Fireside Chat: I'm SJW'd Out

Over the past couple of weeks, the only time that I’ve gotten on social media is to promote this website and my books. Every now and again, I’ll look around and will browse my feed, hoping to see pictures of my friends and their families. However, mostly what I see are posts which are copies of Pro-Trump, Anti-Trump, Pro-Mask, Anti-Mask, Pro-Biden, Anti-Biden, Pro-BLM, Anti-BLM, and multiple posts about SJW rhetoric. After seeing this for almost fifteen minutes, I turn off the computer and move on with my life, wondering why in the Hell did I even think that there would be anything interesting here in the first place. I’ve just decided that I’m to the point that I’m tired of the Tribalism, I’m tired of the groupthink, and I am tired of the “gotcha” culture. It’s sad that this is happening on platforms which were originally thought of as the place where everyone can have a voice, everyone can have their perspectives heard, and where everyone was allowed to have their opinions respected. Instead, people are more belittled than ever due to the Tribalism of the social media landscape.

This leads me to the conclusion that, with the exception of promoting this site, I will not be active on social media again. I’m so tired of the personal attacks, from both the right and the left, thrown at loved ones who would never have thought of doing so only four years ago, and wish that there were more objective dialogues on hot-button topics. More importantly, I’m tired of reading them! It is such a shame that the American landscape has created a culture which cannot sustain a conversation, either in person or online, where there are disagreeing opinions. I hope that this will revive some of the faith in humanity which I have lost over the past several years, though I highly doubt it at this point.

Fireside Chat: Securing Your Base

The news seems to love throwing this phrase around, but never gives a definition or offers an example of what this means. What follows is my attempt.

Securing your base means establishing a self-sustaining, shock-resistant “headquarters” that is well-defended against disruptions from external forces.

The foundation of a secure base begins with good health; life is invariably more precarious when one is not physically strong and resilient.

Because debt enslaves, so that what is “yours” is not your own, financial independence further stabilizes your footing.

Skills of all kinds, whether mechanical, domestic, or combative, allow you to rely less on others and more on yourself. Though security doesn’t equal complete self-reliance; tight relationships with family and friends solidify your base too.

Business owners should avoid “entangling alliances”; partnerships, no matter how apparently promising, rarely work out. This includes “partnering” with the overlords of social media, who, with a tiny tweak of their algorithms, can destabilize an entrepreneur’s entire enterprise.

Finally, a secure base requires secure beliefs. While philosophic and political positions can and should evolve over time, they should not be so unexamined, so lacking in well-studied context, that every current of change knocks you into an incapacitating stupor of confusion and cognitive dissonance. You should know why you believe what you believe.

The purpose of creating this kind of personal garrison isn’t to passively retreat from the theater of life; rather, it is to create a fortification from which to better launch your offensive operations.

Fireside Chat: Starting Rebuttals

I feel that I have been lacking in my Polemic writing as of late, mostly due to both the topic at hand and want to get as much information on the issue before I officially publish the essay on the matter. Until then, I was planning on having a couple of Polemics on smaller topics, like Shaun King wanting to remove statues of Jesus and pedophiles wanting to rename themselves “minor-attracted persons”. It was here that I ran into a little bit of a snag however, seeing that these smaller topics didn’t quite match to the research load necessary to my standards for my version of a Polemic. When I initially made the attempt of arguing the three biggest points for removing Jesus from the public squares, or the renaming of pedophiles, I couldn’t find anything which advocates were using for their sides of the argument, other than the constant touting of discrimination and racism. This makes it quite difficult for me to accurately write about both sides of the issue and come up with my conclusion in an objective fashion, thus forcing me to make a snap judgment if the opposing side does not attempt to offer anything during the debate. Therefore, I had to make a new format for a new essay system, one which I loathe, but one which will be necessary to tackle these one-sided, non-sourced arguments: The Rebuttal.

There are three reasons why I can’t stand this type of essay. One, I’ve always considered it the “lazy man’s” Polemic. There are many different styles, flares, and formats involved, but the overall layout of a Rebuttal is pretty much the same:

-Standard Open

-Discredit their points, one at a time

-Standard Conclusion

Since the layout is simple, most people just assume that this would imply that a proper Rebuttal would be simple to write. However, this is quite a popular fallacy, and is the second reason I don’t like them because YouTube is filled with critique videos that are cups running over with cringe! A proper Rebuttal should stick only to the topic at hand, offering solutions as it goes, not simply bashing another’s claims or making unsubstantiated claims, as doing so wouldn’t be a rebuttal so much as it would be simply a mirror of the very source material you were attempting to rebut in the first place. Finally, I abhor rebuttals which are not at least twice as well-sourced as the content being rebutted. This may just be more of a personal thing, but I cannot respect a Rebuttal if I don’t have confidence in the writer’s capability of researching the topic to the point where they could offer a substantial retort.

Moving forward, I plan on writing these Rebuttals when I am not ready to publish Polemics on Wednesdays, keeping to the above rules, with the hopes to shed some light on topics that do not deserve to be given the time and effort to be turned into a Polemic.

Fireside Chat: Definitions Matter

I recently got a question about why I label these posts Polemics, Process, Fireside Chats. The reason i do so is twofold: one, i like to experiment with different types of writing styles. Two, it aides me to better get into a frame of mind to better organize my thoughts into what i want to write about. However, sometimes i believe that readers get my formal and informal pieces mixed up, and i was asked by someone to offer some context. The first few that i will talk about are those which i have currently written, and others are those which i will write in the future.

Fireside Chat: This is the most informal essay which i write. This is where i write about my thoughts about what’s been on my mind this week, answers to questions which readers have asked me, concerns, etc. Unless i deem it necessary, I usually won’t offer footnotes in these, as they are just my personal opinions.

Process: I can see these getting me into a little bit of trouble in the future! Slightly less informal than the Fireside Chats, the Processes are basically me explaining how i understand information and how i see the world around me through the information that i, well, processed. Though i offer much more context in these, i will include footnotes for sources which i believe would be interesting to the reader.

Polemic: Now these have DEFINATELY gotten me into trouble before, and to be honest, I’m not entirely sure why. Though true, I’ve done these on some pretty hot button topics, I believe that I’ve been fairer than most people in this category. Traditionally, a polemic is a strong stance on a controversial topic, nothing more. My version has always been formatted as follows: a general overview, the strongest pros, the strongest cons, my opinion. These pieces are heavily sourced.

The essays which i will write in the future will all be heavily sourced and are as follows:

Dialectic: Two stances on an issue are combined into one, common ground thesis.

Discourses: Expanding on previous philosophies.

Modest Proposals: In the spirit of Johnathan Swift, these will be sure-fire solutions to some of the world’s biggest problems. Of course, these will not be solutions anyone will agree to, as they will be ridiculously exaggerated to prove a point.

Economics: Essays based on ideas and issues on personal finance and macroeconomic issues.

The remaining will be based on books and on religion. From now on, i will have these definitions up before every essay.

Fireside Chat: Trying out Via Negativa

There was a book written in the early 20th century called Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiewicz. in it, he spoke about a concept which revolved around gaining from life by taking away meaningless tasks. In the novel, this was acts such as drinking at taverns and spending money at brothels as opposed to spending time and money with your family, but i began to wonder if the same method could also apply to the modern world. How much more of our life could be gained by taking away from our social media habits, streaming habits, and other tasks we deem necessary in the 21st century?

As an experiment, i downloaded a couple of apps on my phone to track such things like how often i opened my phone, how long i used certain apps, and what parts of the day i used it. In addition, i installed a time tracking app that would also track whatever other activity i was doing at the time. I was hoping to have a good baseline for my regular activity, so i didn’t change anything that i did in regards to my phone usage. For the first week, my top three usages were:

1 - YouTube - 52h 24m

2 - Netflix - 26h 12m

3 - YouTube Music - 12h 7m

Now, most of the time, i would listen to things as background noise for whatever else i was doing, but i was absolutely shocked by how much i was using my phone as a crutch to do other activities. This may just be my perspective, but if i was doing one activity while listening to something else, i could at MOST give half of my attention to both of these things at the same time. This would mean that, when i was writing, reading, studying, etc., I was not being fair to myself by placing such limits on the power of my attention. The next week, i deleted Netflix off of my phone and planned on only using YouTube at certain times of the day. The next week became:

1 - YouTube 20h 34m

2 - YouTube Music 3h 3m

3 - Chrome - 2h 28m

In the same week, my time spent reading and with my family more than doubled, my grades improved, i wrote more, and i had more time to myself since i completed tasks a bit faster because i was focused more on them. I was GAINING more life by taking away from it. Trying to make the most out of it, i continued the cycle, and this past week’s top three for my phone were:

1 - YouTube Music - 1h

2 - TimeLogger - 10m

3 - Clock - 5m

This week, I had forty hours clocked with my family, four hours in writing, read four books, finished multiple projects around the house, and haven’t missed my phone at all. I gained all of this by simply taking away time that i was giving passively to my phone. It makes me wonder what i could gain if i could find other ways to take away from meaningless tasks from my life.

Of course, this is just an example. However, i give it because it is probably the most relevant to readers. If you want to try it for yourself but don’t want to dive into it quite as deep as i did, just start off by placing your phone on the charger half an hour before bed. When you wake up, don’t touch your phone until after you’ve gotten your cup of coffee or something. Taking away habits/addictions like phone usages is hard, but doing so can be done if it’s trained like a muscle. If you can, i promise you that you won’t regret it!

Fireside Chat: On a Monday

Fireside Chat was made for this purpose. It was something for me to do that was a bit informal, for me to be able to use to give an account on what i feel like is a pressing matter in my life. For those who know me, who have followed my journey (first of all, thank you!), you will know that i have had quite the adventure with pain since my injuries from the Army. Nerve damage, degenerating discs, arthritis, brain damage, knee damage, inability to feel hot or cold, and migraines from light and sound. This has limited me to very few activities and has caused a lot of nervousness with my loved ones in me doing simple things like going to the gym or doing household chores. Sometimes, it’s justified. My pride can get in the way and make me go a bit too far and injure myself. Other times, i just feel like nothing more than a checkbook and a warm body for my family.

For the past week, there’s been a new symptom. Everything i touch, everything that touches me, is painful. You know how it feels rubbing your finger across the scratchy side of Velcro? That’s kind of how it feels to me. Even typing this post is painful to me right now. Picking up my drink right now is painful. The water in my mouth sloshing around is painful. Even swallowing it feels like a billow brush. Last night, i ended up drinking too much trying to dull the pain, and went to the hospital. Due to the flu, i was told that i had some spinal cord problems, was given a couple of shots, and was sent home. I’m still in agony, but i don’t want to have a repeat of last night. There is a high bar of diminishing returns when it comes to that particular flavor of medicine!

The good news is that, if i have spinal cord problems, i should be able to get more money for my VA compensation. The bad news is that there’s not a lot they can do to help me. I’m maxed out on my Gabapentin, they won’t give me more opioids. My other half is more hopeful about the idea of something being done, but i can tell that it’s taking it’s toll on her. She can’t touch me without hurting me right now, and i know that is hurtful for her. I’m just accepting the situation for what it is: it will never get better, i will continue to get worse and worse, and i feel terrible for even being here because i just feel like a constant burden to her.

In a rare instance, I’m asking for help. Leave a comment and tell me what i can do (LEGALLY! I’m not going to a drug dealer Josh, so don’t even ask!). Should i keep my thoughts and my pain inside like i have been or should i be more open at a risk to hurting her more? Let me know which one is healthier.

Fireside Chat: How Depression Can Kill You

The last Fireside Chat that I wrote was on the 10th of November, 2019. I hadn’t
written a single thing since then. I finished a draft of the latest book in the
“Ezekiel March” saga that week, but that was it. I went back to school, came
home, ate, studied, and went to bed. This was my life. The only thing about
this is…I don’t remember any of it. I don’t remember what happened that
Christmas. I don’t remember much of anything that happened last quarter in
college. Hell, to be honest, I can barely tell you what happened before I sat
down to write this post. Most of my day-to-day interactions with the world are
lost to me if I don’t write them down, and I have no recollection of people who
I have known for years. All that I had to keep me grounded in my normal
activity was my strict, almost unnecessarily disciplined, daily schedule. It
would look like this:

0300 to 0700 – Rise, prayer, gym,
write, read, shower and shave

0700 to 1200 – Classes

1200 to 1250 – Mass

1300 to 1600 – Study

1600 to 1900 – Family time,
housework

1900 to 2100 – Study,
entertainment, rest

This was pretty much my schedule,
Monday to Friday. It never changed, never moved, never altered. On weekends,
though the scheduling was a tad bit less disciplined, there would still be
requirements to be adhered to:

•          Study – 3 hours

•          Write – 1 hour

•          Read – 2 hours

I was doing quite well and was
feeling fine. I could keep myself grounded in my schedule, finding peace in the
thought that, if I didn’t remember what happened yesterday, at least I knew
that I followed my daily schedule and adhered to my daily requirements. Then,
for reasons that escape me, I stopped, and I felt miserable.

     It started off being a reprieve! I could sleep in; I felt a bit more relaxed and I
felt like I was a tad bit liberated from my rigor. It was only after wasting
time on YouTube and watching television, I began to realize more and more that
I was wasting what little I could remember. I wasn’t nearly as productive. I
failed a class. I began to feel like everything was falling apart, and I began
to think those dark thoughts which most people who live in constant pain and
have brain damage begin to have when they feel this pathetic. After months of
feeling idle, feeling hopeless and feeling like I was never going to amount to
anything more than what I had achieved at this point, I tried to better
understand what was going on with me.

            That was when I was reminded of what made me so productive in the first place:
taking action!

            It was the act of actually doing something, even when I didn’t feel like it that
made me feel better. No matter what was going on, I could at least say that I
had adhered to the schedule and had accomplished something that day. No matter
what was going on in my life, I could say that I had written my requirements
for that day, read a book that day, spent time cleaning the house, kept up with
the requirements I had for myself for that day. This is what kept me from going
to a completely dark and dismal place, one where too many people in my
situation find themselves and make a permanent solution to their temporary
situation.

            Keeping a consistent schedule is the most effective way
to be successful in life. When we are persistent, we are striving towards a
goal every day, always growing and always adhering to a goal. When adhering to
these goals, one will always find success in their physical, mental, social,
and spiritual disciplines. When we will ourselves to strive
towards adhering to this premise, we ensure that there is always a portion of
our day, every day, which is always in our control. What creates unhappiness
and confusion in most of our lives is the feeling of a lack of control. This
comes from adhering to another’s schedule, placing their priorities above our
own, and building towards objectives that we do not deem essential. It is our
responsibility to be the captain of our soul, and our responsibility to ensure
that we are steering the ship ourselves. One does this by striving towards this
by conquering the day, every day, at a time that we can control. Set a time,
set the priority, and work towards them every day.

Fireside Chat: Following Your Passion is Stupid

I was reading an article today on some website that popped up on my phone, one of those blog posts that is all about motivation and inspiration and all that crap. Anyway, the woman was talking about how much she hated working for her law firm, doing the same thing day after day. At some point, she left her firm and began blogging for a living. I suppose she is doing well, considering the fact that there were so many ads on the page, it’ll make your head spin! She closed with the oh-so-simple notion of “follow your passion, and you’ll never work a day in your life”.

            After swallowing down the vomit from reading this article, it made me realize just how stupid this mentality is. What if your passion is waffles? Should you go to business school and go work for Waffle House? Personally, my passion is potatoes. Whether they are fried, baked, or raw, I adore them. By that logic, I should sell my house, buy a farm, and start growing them for a living. My point is that people swallow this garbage like it’s the antidote for their not-so-stellar lives. What they realize once they swallow this pill is that, in reality, its poison. Usually, you will make less money, work harder than you normally would if you just stayed at your job and did what you love on the side. You can get what you need financially, and you get to do what you love.

            Here’s a simpler mentality for you to follow: instead of “following your passion”, ask yourself “what kind of life do I want”? Begin with the end in mind, asking these questions:

1.    What do I want to be at the end of my life?

2.    How much money do I want?

3.    Where will I live when I’m old?

4.    How many kids do I want?

5.    How do I want to be remembered?

To further explain my point, I will give you my own answers to the above:

1.    I want to be a tenured Professor and own a Real Estate company

2.    I want at minimum 7 figures to be placed into a trust, ensuring my financial future when I am old

3.    I want to live in the mountains of northern Georgia

4.    I don’t want to have any children, depending on my uncertainty of my genetics

5.    I want to be remembered by being the strongest, bravest, and wisest man that most people I am around will ever know

Once you have answers to these questions, work from there by making these hopes a reality. I believe that this method is MUCH more obtainable than the previous mentality. Figure out what you want, and then go after it.

Fireside Chat: There's No Excuse for Ignorance

I hear it all the time about how cell phones, social media, and the information age is a disease killing youth. My response has always been the same: DAMN I HATE A STRAWMAN! Never before in the history of mankind has it been easier to learn a language, watch a movie, look up on what your second cousin twice-removed is doing half way across the world. It’s amazing how many people run their own businesses, go to college, or manage fundraisers wherever they are, at the touch of a button. To be honest, I enjoy it quite a lot. Without, I wouldn’t have ever been able to get my books out and afford my fountain pens. Despite some of the shortfalls which come from a connected world, society has benefited greatly from all of the world’s information being held inside of one’s pocket. However, the introduction of information being readily available has called for the death of something else: ignorance.

            I had a conversation the other day, all thanks to social media, about the nauseating Mueller Report and the current Trump Impeachment investigation. Normally I don’t respond to these things, but this guy is someone I usually make an exception about. Even if we get nowhere, I end up at least getting some substance about whatever we are talking about. This time, however, I managed to walk blindly into a dumpster fire! It started with someone posting that Trump is not getting impeached, which caused me to comment that I believe the DNC is so stupid for doing this, considering how well the Mueller probe went for them, and that I believe it will end the same way that all of the other investigations went: with the Blowfish Mentality, nothing but air. Now, I do admit that I believe that this was my first mistake, seeing as the guy who put up the original post did it to be a troll. However, it was then asked why I thought Trump wouldn’t be impeached. This led down a rabbit hole where the other guy argued substance about everything other than the ACTUAL report. References to Nixon to convictions of 34 others in the Trump Campaign to mentioning Alexander Hamilton’s Federalist Letter 66, but nothing was mentioned from the ACTUAL report. My reply was thus:

Vol. 1 p.2 speaks about the fact that collusion isn't a specific charge in US code, and states that the investigation is more on a conspiracy. Vol. 1 p.175 states that no one in the Trump campaign participated with the Russian "Active Measures" social media campaigns. Vol. 2 p. 74 outlines the fact that firing Comey was not an obstructive act, since the investigation would have continued without him anyway. p. 75 clarifies why Comey was fired, stating that Comey told the president three separate times he was not under investigation, which would piss me off, so i don't blame him. p. 112 states that Jeff Sessions was not directed to end the investigation, he just wanted to be treated fairly and wanted the same intensity placed on Hillary Clinton's email scandals. p. 157 CLEARLY and DIFINATIVELY states that "the evidence does not establish that the President was involved in an underlying crime related to Russian election interference". What follows are Mueller's "implications", Mueller's "hints", nothing that states "Yes, President Donald Trump stole the election under the help of Putin”.

I then replied afterwards:

            Would you like the transcript too? I have that as well.

I won’t lie, that last one was kind of petty.

            My point is this: The Mueller Report is available to the public. The minute it was, I bought a copy, but you can read it online here. Before I made an opinion about it, guess what? I read the damn thing! When Mueller spoke before Congress, guess what? I watched the damn thing! When the Ukraine phone call became declassified, you get the picture. As a bonus, you can read that here. The point is that no one has an excuse for not being in the know anymore, and to be honest, I have no patience for ignorant people anymore. It is so rich to hear nothing but talking points from “experts” spewing from the mouths of every polarized idiot who listens. Whether its Right-leaning or Left-leaning, I hate to hear the bile of others come out of the mouths of those who couldn’t be bothered to do their own homework. If someone is ignorant today, then they are willingly ignorant.

            I’m not going to hold my tongue with the uninformed anymore. Don’t get me wrong, I used to chock it up to them not having enough time to do their research. I used to be the polite conservative, nod my head, accept the metaphorical slaps and respond in a professional tone. Indeed, I would innocently accept that this person was just another one of those who were totally okay with not being in the know. The rise of the internet brought the fall of my previous belief in the way that people argue in terms of substance. This willfulness to accept what is said to you about something instead of looking at it for yourself angers me, not only with the Left, but also the Right. The truth of the matter is that no one can be uninformed today unless they choose to be. Much like how a horse can be brought to the water but cannot be made to drink, someone can have Google on their phone but cannot be made to look up a document. It goes to show that it’s not that we don’t have enough time, but rather that we waste much of it. Instead of playing with filters on Instagram, maybe you should educate yourself before making an opinion on a subject that you know nothing about.

Fireside Chat: Does Family Tie or Restrain?

Over the past week, I’ve been noticing just how people tend to bring up their family when it comes to whatever is relevant to what is going on in their lives at the time. Good or bad, many of these instances always seemed like a copout to me. I hear words like “It’s the way I was raised”, or others like “My parents brought me up to be a (insert disappointing trope here)”, refusing to take any responsibility for their actions. Through this world view, these degenerates see the world as nothing more than something beyond their control, and they see themselves as something which is too fragile to cope with their ever-changing surroundings.

            People blame the world and everything in it for their problems. The most convenient scapegoats are always those which are within a close proximity, and no one is closer than family. As is typical, whatever ills that one’s parents, grandparents, siblings or other kin place are seen as too traumatic in order for the “victim” to make something of themselves.

            Honestly, I believe that this is all a bunch of garbage, and I’m not simply talking about the blame sharing. Just as family ties can cause resentment, they can also hold someone back if they are too susceptible to family pressures. There IS such a thing as toxic family relations and they are some of the most damaging relationships out there. The problem with these cases is that there are less resistances towards such antagonists, justified due to the poorly made moralities which state that family ties are stronger than any other.

What makes a sperm or egg donor a parent in this world? How much time they spend around the child? By that logic, would a nanny be more of a parent than the workaholic mother?  Would a stepfather of a child whose dead-beat father spends little to no time around their kid be considered more of a father? Or is it solely based on genetics themselves? This conversation has always confused me, possibly due to my own family confusion. These questions have been asked ever since I was old enough to discover this paradox:

·         Why is it okay for a child to blame his biological parents for his misgivings if they have never been involved in his life?

·         Why do people tend to believe self-fulfilling prophecies about their failures which are connected to the way they are brought up?

·         If you wouldn’t perform some grand act of generosity for a stranger, then why is it okay to abandon those restraints when someone shares DNA or a family name?

My belief on the concept of family ties may be polarizing, but it is one which is a bit fairer than others. Only you are responsible for how you feel, how you act, how you live and how you see the world. If someone who is a part of your family is in a bind, offer moral support, but nothing more. The best thing a family can teach is self-reliance, not self-indulgence.