Fireside Chat: Authoritarianism

Everything not compulsory is forbidden according to liberals. This is because, to an extent, authoritarianism is adroit. In Federalist 20, Hamilton and Madison elucidate that “The surrounding powers impose an absolute necessity of union to a certain degree, at the same time that they nourish by their intrigues the constitutional vices which keep the republic in some degree always at their mercy.”[1] In the first book of Kings, Rehoboam forsook the council of the wise and discoursed with men who were devoted to him since boyhood, and vowed to chastise the children of Israel with scorpions instead of alleviating their load by serving them.[2] Rehoboam went so far as to erect an idol, ordain that the children of Israel serve their golden calves, and erected a priesthood not of the children of Levi.[3]Rehoboam’s excarnation led to the usurpation of the throne due to his tyranny, placing Josiah in his stead, removing the accidie. When the tyrannical lead, they insist that their control of the culture, as well as their sovereignty, is absolute. As John Stuart Mill warned:

Representative institutions necessarily depend for permanence upon the readiness of the people to fight for them in case of their being endangered. If too little valued for this, they seldom obtain a footing at all, and if they do, are almost sure to be overthrown, as soon as the head of the government, or any party leader who can muster force for a coup de main, is willing to run some small risk for absolute power.[4]

If the populace no longer cares for involvement in their governments, then the institutions will make the public slaves to the machine of government.

[1] Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, “Federalist Paper 20,” in American State Papers (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1952), 77.

[2] I Kings 12: 1-15.

[3] I Kings 12: 27-33.

[4] John Stuart Mill, “Representative Government,” in American State Papers (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1952), 350-351.

Fireside Chat: Man's Strength Through Faith

A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man without trials. – Seneca

If a man is to improve himself, he must be willing to be assumed imprudent. Every novel feat will result initially in failure. Every trial will show a man how much he can take before he realizes that he didn’t break; he will struggle to carry the weight, increasing his strength in whatever he endeavors to accomplish. Every man eventually reaches the point where he will have to face trials that will transform his worldview forever. Men eventually become slaves to their freedom, a mon avis. A man must realize that, to live a free life, he must bow to the altar of liberty continually, consequences be damned! A man shall be free indeed when his days are not without a care nor his nights without a want and a grief, but rather when these things girdle his life and yet he rises above them naked and unbound. Man has two masters—God and himself. By kneeling before the Lordship of our Creator and reversing his accidie, man will truly understand emancipation.

Fireside Chat: Hardship Bequeaths Merit

In the 24th Chapter of The Book of Proverbs, it is written:

“If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.”

A man of ideals acquires strength when he struggles to carry the millstone of his life. A man of ideals experiences faith when he stares the demons of his phase in the face, unflinching, unmoved from the stench of brimstone. A man of ideals idolizes ideas heralded by other men who carry the fire of grit. He does not complain when he experiences hardship, for he fathoms that God has granted adversity to augment his tenacity. He learns the worth of thrift through poverty, kinship from isolation, and amity from seclusion. God grants these gifts not to tatter a man’s existence, but to give him tools to erect a life which is all his own. It is in this way that the natural can be turned into the spiritual: through sacrifice. Without this a man will lead a divided life.

Fireside Chat: Order of Merit

Written by Charles Babbage in his book “Decline of Science in England.”

Amongst the various proposals for encouraging science, the institution of an order of merit has been suggested. It is somewhat singular, that whilst in most of the other kingdoms of Europe, such orders exist for the purpose of rewarding, by honorary distinctions, the improvers of the arts of life, or successful discoverers in science, nothing of the kind has been established in England. [At the great meeting of the philosophers at Berlin, in 1828, of which an account is given in the Appendix; the respect in which Berzelius, Oersted, Gauss, and Humboldt were held in their respective countries was apparent in the orders bestowed on them by the Sovereigns of Sweden, of Denmark, of Hanover, and of Prussia; and there were present many other philosophers, whose decorations sufficiently attested the respect in which science was held in the countries from which they came.]

Our orders of knighthood are favourable only to military distinction. It has been urged, as an argument for such institutions, that they are a cheap mode of rewarding science, whilst, on the other hand, it has been objected, that they would diminish the value of such honorary distinctions by making them common. The latter objection is of little weight, because the numbers who pursue science are few, and, probably, will long continue so. It would also be easily avoided, by restricting the number of the order or of the class, if it were to form a peculiar class of another order. Another objection, however, appears to me to possess far greater weight; and, however strong the disposition of the Government might be (if such an order existed) to fill it properly, I do not believe that, in the present state of public opinion respecting science, it could be done, and, in all probability, it would be filled up through the channels of patronage, and by mere jobbers in science.

Another proposal, of a similar kind, has also been talked of, one which it may appear almost ridiculous to suggest in England, but which would be considered so in no other country. It is, to ennoble some of the greatest scientific benefactors of their country. Not to mention political causes, the ranks of the nobility are constantly recruited from the army, the navy, and the bar; why should not the family of that man, whose name is imperishably connected with the steam-engine, be enrolled amongst the nobility of his country? In utility and profit, not merely to that country, but to the human race, his deeds may proudly claim comparison even with the most splendid of those achieved by classes so rich in glorious recollections. An objection, in most cases fatal to such a course, arises from the impolicy of conferring a title, unless a considerable fortune exists to support it; a circumstance very rarely occurring to the philosopher. It might in some measure be removed, by creating such titles only for life. But here, again, until there existed some knowledge of science amongst the higher classes, and a sound state of public opinion relative to science, the execution of the plan could only be injurious.

Fireside Chat: Academics Are Poisonous

Academics have zero accountability, at least, within their institution. Egyptologist Kara Cooney is under the microscope from the liberal establishment for her false claims about Kyle Rittenhouse. In her book, Good Kings, Cooney asks readers to "consider 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse, who used his semi-automatic weapon to kill two Black men in Kenosha, Wisconsin, while waging a glorious race war on behalf of his inherited White power."[1] In actuality, the men shot by Rittenhouse were white, a convicted pedophile named Joseph Rosenbaum, who was charged by a grand jury with 11 counts of child molestation and inappropriate sexual activity with children. This included anal rape, masturbation, oral sex, and showing minors pornography. The victims were five boys ranging in age from nine to 11 years old.[2] Anthony Huber was a serial abuser, also convicted of reckless endangerment using a dangerous weapon.[3] Gaige Paul Grosskreutz held a lengthy criminal record, which included the utilization of a firearm while intoxicated and disrespecting officers.[4] Notice that all three men are white, and footage shows that these men approached Rittenhouse, who did not fire until threatened.[5]

Now, I am not an academic. I am not expected to compose "scholarly" articles to maintain my job or publish books to appear more sophisticated than I am. I am not likely to edit and read books to ensure that they are factual. That being said, National Geographic is. This mala fide action taken by National Geographic points to a bigger problem in the academic world: no one is held accountable in the halls of academia. Books are mirrors of the soul, and Cooney's blatant lie in her book demonstrates that she did not fear accountability. Readers must continue to hold such professors up to what they write and EXPECT their musings to be backed up with facts. With any luck, this perversion of truth will begin the death by a thousand cuts that will topple scholastic elitists.

[1] Kara Cooney, The Good Kings: Absolute Power in Ancient Egypt and the Modern World (National Geographic, 2021), 341.

[2] Jim Piwowarczyk, “Joseph Rosenbaum: Sex Offender 2002 Arizona Criminal Complaint,” Wisconsin Right Now, accessed January 7, 2022, https://www.wisconsinrightnow.com/2021/03/11/joseph-rosenbaum-sex-offender/

[3] Jim Piwowarczyk, “Why We’ve Decided to Tell You the Criminal Records of the Men Shot in Kenosha,” Wisconsin Right Now, accessed January 7, 2022, https://www.wisconsinrightnow.com/2021/03/12/kenosha-shooting/

[4] Ibid.

[5] Ibid.

Fireside Chat: Stay Out of the University

Nomads are raised to manage alone and are burdened with low expectations. Artists are raised to cooperate with others and are burdened with high expectations.[1]

I have decided that the past decade of academic pursuit was pointless, to put it bluntly. When I say this, it is sincere: I tried. I tried to see the benefit of Foodways in creating the modern world. I tried to see the significance of learning about the origins of Oral History, the creation of Modern Germany, and the importance of Southern Foodways, in particular. I tried to tame my anger at the lack of the classics in higher education and believed there would be some point behind it all. But, in the end, I've come to realize that something is wrong here. Instead of studying practical history and discerning moral lessons, all I ended up getting was a monotonous stream of consciousness approach to higher education. Instead of learning the moral, logical, and ethical practices taken throughout time, leading to the ultimate standard held today, I was bombarded by "nuance" (which is a word that academics adore using when they have no idea what they're talking about). Instead of ideas initially created in the classics, I was met with ipso facto Postmodernism. As the aphorism would say, "facts without theory are trivia; theory without facts is bullshit." Did I end up getting disabled, literally losing my life for about a minute, for this?

            Any man who wants to DO something with his life should heed this warning: stay out of the universities! There is a reason that men make up the minority of university students, and it is the same reason that it will never be fixed. This is because the postmodernists, the feminists, and the atheists own the institution. When you tell men, even the damaged men who grew up without fathers, that there is no such thing as an organized truth, that all sex can be considered rape, and that God does not exist, you'll be faced with a couple of questions. First, isn't the statement that there is no organized truth, by definition, an organized truth? If all sex can be considered rape, how is the human race supposed to survive as a species? When you tell men who've had to look to God as their father, why would they accept your premise that God does not exist? Boys who have been demonized do not react well towards being demonized as men. There are only two options available to them: accept the academic's premise or never become involved in the university in the first place.

            The out-of-fashion sales pitch heard by men is the same spiel I heard as a boy: you can get an excellent job with a college degree. According to a 2013 survey, only 27 percent of graduates work within their chosen major,[2] and another study shows that 45 percent of 2020 graduates are still looking for work.[3] Nearly 30 percent of all bachelor's degrees are outside the hard sciences, while the top 5 highest-demand jobs require 18 months or less at a trade school.[4] The economy needs home health aides, nursing assistants, construction workers, physical therapy aides, and medical technologists.[5] Instead, the most common degree is Business.[6] It may also be a double-edged sword should one get a graduates degree because the top 40% of earners hold 60% of the debt due to their Graduates degree.[7] It should also be noted that most technical degrees are Associates degrees that makeup only 7 percent of the total college debt.[8]

            Jay B. Nash said that "to learn will someday be placed above teaching."[9] Nash's hope was achieved in the trade schools, but it was never realized in the halls of Academia. Nash aspired for a world where education will leave an individual to achieve all they would desire, reaching success and obtaining social approval.[10] But, unfortunately, academics is merely a Ponzi scheme, where there are not enough Ph.D. slots for the graduates to fill. In addition, graduate school employees serve as cheap labor for most teaching.[11] On the other hand, teachers in trades are required to work in their field for up to ten years and require only a teaching certificate from an accredited technical school.[12]

            Men who want to do something with their lives, and make decent money doing it, should not look for self-actualization within the university. All of us have been filled with the bile of how university gives us the ability to glean a great-paying profession, and for the STEM field, perhaps that's true. However, the endeavor will lead only to large student loan debts for the humanities in particular. Maybe one day, Nash's hope will be realized in the university. But, for now, there are some 30 million jobs in the United States that pay an average of $55,000 per year that doesn't require a bachelor's degree.[13] Any man worth his salt should take advantage or be the next Ph.D. barista at the local coffee shop.

[1] William Strauss and Neil Howe, The Fourth Turning: An American Prophecy, (New York: Three River Press, 1997), 77.

[2] Defang Zhang, “More college grads land jobs outside their majors — and that’s a good thing, experts say,” Madison Commons, November 12, 2019, https://madisoncommons.org/2019/11/12/more-college-grads-land-jobs-outside-their-majors-and-thats-a-good-thing-experts-say/#:~:text=In%20fact%2C%20it%20is%20a,closely%20related%20to%20their%20majors.

[3]  Alanna Quillen, “With Millions of Job Openings, Why Are College Grads Still Struggling to Find Work?,”  NBCDFW, July 15, 2021, https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/with-millions-of-job-openings-why-are-college-grads-still-struggling-to-find-work/2681757/

[4] Gili Malinsky, “These 15 jobs will be in high demand over the next 5 years—some with salaries topping $80,000,” Jul 20 2020,  https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/20/jobs-growing-in-high-demand-over-next-5-years-some-pay-more-than-80000-in-salary.html

[5] Ibid.

[6] See note 3.

[7] Kristen Kuchar, “Who Owes the Most Student Loan Debt?”, March 30, 2021, https://www.savingforcollege.com/article/who-owes-the-most-student-loan-debt

[8] Ibid.

[9]  Jay Nash, Spectatoritis, ed. Christopher Fennell (Independant Publishing, 2021), 177.

[10] Ibid, 206.

[11] Michael W Kraus Ph.D., “Is Graduate School a Ponzi Scheme?”, January 19, 2012https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/under-the-influence/201201/is-graduate-school-ponzi-scheme

[12] Vocational Teaching Certification and Certificate Programs (learn.org)

[13] The Good Jobs Project | Good Jobs That Pay without a BA (goodjobsdata.org)

Fireside Chat: A Review of Foodways Programs

Plutarch once wrote that “the mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled.” No other quote would be more suitable concerning higher education. Education should encourage students to question everything, requiring evidence before belief. Education requires elevating pupils' minds to new heights, teaching students to learn for themselves, and engage them to better prepare for the future. Education must muster one’s motivation to greater heights, giving students the subject for their future areas of study. Instead, classes like Global Foodways serve little more than bash corporations. Instead of granting students different ways to look at produce, understanding the supply chains involved, and feeding a world on a global scale, Foodways programs focus on race hustling and never go further back than the Atlantic Slave trade nor further forwards than the Civil Rights movement. The fact of the matter is that colleges abandoned the study of classics for race hustling. Therefore, I’ve done my best to tell my fellow students to learn to trust nothing. Everything you think you feel, everything you think you know, question every call, play through every whistle. These academics must CONVINCE me that what they’re saying is the truth; if they cannot, their courses are pointless. Woke institutions inevitably cause the counter-culture to grow. Parents are paying for parrots to turn their children into sheep.

Fireside Chat: Man's Silence Through Hardship

Circumstance does not make the man; it reveals him to himself.

-      James Allan

I have been dealing with more pain than usual. It has gotten to the point where I only leave the house when it is necessary. The pain clinic believes that, should they help me with opioids, I will become an addict. Meanwhile, they are totally fine with me learning to deal with nerve death. It feels like parts of your body are asleep all the time. I would instead get my neck broken again then feel this…again.

            Last June was the fifth anniversary when I temporarily left this world. Since then, I have had to learn how to read again. I have had to learn to write again. I’ve had to learn how to control my emotions throughout the process because a man suffers in silence. He does not vocalize his trauma because he needs to ensure that he does not further the worry of his family. He knows that they stress how he feels, what he is going through, and whether or not this will be the day he decides to end his suffering himself. A man does what he must, despite circumstances, despite his issues. What he must do is simple: sacrifice everything for his family. The first chapter of Joshua tells us that “if thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.” God does not allow his work to be made manifest by cowards. God commands that a man must provide for his family throughout the thorns and thistles brought forth for us. They strengthen our souls and bring us closer to the Lord. The first epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians tells us to “Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.” Without some form of faith, there is no reason to live.        

            Life is not fair; it just is. If there is any form of truth, we learn who we are from two places: conflict and pain. If we surround ourselves with aggression, abuse, or violence, we accept or reject these lessons. If ideologues of ideology gain control of the culture of manliness, transform it into a therapeutic adventure and strip away what makes mankind a life of grit, they take away how men are supposed to grow and develop. Instead of fighting a war against your best, the modern era compares every man’s accomplishments to those of another. No matter how strong you are, how much money you have in the bank, or how high you’ve risen in the ranks, the therapeutics will constantly remind you how much others have accomplished. The truth is that, no matter how the world attempts to make him think in their ideals, mankind needs to set the bar themselves. The ancestor of every action is a thought. The thought which needs to be abandoned is the reliance on others to set the bar for you; a man who sets the bar for himself is liberated. When he fights to exceed his very best, he is above all other lines set.

Fireside Chat: Mechanized Slaves

In his book, Spectatoritis, Jay Nash writes:

There are glaring indications on all sides that, given leisure, man will turn into a listener, a watcher. He will attempt to utilize this new leisure, which should be devoted to creative arts, in body recuperation. He will rationalize that he needs rest—a let-down far beyond his actual requirement. Too much restoration or recreation, as we have used it, dulls the mind.[1]

From Nash’s perspective, the mechanization of strenuous tasks leaves room for creativity, ingenuity, and self-education. Instead, mankind has utilized their spare time to become nothing more than a spectator over the decades. He has situated himself into a state where he cannot grow to a cultural stature because he has yet to do anything significant.[2] Nash explains that recreation is a concept necessary for doing, mastering, and creating to establish one’s identity. By utilizing spare time to explore one’s desires, it may furnish a release from the monotony of life that will aid in his overall well-being.[3]

            The result of a non-doing mentality is what brings nations and empires to ruin. Nash explains that:

In the great cycle in which history moves we have again come around in America to the days of Greece. We have acquired leisure through slaves. We have this advantage: our slaves are not human; that is, most of them are not. Our slaves—the machines—have liberated just as the Grecian Slaves liberated. The Greeks attempted to keep a proportion of about twelve slaves to each citizen. It is estimated in America that we have from fifteen to twenty slaves per individual. These slaves jump at our beck and call. They light our buildings, start our cars, run our machines, shine our shoes, curl our hair, wash our clothes, and even shave our faces without lather.[4]

With this in mind, given that Nash wrote these words in 1938, when the wealthy struggled to maintain normalcy, how many mechanized slaves does the 21st Century American have at his disposal?

[1] Jay B. Nash, Spectatoritis, 2nd ed., ed. Christopher Fennell (Las Vegas: Independent Publishing, 2021), 15-16.

[2] Jay B. Nash, “A Philosophy of Recreation in America,”The Journal of Educational Sociology, Vol. 21, No. 5 (Jan., 1948):259, accessed April 15, 2021, https://www.jstor.org/stable/2263869.

[3] Ibid, 260.

[4] Nash, Spectatoritis, 9.

Fireside Chat: Welcome Back, Mr. Nash

            Three years ago, I gained possession of one of the rarest books of the twentieth century. The last time I checked WorldCat, the catalog of worldwide books, I could find only 149. Adding the three that are still on sale on Amazon, including my own, there are only 153 I could find. The book is called Spectatoritis by Jay B. Nash. I have written about it previously, but today it is available to the world once more. Nash predicted that machination would lead to more leisure time for adults, which would lead to more creative time or to becoming a spectator to alleviate boredom. Nash made this declaration in 1938, in the middle of the Great Depression. One wonders what he would think of smartphones and social media apps today!

            I have decided to continue his work, push against Spectatoritis, and for the rise of men who are using their time to better themselves. From now on, I will devote this website to this mission, pushing for the betterment of men instead of them atrophying in the stadium of life.