#if you don’t know Jordan Peterson this won’t

[itspileofgoodthings]

anyway I don’t have the whole Jordan Peterson dating propaganda rebuttal fully locked and loaded but basically it’s just never about statistics. never was, never will be. and I’ll say that while acknowledging that the statistics can be objectively bad, especially for certain specific sub-groups, people with strong and specific convictions, highly intelligent people etc. but it doesn’t matter because the fundamental truth is that it’s always “one in a million the chances of feeling the way we do” etc. etc. and always was?? things are hard right now, on the dating scene, because life is hard right now and it’s hard to make money and find a stable situation that makes you happy. things are extra hard because society is incredibly fractured on the basis of both belief and vibes (lol) so the odds of finding someone just out in the great wide world of indiscriminate datings apps who’s going to believe what you believe and have the same set of cultural values (if that’s the word I want) are incredibly low. It’s not going to happen! And if you’re out looking you’re going to run into those obstacles over and over and over. But it kind of doesn’t matter? Because love is still real, people can still feel it, God brings people together. And I actually don’t think you need to do anything except continue living your life and doing things because they’re good for you, if and when you can, like having as much of a social life as you can and is feasible. The rest, in my humble opinion, is out of your control and you should just let it go! Yeah we’d have an easier time if our culture was more unified, if we fundamentally believed the same things and shared the same values. But even then the stars aligning of it all in terms of liking each other and wanting the same things and being in the same place and communicating in a way where we can actually understand each other is just out of our control and the answer is trust, love, and patience. And also a willingness to accept that you might just be alone, romantically speaking. So start filling your life up with other things and start getting used to the burden of it. Because what is there else to do? Except NOT accepting it and growing increasingly desperate. In any case, and to return to my point, this is my answer to the fundamental lie of the Peterson dating discussions. And it’s just that statistics have nothing to do with ANYTHING when it comes to finding love and happiness. It is never statistical; it’s always beyond that. My parents’ love story, my friends’ love stories, coworkers love stories—it can’t be quantified because they did x. On some level it just happened to them. They were lucky enough to find it all. (Or you know they forced it and are now unhappily married. Happens a LOT. But presuming that we’re talking about ending up happy.)

AND.

ON ANOTHER NOTE (that is still sort of related)

That same study of statistics doesn’t apply because it only takes one. So his whole tired repeated take about how intelligent women have the hardest time finding husbands because men are scared of their intelligence? Might even be true! But it doesn’t MATTER because nobody should want to marry everybody! If that makes sense! It’s always personal. I have felt the fear/lack of interest that he’s talking about as an intelligent woman (hey-oh!) walking through this world and I don’t give a damn because a man being afraid of me is proof that he is not FOR me. He is like my students except that I am not in the position to take him by the hand, metaphorically speaking, and walk him through David Copperfield. If someone ever wants to marry me, they will be delighted by me and confident that they have something to offer me. Period. And I used to think that that was true only for me but I think it is and should be true for everyone!!!! Peterson might be even stating something true or at least COMMON when he talks about this fear but his fundamental premise is faulty a) because we never have to marry a whole group of people and b) Because he acts like this is a problem for people, specifically women, to wrestle with and it just isn’t. There is nothing to do WITH the problem. As far as our list of actionable items goes it doesn’t make the cut. Or close to it. It doesn’t matter because that lack of interest and fear is not something to be engaged with and “solved.” Literally: go with God. Yeah, maybe you get your hopes up or get hurt because you think there is a chance and then turns out there wasn’t. That sucks and is painful! But. There is still nothing to do with that except move on. A person interested in me (in you, in anyone) would not react in this way is what you gotta tell yourself. It’s just a sign it isn’t right; it’s clear communication from the universe. (The person, God’s Plan etc.)

And. This isn’t even getting into him saying things like “the average age gap between men and women who marry is 4 years” for no clear apparent reason. So the fuck what Jordan? What does this have to do with anything??? (Sorry for swearing.) Yeah I can believe in some circles that’s a common number that occurs. I also know lots of people who are not in fact four years apart. I am actually having trouble thinking of a married couple i currently know who are four years apart. Like. So. What is even being said????!??? What is the purpose behind it????? Except an attempt to fear-monger, spread a lack of hope, sow discord. But honestly sometimes I think he’s just yapping.

He’ll also contradict himself by saying things like “you only have five people to try on statistically speaking” (the hell??? Jordan???) “so choose wisely” while also saying things like “a relationship isn’t something you find, it’s something you build.” So like … which is it? Because I think solemnly choosing someone in this objective way and trying to settle into building a relationship is going to lead to a lot of needless frustration. Like. You can’t build a relationship, IMO, until the opportunity to do so appears. And feels right to both of you. And you both take it. And you cannot manufacture that, force it into existence, call it into being. I mean you can TRY. But it won’t end well. The happy right comfortable good ones are just times where the opportunity is given and both people want to take it. He won’t admit the role of grace here and I think the role of grace is everythinggggg. And this Not even getting into him referring to marriage as being handcuffed to a person and unable to walk away which is imo the wrong vibe.

Which is kinda my too-long point. It’s the wrong vibe. Things are not bleak if you look at them right. They just are what they are. I actually think the more specific of a person you are the more likely you are to find someone capable of making you happy. And yeah maybe that process will be easier for people who are younger and just sort of around people who share the same values as them etc. though even then, even !!!!! then !!!!!!!!! there’s a mystery to who finds someone and who doesn’t at certain times because you’re dealing with the human soul and free will and all its mysteries in addition to everything else. It’s always kind of a miracle. It’s always one in a million. It’s always specific, singular, personal. And once again: we desperately want to believe that there is something we can do about this to bring it about and I guess there might be, indirectly. But we can never manufacture the opportunity into existence, or study the problem away, or analyze the difficulties out of being and into our power. We just need to let it go, if we can. Jordan’s rhetoric preys on that fear in a ridiculous and ultimately contradictory way and I hate to see people believing it, being affected by it, quoting it, spouting it, internalizing it. In conclusion he can’t scare me but he can deeply annoy me. Thanks for coming to my ted talk.

[taelophone]

Whitewash in this context means concealing or ignoring certain aspects of a person or history to protect their/its reputation or represent them in a better light.

He has a few retweets that he engaged with, including some that have been deleted which are questionable but I won’t hold against him as his views may have changed (or he knew that they were controversial). In April he retweeted a blogger who complained that modern-day atheists “disprove[d] god” only to end up “worshipping at the DEI shrine” and “using made-up pronouns like religious mantras."

Also in April he retweeted a post from a lady talking about men in society role as being innate providers and women’s role to support men. A lot of the people he follows/listens to have right leaning views (Tucker Carlson, Jordan Peterson, Musk) and the writers that he engages with are quite similar. He spoke to Gurwinder in the months before he dropped off and it was clear to him that he was anti-woke and against identity labels (he did an interview on this). It seems like he was going down a red pill rabbit hole which isn’t uncommon and very possibly very different to how he was/thought before this year.

I’ve never heard whitewash be used that way before! Ty for letting me know <3

I’m gonna be honest, I have no idea how the dates of retweets work, or when they were retweeted, so I’m gonna address this assuming it was a deleted retweet as I am barely on twitter🙂‍↕️. If you have an archive of them, or a screenshot, please show me! It’s very hard to prove anything w no evidence of it ever having existed, because at that point it becomes speculation n I don’t like entertaining things without solid evidence

second, retweeting someone who has strange takes doesn’t mean you agree with said with the person, or their takes, as long as you’re not retweeting those strange comments. It’s possible he didn’t know, didn’t agree with them and just liked this one potential take, or maybe he did know. There’s no definitive way to prove anything unless we have the post. But I did end up reading that Gurwinder article, and I wasn’t able to find anything about Luigi being anti-woke or against labels. In fact, the very man conducting this interview uses labels. He is autistic, autistic is a label.

What Gurwinder DID mention, though, is that Luigi wasn’t crazy about Biden OR trump. He planned to vote for RFK, who originally debuted as a Democratic Party, but then became independent. Its perfectly possible and strikingly common to believe in both traditionally republican and traditionally Democratic views. That is exactly how we have the political compass today. In fact, using Gurwinder as an example, it’s highly likely that they were on the same spots on the political compass, or at least similar areas w some discrepancies.

And about the woke thing, the only thing I can find on Luigi’s page about woke ideology is this retweet, in which Gurwinder uses the post rebrand meaning of woke. This has nothing to do w the argument, but I just wanna say, the term woke has been TERRIBLY terribly misconstrued over the past 3-5 years. What started out as a way in the African American community to tell black men and women to stay vigilant, and to NOT LISTEN to the government with complete trust, has been rebranded by conservatives into socialism and feminism and LGBT support “propaganda”. I’m just here to say that none of those listed things have anything to do with the woke movement, and If anything, it’d be more accurate to describe “wokeism” as similar to punk or individualism. Before I became punk, I was “woke”.

And this I’m willing to say is kind of a strange take. The original tweet doesn’t imply wokeism, it doesn’t imply anything of the sort, and I have GOTTEN the “Where are you from?” question before. It’s NOT a polite question lmfaooo😭 what it really means is “where are you REALLY from? Africa?” But because Luigi and Gurwinder are both non-black individuals, this is not something they can comment on. But I understand what they both mean when they say getting upset at the question won’t help bridge any gaps, because it won’t. I acknowledge that some people are ignorant and don’t understand that what they’re saying is such, which is exactly why I never take the question as an insult or challenge unless it’s clear they intend it to be.

now I’m not going to say he wasn’t going down a red-pill rabbit hole cuz I have no idea what his twitter page or thoughts looked like during that time period of his life, and quite frankly, I’m not him🤷🏽‍♀️. But I’m just saying, it’s a leap to assume he was a full on republican, anti-woke, anti-DEI individual. Everyone’s political and moral compass is different, and his was probably spinning during this time of his life.

[micah-mohammed]

THIS ESSAY WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE IF YOU LET IT.

Ever since I was capable of deep thinking, I’ve wanted to share my insights in the hope they would help others as they’ve helped me. But I never seemed to follow through. It felt as if something was holding me back, preventing me from taking action. I thought maybe I just wasn’t that interested in writing, so I did what many others do—I chalked it up to “this isn’t for me” or “I’m just procrastinating.” And just like that, I’d fall into inaction, letting unproductive days pass by, each filled with the anxiety and resentment that lingered beneath the surface, whether I realized it or not.

The problem wasn’t some dark, magical force like procrastination conspiring against me. It was something deeper: a short-term, failure-oriented mindset. In my case, I wanted to be a writer, but I was stuck in a mindset where all I could see were potential failures. I imagined uploading my work only to see zero views, no followers, no likes—maybe even some demotivating hate comments and scrutiny. I focused on all the reasons not to act, from biased algorithms to intense competition.

You might say, “But those concerns are valid. Your first content likely won’t gain much traction, and established authors have years of experience.” And you’d be right, to a point. But here’s where the logical fallacy lies:

I was viewing results at a fixed point in time, like looking at a single dot on a graph without considering the trajectory. I didn’t see that success isn’t about instant results; it’s about perseverance over time. Every pursuit has its initial ‘test’—a period where you get little to no results despite your efforts. This test filters out those who merely wish for success from those who are willing to act and make sacrifices to achieve it. Who knows how many journals a writer must write before gaining traction, how many songs an artist must create before building a fan base, or how many paintings a painter must produce before receiving the recognition they deserve?

The result of this test determines whether you’re deserving of success. If you don’t pass, it’s likely due to a failure mindset that focuses on why things won’t work out and fixates on the initial period of no results. But if you pass, it’s because you embraced a winner’s mindset. You see the upward trajectory, understanding that the initial quiet period is just a filter to separate the deserving from the undeserving. With this mindset, you view obstacles as opportunities. What others see as demotivating comments, you see as valuable critiques to help you learn and improve.

Only those with a winner’s mindset can have hope, and with hope comes belief, and with belief comes action. Action develops vision—the ability to see the upward trajectory. Vision leads to growth, and growth breeds confidence. This confidence transforms you into an unstoppable force.

A wise man, Dr. Jordan Peterson, once said that the purpose of life is found in the pursuit of excellence. I invite you to start pursuing whatever art you admire—whether it’s pottery, painting, singing, dancing, or music creation—and do it as if your life depends on it, because your legacy does. I recommend watching the movie Whiplash (2014), which delves into the role of obsession in achieving greatness. Remember, those who don’t pursue their dreams and merely exist are like walking corpses. As Benjamin Franklin said, most people die at 25; we just don’t bury them until 75. Every day a mediocre person lives, he becomes more bitter, filled with hatred, regret, and resentment because deep down, he knows he’s not being the person he could be if he just took action. These emotions only grow stronger with age as the realization sets in that time is running out.

Whoever you are reading this, know that you don’t need to create a famous piece of art to be a winner or one of the greats. To the mothers reading this, you are already a creator—you’ve created life. To the fathers, you are winners too, having built stable, healthy, productive families. Recognize the art you’ve already created in this short life. Remember this if you forget everything else: We Are All Creators. The extent to which you are a creator is within your control. It’s up to you whether you craft trivial or profound, noble art pieces worthy of who you are. So go on now—better your life, and create, and create well.

Author: Micah I.H. Mohammed

Journal Entry: 21/08/2024

[alfredtangphoto]

In-home newborn lifestyle session // Baby Andreas, The Eriksons

When I first started my photography business, I set to carve out my brand to be one of telling emotionally-invoking stories of human connections through photographs that stood the test of time. Connection session (aka engagement sessions) and weddings helped fulfilled this and thus steered my brand towards this portion of the market. But as I watched my clients and friends add members to their families, and as I thought about my own childhood and relationship with my mother, I began to realize something I’ve already known: having and raising children in it’s own is a different type of emotional love story that is usually unconditional. And one, where both parents learn a lot more about themselves and one another. These new parents are literally carrying out the words spoken during their wedding vows of committing to being by each other’s side on “this crazy journey called life”.

“Children are the reintroduction of the unsullied paradise of being.” - Dr. Jordan Peterson

All this to say that this is why I don’t advertise family sessions as they’re typically the standard family-posed type of shots that doesn’t really tell an emotionally invoking story that “fits my brand” (but still are important to the family!). These sessions are typically reserved for previous wedding clients, friends or from personal referrals. But then, an email from Helena’s mother led to a session that would alter the way I viewed the interpretation of my brand and my journey of telling love stories.

I’ve worked with Helena & Jasper a number of times, documenting some of their most special life events (even took Jasper’s headshot for his med school application!), so when I was presented the opportunity to document the new addition to their family, I was ecstatic! Not just because Helena & Jasper are sweet and awesome people who deserve nothing but the best, but because becoming new parents is a very transformational pivot point in their lives - teaching you things about life and love that no other life experiences can. I wanted to document the beginning of this unconditional love and bond with their 8-week old human.

Let me tell you, this half hour session was one of the most sweet, tender and magical moments I’ve ever had the privilege to witness. I won’t say why as I hope the images from this in-home newborn lifestyle session will do all the talking. Thank you Helena & Jasper for inviting me into your home and photographing another intimate and pivotal point in your lives. You guys will be the best parents and I already know Andreas will be the best big brother other siblings will be jealous of!

“The family you create is more important than the family you came from.” I said what I said! While this statement is subjective and debatable, there’s an awful lot of truth in it.

If you have enjoyed this Portland newborn lifestyle session, I’d appreciate a comment or a share! If you’re interested in working together on your family session, click the button below to get in touch with me!

[orphancookie69]

Dr Jordan Peterson: 12 Rules

I have recently really began to appreciate Dr Jordan Peterson lately, and I can’t get enough of him. I stumbled upon a Tiktok video of him explaining his 12 Rules for Life, a book my sister is also currently reading. While I can’t wait to read it, let’s make a post about it! 

12 Rules for Life: 

Stand up straight with your shoulders back

Treat yourself like someone you’re responsible for helping

Befriend people who want the best for you

Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not the useless person you are today

Do not let your children do anything that would make you dislike them

Set your house in order before you criticize the world 

Pursue what is meaningful, not what is expedient

Tell the truth, or at least don’t lie

Assume the person you are listening to knows something you don’t

Be precise in your speech

Do not bother children while they’re skateboarding

Pet a cat when you encounter one in the street

So, the first one is a no brainer. This is basic salesperson training 101. If you do not smile and sit up straight like you are the most confident person in the world before you pick up that phone, you are fucked. Just because the person can not see you, does not mean they can not hear your lack of confidence. Try slouching and looking down while answering the phone, then try sitting straight up smiling. 

Second one, this one is amazing to hear. I know that I am a generally really helpful person to others, but I am not so quick to take my own advice. If it treated myself, the way I treated other people...I would listen to myself more and love myself more. Really. 

Third, befriend people who want the best for you. Friends are the family you choose. You are a reflection of the people you surround yourself with. If the people around you don’t want the best for you, they will never help you climb the mountain. 

Fourth, I love this one from the point of view that one tends to look at the past longingly. Myself for instance, I used to be bolder in school and taking roles of leadership and doing presentations. As I got older, I got more shy and prefer a “behind the scenes” role but complain when I don’t get credit. Use the “yesterday you” to be a better “today you” everyday. 

Fifth, I can’t say I can totally identify with this rule. I am someone’s child, I don’t have kids. I would like to think my parents are proud of me, and that I hope to not do anything to make them dislike me. 

Sixth, yes yes yes. So many people, especially young people, are quick to criticize the world when there own house is not in order. Focus on getting your own house in order before you focus on things you can’t control. It also helps to give your opinion legitimacy when you do spit it out all the time. 

Seventh, according to some ways of thinking-you only have one life. Make this life count, and don’t give in to this trap of instant gratification. It’s the journey, not the destination that matters. 

Eighth, if you tell the truth with others...it’s more likely you are honest with yourself. If you can’t be honest with yourself, you are your own worst enemy. 

Ninth, this one to me speaks to having an open mind to another person’s insight. It is easy to put people in a box and use interactions with them to justify the box you put them in. If you approach people with an open mind and assume they know something you don’t, you won’t disqualify them before they have a chance to speak. 

Tenth, say what you mean. Know how to say what you want, and have the courage to do so. One, the other, and both can be hard. But making the effort to know how you feel and have the balls to say it, will get you farther than you think. 

Eleventh, let kids be kids. Some adults don’t ever grow up, and sometimes its because they were not able to be kids. The learning phase of youth is so instrumental to being an adult. 

Twelfth, pet a cat! Obviously as a cat mom I love this. From a bigger picture point of view, animals speak a different language. Some would say they don’t speak at all, but notice how some cats won’t approach some people, but the kind ones get all the animals attention? How is it they know a good heart from a bad one? Be nice to all creatures, it will come back to you. 

The book is available on Amazon, if this sparked your interest in reading it. I know I can’t wait! Which rule resonated with you most? 

[femenaces]

Okay, like I said he seems to be a liberal journalist so you can’t claim he’s a Nazi or Jordan Peterson, and in his posts he goes out of his way to contact legitimate experts in the field to gather their opinions. But if your stance is you won’t read anything from anyone with an opinion that differs from yours, I think that’s honestly kind of sad. I know for me, if someone presents a link that goes counter to my initial perspective, I really can’t relax until I’ve thoroughly looked into it and formed my own opinion. I don’t like to live with cognitive dissonance, even if that means having to confront something I didn’t know and change my mind. Which you saw that I did in my response above, and learned more about both sides in the process.

If this article is so dumb and unreliable, and the points he makes are in error, I would seriously like to know exactly why and how, because I read the entire thing and found it reasonable and don’t want to spread misinformation. Maybe I missed some things. That’s why I gave it to you to look over. I read your 36 page Yale document from start to finish, so it’s disappointing that this conversation seems to be a one way street.

A high rate of suicide is often tied to being trans, but I can’t help but wonder if it’s actually the other way around. My friend group in high school consisted almost entirely of severely mentally ill and suicidal young teenagers. As the years went on, more and more of them became trans until it was the majority of the group. They were suicidal and trans, yes, but they were suicidal long before discovering a trans identity. What are the odds that 80% of the people in one group all happened to turn out trans? Is it really reasonable to argue it was an undiscovered trans identity that made them all suicidal long before any of them “discovered” they were trans? Isn’t it more likely that when you are a mentally ill, unstable teenager, you may be more likely to adopt a trans identity as a way of reinventing yourself, rebelling, and gaining instant sympathy and community?

[star-anise]

Thank you for your reply. My ask was kind of all over the place. (I've done some dbt before with a previous therapist and it helped! But that therapist was not a good fit I'm at a new one now tho).

Random thing, you mentioned bpd I heard in my abnormal psychology class that a lot of therapists won't treat someone diagnosed with bpd??? It was the teacher who is a grad student studying to be a therapist who said it. And like. I don't understand. They sound like a very in need population who was often abused and there's a whole huge book of treatment resources written by someone with bpd. I've heard they're "hard to treat" and talked about like they're hopeless. but like why be a mental health professional if you don't like mentally ill/different people?

This is also the same professor who insisted trauma is only the few things listed under dsm ptsd definition as traumatic events.. like she said parents getting divorced isn't a traumatic event because you aren't physically in danger... that class really scared me about the mental health field because of all the awful people in it aspiring to be therapists including the teacher.

Sorry for all the asks I love the work you do on this blog

Ahahaha, what IS it about undergrad abnormal psych professors? Mine said he wouldn't touch clinical practice with a ten-foot pole, and told a story about how once a student told him she had schizophrenia, and he knew that she was lying because obviously nobody with schizophrenia could actually manage to attend university.

(It's seriously untrue. I've had both friends and clients with psychotic disorders who succeeded in university. He was being an ableist bastard. Like, I know psych students can tend to over-identify with a disorder they're studying without actually having it, but that doesn't mean no psych student is ever entirely correct about their deal.)

Okay so, BPD. The thing about BPD is that it requires a special skillset that does not come standard in most clinical training. If a therapist who doesn't have that skillset tries to treat someone with BPD, the therapy will not be very effective and the process will be very frustrating for both them and their client. To be very frank, it's just as true that ordinary therapists are bad at treating BPD and don't like feeling stupid, as it is that people with BPD are hard to treat.

(And training to deal with people with BPD clinically is often not included in grad school education. DBT training is expensive and they won't accept you unless you have an adequate clinical placement.)

Also, part of dealing with BPD in particular is... people with BPD often have trouble seeing authority figures with anything more nuanced than "adoration and compliance" or "fear and loathing". As a therapist, you're signing up as an authority figure. Part of the work means letting your client express all their feelings about you, and helping them work to something more nuanced and sustainable, like, "I am furious and enraged that I'm in pain and I wish my therapist could take that pain away, but I realize that's not within her power. I have to admit that she's not being an evil villain here, so I can feel my resentment but let it go."

Which can be stressful to deal with, as a therapist. You have to live with a lot of hurt and anger and rage headed your way, and keep your perspective. Be empathetic without getting carried away in those emotions. You have to be able to face that pain and say, "I can't take that away. I can only help you learn to bear it."

Basically everyone I know in grad school had a nervous breakdown somewhere along the line because we go to therapist school because we're smart and capable and feel good about helping people, so when we encounter a person we can't help, or are put in situations where we have to stop helping, we tend to have existential crises and end up sobbing in the student lounge about What Am I Even Good For Now. I was lucky because I had a version of that breakdown before I entered grad school, and my therapist warned me to get a new shrink when I moved for my Master's, "Because if you don't need one at the beginning, you'll definitely need one by the end." So I was more equipped to help classmates for whom this was a wholly new experience.

In my opinion, the healthy way to approach the problem of A Person You're Not Good At Helping is to practice humility, set reasonable boundaries, recognize the limits of your competence, and see where you can learn and grow. But many therapists and helping professionals use what I consider to be an unhealthy approach, labelling such clients as "defensive" and "resistant" and "hard to treat" and blaming them for the difficulty.

Which like, I get that "practicing humility" is like "doing exercise", sometimes you're tired and cranky and don't want to go for a run. Sometimes you just want to blame the other person for not accepting your magnanimous help.

Anyway, within the field of mental health psychotherapy, complex trauma is a unique sub-speciality that many therapists don't want to touch at all. I had many classmates say, "Woof, you're into complex trauma? You must be so tough, I could never." 🙄

(Technically I have the ethical obligation to represent my profession in the best possible light to encourage public confidence in the field of psychotherapy. But I think it's not undermining the profession to admit what everyone already knows, which is that some therapists are oblivious assholes who do bad work. I've seen it, I've met them, I want them to piss off forever. Jordan Peterson is a blight to our names and Phil McGraw can go choke.)

So people who are on your wavelength about BPD and trauma and What Therapists Are For are out there. They're just a little rarer than the usual run of therapists. For what it's worth, I've found they cluster more in areas like complex trauma, DBT, Narrative Therapy, and the Hearing Voices Movement. Next year (knock on wood) I'l be going to a conference on the treatment of complex trauma with a friend, and this sounds weird given that it's a weekend all about child maltreatment, but I expect it to be a blast, because I'll get to be among My People, talking about the work that fills our souls.

I really wish that as an undergrad, I'd spent more time hanging out with Social Work students, and going to conferences and trainings. Those are where I met some of the coolest people I really clicked with. And in grad school, I had the extreme pleasure of meeting other people who were a lot like me. Those friendships were especially rewarding because as skilled helpers, we ended up playing a game of Needs Chicken, where each tries hide their own needs and caretake for the other, which finally ended up in a standoff where we had to agree to put down our caretaking skills and just be honest about what we wanted, even if that felt new and scary and raw.

(Support me: Patreon and Paypal.)

[toshootforthestars]

In his I’m-Sorry-if-You-Were-Offended apology posted on Sunday night to Instagram, podcaster Joe Rogan tried to smooth over the fact that he’s been broadcasting dangerous misinformation on his show, The Joe Rogan Experience. The requirement for him to do anything at all arose only after musicians including Neil Young and Joni Mitchell asked that the streaming service Spotify remove their music after 270 medical experts demanded that the platform establish a clear misinformation policy rather than allowing its shows to “damage public trust in scientific research and sow doubt in the credibility of data-driven guidance.” As Young put it at the time, “They can have Rogan or Young. Not both.”

Spotify, which had bought the exclusive streaming rights to The Joe Rogan Experience in a deal reportedly worth more than $100 million, at first did nothing, then pulled the lever for Rogan. Spotify thus proceeded to pull down Young’s work, and Mitchell’s, and to stand behind its guy, whose show reaches about 11 million people an episode. In the disputed episodes, Rogan has amplified multiple known falsehoods about the dangers of vaccines, touted the benefits of ivermectin (strongly disputed by the FDA), and promoted an “expert” vaccine skeptic with lethally discredited views.

*       *      *       *       *       *

The hope may be that “truth will out.”

But the problem is: It won’t.

Truth won’t out because the market wants what Rogan is selling, and what Rogan is selling is doubt.

That is also what Carlson is selling and what the GOP is selling, and that is what Donald Trump has been selling for six years. The beauty of “just asking questions” as a rhetorical frame is that it provides cover for some of the foundational work of authoritarianism—it casts broad and enduring doubt on government, on science, on fact, on vote tallies, and on science. The current democracy-on-the-cusp scenario we all live in now is the result of this tendency: People are running for secretary of state positions across the country because they rose to prominence after “just asking questions” about the 2020 election; Donald Trump pushed real plans to seize election machines because he was just probing “both sides” of the Big Lie.

Under cover of having all sorts of interesting and entertaining questions, actual fact has been subordinated. That which is neutral has been politicized, and that which is abhorrent has been normalized, all in the name of just asking tough questions.

I’m not calling Rogan an authoritarian. Carlson surely is, as is Trump. I am saying that when grown adults say they have no responsibility whatsoever to learn or understand or contextualize fringe ideas, they are doing the work of authoritarians, and at minimum, they are absolving themselves of any responsibility to check the tide of it.

What Rogan well knows, and what Spotify has flawlessly commodified, is that pretending that you just aren’t smart enough to understand your own guests, the reach of your show, the consequences of your bookings, your lack of preparation, and your amplification of untruth (and also casual racism and climate denialism and misogyny) lets you get away with all of it. And it forces your listener to either do all of the above for themselves, or to accept your work as truth.  And to be perfectly fair, even blaming Rogan, Spotify, Alex Jones, Jordan Peterson, or all the brave askers-of-questions also misses the point.

The problem is that there is a market for what they are selling—the problem is that it is too profitable to stop. This is what we seem to want, to believe ourselves the final arbiters of all that is knowable. It soothes us, this devaluation of knowledge or scientific consensus or expertise. It rewards our sense of self, reassures us that ours is the only science, the only law, the only experience that matters.

Truth isn’t going to “out” because we don’t want to believe in it.

Which is why we’re not only getting exactly the truth-tellers we deserve—we’re actually paying them to lie to us.

Dahlia Lithwick:  The market wants what Rogan is selling, and what Rogan is selling is doubt

Slate   /   3 Feb 2022

[infinitelytheheartexpands]

Responses from the Opera Screencaps Captioning Quiz

Hello, everyone, and thank you for taking my quiz! I had SO MUCH fun reading your captions-- there were several times I literally started crying from laughing so hard at the amazingness of your work! With that in mind, the captions (which I will continue to add onto as more people take it):

(also, thank you to @dichterfuerstin​ for translating the German captions I got)

originally taken from: the Wiener Staatsoper’s 2020 production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail, featuring Regula Mühlemann (center) as Blonde, Michael Laurenz (right) as Pedrillo, and an unnamed extra (left) as the Grim Reaper

Responses:

(Backstage warm-up) “ok so someone dropped the pulse”

me and my friends watching the fire burn after doing arson

Introducing the polycule to the parents

*boom* ... did...you guys hear that too?

Ma Signor !

Knight in whinging armour gone wrong, look at how he holds the egg. Polyamory with weird knight and death.

the father, son and the holy ghost are very gay

the gays meeting for brunch, 2021, colorized

chicken lady forces death and a very flamboyantly homosexual anthropomorphized pink bird to be parents of her egg (they dont want to be)

That’s just me and my friends on our night out (before covid rip)-- closest

A Good Friday night

good omens (2019)

["the pocket guide to boy/girl/mischief" meme] who's the boy and who's the mischief though????

Papageno and Papagena take their first-born egg trick-or-treating

Angry Birds - The Musical. A pig stole an egg and the bird unites with death to take revenge.

I love my bird wife

Someone got murdered during the funky chicken dance

throuple murders child and steals sibling of said child

When you and your friends have widely different tastes in literature

angel leading twink to his rightful place (hell)

draco malfoy from a very potter musical and a death eater are very much in the wrong show

What have I gotten myself into

Mlm/wlw solidarity but I’m not telling who is who

A woman stands with a pink dipshit with an egg and a reaper.

A bird-couple makes a pact with Death, sacrificing their first-born bird-child in order to bring good luck upon their unborn bird-baby

There are three types of people on Halloween:

Uh oh, I don’t think the mother hen is very happy about this...

oh god, they’ve invented seussical. It’s too early!

gay brunch

Three little maids from school are we

guys maybe if we dress gay enough we can distract everyone from the dead flapper bee in the back

those three killed a duck for her egg and are facing the conswquences.

Duck has egg with human, shocked and upset due to biological impossibility

When you bout to make a banging omelet so you invite your fellow queers

"No mortal man could pass that egg, but heaven shall repair your rectum."

originally taken from: the Salzburg Festival’s 2007 production of Hector Berlioz’s Benvenuto Cellini, featuring Maija Kovalevska (left) as Teresa Balducci, Laurent Naouri (center, in chimney) as Fieramosca, and Burkhard Fritz (right) as Benvenuto Cellini

Responses:

“In this same interlude it doth befall That I, one Snout by name, present a wall; And such a wall, as I would have you think, That had in it a crannied hole or chink, Through which the lovers, Pyramus and Thisby, Did whisper often very secretly. This loam, this rough-cast and this stone doth show That I am that same wall; the truth is so: And this the cranny is, right and sinister, Through which the fearful lovers are to whisper.” - a midsummer night’s dream, act v scene 1

"ah yes a prime specimen. see here, right in this box is our one of a kind hob goblin that can be all yours for the low low price of your soul"

what, YOU don't have a special eavesdropping chimney window?

Hänsel und Gretel plotting against the witch

man takes a wrong turn and ends up in a chimney, catches his girlfriend cheating-- closest

when you end up third wheeling the straight couple

lady cheats on her leather jacket wearing scummy boyfriend and when he unexpectedly comes home she hides the lover in the chimney

A straight girl and her gay best friend gossip about stuff idk

Idk Shakespeare?

experimental couples therapy feat. the chimney mf from mary poppins

Area Couple Inadvertently Traps Santa-in-Training in Chimney as they Attempt Rooftop Flirting

Landlords laugh over student renter's misfortune

I never asked for this

Ay yo lil mama lemme whisper in your ear

voyeurist listens to sandy and Danny from grease

Psssst! Did you hear about Susan? You won’t believe it!

lady and the tramp meets beauty and the beast?

human trafficking

And for just $30 you too could have your own tiny brick cage!

Psst I’m wearing assless chaps under this dress

A couple tortures a man in a box.

It's all fun and games being stuck in a chimney until your greasy uncle steals your crush from right above you-- okay ngl this could actually be a great Don Pasquale concept

Taking eavesdropping to the next level

Will you two stop being lovey dovey and let me out? SUMMER LOVIN, HAPPENED SO FAST— 

overhearing how people talk about you when they think they're alone puts you in the shithouse 

Does he know we can see him?

dear god, i am so fucking hungry, yall please just do whatever heterosexuals do so i can go eat a popsicle 

the human version of the trash man from sesame street is realizing that those two are going to fuck on his trash can 

Tmw you capture an angry short dude and start trashtalking him where he can hear 

Omg what if we kissed but we actually kissed the lil goblin man under us

"Remember, don't feed him after midnight"

originally taken from: the Théâtre de Capitole du Toulouse’s 2017 staging of Giacomo Meyerbeer’s Le prophète, featuring Leonardo Estevez (right, on fake horse) as Le Comte d’Oberthal

Responses:

“When I said we needed to drain the swamp I didn’t think there were people actually living there”

horse? what horse? no sir i dont know what horse youre referring to.

definitely don't have a napoleon complex going on

King stole La Scala‘s Lohengrin set

king breaks all his horses, has to use statue dragged by servants as transportation because he’s too kingly too walk

Emperor Söder and his subjects on a carnival procession

man on horse makes a big deal out of being on a horse

That’s not Zeffirelli because the horse is not alive

Who the fuck put a horse on the stage

isn't this that picture of napoleon on the horse

Area Count Thinks Citizens will be Intimidated by his Extremely Fake-looking Horse Statue-- closest

Everyone wants their turn on the giant plaster horse. Police are there to make sure everyone waits their turn.

Night out with the lads

Local royalty horrified at the state of his own damn kingdom

gay army fights different gay aesthetics-- hi author how does it feel to be the funniest fucking person on this quiz

Well at least I LOOK badass

ceasar if he hadn't gotten stabbed (colourised)

some soldiers jumped out of my kindergarten fairytale collection book to burn the don carlos flemish deputies at the stake

It’s just a model

Is that how you feel pulling up in your Honda Civic, Madge?

Someone rides a horse statue in public.

Just a normal party with the bros.

what is this, some kind of crossover episode? 

Terribly sorry for all the fuss, it’s just, that is, my horse is afraid of neck ruffles. I’ve tried to talk to him about it, but he’s—whoaaa there—he said he was a french courtier in a past life and he’s allergic to English fashion 

Horse seller, listen to me! I am riding into battle. I need your strongest horse. - We have horses at home. - The horses at home: 

All hail Incitatus the king 

we are not ripping off shakespeare’s henry viii. what the fuck. this is about lenny xi you uncultured swine, go drown in a pit of your own farts 

oh god is that hamilton 

Guy Removed From Art Museum For Sitting On Statue, more at eleven 

Gay <3

Officer: This horse... is a virgin! Crowd: *cheers*

originally taken from: the Parma Verdi Festival’s 2017 staging of Giuseppe Verdi’s Stiffelio, featuring Maria Katzarava (left) as Lina and Luciano Ganci (right) as Stiffelio

Responses:

That One kid in class

its a mEntAL BreAkDowN *final countdown but kazoo*

*record scratch* yeah, that's me. you're probably wondering how I got here-- closest

Dad keeps monologuing, teenager is done

left: all of my concerned friends, right: my emo ass having a very public mental breakdown

the demons in the corner of my room when im just trying to sleep

lady gets mansplained to (do i need to say more, we've all been there)

It’s probably an area baritone telling off an area soprano-- sorry; it’s a tenor. soprano is right though.

That was a fake horse in the last photo right?

child comes out as gay to father at a particularly bad time

dissociation solves everything

I can't believe it's not butter

Honey we talked about this

My sleep paralysis demon is Crowley from supernatural

child has nightmare of boring job

When you start dating a singer but he won’t stop practicing at night

just an average day in a hetero marriage

what do i do my wife's having period cramps again

Stop having an existential crisis. It’s time to sing!

“No son of mine will kin Gomez Addams under MY roof”

Crowley stares into space while a teen has post nut clarity.

When he wont stop reciting jordan peterson monologues!!

Do you realize how effed you are?

Ugh, not this lecture again! Dad’s Practicing For His Experimental Indie Band Again 

asking your parents for help with your own personal situation and them just ranting off about what they went through instead of helping in any way 

Will he shut up already!

no one tell him he’s yelling in the wrong direction, no one tell him plnsbdjddhdj 

this kid is tired of his dad listening to rush limbaugh (a man who claimed to be pro life but died anyway) 

Me internally vs externally 

Daddy issues

originally taken from: the Grand Théâtre de Genève’s 2020 staging of Giacomo Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots, featuring several chorus members

Responses:

It’s the deadly eye Of Poogley-pie. Look away, look away, As you walk by, ‘Cause whoever looks right at it Surely will die. It’s a good thing you didn’t … You did? … Good-bye. - shel Silverstein

why the fuckith? my good sir, i beg of you to put your pants back on

I hate this itchy hat

Titanic Extras hear that they have to do extra hours

people waiting to board the titanic watch someone fall off the plank

pov: you’re a time traveler

guy in the flatcap is embarrassed by patriotism and pathos

No idea. For some reason Le Marseillaise comes to mind

Is this from Harry Potter?

disneyland main street usa workers on strike

local tries to hide behind Newsies cap to avoid unpleasant but inevitable conversations. meanwhile, some very fashionable ladies look on.

"Thank fuck, 2020 was just a dream after all"

“We gather here today because this bitch got exactly what she deserved” “heaven!” “Stfu Stephanie she’s going to hell and we all know it”-- not quite but this basically happens later on in the opera (and act) so yeah (except the person in question very much Did Not Deserve It)

dc movie filter on bridgerton

america?

looks like my history teacher paused the prohibition documentary again

Who still wears page boy hats bro?

Coming out to a room of people who Already Knew That

Bitches are relieved at some party.

Several drunk people exiting getting off the subway attempting to seem sober and rational but realizing they have somehow lost all of their possessions

How tf do I act natural in this situation-- closest

“do you think any of them noticed that I don’t know the pledge of allegiance” 

It's too fucking hot outside for this outfit 

?

when hyyh yoonkook ending just hits different 

pedestrians watch in horror as the triangle shirtwaist factory burns and the workers throw themselves out of the windows from a dozen stories up 

Starting the pledge of allegiance be like 

He's having a heart attack oh no oh god oh fuck

originally taken from: if I remember correctly, the Semperoper Dresden’s 2018 semi-staging of Johann Strauss II’s Die Fledermaus, with Jonas Kaufmann as Gabriel von Eisenstein

Responses:

“William Shakespeare wrote: "To thine own self be true And it must follow, as the night the day Thou canst not then be false to any man" I believe this wise statement best applies to a woman A blonde woman Over the past three years she taught me And showed us all That being true to yourself never goes out of style Ladies and gentlemen Our valedictorian: Elle Woods!” - legally blonde the musical

eat ass, suck a dick, and sell drugs

woooooorrrrd

Finally Jonas has graduated! It’s about time, considering he’s an international star.

what my professors think they look like

Prof. Dr. Dr. When someone tells him there are more than two genders

'and since you've now graduated high school, you'll be entering college etc. blablabla' .........meanwhile, there's a whole row of graduates daring each other to chug the cheap vodka one of them has brought in gallons (yes that happened at my graduation, lol)

Jonas darling baby <3-- can’t argue with that

I just realized I have no idea what the actual fuck happens in an opera

ok this one is just what jonas kaufmann always wears you can't fool me.

"as valedictorian i will share with you the importance of loving the floor"

"Yes, mother, my art degree will make me money!"

Graduation speakers are out, singers are in

Senior year takes a new meaninbg

mansplainer professor explains the concept of feminism to women

Your Prof when you finally turn in that missing assignment be like

younger boris johnson (derogatory)

jonas kaufmann retires from opera and takes up motivational speaking

What a fine graduation evening we’re having today

-70 points for slytherin you all have no swag

A man with a college hat sings.

An obviously greying actor trying to play a university student in a low-budget porn parody

How it feels to graduate high school after being held back for years

East High is a place where teachers encouraged us to break the status quo and define ourselves as we choose. Where a jock can cook up a mean crème brûlée, and a brainiac can break it down on the dance floor-

I may not have been "cool" in high school, but in ten years you will all be working for me!

I finally got my GED!

that one guy in ur intro to cultural anthropology class who mansplains to the professor somehow fucking graduated

he;s just graduating and taking his speech too serously idk

Graduation speeches with that one dude who got held back 3 times

Smrt

originally taken from: the Metropolitan Opera’s 2011 staging of Gioachino Rossini’s Le Comte Ory with Joyce DiDonato (left) as Isolier, Diana Damrau (center) as Countess Adèle, and Juan Diego Florez (right) as Le Comte Ory (disguised as a hermit)

Responses:

There is something very [disturbing grunts] About polyamorous couples - polyamorous, Chris Fleming

jinkies

femme fatale (including to herself)

I’ll have a threesome soon !

Hot guy walks by, everyone swoons.

thirdwheeling friend does not realize the other two are having sex

When your girlfriend had „just two beers“ again

jesus is exasperated about having to drag the two ladies towards doing what he needs them to do instead of purple dramatically declaring suicidal intent over the smallest trivial matters and red being equally dramatic about declaring that it's not the way! stay alive! i love you!!

The throuple is thriving

Get off the milf

orgy

my last three braincells because im a horny slut

countess receives too much love and is confused on how to react

Rasputin's lesser known romp with a much older czarina of russia

Woman's soul leaves body

Jesus and co. are worried after another woman gets pregnant without having sex

bisexual looks at photos of celebrity couples

When you go to the party to socialize with new people but your weirdo friend group starts getting clingy

Jesus cumming

one of those weird church christmas pageants but everybody's drunk

What have I done

Hozier??????????

Jesus assfucks some purple lady being hugged.

This time, the chick IS the magnet

An affair/threesome gone awry (2019 colorized)

What do you mean they canceled GLOW?

“I TOLD you it was cashmere!”

Are you wearing the - - The Gucci dress? Yes I am.

It's not what it looks like!

jesus is fucking that one cheerleader who grew up to be a suburban mom with one (1) super cool dress she stole from her kid who is desperately hugging her middle begging for it back because the spring fling is coming up and jason might actually make eye contact with her for more than three seconds.

jesus and mary magdaline and some other bitch

I’m at a bar and these drunk girls are flirting with me, do I lOOK GAY?!

Shrek 5, jesus's return

c. 2025 First attempt of an Officer and his Wife with a Handmaiden (colourized)

just about all of these are close lol

originally taken from: the Bolshoi Theater’s 1993 staging of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s The Maid of Orléans, featuring Nina Rautio (left) as Joan of Arc and Vyacheslav Pochapsky (right) as Thibaut d’Arc

Responses:

Don’t look, I’m still pooping

yall, the audacity of this man. he fuckin talked to me

*i can't even tell you how wrong you are* *it would be insulting to ME*-- closest

Cospeto!

„No I’m not talking to you, you keep cracking bad jokes!“ - „But I got another!“

when you’re mad at him but he says he’ll buy you food if you cheer up

When I’m wallowing in self-pity but my friends won’t comfort me

right: wanna fuck ;) left: yeah, fuck OFF lmao

Her face is screaming “don’t tell me what to do”

Yeah I got nothing

gay man tries to hit on a lesbian bc he thinks she's a twink. she's not amused but she's watching this happen anyway

me tired of MET's bullshit and them organising a Netrebko, known blackface apologist, a recital during Black History Month. (sorry im still fucking salty lol)

"stop smiling at me like that I'm trying to pout over here"

"I got fleas, you got fleas... wanna fuck?"

I have the best idea!

Haha nooooo don’t hit me with that bat you’re so sexxyy

lesbian is bothered by dilf

Me trying to flirt

if call me by your name was hetero and set in america

how many more dad jokes can i take before i explode

So. You’ve gotten yourself in a little pickle again.

What if we fought in the Russian revolution together ✨???????... unless??

Two people flirt in a poor place of town/

"If you ask me what I've got under this dirty, shapeless tunic one more time I swear to god I will kick your rotting teeth in"

You look like ur gonna kill me but ok

Really? You again?

Okay, I’ve been sitting here for 20 minutes, do you think it’s safe to—oh god, he’s still there.

Have you seen Godot?

she is tired of everyone’s shit. she has done so many derivatives it physically pains her to see a variable. dont test her. ur icarus rn.

idk pick better pictures-- I HAVE DIED THE SHEER AUDACITY AND HUBRIS I LOVE THIS

200% done with your crap 

Homeless man has fucking legs of steel n is gonna show off his Russian dance moves

originally taken from: the Théâtre de Capitole du Toulouse’s 2019 staging of Paul Dukas’ Ariane et Barbe-bleue, featuring Sophie Koch (right) as Ariane and I don’t remember who the person on the left is rip me

Responses:

The knight who wore this into battle sure was swaggy

dear god its hiddeous

Capitalism

Knight in shining armour gone even more wrong.

ghost contemplates the safety of spiky motorcycle helmet

„Stop! He feels bullied!“

'this is my newest take for jesus's crucifixion crown ...... what do you mean they already put him up'

That’s probably a really expensive magic helmet idk. IDK-- closest

Omg I love the adventure zone!

minesweeper (windows xp)

"Okay whatever you do don't touch the shiny spiky ball" "It's so shiny I wanna touch it"

Taking down the trash way too late

IT'S NOT A PHASE MOM

Darth Vader got stuck in the freezer.... again. Leia isn’t happy

Star Wars 2030

“And here is the very latest in motorcycle helmet trends” “Look, I only came to the mall for a pair of socks “

futuristic kkk

long-suffering jewelry store attendant really wants to retire

Put it down put it down put it down

“Hmm no you should see a doctor about that”

A weird ass crown is presented

The creation of sars-cov-2: an experimental Eurotrance nightclub art piece gone horribly wrong

How it feels to want something that u cant have

AND WE WILL CALL IT—SPIKE MAN actually do you think that’s too obvious?? Because of the—yeah, because of the spikes?? See, that’s what I’m worried about. I want it to be SCARY

I know it's risky but... lube me up

?

use the force luke.

that is a weird fleshlight

When you get an ugly gift and need to find a way to get rid of it, so your family member/friend offers to smash it

Touch the orb

originally taken from: the Opera Vlaanderen’s 2019 staging of Fromental Halévy’s La Juive, with Nicole Chevalier (left, with bottle) as Princess Eudoxie, Enea Scala (center, under table) as Prince Léopold, and Roy Cornelius Smith (right) as Éléazar

Responses:

When no one comes to your birthday party :(

fantastic, day 487 of mischief and they have yet to find my masterful hiding spot

i really wonder who he thinks he's playing footsie with

Marriage crisis. Reason sits under the table-- closest but not in the way you think (after all, the man under the table IS a tenor).

the last supper afterparty after jesus left

When you order the last supper on wish

espionage at the Politischer Rosenmontag

Probably the wrong opera but is that Leporello under the table

Now THIS is a Good Friday night

this was every birthday party i went to between the ages of 5 and 11

that awkward moment when you drop your fork under the table but when you re-emerge everyone else has left except one drunk lady and the guy trying to deal with her

After the last supper

Tfw you arrive to the dinner party too early and have to hide until a more fashionable hour

When the cishets aren’t home

waiter hides from customers

Nobody: My dog every time I’m eating:

what's left of the homies Jesus had dinner with

university chem lab experiment gone terribly wrong

I’ve been under the table FOR 30 MINUTES

Set your friends up by tossing them off under the table, they’ll think it’s each other n fall in luv

Someone hids under a table

"You're about to see an surreptitious-under-the-table-dick-sucking master at work"

5 yr old me trying to eat the desert under the table without my parents finding out be like:

They never invite me to their parties!

Just another girl’s night in

Oops! Didn’t notice you the table.

dionysus - bts (2019, colorized)

just a normal episode of eric andre (eric is the one under the table)

Just a normal day with the boys

Thievery

originally taken from: the Théâtre de Capitole du Toulouse’s 2017 staging of Giacomo Meyerbeer’s Le prophète, featuring Kate Aldrich (left, surrounded by women in white) as Fidès and John Osborn (center, looking like a Jesus doppelganger) as Jean de Leyde

Responses:

Hold up, is that Eggman above Jesus?

holy disco

Looks like Tannhäuser. Our lord and saviour Richard Wagner. Now I need to be saved from that.

catholicism

me defending pineapple on pizza (THANK YOU)

jesus but hes about to be abducted by the alien ufo above him

Emmmmmmm Heaven? Idk

Lord of the rings?

ewww christianity gross

"behold, I am Important"

"Seriously?? It's not ACTUALLY pyjama day? Fuck you guys!"

Jesus at the Disco

Jesus Finds The Molerat People Who Live Under Bethlehem

disco is heaven

Want to join my new religion?

the kkk

church christmas pageant where everyone's sober but it's based on the director's fever dream

Am I the only one who sees the giant demon? Just me? Okay...

“Oh god I think I’m starting my period”

A party is held with a priest in the middle

"Let's get this secret Vatican sex party rolling!"

The new avengers endgame set is looking great!!

You know, guys, I try not to be a bother but...I can’t help but feel like I missed a dress code memo for this wedding??? It’s cocktail, right??”

Jesus visits Hogwarts

I must really stink if no one will even come close to me

the extra ass funeral i DESERVE

star wars life day

A cult at it’s best-- closest

Shrek 5, Jesus is still there I guess

originally taken from: the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden’s 2013 staging of Giuseppe Verdi’s Les vêpres siciliennes, featuring Bryan Hymel (left, standing) as Henri, Lianna Haroutounian (center, kneeling in the black gown) as Duchess Hélène, and Erwin Schrott (kneeling to her right) as Jean Procida

Responses:

When the director’s like “great rehearsal guys, just a few notes before I let you go” but it’s already 9:13 and your mom’s waiting in the parking lot

loyalist of subjects

bow before your queen

They forgot to take down the stage boxes after the Vienna opera ball but the show must go on.

somebody forgot to book chairs for this funeral

Me sharing God’s (Hayley koyoko) word on the discord server

mass execution bc the oboe solo sucked ass-- closest

That’s too many black suits I can’t see shit

I can’t even tell what’s going on here

8th grade school assembly about how it's uncool to shit on the walls at school

let's all get fancy so we can go to the opera and sit on the stage (idk this one's hard lol)

"Yes i am a time traveller, now don't freak out"

Tfw you forget to pay your lighting bills

White guys make decisions that will benefit them and screw someone that’s not a white guy over-- OUCH but that is too real (although not really in context here)

dead man gives speech at his own funeral

brotus and the boys ??? last meeting before the stabbing

high society social function ends in mass murder-- right opera, wrong scene

Someone walks into the talent show stage with a dog

Black-dressed bitches worship a man.

Worst school assembly of all time

POV:You're the window in the classroom and someone said "its snowing"

When the conductor shows up fashionably late to the orchestra concert

That's what you get for choosing the cheapest ticket option, get back in the mud where you belong

?

theyre just trying to jump into a grave at a funeral leabe them alone this is normal

oh my god he really whipped his dick out in front of everyone, this is just like in 1776 guys, except some women are actually in the room this time,

A funeral, stop wearing so much black

I want to slap their bald heads like rice

originally taken from: the Teatro Real Madrid’s 2018 staging of Gaetano Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, featuring Roberto Tagliavini (right) as Raimondo

Responses:

Crowd “haha!! Looks like someone missed the all-black memo!! Now it’s laugh-in-your-face time! / Guy on the floor (whispering to guy against wall): go, save yourself! I’ll hold them off...”

if i leave now i wont be a witness and can tell the police i had no idea

it was the best of times, it was the worst of times

Guy in the back pretends to help but is to far away to even know what’s going on.

priest walks in on beginning of an orgy, contemplated joining but is too scared-

when someone brings up capitalism but you’re just trying to play minecraft

lol lets trample this guy while the judge isnt looking

Again. Too many black costumes

Loved this Dostoevsky novel

i would know if opera directors were more creative with clothing choices ngl

me on parties lol

"imma just sneak out of here while everyone else is distracted"

"Where did he get this flooring!? Amazing!"

Everyone act normal!

The tell tale heart but they got REALLY drunk

man tposes to ward off vampires after being caught undercover

boys ???? night

the priest really shouldn't have visited the insane asylum-- closest

He’s FINE everyone’s been hit by a car before

Something happens in a room.

Perks of being a wallflower

There's always that one person in the fight whos trying not to get involved when they really wanna

Oh good, they’re all posing for a Rembrandt painting, I can just sneeeeaaak out the back here...

The gamer livestreaming Resident Evil + everyone watching the stream ? waiting for him to open the door just knowing it will trigger a chase scene

Quick!

the guy t posing in the back is regretting his every decision.-- also accurate

the us senate jumps ted cruz, some other wack ass gop senator is trying to sneak away

...I spoke too soon, however this is a James Bond mission

Queers help fellow queer do math but it's a struggle

[lordascapelion]

Apologies for the tradcath flippancy, but there are a lot of larpers around who are more invested in the identity and appearing good than the actual nuts and bolts of a lifestyle. But that’s hardly exclusive to tradcaths.

The core of my argument though is that most dudes aren’t consuming porn as some sort of pinnacle of existence. Jordan Peterson said “there’s nothing heroic about masturbation” and frankly, I agree. But most guys just get a buildup of that energy and just want to release it so they can go on with their day.

The pervasiveness of sex is something you could complain about. I am of the opinion that the constant bombardment of sexual imagery is probably not great. You should be able to opt in or out of sexual material. But human nature is what it is and I find my eyes being drawn to sexy things even while my brain is actively telling me that it’s a trick. For this reason it is unlikely that sexual material in everyday life is going to go away anytime soon.

On the other hand, current generations are becoming less and less involved in sex. Millennials and Zoomers are having less of it and if you’ve been around this webbed site for long enough you’ll have seen a contingent of pretty young fans becoming irrationally outraged at even mild sexual content, despite there being opt-out mechanisms. On the other other hand books aimed at 16-year-old girls feature graphic sexual content in their pages so who knows.

There may be something to the constant stream of pornographic material that one can access- you don’t have to sit through an entire video you can just scrub to the moment you like, which is pretty unlike actual sex, so I could see that as possibly causing sexual dysfunction, though I’m not sure if actual research bears that out.

Fetishes, though, are actually not really caused by porn and most of the time you just acquire them through neuronal accidents. I think that fetishes are an evolutionary adaptation to match up pairings that would otherwise not exist. Or maybe they’re just a random bug, who knows. Without data it’s hard to make any definitive claim, but I could see how someone might go down a rabbit hole and never come up. But if you’re on the track of requiring constant escalation of stimuli, something else probably happened that contributed to it (the aforementioned lack of intimacy.)

I don’t really think that the “world is your brothel” effect is at all a widespread thing (once again, I have no data on hand). Most guys turn hard to porn because normal sex seems just so utterly out of reach. They don’t feel entitled, they feel forbidden! If you’re never going to have normal intimacy, why not just consume porn? Why not feel something for five freaking minutes? I think some of them then turn rabidly anti-porn because they blame it for how miserable their prospects of intimacy look.

There are the dudes who will tend random women online to make an OnlyFans which is, of course, repugnant. But I don’t think that’s really widespread (outside the “show bobs and vagene” crowd.)

I’m not going to defend the labor practices in porn because there’s nothing to defend. It’s probably never going to be any good. OnlyFans seems to alleviate some of these ethical issues but is overall much more destructive because of its social effects that I won’t get into because it’s an extremely deep rabbit hole. I would say that drawn porn circumvents this pretty well, though.

As an aside, if all porn disappeared tomorrow, I think you’d have a brutal uprising of young men within months. I’m sure some more revolutionarily minded individuals would like that, but like the OF conversation, it’s so deep a topic that it would swell this long post even more.

I don’t really intend to be some kind of passionate defender of smut. I would never be able to say that porn is good, because it isn’t. It’s like coffee or alcohol or weed- a vice that makes life a little more tolerable for a few moments and lets off some of that pressure that would drive you insane. (You could, perhaps, make the case that erotica could be classified as good, though. But even then people would disagree about it.) people wanting to ban pornography is what doesn’t sit right with me. I think that a certain level of personal autonomy should be kept from the government’s hands, even if people use that autonomy for self-destructive purposes.

Got some great news for all the anti-porn people out there

You can just

Not watch it

[bitchcraftmagic]

It’s so interesting to me that it is only now that Joe Rogan is under the spotlight of mass criticism when he has been laundering white identity politics for several years now. Alex Jones, a purveyor extraordinaire of white grievance narratives and repackaged antisemitic conspiracy theories, is a regular guest on the Joe Rogan Dumb Shit Power Hour. Stephan “I went to Poland and became a White Supremacist” Moleneaux has been on the show a handful of times, as well. These people are unequivocally bigots of the highest caliber. They make their living on hateful bullshit and Rogan has them on and let’s them seem nominally reasonable because he has the intellect of a baked potato. And because his brain is the rotted corpse of an armadillo he has no means to push back meaningfully on the disgusting shit they say. Not that he seems that interested in pushing back to begin with.

This has been a pattern with this beefy boy for years on end. The fact that Jordan Peterson, a bigoted dumbass who knows big words and thinks people are lobsters, has come on to spew the most nonsensical drivel countless times should have been disqualifying. That man has been so traumatized by the vague Cold War concept of communism that it like severely effects his mental health. This is a thing he readily admits to and the fact that anyone takes him remotely seriously any longer is beyond my apparently limited imagination. He almost died from only eating meat. He speaks and behaves like he has never really spoken to any human being for longer than four minutes. It is astounding that people think he is a thought leader. Everything he says is so shallow that he makes kiddie pools look like the Marianas Trench.

And maybe people don’t really understand this but the fact that Joe Rogan is friends and colleagues with ALEX JONES should have made any attempt at discourse impossible. Anytime anyone talks about Joe Rogan with respect I urge you to remind them that he is friends with a man who harassed the parents of dead children to make money. This is not an exaggeration. This has been documented in court. That association should have been a final nail in Rogan’s coffin. And what is worse is that when Jones goes on that dumb as fuck podcast he just sits there and believes whatever bullshit Alex tells him. Alex “the frogs are gay” Jones is someone that Rogan takes seriously. And he has for decades. Are you fucking kidding me?

What this shows me, and continues to show me, is that so many people are fine with bigotry. Perhaps they aren’t going to go around spouting this shit but they find it entertaining. They can stomach enough to just sit for three hours and listen to a greasy turd talk about how everyone is just too uptight about all the bigots he platforms. And the thing about this is even if Rogan is deplatformed (which I highly doubt he will be) the desire for people just like him won’t go away. Our culture is dissolving into out and out white supremacist fascism. This is just the entertainment branch of it. This bootlicking fuck head has the ears of a millions despite the fact that he has never said anything remotely funny. And everyone he talks to just jerks him off because he is a cash cow dumbass who falls to flattery like a house of cards. Even if you claim that he is not racist (which is laughable considering the amount of times he has said the n word for fucking shits and giggles) It’s still guilt by association, for me. You lay down with dogs you get fucking flees and that motherfucker is itchy as hell.

[the-hopeless-haze]

My Emo Author’s Ending Note :)

I've been writing this goddamn story since May 2020.

I was bored during quarantine and I was watching Glee and Kurt Hummel came on stage during the winter showcase for NYADA and he sang "Being Alive". Immediately I was enraptured by the song. I loved the lyrics, the way it was set up with all these specific instances of a relationship, the parallels when the song's narrator changes his mind and comes around to wanting a relationship, wanting a marriage. I was obsessed with this song. I went and looked up the original Broadway versions - and was reintroduced to Raul Esparza.

I knew him from the shitshow that is Hannibal (yes I hate Hannibal lmao come talk to me about it sometime) and I did use to watch SVU back in the day. And then it clicked - I was like, okay, I am going to write this fic with these lyrics as the chapter titles because at the time it was so interesting to me.

Here's some problematic backstory if you're interested lmao that I’ll leave under the cut lol

So I used to be a libertarian and like I was into all the questionable right-wing stuff, like Dave Rubin, Jordan Peterson, Ben Shapiro... gross. And like they would always say, "Oh women shouldn't waste their 20s, they need to get married" and like that's what I wanted too because that's what I was being force-fed. And Company came out in the 1970s. Marriage was a lot different back then. So it kind of reaffirmed my narrative, that I needed to settle down and get married (mind you I am turning 21 in like three days lmao). But it also came with this character, Bobby, who is so emotionally vulnerable and riddled with anxiety, and we don't know why. So we insert ourselves onto him, or at least I did. I have awful social anxiety, and I don't have many friends never mind lovers lmao. I was in a long-term relationship with a guy and he was an absolute dick but I tried so hard to make it work with him and I would've married him because I was so desperate not to waste my twenties like I was told. But... I gained a lot of new anxieties from that relationship and related to Bobby even more.

So writing this was cathartic. I got to work out my thoughts and worries in a way that wasn't exactly connected to me. And I worked out a lot of stuff throughout this. I came to terms with being hella bisexual and that is why everyone is canonically fruity in this story lol. I came to terms with the fact that I was manipulated into doing sexual things with my ex that I was not comfortable with and that is why I dealt with the reader's anxieties when it came to sex in depth. I deal with mortality a little too because that fucking scares me lmao.

But I came to terms with the fact that it's not a woman's sole duty to get married. And I'd argue that's not even entirely the point of Company either. The point is to live, you have to allow yourself to be vulnerable and not discount the good just because it comes with some bad. And that's why the reader and Barba do not get married within the realms of this story. It's up to you to decide what happens to them but I did give them a happy ending because I'm a sap lmao. But due to the pandemic and just doing some critical thinking I am now a huge leftist... but that's a side story.

I also proved something to myself - that I can actually fucking finish something. I've written like a million fanfics and never finished them lmao but this one is the only one I did! (Except for the Hunger Games one I wrote when I was 11 that has since been deleted lol). So even though I cannot tell you how many times I wanted to hang it up I am so happy I powered through. I kind of never want to watch SVU again though lmao

But anyway... thank YOU SO MUCH to everyone who commented and reblogged and liked and read this story. That just means the fucking world to me. You have no idea. I love to write and idk I was like, fuck it, I'm going to put this out here and let people comment... and you know that's a kind of vulnerability in itself. But the response has been overwhelmingly positive and I want to thank all of you so much for that. This was not easy for me lmao especially not when all I wanted to do was throw in the towel... But I am so fucking happy I did it.

Thank you all of you so much :) Special thanks to @isvvc-pvscvl and @thatesqcrush for being here from the start and all the support :)

And thank you to all of the people on here who messaged me privately about the story - I won’t name you for privacy reasons but it means the world that my words had any impact on anyone!

[larktb-archive]

Hi! I'm too shy to come off anon, but I need your help understanding something. I hope I'm not bothering you!!

I don't want to interact with anyone who is a fascist, but I'm not entirely sure what makes someone fascist. Can you please explain it to me?

I know I could look it up myself, but I know that not all definitions online can be correct and I just want your perspective;;

Thanks!

Hi anon! Well, fascism comes in many forms so “sussing out who’s a fascist” is technically a little harder to do than having a simple checklist. After all, doesn’t a White Supremacist have different beliefs to a Japanese fascist? And doesn’t a Japanese fascist have different beliefs to a Wahabist? These beliefs clash don’t they? Well, yes and no. Sure the surface level beliefs are different but the underlying core beliefs of these groups are actually quite similar; it’s the specifics which are different. Even though it isn’t a “bible” on what is fascism and shouldn’t be taken as gospel, Umberto Eco has an essay called “Ur-Fascism” which contains 14 points, which can help us identify whether certain beliefs are fascist no matter the specifics of their belief system. I’ll explain the points in short and give some examples. Quick disclaimer, I am not an expert on fascism or any of the ideologies I’ll discuss by any means so if you aren’t taking Umberto Eco’s writing as the 100% correct truth, definitely don’t take mine as that either (this is how you should treat most sources tho):

1. Cult of Tradition and 2. Rejection of modernity

I put these two together because they’re kind of inseparable. This is basically the idea that there was a “glorious past” that people need to return to and modernity is a corruption of that “glorious past”. In British fascist thought, this past is generally the 19th century at the zenith of the British Empire or mid-20th century Britain. The latter is more common for people who wish to be a little more PC with their writings; instead of trying to use a by-gone era that pretty much no one alive can remember, they use a much more recent time with nostalgic ideas of “the good old days” which doesn’t seem threatening on it’s surface but is dogwhistling for a time when there weren’t as many immigrants in the country.

You may have seen the “reject modernity, embrace tradition” meme and it’s pretty much the most obvious incarnation of this idea. Similarly you may seen people online use “degenerate” as an insult. If you look at the meaning of the degenerate it means “having lost the physical, mental, or moral qualities considered normal and desirable; showing evidence of decline”; it’s microcosm of these ideas put into a single insult. This is why you tend to see conservatives use it more than progressives.

I’d also argue that terfs obsession with 2nd wave feminism and their utter rejection of intersectionality and modern feminism is another manifestation of this idea. 

3. Action for actions sake

This is less detectable in terms of individuals but still important to note that these people tend to support action without a cause. Sure the insurrection at the white house earlier this year was action, but it had no substance behind it. It was action for actions sake, which is why any principled leftist didn’t support it. Fascists will tend to openly just call for action but won’t be very specific about the purposes of the action; as long as they agree with the ideology behind it they’ll support it. It’s why fascists love harassment campaigns and mindless acts of terror. Take Wahabist terrorist orgs like Al-Qaeda or ISIS, it doesn’t matter if bombing an Ariana Grande concert has no point, the only point is the action itself.

4. Disagreement is treason  

This one’s pretty self explanatory, they will ostracize you if you disagree with them. Again, terfs tend to do this, and I had a long conversation with an ex-terf I called a dumbass, who basically said that she was ostracized by them and mocked for having different beliefs (hope she’s doing well actually). There’s numerous stories from ex-terfs like this.

5. Fear of difference

There’s a tendency for fascists to group people into “us” and “them”. “They” are considered to be intruders who need to be removed whereas “we” are the people who deserve to be here because it is “our” right to be here. In Zulu Nationalism, this tends to be any non-Zulu speakers who they deem to be “Shangaan” even if they aren’t actually Tsonga, it’s just a pejorative at this point. If you see vague references to the “elite” without any reference to who they are and what makes them “elite”, this is tends to be a dogwhistle for Jewish people. Western Fascists have very little issue with the workings of capitalism itself or the accumulation of wealth by capitalists, they just don’t like “them”, taking “our” stuff. Any references to “us” and “them” is pretty much a red flag.

6. Appeal to Social Frustration

Fascists will tend to brush upon actual issues faced by the poor today but will instead blame it on an outside force. You’ll see job loss being blamed on immigrants or vague “elites”. Terfs do this too. They’ll see young girls who are genuinely struggling with patriarchal issues and divert all that pent up rage towards trans people and the “q*eers” (which they do tend to use as a slur unlike what most people would have you think). 

7. Obsession with a Plot

Everything is a conspiracy! The election was rigged! 9/11 was fake! that fucking pizza place/this furniture company is a sex ring! All of these are supposedly plots by the deep state who are trying to do... something or other. You’ll notice these “Plots” don’t actually have a purpose, but the fact that there is a plot itself is the issue. This is a way of engendering paranoia in the group while also feeling that there is a constant war against you even if there isn’t. This is also why, despite news sources being pro-capitalist the right will swear up and down it’s leftist media which is controlled by “them” (usually just meaning Jewish people).

8. The enemy is both strong and weak

“Trans people have infiltrated academia and the only reason people refuse to see gender as an immutable biological concept, is because they’re too afraid of the trans cabal to say anything. But also everyone can tell trans people are crazy and haha you have a high suicide rate.” It’s contradictory that’s the point. They need to feel that they’re both counterculture but also they need to be winning at all times so that contradiction is necessary. Also the use of the word “cabal” is a pretty big red flag for all forms of fascism.

9. Pacifism is trafficking with the enemy, 10. Contempt for the weak, 11. Everybody is educated to become a hero and 12. Machismo and weaponry

All of these are kind of interrelated so I’m grouping them together (also this is already fucking long as hell so I don’t wanna bore you any further). You’ll tend to see a love for the military or at least military aesthetics when looking through fascist blogs. Guns aren’t just a tool for fascists, they’re representative of masculinity and the necessity of violence. Pacifists and anyone who refuses to fight are weak and therefore are “degenerate”. If you do not fight, if you are not willing to fight, you cannot be a “hero” (an ubermensch or a matyr). This comes with the fetishization of violence instead of the recognition of violence being an means to an end, and the worship of individuals rather than of communities and organizations. Take Japanese fascists and their lionisation of the imperial military and their desire to once again have an actual army.

Terfs don’t necessarily fit these roles except for arguably 10 considering how much they seem to look down upon the mentally ill and those who commit suicide and surprisingly 11 since that involves the hatred of non-standard sexual activities and terfs hate non-standard sex (this is from the most vanilla bitch who is very uncomfortable with kink but understands its not inherently good or bad). I have a feeling this is more so because terfs are mainly women (there are male terfs ofc) whereas this was written for male led organizations. 

13. Selective populism

When fascists talk about “the people” they tend to mean “the people we like”. “The working class” can be translated to “this cishet white christian man from Minnesota who owns land but hey he lives in a rural area so he’s working class right?”. They’ll also tend to have “tokens” who will suddenly become the mouth piece of the entire community they’re supposedly representing even if no one in the community asked them to (i.e. Milo Yiannopoulos). 

14. Ur fascism speaks Newspeak

They speak in terms which are both inaccessible to anyone outside of their circles whilst being so simple that once you learn them it becomes easy to understand. They abhor any form of “academic” speech so you’ll rarely see them source things (unless those things happen to agree with their views, which is rare but Jordan Peterson is popular for a reason) and if they do source things they probably wouldn’t have read them fully and will rely on you also not reading them. This is to limit any critical thinking so that your brain is basically jellified into an unquestioning organ which only responds “yes” or “no” and only appeals to a higher authority without any form of reasoning involved. This is why they complain about “the lefts memes being too wordy”... because they’re used to not having to read (this is somewhat tongue in cheek but heyho if the boot fits).

And that’s the 14 main features of fascism, if anyone is displaying multiple of these ideas then they are most likely fascist, and if an organization or group continuously replicates these ideas, then they are definitely fascist. I hope this wasn’t too long but like I said... very complex topic. (Also hopefully this is written well, it’s 10 PM and I am surviving off Irn Bru energy drink). Hope this helped!

[whitehotharlots]

Previewing the 2024 Democrat Primary

Within a couple weeks of his being sworn in, just about every person on earth will wish Joe Biden was no longer president. Sure, the few surviving John B. Anderson voters will be thrilled to see 4 years of crushing austerity and half-assed attempts at Keynesian stimulus. But most people will begin dreaming about a brighter future.

Good news! The 2024 Democratic primary field is going to contain dozens of options. Bad news! They are all going to be disgusting piles of shit. 

The “top tier”

While it’s too early to do any handicapping, these are the candidates the media will treat as having the most realistic chances of securing the nomination. 

Kamala Harris

Kamala did not win a single primary delegate in 2020. This is because she dropped out before the first primary, and that was because no one likes her. She has no base beyond a few thousand of twitter’s most violent psychos. Her disingenuousness approaches John Edwards levels: any halfway incredulous person can see immediately beyond her bullshit. She has no principles whatsoever, and while that may be par for the course for Democrats, she lacks even the basic politician’s ability to intuit anything that might, hypothetically, constitute a principle. 

Even better: she is an awful public speaker. She sounds like how a talking dog would speak if he were just caught stealing people food off the kitchen table. She communicates in weird grunts and faux sassy squeaks, which is how she imagines real black women sound like, but something about her is unable to sell the bit. She begins her sentences in halfhearted AAVE, stops and panics halfway through as she realizes that maybe this sounds fake and offensive, and then reminds herself oh wait, no, this is okay since I’m black. This doesn’t happen once or twice per speech. This is how every single sentence sounds. 

Kamala is like Nancy Pelosi in that no sketch show will ever impersonate her correctly, because anything that came close to authenticity would be considered far too cruel. This might benefit her in the primaries, as she exists in the minds of Democrats as someone and something she absolutely is not in reality. Nominating her would be like allowing your child’s imaginary friend to attempt to drive you to the store. 

Andrew Cuomo

Easily one of the 50 worst people alive, Cuomo has a solid chance because Democrats, same as Republicans, are unable to differentiate between electability and self-serving ruthlessness. Cuomo used the deadliest public health crisis in American history as a pretext for cutting Medicaid and firing 5,000 MTA workers, and his approval rating increased. New York Dems are little piggies who love eating shit. If we assume that the political media will continue their habit of refusing to discuss the legislative history of right wing Democrats, Cuomo might well cruise to the nomination and then lose to literally any human being the GOP nominates by an historic margin. 

Joe Biden

The party loves him because he is a right wing racist. “Progressives” tolerate him because black primary voters over 40 supported him, and their opinion is supposedly a magic window into god’s truth. Everyone else can tell he is manifestly senile. I don’t put it above the DNC to pick a candidate who is in horrible health, dying, or even dead--whatever the financial sector wants, they’ll get. But I would be shocked if his approval rating is above 39% by mid-2023, and by that point deep fake technology will be advanced enough they’ll put out a very lifelike video in which the Max Headroom version of Joe explains he’s proud of his accomplishments--that budget’s almost balanced already--but, man, I gotta abd--I gotta abdica--, uhh, I gotta, I, uhh, I gotta move down, man. 

Wild Cards

These candidates would have all have a chance if they ran, but they could all much more easily retire to Little Saint James off of kickbacks they’ve gotten from Citibank and I.G. Farben. 

Rahm Emanuel

Rahm is going to receive some hugely influential post in the Biden administration. Let’s say he becomes Secretary of Education. His signature achievement will be replacing all elementary school teachers with Amazon’s Alexa, which saved the taxpayers so much money we were able to quadruple the number of armed police officers we put into high schools. This will give him several thousand positive profiles on network news programs and the near-universal support of the Silicon Valley vampires who will own 99% of the country by the time Biden’s term ends. They will use their fancy mind control devices to convince geriatic primary voters that Rahm’s the one who will bring Decency back to the white house. His candidacy will be the paragon of wokeness, as expressing concern toward the fact that he covered up the police murder of a black guy will get you called a racist. 

Rahm has a bonus in that Jewish men are now Schrodeniger’s PoC. When they are decent human beings, they are basic, cis white men who are stealing attention from disabled trans candidates of color. When they love austerity and apartheid, they become the most vulnerable people of color on earth and criticizing them in any way is genocide. No one will be able to mention a single thing Rahm has ever done or said without opening themselves to accusations of antisemitism, and that gives him a strong edge against the rest of the field. The good news is that an Emmanuel candidacy would result in over 50% of black voters choosing the GOP candidate--which, I guess that’s not really good but it would certainly be funny. 

Gavin Newsom

Newsom is every bit as feckless as Cuomo, but he doesn’t put off the same “bad guy in an early Steven Segal movie” vibes. He will mention climate change 50 times per speech and no one will bother to mention how he keeps signing fracking contracts even though his state is now on fire 11 months of the year. If anything, this will be spun into an argument about how he’s actually the candidate best suited to handle all the water refugees gathering on the southern border. Look for his plan to curb emissions by 10% by the year 2150 to get high marks from Sierra Club nerds. He’s also a celebate librarian’s idea of what constitutes a handsome man, so he’ll have some support from the type of women who claim to hate all men. 

Larry Summers

I mean, why not? Larry, like most members of the Obama administration, has politics that are eerily similar to those of Jordan Peterson. In normal circumstances, this makes a person a dangerous fascist who should not be platformed. But if that person has a D next to their name this makes them a realistic pragmatist who has what it takes to bring suburban bankers into our tent. If current trends in Woke Phrenology continue apace, Larry’s belief that women are inherently bad at STEM will be liberal orthodoxy by 2023, and his dedication to the Laffer Curve could see him rake in massive donations. Seriously, I’m not kidding: cultural liberalism is now fully dedicated to identity essentialism and balanced budgets. Larry is their ideal candidate. If he were black and/or a woman, I’d put him in the very top tier. 

Jay Inslee

Unlike Newsom, Inslee’s attempt to crown himself the King of Global Warming won’t be immediately derailed, since his state is only on fire because of protestors. This, however, poses a different problem. He’s going to be a good test case for the Democrat’s uneasy peace with the ever increasing share of the electorate who become catatonic upon hearing a pronoun. On the one hand, you need to take their votes for granted. On the other hand, they’re not like black people or regular gays: most voters actively, consciously despise wokies, and associating yourself with them will ruin a campaign even in deep blue areas. There’s still gonna be riots in a year. Biden’s gonna announce the sale of all our nation’s potable water to the good folks at Nestle and some trans freak named Sasha-Malia DeBalzac is going to use that as an opportunity to sell their new pamphlet about how it’s fascist to not burn down small businesses. No matter what Inslee does in response, it’ll end his career. 

AOC

I’m not one of those “AOC is a secret conservative” weirdos, but I am aware enough of basic reality to know she has zero chance of coming close to the nomination. The right and the center both regard her as a literal demon. The party is already blaming her for the fact that a handful of faceless Reagan acolytes failed to flip their suburban districts even though they ran on sensible pragmatic proposals like euthanizing the homeless. The recriminations will only get more unhinged when the Dems eat shit in the 2022 midterms. She will be a Russian, she will be white male, she will be a communist, she will be a homophobe: any insult or conspiracy theory you can name, MSNBC will spend hours discussing. Her house seat challenger will receive a record amount of support from the DNC in 2024 and it’ll be all she can do to remain in congress.

Larry Hogan

Don’t be dissuaded by the fact that he’s a Republican. Larry is the DNC’s ideal candidate: a physically repulsive conservative who owes his entire career to appealing to the most spiteful desires of suburban white people. He’s an open racist in a material sense--if you’re old-school enough to think racism is a matter of beliefs and actions, rather than the presence of cultural signifiers--but his is the beloved “never Trump” style of racism that Dems covet. He’s also a Proven Leader who thinks the role of government should be to finance the construction of investment property and give police the resources they need to run successful drug trafficking operations. Few people embody the Democrat worldview more than Larry. 

The Losers Bracket

These people will have at least a small chance due solely to the fact that the Democrats love losing. They have lost in the past, and in the Democrat Mind that makes them especially qualified.

Joe Kennedy

The man looks like a mushroom-human hybrid from a JRPG. Trump proved that physical hideousness need not doom a presidential bid, but a candidate still needs some kind of charm or oratorical abilities or, god forbid, a decent platform. Joe aggressively lacks all of these things. A vanity campaign would be a good way to raise money and perhaps secure an MSNBC gig, so Joe might still run. 

Mayor Pete 

I am 100% convinced that Pete’s 2020 run was a CIA plot meant to prevent working class Americans from ever having a chance of living decent lives. I am also 100% aware that Democrats are dumb enough to enthusiastically support a CIA plot meant to prevent working class Americans from ever having a chance of living decent lives. If we have some sort of military or terror disaster between now and 2023 the Dems are sure to want a TROOP, and wait wait wait you’re telling me this one is a gay troop? Holy hell there’s no way that could lose!

Stacy Abrams

Never underestimate the power of white guilt. She lost the gubernatorial race to Gomer Pyle’s grandson, and her spiritual guidance of the Dems saw the party lose black voters in Georgia in 2020. Nonetheless, she is regarded as a magic font of fierceness within the DNC. She might stand a chance if she can establish herself as the most conservative non-white candidate in the field, but there’s going to be stiff competition for that honor.

Elizabeth Warren

Liz is probably angry that the party so shamelessly sold her out even after she was a good little girl and sabatoged Bernie’s campaign for them--yet another example of high ranking US government officials reneging on their promises to the Native American community. Smdh. The fact that this woman hasn’t been bankrupted a dozen times over by various Wallet Inspectors genuinely astounds me. So Liz is probably going to run again, and her campaign will be even sadder the second time around. 

It might surprise you to hear this if you don’t work at a college or NGO, but Liz diehards actually do exist. She’ll get even less support this time because there will be no viable leftist in the field for her to spoil, but she’ll still hang in long enough to make sure the very worst possible candidate beats out the second worst possible candidate. Maybe she’ll fabricate a rape accusation against Sherrod Brown. Maybe she’ll spend her entire allotted debate time doing a land acknowledgment. With Liz, anything is possible--so long as it ends in failure. 

Amy Klobuchar 

Amy was the most bloodthirsty of the 2020 also rans. She will double down on the unpopular failures of the Biden administration, explaining that if you weren’t such a selfish idiot you’d love the higher social security retirement age and oh my god are so such a moron you think you shouldn’t go bankrupt to get a COVID vaccine? There’s a non-unsubstantial segment of the Democratic base that’s self-hating enough to find this appealing, but it won’t be enough to make her viable. 

Martha Coakley

She lost Ted Kennedy’s senate seat to a retarded man who was pretending to be even more retarded than he actually was. Then she lost a gubernatorial race to a guy who openly promised Massachusetts voters that he would punish them for electing him. Her record of failure is unparalleled, making her perhaps the ideal Democrat standard bearer for the twenty twenties. 

[doubleattitude]

24/SEVEN Dance Convention, Provo, UT: RESULTS

High Scores by Age:

Sidekick Solo

1st: Stella Brinkerhoff-’Fly

2nd: Mila Renae-’Move’

2nd: Sylvie Win Szyndlar-’Rainbow Connection’

3rd: Monaco Gonzales-’B.E.A.T.S’

3rd: Ivy Mcewan-’Dance Like Your Daddy’

3rd: Finley Nielsen-’Make You Feel My Love’

4th: Malia Tuaileva-’Stupid Cupid’

4th: Navie Mees-’Sweet Child’

4th: Melina Blitz-’The Poet Creature’

5th: Avery Van Cott-’Blood, Sweat and Tears’

6th: Brinley Lulloff-’Speaking French’

7th: Naomi Harper-’Speechless’

8th: Penelope Prager-’Here Comes The Sun’

8th: Kai Diaz de Leon-’What A Wonderful World’

9th: Addalyn Daley-’Smallest Light’

10th: Olivia Foote-’It’s Oh So Quiet’

Mini Solo

1st: Ruby Taylor-’I Got It’

2nd: Tiara Sherman-’..And The Things That Remain’

2nd: Ellary Day Szyndlar-’Snow’

3rd: Elsie Sandall-’Almost Gone’

3rd: Tessa Ohran-’Knock 1-2-3′

3rd: Alexis Alvarez-’Welcome Home’

4th: Kylie Lawrence-’Breathe In’

4th: Karyna Majeroni-’Pistolette’

4th: Kendyl Miller-’Stand By Me’

4th: Kalista Greer-’Yesterday’

5th: Reegan Francis-’Just A Girl’

6th: Kate Baker-’I’ll Stand By You’

7th: London Smith-’Feel My Love’

8th: Brielle Maciel-’Lean On Me’

9th: Anistyn Larsen-’Desire’

9th: Addison Price-’We Will Not Give In’

10th: Claire Hansen-’By The Roses’

10th: Esprit Frank-’Grains’

10th: Brooklyn Ward-’Here I Am’

10th: Khloe Douros-’Not About Angels’

10th: Tabitha Nan-’Torn’

10th: Hadlee Heriford-’Unbroken’

10th: Patience Hughes-’Weird People’

Junior Solo

1st: Brooke Toro-’As The Dust Settles’

2nd: Stella Condie-’Go Away’

2nd: Bella Fernandez-’She Was Running’

3rd: Kylie Kaminsky-’Beneath the Surface’

3rd: Mya Tuaileva-’Can’t Unhear’

3rd: Kamri Peterson-’Crawl When You Can’t Walk’

3rd: Colby Rich-’Exhale’

4th: Taylor Harrison-’Dawn Chorus’

4th: Makaia Roux-’Everything I Wanted’

4th: Abbi Francis-’Feel It Still’

5th: Kortlynn Rosenbaugh-’Concentration’

5th: Victoria Johnson-’Genius’

5th: Brooke Dubbs-’I Know’

5th: Seren Carter-’Natural’

5th: Alita Kneeland-’Spine’

6th: Lena Hirsch-’Forsaken’

6th: Bosco Wong-’Malaguana’

6th: Vivienne Mitchell-’Metamorphosis’

6th: Blakely Bell-’Shifting’

7th: Caroline McGowan-’Everything Evaporates’

7th: Amaya Llewellyn-’Must’

7th: Kanon Greer-’To The Sky’

8th: Mia Olson-’Marionette Mischief’

8th: Stella Paxton-’Punching In A Dream’

8th: Taytym Ruckle-’Ultraviolet’

9th: Anna Hendershot-’Human’

10th: Reese Kringlen-’Enough’

10th: Aida Nielsen-’Heart of Glass’

10th: Reese Newmarker-’Small World’

Teen Solo

1st: Brady Farrar-’And You’ll See Me’

2nd: Beth Anne McGowan-’Informally Cool’

2nd: Izzy Howard-’Labryinth’

2nd: Hailey Bills-’You’

3rd: Allie Andrew-’Coiled’

3rd: Addison Middleton-’Dark Dissonance’

3rd: Jordan Lassiter-’Joyful Girl’

3rd: Sabine Nehls-’No Regrets’

3rd: Oana Barber-’Tenderness’

4th: Alexis Adair-’A.M.’

4th: Zoe Ridge-’A Thousand Eyes’

4th: Ceilidh McSeveney-’Harm Me’

4th: Gabriella Jensen-’Lost In Your Lies’

5th: Luke Barrett-’Eden’

5th: Emersyn Dickson-’Plans We Made’

5th: Jordynn Christianson-’Sideshow’

5th: Indy Benson-’Soundscape’

6th: Olivia Pinon-’Les Mots Bleus’

6th: Rylee Arnold-’Dirty Diana’

6th: Kya Story-’Gimme All Your Love’

6th: Cydney Heard-’I Dream of You Again’

6th: Hailey Nieva-’I Forgot’

6th: Cassandra Wagstaff-’Zucht 2′

7th: Mia Ibach-’Koladi Ola’

7th: Jaylynn Lindley-’Wisdom Cries’

7th: London Ludwig-’Work’

7th: Ella DeVore-’Zeita’

8th: Emma Martin-’Problem’

8th: Tessa Horsley-’Reflections’

9th: Tiffany Robinson-’Touch’

10th: Madison Goulding-’Mad World’

10th: Ava Allred-’Promises’

10th: London Williamson-’Slow Decent’

Senior Solo

1st: Carter Williams-’20 Years’

1st: Abby Dayton-’Acceptance’

1st: Elijah Hatch-’Escaping Darkness’

2nd: Brooklin Hunsaker-’Godspeed’

2nd: Brooke Melillo-’HIT’

2nd: Amanda Taylor-’I Was Wrong’

2nd: Sicily Redd-’Lamentation’

2nd: Natalia Jensen-’The Last Of Us’

2nd: Paige Wagstaff-’These Days’

3rd: Camry Blackhurst-’Airstrike’

3rd: Ashley Wilcox-’Emigre’

3rd: Taylor Tebbs-’Inertia’

3rd: Chloee Lowrence-’Recall’

4th: Emily Marsh-’Destination’

5th: Ambrie Kirkham-’Blues Run The Game’

5th: Remy Wright-’Moments Passed’

6th: Freddie Linden-’Rescue Me’

7th: Kelsey Tippetts-’Never Grow Old’

7th: Savannah Shaw-’Space Is Only Noise’

7th: Sydni Desmond-’Wild As The Wind’

8th: Abigail Crittenden-’Space’

8th: Charley Osterberg-’Woman’

9th: Rachel McEwan-’I Won’t Hurt You’

9th: Eleni Yannias-’Slow Down’

9th: Lyvia Day-’Tides’

9th: Chloe Baddley-’Volcanic’

10th: Caitlyn Lane-’My Strange Addiction’

Sidekick Duo/Trio

1st: Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’No More I Love Yous’

2nd: Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’I’ve Got Rhythm’

3rd: Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’Hound Dog’

Mini Duo/Trio

1st: Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’Blue Skies’

2nd: Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’King’

3rd: Danceology-’Do Something’

Junior Duo/Trio

1st:  Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’Size’

2nd: The Winner School-’Million Dollar Secret’

3rd: Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’Weightless’

Teen Duo/Trio

1st: The Rock Center for Dance-’Last Light’

2nd: Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’Not The News’

3rd: Empower Dance-’All My Friends’

Senior Duo/Trio

1st: Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’I’ll Never Love Again’

2nd: The Winner School-’In Search Of’

3rd: Artistic Dance Project-’Voodoov’

Sidekick Group

1st: Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’Bird’

Mini Group

1st: The Winner School-’Big Time’

2nd: The Winner School-’Dance Bug’

3rd: The Winner School-’Stand By Me’

Junior Group

1st: The Winner School-’Icon’

2nd: The Winner School-’Searching Together’

3rd: The Winner School-’You Don’t Know Me’

Teen Group

1st: The Winner School-’Free Hand’

1st: The Winner School-’Moving On’

2nd: The Winner School-’Magnificent’

3rd: The Winner School-’War Song’

Senior Group

1st: Artistic Dance Project-’A Little After The Sun’

2nd: Artistic Dance Project-’Letting Go’

3rd: Artistic Dance Project-’Boombastic’

Sidekick Line

1st: Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’Let’s Get Loud’

2nd: Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’Scooby Doo’

3rd: Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’New Girl In Town’

Mini Line

1st: Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’The Moon’

2nd: Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’I Work 2020′

3rd: Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’Uptown Girls’

Junior Line

1st: Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’Girls’

2nd: Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’Sad Day’

3rd: The Dance Company-’Entropy’

Teen Line

1st: Artistic Dance Project-’Greed’

2nd: Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’Sometimes When It Rains’

3rd: The Winner School-’Feel It Still’

Senior Line

1st: Artistic Dance Project-’Storm’

2nd: Artistic Dance Project-’Mother’

3rd: Artistic Dance Project-’Live Another Life’

Mini Extended Line

1st: Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’Time’

2nd: Artistic Dance Project-’Super Model’

Junior Extended Line

1st: Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’I Love It’

Teen Extended Line

1st: Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’Could Look Away’

2nd: Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’Aquatic’

3rd: Artistic Dance Project-’Can’t Pretend’

3rd: Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’Pink and Blue’

Senior Extended Line

1st: Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’Goliath’

2nd: Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’You’

3rd: Artistic Dance Project-’Knocking On Heavens Door’

Mini Production

1st: Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’Swagger Jagger’

Junior Production

1st: Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’Snitches and Rats’

1st: Artistic Dance Project-’Take It’

2nd: Artistic Dance Project-’Swish’

Teen Production

1st: Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’Diamonds’

1st: Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’For Dodo’

2nd: Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’Sexy Back’

Senior Production

1st:  Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’No Bystanders’

High Scores by Performance Division:

Sidekick Contemporary

Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’Bird’

Sidekick Lyrical

Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’The Rose’

Sidekick Specialty

Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’Let’s Get Loud’

Sidekick Musical Theatre

Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’New Girl In Town’

Sidekick Hip-Hop

Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’Scooby Doo’

Mini Musical Theatre

The Winner School-’Big Time’

Mini Jazz

Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’I Work 2020′

Mini Lyrical

Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’The Moon’

Mini Specialty

Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’Uptown Girls’

Mini Contemporary

Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’Time’

Mini Ballroom

Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’Swagger Jagger’

Junior Contemporary

Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’Sad Day’

Junior Jazz

Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’I Love It’

Artistic Dance Project-’Take It’

Junior Lyrical

Artistic Dance Project-’Bright Horses’

Junior Tap

Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’Birds’

Junior Ballet

Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’Going to School’

Junior Ballroom

Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’Girls’

Junior Hip-Hop

Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’Snitches and Rats’

Teen Contemporary

Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’Could Look Away’

Teen Musical Theatre

The Winner School-’Next to You’

Teen Tap

Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’Softly, Heavy’

Teen Jazz

Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’Sexy Back’

Teen Lyrical

The Winner School-’Moving On’

Teen Ballet

Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’Sometimes When It Rains’

Teen Specialty

Artistic Dance Project-’Greed’

Teen Ballroom

Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’Diamonds’

Teen Hip-Hop

Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’For Dodo’

Senior Ballet

Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’Lost Light’

Senior Contemporary

Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’You’

Senior Jazz

Artistic Dance Project-’Boombastic’

Senior Tap

Artistic Dance Project-’I Wanna Dance’

Senior Lyrical

Artistic Dance Project-’Letting Go’

Senior Specialty

Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’Goliath’

Senior Hip-Hop

Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’No Bystanders’

11 O’Clock:

Sidekick

Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’Let’s Get Loud’

Mini

The Winner School-’Big Time’

The Dance Company-’I Feel For You’

Artistic Dance Project-’Super Model’

Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’Swagger Jagger’

Junior

Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’Girls’

The Dance Company-’Entropy’

The Winner School-’Icon’

Artistic Dance Project-’Take It’

Teen

The Winner School-’Moving On’

Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’Could Look Away’

Artistic Dance Project-’Greed’

Senior

Central Utah Ballet-’Embrace’

Artistic Dance Project-’A Little After The Sun’

Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’No Bystanders’

Studio Showcase:

The Winner School-’Moving On’

Center Stage Performing Arts Studio-’Could Look Away’

Artistic Dance Project-’A Little After The Sun’

[thepursuitofunderstanding]

February 9/2021

I listening to Jordan Peterson yesterday and he was talking about how one has to find some sort of meaning that justifies the suffering of the world; something that allows one to behold earthquakes, cancer, the inevitable death of everyone and the possible explosion of the sun, and say, with eyes wide open, it’s all worth it. 

This was an idea that I could intellectually apprehend the last time that I was intensely listening to him, but now I seem to also understand it in an embodied sort of way. Which is a deeper, more intimate sort of understanding, for it requires one to act out one’s understanding instead of merely interacting with it in a calculating and impersonal manner. I get this idea in a way now that I just wasn’t able to before. I had been on the outside looking in then, now I’m living it. Thus, I may well have to take a deep dive back into Peterson’s thought and see what else I can inhabit in a new way. Because it seems that ever since I seriously started to devote myself to my work, I have been able to interact with ideas in a way that I hadn’t even known was possible before. I seem to be pushing the boundaries of my capacity farther than I’ve ever done before. Oh how exciting it is!

Certainly I’d caught glimpses of this potentiality of mine before: questions asked in my classes that were maybe above the caliber asked by my fellow students, or the fact that some of my most intelligent professors seemed quite content to just sit and talk with me for hours on end. There have been indications of.... what exactly? My capacity to interact with ideas with a creativity and to a depth that is unusual? If I may say such a thing of myself... Damn, I think that this capacity might be something that I’ve been dancing around for awhile here now, but always too reluctant to name. For, once named, it exists, it’s real. And once it’s real like that, it can be proven wrong. Which is perhaps my greatest fear--discovering that I’m not as capable and insightful as I might think myself to be. For, my belief in this capacity of mine to probe, to wander and explore, is what my identity is built upon. It is my very foundation, the grounding of my Being. And it’s hard to know, as I’m so close to myself, whether there’s actually anything to this belief in myself. That is, in comparison to others, are my capacities unique? Because I know that this is what it will come down to: all the working in the world won’t matter if I haven’t got that something to distinguish my work, you know?

No matter what my talent level might be, another circumstance that is manifesting out of my increased focus in my work is that I’m feeling myself become the person that I always wanted to be. It’s like I always knew that this person was here, that I could sense the potentiality within myself, I just never dared believe that such a person might ever actually come out for any extended length of time. I figured that the best I would ever get were glimpses every now and again, glimpses of what I could be. It seemed like too much to hope for that I might live this person every day. I mean, on the one hand, I’m the same person that I’ve always been, but I’m also not, you know? I used to be so hesitant, anxious, tense and scared. And of course, that’s all still there, but it’s now massively overshadowed by all that has grown up in the presence of my work. It seems that only through the process of my work has my potentiality been able to materialize into actuality. 

Now, this is where it gets a bit complicated, because I have this sense, which of course I can’t explain, that my work is somehow tied up with my experience of God/divinity. And if explaining that weren’t hard enough, I also have to contend with the fact that I still have no idea what I mean when I say “God” or “divinity.” I think that these topics are vastly more nuanced than our modern cynical world seems to think. In our present context, I think that there’s something to be said for Kierkegaard’s idea that with God all things are possible. Although I’m obviously still very fuzzy about all the implications and connections brought forth by positing such. 

To flesh this idea out a bit, Peterson says that gratitude towards God is something that characterizes Abel... I might have to go back and listen to that segment again, I was admittedly very stoned the first time. But, alas, I do seem to be experiencing a gratitude now that I never knew was possible before: with God all things are possible. And think! It’s only just begun! Perhaps I’ll be lucky enough to get many more years of this. It’s almost too good to even think about. How truly glorious life can be... Although, it can also be wretched beyond comprehension as well; it can be pure hell. And perhaps it is the fact of that great variation that gives life any meaning in the first place. For, it can always be other than it is. Thus the gratitude. Thus also, it seems, the need for sacrifice. As I wander farther down this path of mine I discover how much is and will be demanded of me, everything really. It’s okay though, because I’m nothing without God/my defining commitment/my work anyways. I’ll give Him/it my last breath if that’s what it takes. Because I understand that I wouldn’t have any reason to be alive in the first place if it weren’t for Him/it. 

Alas, should we attempt to pursue what I mean when I say that I (or anyone) is walking with God? I think so. I’ll start by saying that this is a concept that I have adapted from Peterson. It’s not yet entirely clear to me if my conception of it is the same (or how similar) to his conception. In my mind, walking with God is to consciously focus oneself wholly upon one’s defining commitment. Because, it is now becoming apparent to me that I take God to be synonymous with one’s defining commitment and the highest good that one can conceive of. For God is that which illuminates one’s Being and makes all things possible. And it seems to me that this is exactly the effect that a defining commitment has on one’s life. That is, this is the effect when one leaps into/towards this defining commitment as Abraham did, we can’t forget that part. Because there are no halfway movements when it comes to one’s defining commitment. (Since we now understand that when I say “defining commitment” I mean: the meaning of one’s existence; one’s ultimate aim; --God--, I shall from here on out say “God” and take this to mean all the above mentioned simultaneously.) It is all or nothing. And nothing, I have come to understand, is to become Cain: to come to despise Being itself and seek to take revenge upon it. Hell, in other words. Or rather, a self-created Hell. 

Thus, to walk with God is to bow down to God and recognize that one would sacrifice everything if God were to ask it of one. Perhaps even if God doesn’t ask it of one. For God is everything. To walk with God is to recognize this with every fiber of one’s Being... I think that I need to flesh this out more but I don’t have the capacity to articulate it yet. Alas, one day.