then I must infer that the mind is unreliable, which means I have no tool to interact w/ or assess any evidence at all."
You can't save me. And if you want to convince me, it's going to take a little something more substantial and non-ethereal than this.
I'm willing to engage, if you're honestly curious. Or even if your aim is to proseletize. Just avoid the talking-down. Don't assume you have some knowledge that I don't solely based on your claim that you and all those other people think the same. For a long time everybody thought the world was flat. Everybody was sure. Everybody was wrong.
About Leviticus, etc. The laws of the OT had a specific purpose for the time. That purpose was fulfilled by the work of Christ on the cross. In other words, it’s a green light on that stroganoff. Bon appetit.
As to morality, you are familiar with the commandments I’m sure and of course welcome to your belief that you arrived at a similar moral framework (or not?) by some other route based in expediency. (Love the Treebeard reference!) Personally it isn’t a fear of fire and brimstone that deters me from sin (that’s closer to legalism), it is the Holy Spirit (God’s grace working in me, i.e Christianity). I still mess up, I just recognize it now and grieve it, and correct. I don’t feel scared at all in that; I feel loved. I feel amazed.
You mention evil and murder but what do you define those by? Why is murder evil? Because it kills another human? So? What makes another human so special? This is constantly debated in our culture, don’t you think? Do you eat animals? What separates us from the barnyard? Learning to cook?
I could be wrong but I think what is meant by referencing little g gods is that when we deny the one and only God, we transfer our obedience to other masters and we serve those; self, science, knowledge, worldly success, alcoholism, fitness, whatever, just a few examples. When those don’t suffice, we despair or we continue seeking. That is our nature because we were designed that way on purpose ... you see where I’m going there. Anyway, atheism is bs. I get that you don’t worship God or *insert alternative fake deity* and that’s your choice of course. But everyone serves something, or seeks to, imo. The question what is your source of truth is I think a fair one, that you didn’t answer. But I’d love to hear your thoughts on that. Atheism is not a source of anything, it’s a response to something, no?
My source of truth is observation and confirmation. I have yet to observe an action that I could not otherwise explain and could only attribute to the gods. Or even leave it unanswered when lacking sufficient evidence to make the call.
If I serve, it's in the service of other people - and only by consent of my own volition - because Man made the gods in his own image. Not the other way around.
You start out by making it seem you respect my views and merely disagree but gloss right over "Anyway, atheism is bs " You provide no counterargument.
What separates us from the animals? Evolution. The same thing that separates us from mollusks and ferns.
Atheism is not a response. It's the default. Deities didn't exist until we created them.
"*fake deity*"
So you do have a favorite god and, I assume, reject all others. You don't believe in Odin? Me either. Osiris? Same. You see, you and I basically have the same pantheon only I go one god further.
I would say that reality (all that is) is objective, and could be defined that way. Morality, however, is not objective, and cannot be. Value is subjective, and morality is interpersonal.
In other words, according to you, neither the Holocaust nor slavery are objectively bad - they're only bad if you think they're bad? Or they're only bad if certain people think they're bad? Or if a majority thinks they're bad? If there's no objective morality, what - pray tell - are you claiming?
And if there's no objective morality, are you saying that rape might have been ok at some times or in some societies but that rape became immoral later on or only in some places?
I want you to really think through what you're saying; there's no objective morality is just a platitude that people mutter w/o understanding its implications - you're basically claiming that you're fine w/ rape, murder, genocide etc.; your objections to such things are purely contingent. Is that REALLY what you mean? Or are you quickly about to tell me all about the "objective" morality that makes all those things awful all the time no matter what?
I think you're arguing against moral "relativism", or some caricature of it. I assure you that I abhor the viewpoint you're thinking of as well.
What I am saying is that there is no such thing as objective morality, or objective "relative" morality either. If any of the bad things you describe happens, the universe does not care.
All morality is negotiated on a socio-political playing field among sentient actors who do care. Outside of that context, morality does not exist. Within that context, it depends on what the various players care about, and upon their mutual ability to strike back against others who offend their interests.
When you don't have a reasonable balance of power, you do not have morality. When we allow players of such titanic power that they cannot be touched, it just becomes elephants stepping on ants.
When striking back turns to war, again you have no morality.
If we want morality to work, we must respect its limitations and its ultimate fragility. It isn't just a given.
If morality only exists in the presence of observers who can care, then it isn't objective at all - it's still subjective. Ultimately, objective vs subjective means whether or not an observer is required. Thus, it's objectively true that 2 + 2 = 4 as this was true before humans existed & will be true after us. How can something be objectively true w/o an observer? Because God exists; good & evil exist in relationship to Him. North & south don't exist in the absence of a reference point; you are north or south of some point; otherwise, the terms are meaningless. Same with God - good & evil exist in relationship to Him. Once we reject that reality, we're inevitably lurching towards paganism - that is, we don't reject God, we adopt multiple other gods. Thus, the moral relativist hates racism, homophobia, inequality etc.; they're all obsessed with a variety of issues, each functioning as a god or each reflecting some other god's preferences (often themselves & their own desires). Notice how gays will talk about the need to be true to one's self? Well, who's acting like god in that scenario? Clearly, they are - they are dictating what is & is not good. If they want it, it's good; if they don't, it's not. They are the sovereigns defining morality. Ultimately, there are only 2 moral systems: God & gods. Granted, some may not use the terminology of pagans, but their systems are functionally identical. There is no such thing as atheism; rather, there's just different gods. In the US, the most common form of paganism is self-worship, usually in a way that acknowledges that everyone else is also a god. (I want to be gay, you want to be transgender, and she wants to be something else - each equally valid because each is decreed by a different god.) I suppose there are some monotheists out there who think they're god but nobody else is, but that seems rare - this particular religion usually makes everyone their own god.
the way I couch this is, there is a God-shaped void that needs to be filled. I have a friend who is an atheist. He spends a lot of time watching content by other atheists, and "young earthers." I think a lot of his objections to Christianity rely on the wholesale belief of how creation happened. I agree with him on a lot of it, but my faith was never developed on believing wholesale the story of Genesis at face value.
At the same time, he does have a religion. I think we all do. It could be science fiction fandom for some, wokeness for others. I think I have become a "devout libertarian." I say this even as I do not know all that entails. From intuition though, I believe that more freedom is better than less freedom, at the very least when you are free, there is no one else to blame. I am not a full on Christian, nor am I an atheist. I used to question the existence of God, but now more than ever I think I see a hand in all of what is going on. Does that make me a believer again? I don't know.
Years ago, my brother confronted me about my lack of "fallen" faith and lack of going to church. I remember openly weeping. I was mourning the person that I was. I did enjoy my previous life as a Christan, but felt that I could no longer, in good conscience, participate in it, not due to others, but due to my own questions and problems with it.
Your story is similar? I think I know some of it because you shared it elsewhere...I know you moved to a different state in a large part due to the insanity of Covid.
Sorry to say, too many that resisted the Covid lunacy are now too lazy to go the whole hog to protect themselves and their children now the worst of the totalitarianism appears over.
Back to working. Sending kids to school even though they know all about the dangers for them from the (UK) Common Purpose progressive ideology. Buying organic supermarket food, watching Netflix, and staying silent is the way they’re going into the future.
Too lazy to work to provide safe food for themselves and children. Indeed one person responded to the request to share the work and purchasing of seeds/soil/polytunnels and livestock (HOGS) that they could see nothing in it for them! Safe unadulterated food is not enough. We did get someone say he’d like to set up his motor home and grow his own for free. Aka hippie freeloader.
We’ve decided to start sending them a cartoon of The Little Red hen. You know like how the hen asked everyone she knew to help and they refused. But when she finally got to the eating they flocked around to eat the product of her own hard work. And the hen said ‘where were you when I needed help? Nowhere. So you’ll get none of my bread.
Why we’ve even had some say that as we are Christians they think we will share our produce with them for free when SHTF out of our duty. One asked me if I was a Christian directly. When I responded yes he replied great, so when we need to get out of the city you won’t refuse us camping out here.
We have tried hard over the last two years to create a shared smallholding. An alternative community. We’ve given up.
We’ve also given up informing people of what’s coming anymore. We’ve done our duty over the last three years.
Now my duty is to protect our family. My land that I’ve fought hard over twenty years to retain is today only for saving my family.
Human nature being what it is—sin nature—I’m not surprised that you’ve encountered so many people who just want the goodies without the work it takes to achieve them. Unfortunately, the land that you’ve “fought hard over twenty years to retain” isn’t really yours at all. Consider that you pay taxes on it to a government entity (city/county/state), which can revoke your ownership at will for purposes of eminent domain or if you don’t pay your taxes on it. It’s frustrating, to say the least. Still, enjoy and cherish the good times on this earth with your loved ones and your love of God. It’s all we have for the moment but a brief glimpse into what we will have for eternity.
Luckily I live somewhere full of very proper MC Brits in this rural hamlet. They’re pretty pathetic.
Now those in the town renamed a city to become a smart city might be a problem. Has High ‘boating’ immigration for punishment for voting strongly for Brexit.
Luckily that’s over 7 miles away. And there’s a bridge to get over to this side of the estuary and reservoir so we could block that.
The farmers around here are all well equipped. We are getting there in order to despatch our own. It costs a fortune to send our hogs away. And legally as it’s just for us we can do ir.
As for those ‘friends’ they’re all terrified of: huge son in law and huge dogs. So hey like MC townie social workers, they run away from the Farmwatch keep out sign and free wandering dogs.
We could always leave my pony near the food stores. She likes to kick strangers…
I agree with just about everything you said aside from informing the public not only what is coming, but what has come. They need to know they are living under the delusion of a narrative. On Twitter I do this from time to time not because I enjoy the abuse, but they need to know that there is dissent...and it isn't the way they want to easily categorize it. "Conspiracy theorist anti-vaxxer." Although they will do just that.
I don’t think you can force the deaf and blind to see the truth. As in Counseling, you can attempt to get them to the point of existentially analysing their lives, But you can’t force them as their free will often chooses to remain ignorant.
An example:-
From the start of this informing the icu med staff of the illegality and immorality of implementing the UK’s frailty scoring (age was 70 reduced to 50, now 45, requiring help with heavy housework is 5= DNR) to put patients onto DNRs without permission from families or patients. They still, even now, explain away the DNRs because they say ‘those patients are end of life’ yet WALKED into the hospital. Even though we’ve informed them this is euthanasia and illegal in UK, they still support those decisions as moral!?
Informing them of Gupta’s and Ionedes’ conclusions that Covid was similar to influenza. I even got them to recall the ICU in 2017-2018 influenza period when there were @57,000 fatalities. But they think Covid was the worst virus ever and it’s nothing to do with the drugs or vents that caused deaths. (Actually 2020 was not a gross exaggeration of excess deaths).
Informing them since 2020 including sharing research that remdesivar causes the multi organ failure seen with the Covid patients. Thus making them end of life! Even recently she has ignored the CDC removing it as treatment and STILL administers it to patients.
We’ve shared videos, podcasts, films on the killing in nursing homes and in hospital/homes for ‘frail’ patients. Again ‘they’re end of life’ so ok pic lining these drugs like Midazalam and morphine into patients TODAY.
Or my sister, after her cancer diagnosis and jab 4, we shared the research on the turbo cancer link. Instead of acknowledging this data, I was called crazy and she went for number 5 bivalent WITH influenza in same arm. She also still wears a mask - IN THE CAR. Now she says it’s to protect her raw skin from the chemo. (HATS!)
The convid propaganda round has been lost. Their use of applied and nudge psych has been very effective.
Round two is vs digital currency, ID2020, and the bio security state. At least both sides are starting at the same time. I’m getting better responses as EVERYONE has given/paid someone in cash. And no one wants the Govn’t to monitor their spending.
However, I was shocked over Easter that one relative told me he thought it reasonable to kill off billions because the world is overpopulated. Malthusianism. When I asked about whether his goddaughter should be eliminated he answered NO. He couldn’t empathise that every person dispatched also has loved ones that value them.
It’s an uphill battle. We need divine intervention to win this war.
You can't force people to accept that truth, nor is that my intention. I don't see them as accepting it initially if at all. Recently on Twitter, I had someone respond to one of my many criticisms to Dr. David Gorski's tweets.
These replies are rife with ad hominem attacks. They also told me how wrong I was concerning PCR tests (that they can't be set to a high threshold) and of course spoke nothing but the virtues of vaccination. Ironic that those that speak of vaccination also speak a bit about overpopulation.
The person I talked to on Twitter believed the precedence for the lockdowns etc. was that "there was a vaccine right around the corner." Yet ignored the fact that if such a thing were true, we would then be masking/locking down each flu season because each flu season there is always "a vaccine around the corner."
It's not reasonable to determine who dies, or to even make a determination as to what is considered "overpopulation." Do we think it is kinder if we "end ourselves?" than if nature/God makes a course correction for us? And why is it that when we make such determinations, we always eliminate ourselves from the equation?
I've had family visit me. And I know they're pretty much all vaccinated. In their most recent visit here after Christmas I advised them, and only mentioned it once, to please not get vaccinated anymore. It's sad to think that both my nieces, on in their late teens and the other in her twenties, has this vaccine in their body.
Maybe the Covid round has been lost, but it is no reason not to throw in the towel. What do you think informed my decision that the narrative was a narrative? It was from the revelation of all the previous false narratives and double standards.
You can list a whole lot of false narratives in the past, and that will support and bring clarity to at least question the current narrative.
I also think maybe to an extent, your sister is wearing a mask because she likes the solidarity she feels when she and others wear masks. It shows, in their misguided way, that people are caring for one another. I still maintain that a smile is much more effective.
In the last three years, perhaps longer, something has been lost. I think the process of "othering" has gone to such an extent that there are those that believe there are people out there who deserve no respect or dignity at all. They are deplorables. They see them all as MAGA hat wearing, gun toting bare faced racist, sexist, homo transphobic misogynistic ignorant plague-spreader anti-vax terrorists. But in reality, it is simply anyone who does not spout the narrative.
And those people can "die in a fire" for those well nuanced in the narrative. The problem with determining who lives and dies, is that "it creeps" it is always trying to find new targets to acquire.
Indeed it’s creeping into euthanasia for anyone of ‘substandard Uber Mensch’ standards.
That’s how they worked it out in UK using Whitty’s and I recall Harvard created one - Frailty Scoring system and then Hancock reduced the age to apply from 70 to 50. Today it’s been reduced to 45.
They add to each and every condition up. I saw on VAERS ‘neurogenic bladder’ aka incontinence. Or high BP - cholesterol to Fatal cancer. And if you can’t do heavy housework or digging into Boulder clay you’d get a 5. 5= DNR
So if healthy and 70 that’s 5!
But them now treating all respiratory cases like asthma as Covid to give Remdesivar is MAKING THEM END OF LIFE.
So then it’s ok to kill them off. And the staff have rationalised it as Moral?! So ok to pic line same drugs as death penalty. Recall that the nurses were the most enthusiastic T4 killers.
And the public go along with it. ‘They were frail’.
My adult daughter despairs that even the so called awake to Covid are still signed up to much of the rest of it. They use their phones for paying things. Let their kids go online freely and continually.
We’ve offered to bring others in to supplying their own safe non mRNA organic produce, meats and dairy and they don’t want to invest time, money and effort. But they think as a Christian family it’s our duty we to help them out - all of them - when food supplies dry up. No my duty is to my family first.
She despairs. I’ve tried to help by telling her Bible passages that speak of the remnant that follow G*d’s laws. And what it means to ‘not be of this world’ and ‘come out of her (Babylon) my people’.
But it’s hard for a family with young children to live apart when her friends still send theirs to school. And her husband fails by accepting they’ve lied about Covid but everything else is true. Logic error!
And I sometimes get that Deju vu’ feeling. It was the anxious feelings at the start of Covid that woke me out of the app behav psych Psyop. I had that at the start of Covid after I was sent my second advanced directive as I’m scoring over 5. Then I started to do research finding the frailty scoring. I screamed everywhere about it but it was a further year before Sunday Times, UK column (becoming wonderful coverage), Quality care commission, Amnesty and families of blanket DNR learning disabled homes. I sent the evidence to them all in April 2020.
After the high court deemed it illegal as it was a form of ILLEGAL EUTHANASIA. They stopped the killing for 3 months until autumn 2021.
But as I started my post, you can’t drag people to this existential angst point. It’s unpleasant and uncomfortable. But reality.
Recall the character in The Matrix who chose to return asleep? That’s many of the then awake Covid people who go on to do their newborns.
G*d bless and give you strength to keep speaking the truth. Remain discerning. It’s the only way to keep yourself whole mentally.
Yes, the logic errors. The only recourse is to question and keep questioning. Not everything, but enough to know that if in doubt, question. Even if not in doubt, question.
Your deja vu may not be wrong. I was skeptical when I first heard about Covid. I remember distinctly sitting in a restaurant/tavern in the winter, huddled close together with other friends and thinking to myself. "Covid is already here, and look at how it is ravaging us." Everyone was talking unmasked in a restaurant. No one was keeling over. We did know of people who had been hospitalized, but they were in their seventies, had pre-existing conditions.
I must admit to ignorance on Frailty scoring. Was this adopted by all ICU's?
Hearing about how they treat asthma does not surprise me. There were incentives here in the states as well that anyone who had "Covid like symptoms" were treated for Covid. Forget the fact that a lot of those symptoms are shared by many upper respiratory disorders, diseases. I would be raising my hand and saying "Listen, I have asthma, treat that first, then if the symptoms still present, we can talk about different treatments."
Approaching those steeped in the narrative, I know I sound like a conspiracy theorist when I quote the death rate at being around .09%. When they try to ply me with the cumulative deaths over the last three years, I then invite myself to do the same in regards to flu to "hyperinflate" the numbers and to skew the death rate. I mean if you are going to tell me that millions have died of Covid over three years, do I then not have the responsibility to present similar cumulative death tolls for other illnesses? And this isn't even touching things like the PCR tests, the fact that treatment and death certificates were encouraged to be "Covid" related." The numbers are already compromised...
As Christians, you do what you are called to do. I think that indiscriminately helping all people is not constructive. You are also told not to "cast pearls before swine" and that means you have to discern how to help those who can be helped, and those that can't.
But I believe we do have the responsibility in our own limited way, to speak the truth. I've announced to different people I have come in contact with face to face that they do not need to wear a mask around me. Most elect to still wear it, but I wanted them to know the option is out there.
Those of us who saw through Covid felt like we were screaming into a hurricane or a void. Our voices were drowned out by the fear of the 24/7 media campaign.
Yes, a lot of them want to remain asleep. But I think that is part of it. Another part is realizing all the time and energy invested in something that was treated in an ineffective manner. It reminds me of all the time I wasted playing video games over the last decade. I mean, what does the average waitress at a restaurant like Chilis or Applebees care that I maxxed out my rogue in World of Warcraft?
The difference is that I know video games are mindless entertainment. Whereas Covid was passed off as a dire emergency for a deadly virus that has a death rate of .09% overall.
Keep on being discerning as these states of emergency will continue for a long while. As the WEF stated, the public was so compliant and their Psyop so effective, they know the Climate, or war, or bird flu will be effective too.
The only warning I can offer you is to prepare to only have your wits to discern the truth by. What with mal-dis-information laws and ‘online safety bills’ plus non crime hate crime legislation, the Voices from alt media will be silenced.
And when whatever is to be the big one is planned to be implemented, I suspect the internet will be shut down. Consider this, you can survive on water with rice and pulses (salt after initial cooking or makes them tough).
I’m going to learn how to make flat breads so when electricity gets cut off I can still have morning toast made over a fire.
Key up a goodly part of the welcoming community here ready to shriek I'm gonna burn in hell because I won't believe...
This post was like a brief history of every religion ever, because all cults are the same. Burnt at the stake by any other name...
Whatever the community is--religious or purportedly secular--it has its rulebook. Two people together, you can have a lively conversation. Three, and you got the birthings of the gang of two gonna press the third into submission. I kept thinking of CS Lewis all the way through this piece. Too smart to be fooled, right?
The best medicine has always been genuine friendships. Now, for the least distress, one is advised to find a therapist who is a person paid to listen to your deepest painful thoughts, and people need therapists because what they call "friends" these days are mostly longtime acquaintances.
It's true, as you note, that communities of the faithful held up best during the Plague Era, but they demand their price too.
"It is the mass ego that constructs dogmas and laws; for while the individual soul is, if free at all, self-poised, the mass mind is always uncertain, driven by vague, wandering aims; conscious, in a dim fashion, of its own weakness, it builds round itself a grotesque structure in the everlastingness of which it implicitly believes. When each unit of humanity merges itself in the mass, it loses its bearings and must rely on externals. The whole effort of evolution is to the development of individual souls who will dare to be free of the architecture of crowd-morality.
For when man is herded, he remembers the savage."
"Society thinks that mistakes are made and crimes committed through the human soul being too much itself, going its own way. But crimes really happen through the soul being too little itself, striving to conform, or being crushed into conformity."
Mary Webb is a little known but brilliant, poetic author. Unfortunately, the majority of the populace today are unable to read beyond a grade six level of grammar and vocabulary. I thank you for your intelligence, intuitive vision and your writing skills.
I miss the Good Old Days when universities created functional alcoholics addicted to football tailgating.
Now, all I can find in the college hiring pool are Woke Warriors who tell me they'll have my job in 6 months because I am a bigoted old man, even if they graduated without understanding the engineering of our field.
It is easier for me because I have been coping with my crazy in-laws for 45 years. It made me accept that people I love can inhabit a separate reality.
Many many years ago I attended a church where they showed a how-to evangelize film in Sunday School. Now this was a respectable, conservative mainline Protestant denomination, not one of those little fly-by-night churches that spring up because someone picked up a Bible and decided to start a new church. So I was quite surprised and appalled to hear the film's narrator explicitly tell people don't waste your time on people who present a challenge by asking hard questions, but instead go after, you guessed it, the vulnerable, the lonely, those who are struggling emotionally, financially, physically. In other words, quantity or quality--we don't want potential C. S. Lewises or St. Augustines or even Martin Luthers here. Not that everyone can or ought to reach that kind of level, but you will never get it if you systematically exclude it. And by the way, speaking as someone who is living on a fixed income, we are pretty tired of being targeted by so-called well-meaning folks who claim to be helping when all they do is exploit us. We have no shortage of would-be exploiters.
I was briefly on a writing site that I hadn't realized was very largely inhabited by Messianic Jews i.e. Christians, and the attempts at "befriending" in comments threads quickly turned very nasty if one wasn't the persuadable sort. A couple who participated there spent lots of time in Israel as sneaky (only appropriate word) proselytizers and their techniques as described were mighty distasteful.
CS Lewis, it seems to me, was one of those highly-neurotic intellectuals who used an awful lot of words making an irrationality palatable to his temperament. It was his drug of choice and he pushed it as hard as he could.
Yes, I have mixed feelings about Lewis; he has some brilliant insights but he also had his issues. For example, when his friend Sheldon VanAuken's wife (and soulmate) was dying, he told VanAuken, "eternal springtime is not allowed". WTF? This was before Lewis lost his own wife whom he married late in life. And there is a creepy side to his Narnia fantasies, where the four Pevensie children stumble into an alternate world and are caught up in a civil war that they know nothing about except that somehow they are essential to Narnia's future happiness. Like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, they are manipulated into going on a dangerous quest with very little information about what exactly they are up against; and as for consent--that really isn't an option. They can't just say, "Not my problem" and return to the wardrobe. It must be remembered that Lewis was a professor of literature who specialized in fantasy and myth; not a scientist or a historian; and that is his weakness as an apologist.
There is real mental and emotional illness in the need for suffering as a prerequisite for spiritual fulfillment. It is entirely human and really misses the boat in my view.
Very VERY good article. Putting parts and pieces together here helps me to really untangle what has been the most baffling aspect of the COVID Event (to me): The utter complicity of doctors in effectuating mass murder. How was such a wholesale lack of conscience even possible?
I have long suspected supernatural influence on this issue. I still can't rule it out entirely, but, piecing together certain components that BC outlines in this article, I think it is possible to get there without any magic spells.
Step 1: Indoctrination. That begins in school. Eight years of being told that We Are The Only True Science is a powerful, POWERFUL thing to overcome. Given that the vast majority of graduates will slide right into an institution that continues the seductive illusion of White Coat Wizardry, the social factor here must be nearly impossible to overcome.
For those who DID manage to question the narrative, however -- perhaps after seeing so many nightmarish ventilator-assisted deaths, or perhaps managing to wonder how or why a novel therapy (mRNA) could possibly be so safe without extensive testing -- there's
Step 2: Guilt-Avoidance. A doctor who was previously complicit has every reason in the world not to awaken to the truth: Not only would it be outright terrifying in its implications (yep, this really is a planned murder spree, folks) -- it would implicate said doctor in the plot. Who wants to admit to being an accomplice to murder -- ESPECIALLY when, given one's training, one should have known better? (Ahem -- seriously. Giving a drug that causes kidney damage and subsequent fluid backup to a patient who is already leaking fluid out of their lungs, then shoving a small tube down the patient's throat, while leaving the patient in a SUPINE POSITION so that GRAVITY can't even help them clear the fluid -- seriously, never mind physiology courses, did these people forget basic physics?)
Yeah. LOTS of psychological incentive to deny one's instinctive inklings.
Then, of course, if that all didn't work, and the doctor was STILL on the fence about it all, there's
Step 3: Good old fashioned threats to one's livelihood. These were only effective, of course, because the doctor was aware of how few other options existed for him or her due to the effectiveness of Steps 1 and 2 on his or her peers.
Truly nefarious, and now, the big question to me becomes: "What next?" ... The medical establishment as a whole has utterly destroyed its last feeble shred of credibility. It has revealed itself to be -- as the title of BC's article suggests -- a "cult," and one that operates for the benefit and behest of narrow corporate interests (pharma). Unfortunately, its collective members still represent a vast body of skill and training. Is there any way to redeem them? How does a doctor come back from this -- is it even possible?
Not just doctors, Werewolf. How about the hundreds of thousands of bureaucrats, worldwide, who developed, and enforced, the draconian regulations that supported this insanity?
How can THEY live with themselves? Are they salvageable? As bureaucrats? Or as human beings?
In my mind, bureaucrats were NEVER salvageable. That is a group of individuals who signed on to oppress others for monetary gain. They always belonged at the bottom of the ocean in my book.
That may be harsh, but, uh ... Words don't mince for me when it comes to that class of entities. I view them as the 2-legged equivalent of ascarids.
They live with themselves quite easily. Remember, the problem is that *you* were *too stupid* to understand all of the amazing work that they did for you...
I have spent most of my career doing academic research on depression and anxiety.
After interviewing hundreds of patients, it is clear to me that the root causes are lack of meaning and lack of community.
Pills and brief courses of therapy are not lasting solutions.
having cured my own depression, it can be both circumstantial and hormonal (chemical) imo.
lacking nutrients is a catch 22 in mental health, you feel shit so end up eating shit and spiral down.
i changed my diet to keto and my depression reduced enough for me to get my life somewhat back on track.
recent studies in glycine is showing to be rather a good mood enhancer and i can personally say even though i havnt had depression in a few years now i have found im generally happier since i started taking it four weeks a go.
Modern life is toxic in a myriad of ways.
Our diet too.
Life in unnaturally large groups is the toxicity, it's not modernity which is wherever you are when you're there. I'm sure one could've found the same alienation and despair in Babylonia. This is always how one gets prophets...
Just walk around a supermarket, look at what people are buying. Most are not buying real food, everything is processed and devoid of nutrients. No wonder their brains are scrambled.
Creatine can also help establish improved mood. Something about amino acids in general--perhaps we aren't getting enough? Personally, I drop dose lemon balm to elevate mood, Sweet Annie to focus, and passionflower to calm.
You can nitpick about supplements till the cows come home and still overlook something vital. Much easier to address the problem in an evolutionarily appropriate way: don't eat crap, eat real food.
It is kind of hard to decide what real food is when Science™ and the government are probably advising us in the completely wrong direction (for example, regarding fats).
There’s no “probably” that the government is advising us in a completely wrong direction! They have been for decades and now with the release of their latest garbage food pyramid, they’ve doubled down. Lucky Charms cereal is now considered healthier than eggs and beef!
<sarc> Magical breakfast for magical thinkers! </sarc>
And when EVERYONE ELSE knows exactly with absolute certainty what YOU must do. The common theme is ignoring that vast variation in human physiology. Everyone has "experts" to back up their story. And so much "expert" advice is insanely wrong.
E.g. humans have teeth designed to rip animal flesh. We have these for a reason. There is a clue. Yet the "experts" continue to demonize meat. WTF?
i eat a mostly meat diet now, but i am not keen on organ meats and cartilage etc
so certain things might be missing which i why i looked into these things
Embrace the cartilage. Bone broth is a good source if you're squeamish. And even liver is palatable if you fry it with enough onions (and pastured pork bacon if you can get it). Heart, kidney, and tongue are easily disguised in stew along with more standard meats.
I had my housemate trained to give me the fat and gristle from his steak 😁
Liver is food of the gods, man!
Bovine liver, diced and fried to get a surface and then simmered in a really dark brown ale or lager (my preference is pilz) while you add onions, diced carrots, maybe parsnips and potatoes and then another batch of chopped onions five minutes before it's done.
Served with oven-roasted honey glazed root vegetables, lingonberry jam (unsweetened of course!) and a sauce made on meat juice from the liver, rich cream, green pepper and lightly fried chanterelles.
A heavy and tart red wine, or small beer or ginger beer works well as a drink.
For afters, halved pears that's been soaking in brandy (or moonshine or applejack) for a week, together with whipped cream topped with rippled really dark chocolate, and some strong black coffee (brewed in a can, not a machine), with a snifter of your favourite whiskey.
I read that last part aloud and both of my dogs frowned at you.
glycine is involved in the bodys creation of creatine as well as glutathione with the help of NAC
our ancient ancestors ate ligaments, cartilage which hold a lot of these things we probably lack these days
I couple NAC with glycine. John Paul has posted a number of times regarding this.
I am a creatine fan as well.
I work hard to deprescribe pharmaceuticals and truly believe that everything we need to stay healthy is already here on planet earth.
I have found the same results with keto and glycine. A few other things as well such as exercise including power lifting.
I just powerfully lifted up a cup of coffee. :) ok, ok, i'll do 12 pullups before errands .... tootles!
Do not forget to do your 16oz curls in the evening. Also proven to enhance my mood ;-)
#NeverForget
In still believe the mind creates the mood.
from what ive read there are neurons in the gut that signal the brain. this suggests if the gut is unhappy with the diet it'll relay this to the mind.
when i removed carbs and sugars the relief was just a few days
ditto. Getting enough D was also important.
yep, i take 4000iu a day in the winter
I used to get the winter blues every year. Not really depression, but just lack of motivation, lethargy, listlessness. I started taking Vitamin D a few years ago when a test showed it was low. The winter blues disappeared.
Your simple statement echoes my thoughts. There are plenty of people living in poor circumstances and with chronic illness even that still retain their attachment to reality.
It is only when contradicting views of reality distort a mind that today’s insanity can take hold.
Yeah, as a diabetic, I can tell when I screwed up in a dietary manner. I also usually feel better when I am not eating throughout the day, but also eating less. My theory is that "less time eating means less time prone to spikes in blood sugar."
even better would be to minimise all spikes. you can reverse it in 4 months with willpower. i tend to mix it up with my fasting but do two 24 hour fasts a week, the rest of the time is usually 18h a day. i dont restrict calories when i do eat, i just choose foods that dont spike insulin
That is awesome. I do know that calorie intake is less important than what foods are eaten. I read the book "the obesity code" and it makes sense. Heck I see people much thinner than me, eating more than me, and yet somehow they don't gain weight.
Be careful. Depends on what you mean by "diabetic" Type II diabetes is an incredibly popular diagnosis that has been expanded to cover a LOT of things that are in fact very different physiologically. For many of these the "usual advice" is counter productive and even dangerous. But for a lot some generic things still work - but things like fasting are very bad.
If you are type I, as in pancreas doesn't produce insulin, things like fasting can be very, very bad (as in fatal). If your pancreas is dead, this will not be reversed by diet.
I think if you have been diagnosed as an adult with diabetes...it is generally considered to be common that it is Type II diabetes. I could be wrong, people can call me to the mat for it.
I think if I test my blood sugar, that I have peripheral neuropathy, that I lost my left leg due to diabetic cellulitis, that pretty much means I am type II diabetic.
I doubt, hope, that anyone who has not been diagnosed with diabetes would consult a doctor and not take advice on a substack comment thread as gospel.
i was once that guy that could eat a tonne and not put on a pound. but it catches up with you eventually. then the other health issues get worse.
i didnt mention it earlier cos it wasnt relevant but i also cured my asthma, psoriasis and many other little health niggles just by eating right
I was that guy too. It isn't so much as "it catches up with you" as it is metabolic change. Your physiology is not the same. While it is easier to blame the patient, it isn't always correct. Your past lifestyle may or may not have anything to do with what's going on now. now other aspects of that lifestyle WILL catch up with you but I digress....
Most "professionals" and "experts" are not interested in WHY things changed. Many times they don't even look for what actually changed. A few things are looked for - cholesterol, fasting blood sugar, hemoglobin. Stuff sampled infrequently, so infrequently as to have no mathematically valid connection with what is going on in real time. For
example, with continuous monitoring of blood sugar, data shows that fasting blood sugar is a very poor indicator of how your body regulates blood sugar - yet it remains the main measurement used by docs. Meaningless metrics abound.
I see at trend in healthcare to avoid a search for underlying causes. Instead of seeking data and seeking actual causes in the patient, they seek to apply template medicine: fit you to a template and prescribe according to the "guidelines". When it doesn't work it is the patient's fault.
The bottom line is what is "right" for one person may or may not be "right" for another which is why so many people struggle. Some people fit the templates, others do not.
Why did your physiology change? Hormones? Lifestyle? age?
Too often there was a detectable cause besides "it's your fault for (changing lifestyle, not eating right, or getting old) that goes undetected until autopsy. Because searching for understanding of underlying causes seems to be excluded form the medical practice.
some things can't be undone.
I never had asthma or psoriasis...at least that I noticed. But I did get diabetic cellulitus that led to my amputation of my left leg below the knee. The leg will not grow back, but I do have a prosthetic.
Type 1 diabetes cannot be reversed; Type 2 certainly can with improved diet and sufficient lifestyle changes. 👍
Sometimes yes, sometimes no., The diagnosis of Type 2 is so broad that it is becoming meaningless. Some things you can control through activity, diet or lifestyle changes. Some not. It is not always the patients fault. And for some conditions getting lumped into this diagnosis the "usual advice" on diet and lifestyle is wrong and make things worse. So "certainly" is not so certain especially when understanding what is actually going on with the individual patient's body is not sought.
My personal experience is that depression (for me) is caused by several key triggers:
#1: Extended exposure to stupid behavior
#2: not enough physical activity (another spiral)
#3: not enough social time (stewing by myself)
#4: people telling me what to do (including what to eat) :-)
#5: frustration at not accomplishing my goals
Ok, #1 and #4 are not really depression triggers, more annoyance and irritability triggers. Had to toss that in - please read the sarcasm.
I cure my depression by hanging out with friends, getting out and doing things, exercise, and getting things done. Isolation makes all these things worse. And it too is a spiral for me: I'm "fine" by myself...the more "fine" I get the more effort it seems to take to get out. The comfy chair or get up, get dressed, pack the right stuff, get in the car, drive down the hill, deal with parking, crowds, and so on....the comfy chair is very attractive.
I think there is a physiological link: activity and emotions affect hormones too. When doing those things that make me feel better, I'm sure you'd be able see it in hormone levels. Which supports your spiral too - good hormones == good feelings == good hormones and the inverse is the spiral.
I must emphasize the "for me". There are other causes of depression that are physiological, chemical, and so on. I an lucky that when I'm down I can get up.
i was similar except for the social thing, ive always been a lone wolf and dont really care for most people. the diet change was for me the first step of unwinding of the spiral. its a big hormone kicker as is exercise but i still hate doing that, i have to be very stern with myself
I am inherently a lone wolf type too, but I find overall it is healthier if I am stern with myself and keep getting out with people. Part of what was so hard about the last 3 years was it was way to easy to stay home and stew.
@Ray- while I"m glad it worked for you, keto and glycine would kill diabetics and pre-diabetics.
absolute rubbish im sorry to say.
i reversed my diabetes using this, i lost 88lbs in 4 months doing this and its the reason i am now built like a beast!
@Ray- my sincerest apologies. I got my diets mixed up. I was thinking keto was high carbs/low protein when, in fact, it's the opposite. Dang on me.
no problem, hopefully the convo might inspire others to fix their health!
The truth is that keto does not work for everyone. Just a fact that we're all different. Also, keto means different things to different people. To some in includes fasting. This can be very dangerous, even fatal, if you are a real diabetic (Type I: pancreas not working as designed).
I did he "carb loading" years ago when it was hip, along with high protein. My endurance improved. Then carbs became evil so I did that. Not so good. Back to moderate carbs but only ones that taste good :-).
My wife is very low carb, started keto, with some adaptations, and is doing well. I tried it and endurance went to crap and I found I had to eat much more often to keep up my energy. This is not good when you travel a lot. She tried the fasting and it was very bad. She found things like carrots and most fruit to be bad for her blood sugar (more carrots for me :-).
Humans are irritatingly varied creatures :-).
@Tiok- irritating would have been sufficient. ;) Agreed- diet trnds are not one-size-fits-all. Those Super Beets that are advertised ad nauseum- beets are high in sugar. Of COURSE your blood pressure is going to go down because you're moving around more thanks to the sugar. "But it's natural sugar!" Sugar is sugar.
LOL. Easy to mix them up when there are so many diets.
I'm on the EWICFT diet right now. Eat Whenever I Can Find the Time.
Not recommended. Often leads to unintentional fasting ("man is it 11pm already? Again I missed dinner?)
Unbelievable. Good on you Ray!
Type 1 diabetes cannot be reversed; Type 2 certainly can with improved diet and sufficient lifestyle changes.
type 1 can be controlled with this diet however. the requirement for injections would be close to nil
Cite your sources.
This is counter to my understanding of what insulin (and the pancreas) to in the body.
I have had Type 1 for 50 years. No diet will regenerate my completely damaged pancreatic islet cells that are supposed to produce insulin.
Type 2 diabetes has nothing to do with Type 1 except for similar symptoms.
Type 2 can be 100 percent controlled with diet and exercise. I cannot force my pancreas to create insulin. There is no comparison whatsoever.
Yup.
Wrong.
I concur with ray. This IS the way to reverse diabetes and pre-diabetes.
If you qualify with "what has been diagnosed as type 2..." then yes, sometimes. Many times perhaps. Not always. Because some things lumped into this diagnosis are very different and the diet and lifestyle that is commonly advised won't work at all.
As noted by DTT et all, Type 1 diabetes (what one doc I know calls "real" diabetes) is totally different except for the symptom of blood sugar regulation. And even there if you look at all carefully you see very different patterns. Type 2 has become the catch all for anything that presents with blood sugar regulation that isn't diagnosed as Type 1. That is a dangerous practice!
Wrong. Type 1 diabetes cannot be reversed, not even with a pancreas transplant. It is an auto-immune disease from which one can never recover. Go without insulin for about 24 days and a Type 1 diabetic will die. The two diseases are not even similar except for symptoms.
There is one commonality I've seen - continuous blood sugar monitoring has great benefit anytime symptoms include anomalous blood sugar regulation. More data is better. For type 1, it enables (among other things) automatic insulin pumps which can be a life altering and life saving technology. For everything else it can help understand what is actually happening.
I am a recovered alcoholic, haven't had a drink or used drugs in 35 years. Gato's analysis is pretty much right on the money. It, of course, is going to vary from individual to individual, but generally speaking it describes nearly all the mentally ill addicts - and make NO mistake, addiction of any kind is a mental illness. Over the years, I have heard the stories of thousands of loons like myself, and we all share the characteristics cited in Gato's excellent piece. But as with alcohol and drugs, woke leftism can be recovered from!
Yes it can...I think many college kids will lookback on this time and be disgusted with their attitudes and beliefs. I hope so anyway!
I'm curious and this may be too personal, so I understand. But two things: you said "recovered" while most of the addicts I know say "recovering" - acknowledging that it never goes away. Is there significance to that choice of language?
Second, did you find a productive or healthier substitute addiction? E.g. a friend of mine who realized he was an addict 40 years ago channeled his addiction to writing and turned it into a decent living. For him it was recognizing addiction was part of a patter of obsessions. So he became obsessively addicted to writing every day. This proved convenient as one can write anywhere almost any time without hurting one's body or any other person ;-).
As one who has not suffered substance addiction I know I will never know what it is like, really, but with so many close friends who've dealt with it (some good, some not) I strive to understand. Is it something in all of us, but in some manifests in more positive ways like what we call "drive" and "passion"?
@Mrs. S- PREACH!!!!! The mental health system in America is irrevocably broken. It needs to be razed and rebuilt. Throwing pills at someone and telling them to get therapy many can't afford is not the answer.
It’s not just the mental health system in America (and other Westernized countries, I might add) that is broken…it’s all systems, whether it be health, political, religious, or community systems. They’ve all been invaded. It’s up to us to create NEW HEALTHY systems. When we complained about being censored, they said “if you don’t like it go build your own”…so we did. Look at all the alternative tech like Substack that was born or blossomed because we were thrown off other platforms. Our smartest move is to create new systems, platforms, enterprises to circumvent these old systems (blue pill) in order to live sane lives (red pill). And spread the word from content creators like bad cattitude to hopefully help others come to realize the truth. (And there are some that are opening their eyes as they realize they’ve been lied to over & over again!)
AMEN
As a retired clinical social worker I agree 100%. One on my therapeutic interventions for despair was commitment to walk in the park, smile at others, pet their dogs. And not only for the positive effects of movement.
I've had cause for depression for the last few years. Not only choices I have made, but for the choices "made for me." My depression comes in waves, and exits in waves as well. I find that the greatest balm to it is love. When I reach out to help others, it magically goes away. The more I wallow in my problems, the more up close and personal it becomes. I also am in gratitude of others who reach out to me as well. We do need other people.
Beautiful. And so true.
I'm so glad to hear that you've found the key.
Amazing how quick some physicians are to push anti-depressants. Having an annual physical at the time the horrendous withdrawal from Afghanistan was playing out on every screen, my gp asked me how I was feeling. My answer was "anxious over the horror of it all." While washing his hands his first words: "I can give you something for that."
Pills and procedures are the bulk of medical school training. Pretty much zilch on nutrition and exercise, let alone meaningful human (and animal) relationships.
I’ve been put on everything! The medication circus has damn near killed me and worsened relationships.
I hope you can find some truly competent therapy-group could be a help. It’s good to know we’re not alone.
Thank you.
I am late on commenting. Took my psychiatrists advice and got off the internet for my vacation! Was glorious! Am now working on making sure it works for me, not the other way round. In any case, my doctor is awesome, once we knew each other, he prescribed church.
I’m not as dumb as I seem and I always knew embracing something greater was the solution.
not "lasting solutions" depends upon what the problem is that you are intending to solve.
Clearly your goal is improving mental health so that depression and anxiety (both essential parts of human existence) do not overwhelm and prevent happiness and prosperity. Thanks for that.
But if the goal is ensure an easily manipulated, dominated and dependent class, then pills and ineffective therapy are ideal "solutions".
Notice that the "solution" to almost any crisis is largely the same in politics: abandon liberty, freedom, and individualism, depend completely on "the proper authorities" and those authorities more power.
The virtual community is important, but we need to see each other, too. During the Covoodoo madness I felt distant from many old friends because, while they might not have been all-in, they weren’t “hell no what the fuck is this???” out. So I sought out groups who saw through it, and we met online and in person. Tom Woods organized meetups for his listeners and I went and it was life-changing to know, really *know*, that even if we weren’t all in Galt’s Gulch somewhere, we could create a network and a community where we didn’t have to fear that our neighbors would volunteer us for boxcars to assuage their own anxiety.
This is a very important point! Thank you for highlighting! I, too, felt isolated with likeminded family not in my area. Yeah, I wondered which neighbour was going to snitch on us “dirty” unvaxxed. So finding community online was amazing.
remember how 'the street' handles snitches
"Covoodoo madness!" Love it and stealing it:-)
Who is Tom Woods
I also sought out in-person meetings with necessary new friends during the height of scamdemic isolation
Tom Woods is an historian and libertarian podcaster. He hosts The Tom Woods Show. His website is tomwoods.com. He has been extremely effective at creating a community by having membership platforms and hosting in person events.
He's had some great guests on his show concerning Covid. Ivor Cummins, Ian Miller, Cabrera, and a lot of those that signed the Great Barrington Declaration.
Tom Woods is one of the good guys.
Libertarian guy. You'll often find his articles in lewrockwell.com
Exactly. The next step is taking this "network" offline.
https://simulationcommander.substack.com/p/this-is-not-a-drill-part-2
I found Tom Woods as well during pandemic. It wasn't too long after watching the Dr. Erickson video as well as the different youtube videos on "Perspectives of the Pandemic." I think it was a talk of his at a gathering and it was concerning lockdowns, masks, the vaccine had yet to be produced, but we already knew the lockdowns were wrong..
My first week at (world famous) college, they used this fear of loneliness technique to make us conform to their lame ideology in a clever way. They had group facilitators come to each small group (maybe 20 people) during orientation and discuss various hot button topics, asking us to stand either on one side of the room or the other depending upon our opinion on the matter. Everyone kept ending up on the same side because nobody, regardless of their true belief, wanted to be the one person visibly singled out on the “wrong” side in front of their new friends, to be picked on (“why are you on that side!?”) by the group counselor. It was, as I later realized, cult forming behavior 101 - so creepy!
Gaty.substack.com
wow, that is a really nasty segregate and shame technique.
it's like some sort of offensive "brown eyes blue eyes" crashing into proscriptive asch conformity.
ugly.
College now is all about diversity equity inclusion. They get big bucks for pushing this crap. My kids first year at colllege at parent orientation, the staff introduced themselves on stage using pronouns. When the incoming freshmen broke up into groups over the weekend, my kids “leader” had them guess what her “number”was?? I assumed her BMI, lol, I’m old school. No! It was how many sexual partners she had!?! WTF!! They went around in a circle and had to guess. My kid said WTF are you talking about?! This “leaders” point was that you can’t judge someone based on their appearance. She/he/they/them had a high number and was suffice it to say, not that attractive. But still, WTF are they doing to these incoming freshmen?!? I called and complained immediately after I heard this. What freakin BS! And that was the beginning of four years of “DEI” BS. I will never donate another cent to any college ever again.
Blackrock and Vanguard will make up for out lack of donation.
Oh yes I’m aware of that!
My number would have been 42. If they asked me how this could be, I would say because of Douglas Adams.
Nearly 60 years ago at the tender age of 19, I went to basic training where they had 700 of us formed up in a big space surrounded by barracks. They started to separate us according to religion, and after about 15 or 20 minutes all the Catholics, various Protestants, Jews, and others had been marched off, and I was left, standing alone, in the middle of the parade ground. Upon questioning, my sure of my 19-year old self replied without shame that I was an atheist. And so began a very interesting, if not particularly successful military career. I did find other weirdos not unlike myself, but a "community" was lacking, so my mental illness continued to grow, while my maturity did not. Sadly, it was not until middle age, when I got sober, that I began to understand these things. Great topic!
I have a minor in Humanities and went through an entire semester of abuse in a Woman Studies class I took, because it was only class that fit my schedule that fulfilled the minor. The first day, the professor said, "Oh, great, we have two white males this year, we are going to have a GREAT time!" That was in 1989, and I knew that were forces inside the country working to destroy American freedoms, I just didn't realize how pervasive the attacks were.
This is one of the reasons why if I had kids, I wouldn't recommend college. I would say if you want an education, you can seek it online and out in the world in a variety of ways. If you need social group, go find a meetup, or create a community of your own. And steer clear of methodology like the one seen above.
My wife and I have discussed this, and between the madness of the educational establishment and the decreasing return on investment we will not be encouraging our son to go to college. Even STEM is riddled with nonsense. Far better to learn a trade or get a certification and grind.
You should name the college. Allowing this to be hidden empowers the corruption.
Well, it was 20 years ago at Harvard, and things are a lot worse now, the corruption is definitely fully empowered…
How can a person who lacks community maintain a sense of meaning (and hope) in such extreme, isolating circumstances?
Somehow, I am making it through this, and I think I know why I have been able to, thus far. But I don't know how to convey this to others.
I'll also say that this has been, and is, a test of my preparation for this task, which (during the years of my life I was preparing) I had no idea I was preparing. I was just living my life, going through things, following my interests wherever they led. It is only now, looking back, that I can see all of the different things I have done, gone through and studied (and learned) have made it possible for me to go through this covidiocy intact -- rather than disintegrate or give up.
And I mean that this is weird. Not in an insane way, but it becomes more clear over time -- and extremely hard to put into words. (Maybe this will get easier, in time.)
I could not have known or predicted the very abrupt change in my loved ones and community, that divided us almost overnight over petty disagreements -- where it became suddenly crystal clear how brainwashed they are. I kept doing sanity tests on myself because it appeared that I was the sole holdout thinking that masks were useless, that treatments were available, and that the vaccines were harmful. And later on, that I was being shunned for no good reason.
I made it through that, surrounded by the cult, resisting because my life depends upon it. Yet, my life as I once knew it has been destroyed. So there's then the question of meaning and hope -- I think I'm just determined to see this through, no matter what.
Dani, I felt the same way. I realized I needed hope. Life is hard and this dystopian BS is shoved down our throats at every turn. I went back to church. The roof did not fall in and the people there were warm and welcoming. As Joseph A. Campbell said- When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change. I’ve seen prayer work miracles. We need community, love and hope.❤️
To an extent, I don't think I have ever found "my tribe."
Even here, I disagree with others on things, and here, I think that is encouraged. Imagine that!
I think part of the reason you have made it through this is that you have never required vindication for your beliefs. In fact, you might find the whole idea of conformity to be "too much work" and not much reward. The mental gymnastics required to becoming "woke" or "well versed in the arbitrary and capricious rules" would be a bridge too far.
I don't think any of us could have predicted the abrupt change, and yet, we had already seen it. After all, our country was ruled by a Russian Colluding fascist for four years. Like you, I was constantly doing self diagnostic testing. "Am I crazy, what am I missing?"
I remember watching with amazement on the night of March 12th the run on grocery stores, the empty shelves where once there was toilet paper, and everyone crowded, indoors, to buy their food for the coming lockdowns. I was thinking even then "Do they not realize the virus has already been here for months, and yet here we are."
I came to the store for toilet paper, not out of fear of the pandemic, but rather, that toilet paper would run out. I went down the street to a CVS and oddly, they had plenty of TP.
Why did your life depend on you resisting? For me, I was already freelance, trying to make things work. I have no wife, no kids, so far less to lose than most. I didn't feel the social pressure as much as others, and because of the kindness of family through at least the first two years of the pandemic, I was not in danger of becoming homeless.
But I was at odds with most of my family. They did believe in masking and the vaccine. They were traveling fairly early on in the pandemic as a visible demonstration of that fact. They also work for government, so it was easy to do the math. Anyhow, I wish you well.
My life depends on my resisting the vaccine, IMO. I feel so strongly about this -- it is a line I will not ever cross. There was a time, around September-December 2021, when vaccine passports were being pushed, that I wondered if it might actually come to pass that I would not be allowed to enter grocery stores -- as crazy as that seemed, things had changed so quickly already so it didn't seem out of the realm of possibility. I asked a few friends if that ended up happening, would they buy me food in exchange for me cooking meals for them, or something like that.
But in another sense, my quality of "life" also depends on my retaining sanity and staying out of fear, and not masking (doing something utterly nonsensical that others believe in to such a degree that they freak out if I am noncompliant). I need to do my part to help create the sane and compassionate world I would like to live in.
It wasn't out of the realm of possibility. Heck before the pandemic, I thought "cooler heads would prevail" but they didn't. And we also experienced those steeped in the narrative around us. So freaking weird, but not surprising, as there were so many that thought since 2016 our country was led by a fascist...who never put anyone to death that called him a fascist.
What you say about quality of life resonates. Imagine living in the reality of masks and the vaccine, what it would require for you mentally to accept it.
I am a cat. I have no tribe, I walk by myself and all places are alike to me.
Did you have an incident when you were younger that destroyed your faith in authority? That seems to be a common thread:
https://simulationcommander.substack.com/p/why-are-you-like-this
excellent question. I had an incident about 12 years ago that was profoundly life-altering: CPS came after me and my children. It was about 9 months of hell, fighting for my children, and in the process I got to see the belly of the beast and that my previously held beliefs (trust and faith in these institutions) were incorrect. Everything I thought I knew was based on a lie. It was only as I was trying to make sense of this bewildering experience (because I am a really good mom) that I realized the great number of other very good families (and there are countless wonderful people who are victimized in this way!) who also had undergone a similar experience with CPS. While ultimately I did not lose my children, absolutely I lost my faith and went from being a lukewarm, institution-trusting, moderate-liberal-leaning person to being very independent and an ardent researcher who no longer affiliates with anything, and only wants the truth. My entire family thinks that I was "ruined" by the CPS experience which "traumatized and damaged me," because I no longer see things as they do, as I used to. Once you see, you can't unsee.
Side topics (deep dives into health, vaccines, natural immunity, and so on) I delved into at the time also delivered me from this current evil, because of what I learned along the way. I could not possibly believe the narrative, because I already had a foundation and knew they were absolutely lying -- as astounding as that would have seemed to my former self.
I have no idea if something else might have happened to change me, had this CPS attack not upended my life when it did. (can you imagine that now I am actually very grateful I went through that?)
I've discussed this elsewhere, but I think I had more than a few of these growing up. But I think another component of this is how one seeks vindication for ones beliefs...or on what is true as well as what is real.
Your story sounds very similar to mine.
“For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.”
Romans 1:21-30, 32
"You have made us for yourselves O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you."--St. Augustine, "Confessions
I know many people who have lived out this sentence.
“Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.”
Ephesians 6:11-18 NIV
Romans doesn't pull any punches.
Amen!
Right on time, a cult.
Sing it, el gato.
The one step people can take to spark instant meaning in their lives is to transition from consuming to creating.
Then add sharing what you create with a community of appreciative kindreds, and you have transformed that meaning into purpose.
And this is why I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that Substack—and Substacks like yours, specifically—can save the world.
It is what Vonnegut calls a kan-kan—the instrument that brings us together—as I describe in this piece:
• “Letter to My Karass” (https://margaretannaalice.substack.com/p/letter-to-my-karass)
the support riley and others are gaining tells me this shit show is almost over
waiting for the implosion
I hope you're right, but the Brandon Administration rallying behind the Trans community, not the Christians murdered in Nashville, makes me think we have some time to go before the curtain falls on this drama.
Biden Admin Pushes Transgender Medical ‘Care’ While Quietly Bankrolling Research Showing Its Risks https://thefederalist.com/2023/02/28/biden-admin-pushes-transgender-medical-care-while-quietly-bankrolling-research-showing-its-risks/
A Proclamation on Transgender Day of Visibility https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2023/03/30/a-proclamation-on-transgender-day-of-visibility/
Thanks for the links. What can you say? This administration is over-the-top evil.
I can say Susan Rice. Ask the family of Jim Foley, beheaded journo, what they saw in her.
Jordan Peterson has a great interview with Dr. Miriam Grossman on some of the origins and the trauma for parents Parental Trauma in a World of Gender Insanity | Miriam Grossman MD https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Su2Z4_iQHz4
All my meager funds will no doubt be sucked up by being shut down when the Next Gen vaccines get mandated and we've sleepwalked into social credit, lol, knock on wood, but otherwise I'd put it on the fact that these heavily vaxed, ideologically possessed kids will be MORE miserable after their surgeries and when their exhibitionism doesn't satisfy them, and when their brains don't mature and they have terrible medical problems (no doubt a vax is in the works for that), then the gutless sadistic zombie hordes, which are all that are left in medicine after the courageous and the Hippocratic and the emotionally mature leave, will slate them for transhuman experimentation. I'd bet on it.
Sorry but straight-up fucking brilliant writing and analysis. Today you are my hero on the internet.
I just need more inner silence to not succumb to the beginnings of hermit-dude I am seeing develop in myself as a response to the cult around me.
I can't reach them and I don't speak their language so I am using Jesus as my guide and focusing on the idea of Charity. They may be insane now but in Gods eyes or in the Cosmic consciousness they are just asleep.
And I'm more than likely at least quite drowsy myself...
"...to not succumb to the beginnings of hermit-dude I am seeing develop in myself as a response to the cult around me." Glad to hear someone else echo my thoughts, Oxymoron. Aside from my husband and adult kids, everyone else is suspect. I find myself thinking, "Hmmm, so are you one of the people who, in 2021, wanted to deny me medical care (or put me in a camp, whatever) becaused I was unvaxxed??" Trust no one but kindred loved ones, and God.
You are not unvaxxed. You are Medically Free. Do as you please.
Having lost virtually all my in person social connections other than immediate family, I feel exactly the same in my more despairing moments. Yet in taking that approach what good we can we do?...How can we build community when we remain encapsulated in our safe spaces? If we want to fight for the sake of our kids and theirs we must gather, support each other, “major on the majors” and speak up with courage. It takes a lot of guts to reach out in our own neighborhoods. Who knows what could happen? Maybe something good.
There are no atheists (it's literally physically impossible for the human mind to function at more than a toddler level w/o a god); everyone worships some god. If you reject the God of the Bible, you'll worship something else; in America, the predominant gods are self or "diversity, inclusivity & equity", but they are gods nonetheless & their priests are "experts" or "consensus." If you are obeying a god, what crime is truly a crime? What atrocity cannot be justified by god?
We need to understand that every society is a god-fearing society; the only difference is the particular god they fear. Are you happy w/ these new gods?
I am an atheist and reject the gods of all books and scrolls and mythologies.
This isn't it.
Please clarify your comment. Are you claiming that there is no objective morality (nothing that is intrinsically good or intrinsically bad REGARDLESS of anyone's opinions on the topic or the alleged consequences thereof)? Are you claiming that there is no objective reality (nothing that exists w/o any observers & REGARDLESS of what any observer(s) may think)? If not, then what are the sources of objective morality or objective reality? I think you'll see that these sources are functional equivalents of god. If, however, you deny objective morality & objective reality, I think you'll see that your thoughts are pretty meaningless & petty - after all, what does it matter if there's no reality & no morality? It's all arbitrary at that point.
Look, I'll be clear: I doubt you think the Holocaust was bad because people think it was bad. I doubt you think the morality of slavery depends upon the net consequences of slavery. I doubt you think the universe is only a fantasy or that we can't be sure it really exists. All of your thoughts depend upon some sense of objective morality & reality, there are some things you believe are TRUE, but can't be proven in any meaningful sense. Therefore, there must be some source of truth, which is your god, the thing you worship.
We can play semantic games, but that's just the facts: we need some god or we can't manage any higher thoughts. Even the most complex math depends upon the idea that 2 + 2 = 4 (some truth that we agree is true, but can't really be proven because 2 is simply defined to be that which, when added to itself, is that which we define as 4, and we agree this is real truth - not just consensus or tautology - because math works, it's real. If we won't make that assumption, we can't do math - we're just doodling in #'s.)
At some point, we all hit upon god; we're just fighting over which one(s).
"Are you claiming that there is no objective morality (nothing that is intrinsically good or intrinsically bad REGARDLESS of anyone's opinions on the topic or the alleged consequences thereof)? Are you claiming that there is no objective reality (nothing that exists w/o any observers & REGARDLESS of what any observer(s) may think)?"
I claimed nothing other than that I subscribe to no gods, not of The Bible nor of scrolls nor any mythology.
"If, however, you deny objective morality & objective reality, I think you'll see that your thoughts are pretty meaningless & petty - after all, what does it matter if there's no reality & no morality? It's all arbitrary at that point."
Petty, you say? So those objective morals... Leviticus - the Literal Word of God. is absolute about Shrimp Cocktail, Poly-Cotton blends, and Beef Stroganoff. They are an abonination. Moses reiterates this in Numbers. Would you say the Literal Word of God constitute Objective Morals? We are expected to accept them as such.
"Even the most complex math depends upon the idea that 2 + 2 = 4 (some truth that we agree is true, but can't really be proven because 2 is simply defined to be that which, when added to itself, is that which we define as 4, and we agree this is real truth - not just consensus or tautology - because math works, it's real."
If I have Two Corn Flakes and you have Two Corn Flakes we could share a Feast of Four Cornflakes. Substitute #2 Phillips Screwdrivers for the Corn Flakes and you still get Four. Likewise with iguanas and Free Abelian Sets - the union of any two with any other two is four. We agree on that because, if we had to start every question about the nature of neutrinos with, "So 2+2=4 - OK? All right? *nods* Yes." then we'd have to cover Long Division and then Transendental Functions then Fourier Transforms ... and we'd never actually getting around to talking about massless particles. It would be like talking to Treebeard. Note, though, we don't merely _agree_ to that sum because of tradition or force feeding. Anywhere, by anybody. We can all deduce this for ourselves.
Yes, math is real.
"we need some god or we can't manage any higher thoughts."
*citation needed*
"Therefore, there must be some source of truth, which is your god, the thing you worship."
I am an atheist and reject the gods of all boo... Stop me if I've shared this already.
Just because you feel the need for gods in order for your life to have meaning, in order for you to be moral, then use gods for that purpose. Do not presume that we are all likewise seeking otherness or require the threat of Fire and Brimstone to convince that murder is evil.
"At some point, we all hit upon god; we're just fighting over which one(s)."
You've been careful about not capitalizing 'god' for reasons I find suspicious. I don't capitalize god because I do not see it as a proper noun but I think you're implying that you'd be open to the worship of many gods. I sincerely doubt that. Why would you wish to convince me that there are 'gods' when I don't even accept that a single one is real unless you have a favored god. And that's totally okay. It sounds like it works for you.
Do you believe in Ra the Sun God? Odin? Quetzacoatl? Me either. I merely go one god further.
--
Napoleon: You have written this huge book on the system of the world without once mentioning the author of the universe.
Laplace: Sire, I had no need of that hypothesis.
Sadly, atheists' arguments always descend into semantics and nonsense because you're attempting to deny the most obvious fact in history. If I were to apply your epistemological theories consistently, I'd have to be a nihilist (as every honest atheist admits). That is, I can say there's inadequate proof for God only if I concede there's inadequate proof for anything & everything (w/ the possible exception of certain subatomic particles). If the mind that perceives the divine is unreliable &, thus, if I can dismiss that evidence because the mind is unreliable, then I must infer that the mind is unreliable, which means I have no tool to interact w/ or assess any evidence at all. I can't point to studies as proof of anything because what's a study but somebody claiming to have done something & to have observed a particular result, but claims aren't evidence, right? If I can & must dismiss millions of reports of the divine, why can I trust a handful of reports of "science"? The only possible distinction is that I assume the divine reports are unreliable, but I can't use that assumption to prove my conclusion (that the reports are unreliable because I assume such reports are unreliable). That is, why can I ignore when somebody tells me that they saw a resurrected Jesus but I can't ignore the same person telling me that they saw Pontius Pilate? All you can say is that you ASSUME the former report is less reliable than the latter, but why? I can't cite my own assumption as the proof of my own conclusion - that's circular. In short, far more people have reported the divine than have reported "scientific" findings...so how do I ignore the former & believe the latter? Honestly, I can't. In order to make such distinctions, I have to decide that my mind is reliable...which then creates certain problems - like my reliable mind sees things that atheism can't explain. Friend, if there's no God, then evolution is a joke - the odds against are so astronomical that it's basically impossible to calculate. You'd be more likely to win 50 lotteries on 50 tickets - far more likely.
Long and short, you're twisting yourself in knots to avoid the obvious: God exists. And, like I said, fine - I'll play along, but then all knowledge is impossible, everything is just "who knows because we don't have enough evidence." Either position is consistent & defensible, but you have to choose.
"If I can & must dismiss millions of reports of the divine, why can I trust a handful of reports of "science"?"
*boy* "Look - the emperor’s all naked!"
Or, TL;DR: Atheism isn't an attempt to "explain" anything. It's merely the rejection of the arguments presented against.
But to address some of your points individually… I don't speak for all atheists but, for me, sure, I want to have an explanation for all those existential-y things. I do. It's completely unsatisfying to think there might be nothing... after. It's actually a little scary sometimes. I'm even envious, in some ways.
That said, reality is not a democracy. That millions of 'reports' of the divine exist is not sufficient to convince me because, despite their testimony, I still have questions that appear unanswered. Thomas Aquinas and I have had words and we just don’t see eye to eye. Likewise, Pascal. But on to the points.
"Friend, if there's no God, then evolution is a joke - the odds against are so astronomical that it's basically impossible to calculate. You'd be more likely to win 50 lotteries on 50 tickets - far more likely."
This argument comes up a lot - same for the Big Bang - but these concepts only overlap in their extrapolations:
- Creation Stories are How-We-Became-We stories. Every culture has one. Or several. Sometimes they co-exist, sometimes they lead to Team Us vs. Team Them. But I digress...
+ The Garden of Eden et al assuages our concerns about having come into existence ex nihilo. It doesn't explain why 99% of all species that have ever existed are now extinct and why many that are present today have no obvious relationship to some that had existed previously. Plus, it Requires an Agent, Explicitly.
- Evolution isn't a How-We-Became-We story. It’s a How-We-Got-Here-From-A-Bunch-Of-Back-Theres(-and-maybe-even-some-clues-about-where-we-are-going) Story. It's just a pretty plausible, useful explanation for how all manner of flora and fauna came to be what they are now and help us fill in some blanks as to where they might have come from.
+ Evolution is helpful at understanding how small variations in environment and other factors lead to nature 'picking' the traits that most benefit that species for survival and, hopefully, to keep the family line going. It Requires No Agent.
Or, as stated in response by Laplace to Napolean upon submission for review his work on the movements of heavenly bodies, Mécanique céleste: Napoleon asked Laplace where God fit into his mathematical work, and Laplace famously replied "Sir, I have no need of that hypothesis." Evolution has no need for this hypothesis. I have no need either. It's nothing personal but I'm not actually seeking an explanation for anything of that sort, but I hope we as a race keep seeking it. And to be clear, I don't think they're not even trying to address the same intellectual space, for the most part. Only at the edges where ideologies might be threatened.
To cut to the chase; YOU: "Long and short, you're twisting yourself in knots to avoid the obvious: God exists." ME: No twisting. I'm not trying that hard at all. It's actually much more difficult all the stuff you have to do to prop it all up all the time. I am not uninitiated in the ways of the faithful.
I simply stated, "I am an atheist and reject the gods of all books and scrolls and mythologies." and you responded with a 400-word response with multiple backhand swipes at: My Ability to Reason - "Sadly, atheists' arguments always descend into semantics and nonsense" [Sadly, you don't see the irony.]; My Ability to Discern the Meanings of Words - "If I were to apply your epistemological theories consistently" [I have nowhere suggested, let alone attempted to convince anyone, that I have any special knowledge. Rather, it's that lack of said knowledge, the actual acknowledgement that I might simply not be able to know some stuff, that guides my doubt. But you might want to Google 'Ontology.']; My Integrity - "(as every honest atheist admits)" [Do you know any actual, IRL atheists? Or just honest ones? You guys get together and chat it out on the regular?] ; and, I believe, My Maturity - "I'll play along." [*pats Pi on the head*]
You present a lot of stuff, words, circular arguments that, as presented, to my mind boil down to "Shhhh... The Grown-ups are talking!" then expect me to consider your claims seriously as I work my way through passages like this: "If the mind that perceives the divine is unreliable &, thus, if I can dismiss that evidence because the mind is unreliable, then I must infer that the mind is unreliable, which means I have no tool to interact w/ or assess any evidence at all."
Apologies that this was the first thought in my head: https://youtu.be/wwIFMCKlVK8
You can't save me. And if you want to convince me, it's going to take a little something more substantial and non-ethereal than this.
I'm willing to engage, if you're honestly curious. Or even if your aim is to proseletize. Just avoid the talking-down. Don't assume you have some knowledge that I don't solely based on your claim that you and all those other people think the same. For a long time everybody thought the world was flat. Everybody was sure. Everybody was wrong.
About Leviticus, etc. The laws of the OT had a specific purpose for the time. That purpose was fulfilled by the work of Christ on the cross. In other words, it’s a green light on that stroganoff. Bon appetit.
As to morality, you are familiar with the commandments I’m sure and of course welcome to your belief that you arrived at a similar moral framework (or not?) by some other route based in expediency. (Love the Treebeard reference!) Personally it isn’t a fear of fire and brimstone that deters me from sin (that’s closer to legalism), it is the Holy Spirit (God’s grace working in me, i.e Christianity). I still mess up, I just recognize it now and grieve it, and correct. I don’t feel scared at all in that; I feel loved. I feel amazed.
You mention evil and murder but what do you define those by? Why is murder evil? Because it kills another human? So? What makes another human so special? This is constantly debated in our culture, don’t you think? Do you eat animals? What separates us from the barnyard? Learning to cook?
I could be wrong but I think what is meant by referencing little g gods is that when we deny the one and only God, we transfer our obedience to other masters and we serve those; self, science, knowledge, worldly success, alcoholism, fitness, whatever, just a few examples. When those don’t suffice, we despair or we continue seeking. That is our nature because we were designed that way on purpose ... you see where I’m going there. Anyway, atheism is bs. I get that you don’t worship God or *insert alternative fake deity* and that’s your choice of course. But everyone serves something, or seeks to, imo. The question what is your source of truth is I think a fair one, that you didn’t answer. But I’d love to hear your thoughts on that. Atheism is not a source of anything, it’s a response to something, no?
My source of truth is observation and confirmation. I have yet to observe an action that I could not otherwise explain and could only attribute to the gods. Or even leave it unanswered when lacking sufficient evidence to make the call.
If I serve, it's in the service of other people - and only by consent of my own volition - because Man made the gods in his own image. Not the other way around.
You start out by maki
You start out by making it seem you respect my views and merely disagree but gloss right over "Anyway, atheism is bs " You provide no counterargument.
What separates us from the animals? Evolution. The same thing that separates us from mollusks and ferns.
Atheism is not a response. It's the default. Deities didn't exist until we created them.
"*fake deity*"
So you do have a favorite god and, I assume, reject all others. You don't believe in Odin? Me either. Osiris? Same. You see, you and I basically have the same pantheon only I go one god further.
*sorry - accidentally posted* You start out by
As you point out, it depends how you define a god or a higher power. Still, I think your statement is rather sweeping.
But is it wrong? That's what matters, no?
Yes, it's wrong.
I would say that reality (all that is) is objective, and could be defined that way. Morality, however, is not objective, and cannot be. Value is subjective, and morality is interpersonal.
In other words, according to you, neither the Holocaust nor slavery are objectively bad - they're only bad if you think they're bad? Or they're only bad if certain people think they're bad? Or if a majority thinks they're bad? If there's no objective morality, what - pray tell - are you claiming?
And if there's no objective morality, are you saying that rape might have been ok at some times or in some societies but that rape became immoral later on or only in some places?
I want you to really think through what you're saying; there's no objective morality is just a platitude that people mutter w/o understanding its implications - you're basically claiming that you're fine w/ rape, murder, genocide etc.; your objections to such things are purely contingent. Is that REALLY what you mean? Or are you quickly about to tell me all about the "objective" morality that makes all those things awful all the time no matter what?
I think you're arguing against moral "relativism", or some caricature of it. I assure you that I abhor the viewpoint you're thinking of as well.
What I am saying is that there is no such thing as objective morality, or objective "relative" morality either. If any of the bad things you describe happens, the universe does not care.
All morality is negotiated on a socio-political playing field among sentient actors who do care. Outside of that context, morality does not exist. Within that context, it depends on what the various players care about, and upon their mutual ability to strike back against others who offend their interests.
When you don't have a reasonable balance of power, you do not have morality. When we allow players of such titanic power that they cannot be touched, it just becomes elephants stepping on ants.
When striking back turns to war, again you have no morality.
If we want morality to work, we must respect its limitations and its ultimate fragility. It isn't just a given.
If morality only exists in the presence of observers who can care, then it isn't objective at all - it's still subjective. Ultimately, objective vs subjective means whether or not an observer is required. Thus, it's objectively true that 2 + 2 = 4 as this was true before humans existed & will be true after us. How can something be objectively true w/o an observer? Because God exists; good & evil exist in relationship to Him. North & south don't exist in the absence of a reference point; you are north or south of some point; otherwise, the terms are meaningless. Same with God - good & evil exist in relationship to Him. Once we reject that reality, we're inevitably lurching towards paganism - that is, we don't reject God, we adopt multiple other gods. Thus, the moral relativist hates racism, homophobia, inequality etc.; they're all obsessed with a variety of issues, each functioning as a god or each reflecting some other god's preferences (often themselves & their own desires). Notice how gays will talk about the need to be true to one's self? Well, who's acting like god in that scenario? Clearly, they are - they are dictating what is & is not good. If they want it, it's good; if they don't, it's not. They are the sovereigns defining morality. Ultimately, there are only 2 moral systems: God & gods. Granted, some may not use the terminology of pagans, but their systems are functionally identical. There is no such thing as atheism; rather, there's just different gods. In the US, the most common form of paganism is self-worship, usually in a way that acknowledges that everyone else is also a god. (I want to be gay, you want to be transgender, and she wants to be something else - each equally valid because each is decreed by a different god.) I suppose there are some monotheists out there who think they're god but nobody else is, but that seems rare - this particular religion usually makes everyone their own god.
Thank you for the very interesting conversation!
the way I couch this is, there is a God-shaped void that needs to be filled. I have a friend who is an atheist. He spends a lot of time watching content by other atheists, and "young earthers." I think a lot of his objections to Christianity rely on the wholesale belief of how creation happened. I agree with him on a lot of it, but my faith was never developed on believing wholesale the story of Genesis at face value.
At the same time, he does have a religion. I think we all do. It could be science fiction fandom for some, wokeness for others. I think I have become a "devout libertarian." I say this even as I do not know all that entails. From intuition though, I believe that more freedom is better than less freedom, at the very least when you are free, there is no one else to blame. I am not a full on Christian, nor am I an atheist. I used to question the existence of God, but now more than ever I think I see a hand in all of what is going on. Does that make me a believer again? I don't know.
Years ago, my brother confronted me about my lack of "fallen" faith and lack of going to church. I remember openly weeping. I was mourning the person that I was. I did enjoy my previous life as a Christan, but felt that I could no longer, in good conscience, participate in it, not due to others, but due to my own questions and problems with it.
Wow. Very similar story
Your story is similar? I think I know some of it because you shared it elsewhere...I know you moved to a different state in a large part due to the insanity of Covid.
Religion
There are many in the US who have made a religion of politics. Their gods are our founders and founding documents.
Sorry to say, too many that resisted the Covid lunacy are now too lazy to go the whole hog to protect themselves and their children now the worst of the totalitarianism appears over.
Back to working. Sending kids to school even though they know all about the dangers for them from the (UK) Common Purpose progressive ideology. Buying organic supermarket food, watching Netflix, and staying silent is the way they’re going into the future.
Too lazy to work to provide safe food for themselves and children. Indeed one person responded to the request to share the work and purchasing of seeds/soil/polytunnels and livestock (HOGS) that they could see nothing in it for them! Safe unadulterated food is not enough. We did get someone say he’d like to set up his motor home and grow his own for free. Aka hippie freeloader.
We’ve decided to start sending them a cartoon of The Little Red hen. You know like how the hen asked everyone she knew to help and they refused. But when she finally got to the eating they flocked around to eat the product of her own hard work. And the hen said ‘where were you when I needed help? Nowhere. So you’ll get none of my bread.
Why we’ve even had some say that as we are Christians they think we will share our produce with them for free when SHTF out of our duty. One asked me if I was a Christian directly. When I responded yes he replied great, so when we need to get out of the city you won’t refuse us camping out here.
We have tried hard over the last two years to create a shared smallholding. An alternative community. We’ve given up.
We’ve also given up informing people of what’s coming anymore. We’ve done our duty over the last three years.
Now my duty is to protect our family. My land that I’ve fought hard over twenty years to retain is today only for saving my family.
Human nature being what it is—sin nature—I’m not surprised that you’ve encountered so many people who just want the goodies without the work it takes to achieve them. Unfortunately, the land that you’ve “fought hard over twenty years to retain” isn’t really yours at all. Consider that you pay taxes on it to a government entity (city/county/state), which can revoke your ownership at will for purposes of eminent domain or if you don’t pay your taxes on it. It’s frustrating, to say the least. Still, enjoy and cherish the good times on this earth with your loved ones and your love of God. It’s all we have for the moment but a brief glimpse into what we will have for eternity.
Hope you have guns, friend. When the shit hits the fan, those people looking for a handout won't just be asking.
Luckily I live somewhere full of very proper MC Brits in this rural hamlet. They’re pretty pathetic.
Now those in the town renamed a city to become a smart city might be a problem. Has High ‘boating’ immigration for punishment for voting strongly for Brexit.
Luckily that’s over 7 miles away. And there’s a bridge to get over to this side of the estuary and reservoir so we could block that.
The farmers around here are all well equipped. We are getting there in order to despatch our own. It costs a fortune to send our hogs away. And legally as it’s just for us we can do ir.
As for those ‘friends’ they’re all terrified of: huge son in law and huge dogs. So hey like MC townie social workers, they run away from the Farmwatch keep out sign and free wandering dogs.
We could always leave my pony near the food stores. She likes to kick strangers…
I agree with just about everything you said aside from informing the public not only what is coming, but what has come. They need to know they are living under the delusion of a narrative. On Twitter I do this from time to time not because I enjoy the abuse, but they need to know that there is dissent...and it isn't the way they want to easily categorize it. "Conspiracy theorist anti-vaxxer." Although they will do just that.
I don’t think you can force the deaf and blind to see the truth. As in Counseling, you can attempt to get them to the point of existentially analysing their lives, But you can’t force them as their free will often chooses to remain ignorant.
An example:-
From the start of this informing the icu med staff of the illegality and immorality of implementing the UK’s frailty scoring (age was 70 reduced to 50, now 45, requiring help with heavy housework is 5= DNR) to put patients onto DNRs without permission from families or patients. They still, even now, explain away the DNRs because they say ‘those patients are end of life’ yet WALKED into the hospital. Even though we’ve informed them this is euthanasia and illegal in UK, they still support those decisions as moral!?
Informing them of Gupta’s and Ionedes’ conclusions that Covid was similar to influenza. I even got them to recall the ICU in 2017-2018 influenza period when there were @57,000 fatalities. But they think Covid was the worst virus ever and it’s nothing to do with the drugs or vents that caused deaths. (Actually 2020 was not a gross exaggeration of excess deaths).
Informing them since 2020 including sharing research that remdesivar causes the multi organ failure seen with the Covid patients. Thus making them end of life! Even recently she has ignored the CDC removing it as treatment and STILL administers it to patients.
We’ve shared videos, podcasts, films on the killing in nursing homes and in hospital/homes for ‘frail’ patients. Again ‘they’re end of life’ so ok pic lining these drugs like Midazalam and morphine into patients TODAY.
Or my sister, after her cancer diagnosis and jab 4, we shared the research on the turbo cancer link. Instead of acknowledging this data, I was called crazy and she went for number 5 bivalent WITH influenza in same arm. She also still wears a mask - IN THE CAR. Now she says it’s to protect her raw skin from the chemo. (HATS!)
The convid propaganda round has been lost. Their use of applied and nudge psych has been very effective.
Round two is vs digital currency, ID2020, and the bio security state. At least both sides are starting at the same time. I’m getting better responses as EVERYONE has given/paid someone in cash. And no one wants the Govn’t to monitor their spending.
However, I was shocked over Easter that one relative told me he thought it reasonable to kill off billions because the world is overpopulated. Malthusianism. When I asked about whether his goddaughter should be eliminated he answered NO. He couldn’t empathise that every person dispatched also has loved ones that value them.
It’s an uphill battle. We need divine intervention to win this war.
You can't force people to accept that truth, nor is that my intention. I don't see them as accepting it initially if at all. Recently on Twitter, I had someone respond to one of my many criticisms to Dr. David Gorski's tweets.
These replies are rife with ad hominem attacks. They also told me how wrong I was concerning PCR tests (that they can't be set to a high threshold) and of course spoke nothing but the virtues of vaccination. Ironic that those that speak of vaccination also speak a bit about overpopulation.
The person I talked to on Twitter believed the precedence for the lockdowns etc. was that "there was a vaccine right around the corner." Yet ignored the fact that if such a thing were true, we would then be masking/locking down each flu season because each flu season there is always "a vaccine around the corner."
It's not reasonable to determine who dies, or to even make a determination as to what is considered "overpopulation." Do we think it is kinder if we "end ourselves?" than if nature/God makes a course correction for us? And why is it that when we make such determinations, we always eliminate ourselves from the equation?
I've had family visit me. And I know they're pretty much all vaccinated. In their most recent visit here after Christmas I advised them, and only mentioned it once, to please not get vaccinated anymore. It's sad to think that both my nieces, on in their late teens and the other in her twenties, has this vaccine in their body.
Maybe the Covid round has been lost, but it is no reason not to throw in the towel. What do you think informed my decision that the narrative was a narrative? It was from the revelation of all the previous false narratives and double standards.
You can list a whole lot of false narratives in the past, and that will support and bring clarity to at least question the current narrative.
I also think maybe to an extent, your sister is wearing a mask because she likes the solidarity she feels when she and others wear masks. It shows, in their misguided way, that people are caring for one another. I still maintain that a smile is much more effective.
In the last three years, perhaps longer, something has been lost. I think the process of "othering" has gone to such an extent that there are those that believe there are people out there who deserve no respect or dignity at all. They are deplorables. They see them all as MAGA hat wearing, gun toting bare faced racist, sexist, homo transphobic misogynistic ignorant plague-spreader anti-vax terrorists. But in reality, it is simply anyone who does not spout the narrative.
And those people can "die in a fire" for those well nuanced in the narrative. The problem with determining who lives and dies, is that "it creeps" it is always trying to find new targets to acquire.
Indeed it’s creeping into euthanasia for anyone of ‘substandard Uber Mensch’ standards.
That’s how they worked it out in UK using Whitty’s and I recall Harvard created one - Frailty Scoring system and then Hancock reduced the age to apply from 70 to 50. Today it’s been reduced to 45.
They add to each and every condition up. I saw on VAERS ‘neurogenic bladder’ aka incontinence. Or high BP - cholesterol to Fatal cancer. And if you can’t do heavy housework or digging into Boulder clay you’d get a 5. 5= DNR
So if healthy and 70 that’s 5!
But them now treating all respiratory cases like asthma as Covid to give Remdesivar is MAKING THEM END OF LIFE.
So then it’s ok to kill them off. And the staff have rationalised it as Moral?! So ok to pic line same drugs as death penalty. Recall that the nurses were the most enthusiastic T4 killers.
And the public go along with it. ‘They were frail’.
My adult daughter despairs that even the so called awake to Covid are still signed up to much of the rest of it. They use their phones for paying things. Let their kids go online freely and continually.
We’ve offered to bring others in to supplying their own safe non mRNA organic produce, meats and dairy and they don’t want to invest time, money and effort. But they think as a Christian family it’s our duty we to help them out - all of them - when food supplies dry up. No my duty is to my family first.
She despairs. I’ve tried to help by telling her Bible passages that speak of the remnant that follow G*d’s laws. And what it means to ‘not be of this world’ and ‘come out of her (Babylon) my people’.
But it’s hard for a family with young children to live apart when her friends still send theirs to school. And her husband fails by accepting they’ve lied about Covid but everything else is true. Logic error!
And I sometimes get that Deju vu’ feeling. It was the anxious feelings at the start of Covid that woke me out of the app behav psych Psyop. I had that at the start of Covid after I was sent my second advanced directive as I’m scoring over 5. Then I started to do research finding the frailty scoring. I screamed everywhere about it but it was a further year before Sunday Times, UK column (becoming wonderful coverage), Quality care commission, Amnesty and families of blanket DNR learning disabled homes. I sent the evidence to them all in April 2020.
After the high court deemed it illegal as it was a form of ILLEGAL EUTHANASIA. They stopped the killing for 3 months until autumn 2021.
But as I started my post, you can’t drag people to this existential angst point. It’s unpleasant and uncomfortable. But reality.
Recall the character in The Matrix who chose to return asleep? That’s many of the then awake Covid people who go on to do their newborns.
G*d bless and give you strength to keep speaking the truth. Remain discerning. It’s the only way to keep yourself whole mentally.
Yes, the logic errors. The only recourse is to question and keep questioning. Not everything, but enough to know that if in doubt, question. Even if not in doubt, question.
Your deja vu may not be wrong. I was skeptical when I first heard about Covid. I remember distinctly sitting in a restaurant/tavern in the winter, huddled close together with other friends and thinking to myself. "Covid is already here, and look at how it is ravaging us." Everyone was talking unmasked in a restaurant. No one was keeling over. We did know of people who had been hospitalized, but they were in their seventies, had pre-existing conditions.
I must admit to ignorance on Frailty scoring. Was this adopted by all ICU's?
Hearing about how they treat asthma does not surprise me. There were incentives here in the states as well that anyone who had "Covid like symptoms" were treated for Covid. Forget the fact that a lot of those symptoms are shared by many upper respiratory disorders, diseases. I would be raising my hand and saying "Listen, I have asthma, treat that first, then if the symptoms still present, we can talk about different treatments."
Approaching those steeped in the narrative, I know I sound like a conspiracy theorist when I quote the death rate at being around .09%. When they try to ply me with the cumulative deaths over the last three years, I then invite myself to do the same in regards to flu to "hyperinflate" the numbers and to skew the death rate. I mean if you are going to tell me that millions have died of Covid over three years, do I then not have the responsibility to present similar cumulative death tolls for other illnesses? And this isn't even touching things like the PCR tests, the fact that treatment and death certificates were encouraged to be "Covid" related." The numbers are already compromised...
As Christians, you do what you are called to do. I think that indiscriminately helping all people is not constructive. You are also told not to "cast pearls before swine" and that means you have to discern how to help those who can be helped, and those that can't.
But I believe we do have the responsibility in our own limited way, to speak the truth. I've announced to different people I have come in contact with face to face that they do not need to wear a mask around me. Most elect to still wear it, but I wanted them to know the option is out there.
Those of us who saw through Covid felt like we were screaming into a hurricane or a void. Our voices were drowned out by the fear of the 24/7 media campaign.
Yes, a lot of them want to remain asleep. But I think that is part of it. Another part is realizing all the time and energy invested in something that was treated in an ineffective manner. It reminds me of all the time I wasted playing video games over the last decade. I mean, what does the average waitress at a restaurant like Chilis or Applebees care that I maxxed out my rogue in World of Warcraft?
The difference is that I know video games are mindless entertainment. Whereas Covid was passed off as a dire emergency for a deadly virus that has a death rate of .09% overall.
Keep on being discerning as these states of emergency will continue for a long while. As the WEF stated, the public was so compliant and their Psyop so effective, they know the Climate, or war, or bird flu will be effective too.
The only warning I can offer you is to prepare to only have your wits to discern the truth by. What with mal-dis-information laws and ‘online safety bills’ plus non crime hate crime legislation, the Voices from alt media will be silenced.
And when whatever is to be the big one is planned to be implemented, I suspect the internet will be shut down. Consider this, you can survive on water with rice and pulses (salt after initial cooking or makes them tough).
I’m going to learn how to make flat breads so when electricity gets cut off I can still have morning toast made over a fire.
Key up a goodly part of the welcoming community here ready to shriek I'm gonna burn in hell because I won't believe...
This post was like a brief history of every religion ever, because all cults are the same. Burnt at the stake by any other name...
Whatever the community is--religious or purportedly secular--it has its rulebook. Two people together, you can have a lively conversation. Three, and you got the birthings of the gang of two gonna press the third into submission. I kept thinking of CS Lewis all the way through this piece. Too smart to be fooled, right?
The best medicine has always been genuine friendships. Now, for the least distress, one is advised to find a therapist who is a person paid to listen to your deepest painful thoughts, and people need therapists because what they call "friends" these days are mostly longtime acquaintances.
It's true, as you note, that communities of the faithful held up best during the Plague Era, but they demand their price too.
It's always hard to realize one has no definable "tribe."
"The House in Dormer Forest" by Mary Webb 1920
"It is the mass ego that constructs dogmas and laws; for while the individual soul is, if free at all, self-poised, the mass mind is always uncertain, driven by vague, wandering aims; conscious, in a dim fashion, of its own weakness, it builds round itself a grotesque structure in the everlastingness of which it implicitly believes. When each unit of humanity merges itself in the mass, it loses its bearings and must rely on externals. The whole effort of evolution is to the development of individual souls who will dare to be free of the architecture of crowd-morality.
For when man is herded, he remembers the savage."
"Society thinks that mistakes are made and crimes committed through the human soul being too much itself, going its own way. But crimes really happen through the soul being too little itself, striving to conform, or being crushed into conformity."
"For when man is herded, he remembers the savage."
this is a great line.
Mary Webb is a little known but brilliant, poetic author. Unfortunately, the majority of the populace today are unable to read beyond a grade six level of grammar and vocabulary. I thank you for your intelligence, intuitive vision and your writing skills.
I miss the Good Old Days when universities created functional alcoholics addicted to football tailgating.
Now, all I can find in the college hiring pool are Woke Warriors who tell me they'll have my job in 6 months because I am a bigoted old man, even if they graduated without understanding the engineering of our field.
Great times!!
Fat, drunk, and stupid as the way to go through life for the win!
I'm not fat. 2 out of 3 for the win!!
Nor I. But rethinking that now! Just so I can be sure to win.
I'm a Breveland Clowns fan so need to take advantage of any opportunity.
It is easier for me because I have been coping with my crazy in-laws for 45 years. It made me accept that people I love can inhabit a separate reality.
Many many years ago I attended a church where they showed a how-to evangelize film in Sunday School. Now this was a respectable, conservative mainline Protestant denomination, not one of those little fly-by-night churches that spring up because someone picked up a Bible and decided to start a new church. So I was quite surprised and appalled to hear the film's narrator explicitly tell people don't waste your time on people who present a challenge by asking hard questions, but instead go after, you guessed it, the vulnerable, the lonely, those who are struggling emotionally, financially, physically. In other words, quantity or quality--we don't want potential C. S. Lewises or St. Augustines or even Martin Luthers here. Not that everyone can or ought to reach that kind of level, but you will never get it if you systematically exclude it. And by the way, speaking as someone who is living on a fixed income, we are pretty tired of being targeted by so-called well-meaning folks who claim to be helping when all they do is exploit us. We have no shortage of would-be exploiters.
I was briefly on a writing site that I hadn't realized was very largely inhabited by Messianic Jews i.e. Christians, and the attempts at "befriending" in comments threads quickly turned very nasty if one wasn't the persuadable sort. A couple who participated there spent lots of time in Israel as sneaky (only appropriate word) proselytizers and their techniques as described were mighty distasteful.
CS Lewis, it seems to me, was one of those highly-neurotic intellectuals who used an awful lot of words making an irrationality palatable to his temperament. It was his drug of choice and he pushed it as hard as he could.
Yes, I have mixed feelings about Lewis; he has some brilliant insights but he also had his issues. For example, when his friend Sheldon VanAuken's wife (and soulmate) was dying, he told VanAuken, "eternal springtime is not allowed". WTF? This was before Lewis lost his own wife whom he married late in life. And there is a creepy side to his Narnia fantasies, where the four Pevensie children stumble into an alternate world and are caught up in a civil war that they know nothing about except that somehow they are essential to Narnia's future happiness. Like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, they are manipulated into going on a dangerous quest with very little information about what exactly they are up against; and as for consent--that really isn't an option. They can't just say, "Not my problem" and return to the wardrobe. It must be remembered that Lewis was a professor of literature who specialized in fantasy and myth; not a scientist or a historian; and that is his weakness as an apologist.
There is real mental and emotional illness in the need for suffering as a prerequisite for spiritual fulfillment. It is entirely human and really misses the boat in my view.
Very VERY good article. Putting parts and pieces together here helps me to really untangle what has been the most baffling aspect of the COVID Event (to me): The utter complicity of doctors in effectuating mass murder. How was such a wholesale lack of conscience even possible?
I have long suspected supernatural influence on this issue. I still can't rule it out entirely, but, piecing together certain components that BC outlines in this article, I think it is possible to get there without any magic spells.
Step 1: Indoctrination. That begins in school. Eight years of being told that We Are The Only True Science is a powerful, POWERFUL thing to overcome. Given that the vast majority of graduates will slide right into an institution that continues the seductive illusion of White Coat Wizardry, the social factor here must be nearly impossible to overcome.
For those who DID manage to question the narrative, however -- perhaps after seeing so many nightmarish ventilator-assisted deaths, or perhaps managing to wonder how or why a novel therapy (mRNA) could possibly be so safe without extensive testing -- there's
Step 2: Guilt-Avoidance. A doctor who was previously complicit has every reason in the world not to awaken to the truth: Not only would it be outright terrifying in its implications (yep, this really is a planned murder spree, folks) -- it would implicate said doctor in the plot. Who wants to admit to being an accomplice to murder -- ESPECIALLY when, given one's training, one should have known better? (Ahem -- seriously. Giving a drug that causes kidney damage and subsequent fluid backup to a patient who is already leaking fluid out of their lungs, then shoving a small tube down the patient's throat, while leaving the patient in a SUPINE POSITION so that GRAVITY can't even help them clear the fluid -- seriously, never mind physiology courses, did these people forget basic physics?)
Yeah. LOTS of psychological incentive to deny one's instinctive inklings.
Then, of course, if that all didn't work, and the doctor was STILL on the fence about it all, there's
Step 3: Good old fashioned threats to one's livelihood. These were only effective, of course, because the doctor was aware of how few other options existed for him or her due to the effectiveness of Steps 1 and 2 on his or her peers.
Truly nefarious, and now, the big question to me becomes: "What next?" ... The medical establishment as a whole has utterly destroyed its last feeble shred of credibility. It has revealed itself to be -- as the title of BC's article suggests -- a "cult," and one that operates for the benefit and behest of narrow corporate interests (pharma). Unfortunately, its collective members still represent a vast body of skill and training. Is there any way to redeem them? How does a doctor come back from this -- is it even possible?
Not just doctors, Werewolf. How about the hundreds of thousands of bureaucrats, worldwide, who developed, and enforced, the draconian regulations that supported this insanity?
How can THEY live with themselves? Are they salvageable? As bureaucrats? Or as human beings?
In my mind, bureaucrats were NEVER salvageable. That is a group of individuals who signed on to oppress others for monetary gain. They always belonged at the bottom of the ocean in my book.
That may be harsh, but, uh ... Words don't mince for me when it comes to that class of entities. I view them as the 2-legged equivalent of ascarids.
You may be guilty of denigrating intestinal roundworms. What have these parasites ever done to deserve that odious comparison?
Your point is entirely taken. I apologize to the worms. It truly is not fair to them to equate them with bureaucrats.
They live with themselves quite easily. Remember, the problem is that *you* were *too stupid* to understand all of the amazing work that they did for you...