Your husband actually recapitulated an argument in the Talmud by thinking "that one of the ways Jews are 'chosen' is that they are 'chosen' to need the guidance (and assistance) of G-d and wisdom traditions more than other people." From https://www.sefaria.org/Beitzah.25b.7?lang=bi:
"For what reason was the Torah given to the Jewish people? It is because they are impudent, and Torah study will weaken and humble them. . . . Based on their nature and character, these people, the Jews, are fit to be given a fiery law, a hard and scorching faith. Some say a different version of this baraita: The ways and nature of these people, the Jews, are like fire, as, were it not for the fact that the Torah was given to the Jewish people, whose study and observance restrains them, no nation or tongue could withstand them."
In secular terms, perhaps one could say that Jews require intellectual and moral rigor. If we abandon our own traditions, we may look for (or try to impose) a "hard and scorching faith" elsewhere.
Hahaha yes, my husband didn't study the Talmud so I guess he needed a little spiritual help to get him there! He was secular, and is now getting much more into the religious and traditional aspects of his Jewish identity. We're (slowly) learning together. Mushroom downloads tend to be of information that's been long-known, but not known to you.
This column really nails what a lot of people, myself included, have been feeling. Maybe being politically homeless isn't such a bad thing. It's the chance to improvise and improve on old ways of thinking about politics. According to some astrologers, we're in the midst of a new astrological configuration where old ways of doing things are dissolving, opening the door to better solutions: https://youtu.be/lSqlVSb3mjE?si=rDs79qMFed79hrfg
I'm listening to this now. It does feel like there's a cosmic shift of sorts. An awakening. Since 2020, it's seemed to me like there's a divide, with some people stuck in old ways of thinking and many others experiencing a shift in consciousness.
You're still a phenotypic leftist, even though you're not a political leftist anymore. Meaning, you are humble, curious, care more about kindness and justice than respect for authority, group loyalty and rigid boundaries (or being put in a box). Am I right?
I think so? It's probably at least a little genetic / in my blood. My Italian great-uncle (biological) told me I'm descended from socialist-y Calabrians, and on my dad's side I'm a great-great-great-something niece of the Scottish poet Robbie Burns, who was from a poor family and had a bit of a radical edge (in addition to being a giant slut). Also, I'm the product of people falling in love and making babies outside of their religion/ethnicity/class. But I swear the present-day left is nothing like what I thought the "left" was when I was a kid.
Hahahaha, he WAS though! The family story is that a lot of my branch of the family was embarrassed by the relation! He had like a dozen kids by four different women. Anyway, I invoke my right as someone who shares maybe a fraction of a percent of my DNA with the guy to repeat stuff my aunt told me about him.
Also I have a handful of hippie-ish folk-musician second cousins, my mom's half-brother definitely leans left (also a successful musician), and one of my first cousins was a big-time Bernie Bro. The romantic poet-blood runs strong.
There might actually be a genetic component to one's "phenotypic" right/left spectrum, though early childhood development (and one's cultures of origin) probably also plays a role.
That’s the old definition of liberal when being red meant being communist… and being blue meant patriotism.
The turnaround has been hijacked by the woke surreptitiously did away with the draft so we will never be able to defend ourselves and making patriotism an antiquated value, dumbed down our children at early ages through mindless television and now “smart” (ironic term) phones, infiltrated our media, taken over our universities (and brainwashed those students), our houses of representation (i.e., members of the squad in congress) and the police departments (in Minnesota for starters) all done without dropping a physical bomb.
If we’re not careful, in another generation, those of us who remember freedom won’t recognize this country at all because all will be woke and those who fail to conform will pay the price through cancellation, imprisonment, torture, and death…
Just watch what Hezbollah, Hamas, the Taliban and so-called peaceful, loving Arab countries who haven’t lifted a finger (and in fact, are enablers) to stop this from happening in their own countries (no less ours) and our own government officials who won’t speak out (for fear of being xenophobic and losing the vote of those who are taking over in places like Michigan…. Coming to a neighborhood near you soon) have done to our freedom, to see where we will be if we don’t take back what the woke police have been stealing from us while we weren’t on guard.
We really have only ourselves to blame for having given those enemies of our freedom the keys to the front and back doors of our democratic homestead and for letting them babysit our children from early ages, all while we were sleeping or on mindless vacations, “thinking” that freedom will take care of itself.
I’ve done mushrooms three times and got very fucked up on one occasion and laughed hysterically (in a good way) on the other two. I’m afraid there’s very little spiritual (or otherwise) depth in me to get much more out of them than that.
I’m having this strange experience right now after reading your piece in that I feel I can agree with about 50% of what you’ve written …only I’m not exactly certain which 50% it is. I think we agree on the important points but on the whole what I got out of this is that I’m very excited to have found someone to read who is so intellectually daring and without self-imposed boundaries, if I’m making myself clear. Looking forward to reading more. Thanks!
Haha wouldn't write off the spiritual depth yet ... I have a post with a psilocybin tea recipe that can enhance the healing process. But also, hot tip, try giving up fluoride (e.g. filtering your tap water if needed and switching to a non-fluoride toothpaste) for about a month or so and then take like 5 grams and see if it gets a little more ... spiritual.
See? This is where you lose me. In the past five years I’ve quit smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol, and given up pretty well all processed foods and most of the so-called healthy carbs, but I draw the line at fluoride. My first wife cost me a bazillion dollars in dentistry because she grew up with well water and had very poor teeth as a result. I know that’s what they call an N of 1 but I’m in my 60s and still have pretty excellent teeth due, in part (I believe), to the abundant fluoride in my city’s water supply. I do think I’ll try your mushroom tea (no promises — I’ve also given up recreational drugs for the most part) in part because Sam Harris is also a fan. But I can’t go with you as far as the fluoride. At least not without some more research and a serious chat with my dentist, who is one of my favourite people.
Haha you don't have to give it up if you don't want to. But the theory behind it is that fluoride calcifies the pineal gland and so might be affecting your ability to have a "spiritual" experience on mushrooms. You can still get a lot out of them without that, and, to be honest, it can be a tad scary / intense when the spirits show up. My city doesn't add fluoride to the tap water and a lot of people still have good dental health! I've actually found my oral hygiene has improved since making the switch (I use David's natural toothpaste now), but I wouldn't recommend it unless you've also purged most of the refined sugars and citric acid (the synthetic kind) from your diet, because that stuff is really hard on your teeth.
I’m a somewhat recent fan of Gary Taubes and Nina Teicholz and am convinced now that there’s no place in my diet for refined sugar. By cutting out sugar and most other carbs I dropped thirty pounds in 3 months and went from an A1C of 6.5 (the start of type 2 diabetes) to 5.5. When you get to my age all sorts of shit starts to go wrong and so I’m madly trying to turn this barge around rather late in the voyage. For the first 60 years of my life I treated my body as a temple … of doom.
I dunno about scary spirits. You’re wiggin’ me out now, man. I want to get back to your ideas about the left and antisemitism and being politically homeless and WASP culture, etc. 🤣
Yeah. I am homeless too. Hanging out online with the right wingers, mostly, these days. They at least have a sense of humor.
Resonate completely with your summary on mainstream medicine, adding "acute care" as conventional med. accomplishments. I became an "antivaxxer" during covid. I think the bad effects vary dep. on vaccine. But the purveyors have lost my trust for good. I am even leaning toward autism being linked to them, among other things. Why? Because the Amish are the control group. If someone does a study on unvaxed Amish kids who have autism, I will change my mind.
Oh and I am reading up on the history of medicine, and it is... awful. People are sidetracked by the medical historians dwelling on the the particular heroes like Vesalius. But when you look at what doctors were actually doing to patients? Nasty brutal destructive crap. And the historians are pretty reluctant to admit it.
I have a soft spot for Marianne Williamson, and she once observed this: "What does it say that Fox News is nicer to me than the lefties are? What does it say that the conservatives are nicer to me. It’s such a bizarre world. I’m such a leftie, I’m a serious leftie. I understand why people on the right called them godless. I didn’t think the left was as mean as the right, they are."
I have mixed feelings on vaccination and autism, but agree with you. I think the autism connection has multiple mediating factors (I have another essay about this). The history of Western medicine is horrifying!! Good for acute care, a disaster for chronic conditions.
You know what I hate the most about the woke lefties? They no longer talk. If you say ANYTHING that goes counter their narrative, they just walk away in a huff. This, for people who used to be all into dialog and non-violent communication. Was it all a sham?
The culture of silencing and cancelling, of tiptoeing on eggshells around vulnerable personalities, makes one sick. The body cannot handle inauthenticity, the suppression of our instincts, and that is demanded. For me, breaking away and regaining my health went hand in hand. Meeting my husband too. He was also on the left, but we started talking about stuff in 2020 after we met. I suspect some friends think he led me away from the left, but it was more the other way around. I was looking stuff up I wasn't supposed to, bringing up taboo topics. He was willing to talk and listen, and started his own journey alongside me.
I've wondered this too. I think there's a lot of good people with good intentions on the left, but the underlying driving forces are vulnerable narcissism, childhood trauma, addiction and gut dysbiosis, and disconnection / disembodiment. I've tried to write my essays on this Substack in such a way that they could potentially reach those on the "woke" left. This has mostly been a failure.
I am still trying to stick it out on the left, but it might be that it is because I have nearly no contact with people who are on the left. I mostly just try to investigate facts and find that right-wing people tend to be more often wrong.
But I understand your point. The whole COVID response of leftist activists was really strange. It was an enthusiastically masochistic submission to government power and a very "safetyist" attitude. How is that revolutionary? I didn't understand what is going on. The best way I can make sense of it is this:
1) the narrative changed, instead of talking about heroes (good, strong) who save victims, it revolved more around victims (good, weak) who are not saved by anyone
2) then it somehow turned weakness into a virtue itself, it became fashionable to talk about chronic illness
3) this in turn turned into safetyism, in a "your lack of mask triggers my anxiety" way.
I don't want to reject all of my "leftist" beliefs either. It's more that I feel like I need to remove all labels from myself to think and write freely, and to engage with other thinkers neutrally.
I relate a lot to this column. At times I've felt politically homeless, but there have been a couple of things that have helped me feel otherwise.
First, I realized that the purpose of a political party is to get its candidates elected. It's not to implement specific policy, nor to ensure promises are kept. It's simply to get its candidates elected. This means that I can participate politically without feeling like I owe any kind of allegiance to a political party. I think the Democratic Party in the US has gone completely batshit crazy, but I don't and will never feel any kind of obligation to the Republicans. I don't have to align with one party or the other. I don't have to have some kind of obligation to support corrupt or stupid politicians just because they have affiliated with "my" party.
Then, Thomas Sowell's philosophy has also helped me: "There are no solutions; only trade offs." I'm not marrying a candidate. Nor am I joining a political party like I join a church. I don't need to find candidates who perfectly match my beliefs and priorities (which is good, because I never will). I simply need to understand what I believe, look at the challenges we face today, and prioritize what matters most. Think about the trade-offs.
There is no political party platform that completely matches what I believe. But I can still confidently vote for people and platforms that will best handle the priorities that I think are most important.
Been thinking what I would add to your already very comprehensive list. "Fuck safety culture" comes to mind. :-) We have a forest fire nearby, lots of crews in town, and there are signs everywhere telling them to "stay safe." And I am thinking... if they wanted to stay safe, they would not have chosen firefighting. They thrive on danger, and thank goodness they do! So much BS, so little time.
Feminism. I have so much pain inside me over this. I had so much hope, way back when. Loved Mary Daly and Elaine Morgan. Then came the 80s with shrill Andrea Dworkin and her clones. And "slut walks." Huh?! I waited it out, telling myself it will pass, and they did good with starting shelters for women, and changing the domestic abuse laws.
I was always bothered by the feminist rhetoric that women shouldn't be warned not to walk alone at night or to guard their drinks, instead men should be "taught not to rape". It almost feels malicious. Men who want to rape aren't going to listen to a feminist lecture and be like "oh man, I thought drugging and raping women was okay, but now I know better!" Like they don't want women protecting themselves.
Haha, so true. With the personality disordered, only consequences make an impact, not curt notes. :-)
I wanted the next phase of feminism to be about getting our own house in order. Ok, so we know now what goes on, and how men sometimes act to trip us up. So how do we evolve to handle things better on our end? Let's step into more responsibility. (And I don't mean it in the enabling sense of "what can I do differently so he doesn't abuse me." I mean it in the sense of growing inner strength, no matter what happens. And the skills that go with it. )
Instead, the blame game went off the rails completely.
Oh and the whole "rape culture" bullshit. OMG. We live in the safest culture for women like, ever. There really are rape cultures in places, but the feminists avert their eyes from those and berate the men in ours.
Pizzey was a feminist herself, but became a target due to her views of abusive couples, seeing the women as equally violent. Which,, in my experience, is quite biased; nevertheless, she is entitled to her views. For that, she was ostracized and abused. It shows you... feminism became a cult where differing opinions or schools of thought were treated like heresies. Mindboggling.
I was just reading about Pizzey this morning and it seems she noticed that about 2/3rds of the women seeking shelter were equally or more violent than their male partners ... just over a 1/3 she thought were one-sided victims. I've always assumed women would be less likely to be physically violent and more likely to use psychological abuse, but honestly I just don't trust a lot of what I've been told by feminists anymore :-/ I suspect there would be a selection bias with the kinds of people who show up at shelters, e.g. they might be more likely to be dysfunctional in general (which is a reason (not the only one!) they might lack other support). In other words, women who are one-sided victims of abuse and not abusive themselves might be more likely to find help from friends and family and not need the shelter system?
Pizzey also has commented that men are less likely than women to look after each other, which made opening men's shelters more difficult.
All other things being equal, women cannot be as physically violent as men. They haven't got the strength to match the other. I do think it's valid to point out that women play a part in an abusive relationship... it takes two to tango. Some women can even be more violent than some men. But -- it simply isn't symmetrical.
I was once in an abusive marriage. The abuse was psychological, but at one time he tried physical violence. I acted in a way that immediately scotched his tendency in that direction. It was not something that I was about to tolerate. But the psych abuse went on and deepened. I was horribly naive about people, and had no skills to recognize and protect myself from power games and malicious manipulation.
My increasingly feeble efforts to defend myself went awry. Some of them were of the "yelling back" variety, and some were manipulative in turn. That was all I knew.
I eventually took responsibility and learned the skills of recognition and "defense from the dark arts." Changed my life. :-)
Boris and I were talking about this stuff in the comments on another article, which is why I looked up Pizzey (he told me to). But yeah, I suspect that when abuse is (more) one-sided (which, of course, happens all the time), it's probably way more likely to be psychological / manipulation than physical.
Lundy Bancroft is great on this. And he is (after several decades working in the field) very emphatic that men are far more the culprit (in the serious stuff). If the physical equivalence was there, they would see these women in court ordered therapy. But they don't.
By which I don't mean that the psychological stuff is not serious. But getting slammed against the wall by your neck is... well. Nuff said.
Been thinking, Meghan, that it could lead to some amazing discussions if you split the topics above into their own posts. I have just had a very interesting discussion on another substack about "chosenness" of the Jews. A fraught topic! Trying to clarify my own understanding.
Another "edge" topic that just emerged elsewhere was about what bringing the gays out of the closet has done to society, and whether it would not serve them better to be discreet and blend in (without the old persecution).
Oof, I don't think I have more material (at this time) on the "chosen" thing. Regarding the latter topic though, you should check out Josh Slocum's Substack because I believe he's addressed this! (He's gay).
I've found that 99% of the stuff that comes to you while on mushrooms can be found in some thousand+ year old book or wisdom tradition or another, haha.
Oh, yes, sorry, I know WHO he is, but not any details or anything he said. Agnostic childhood, most of my Judeo-Christian knowledge as a kid came from a kids' Bible I had and Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals (do I get any credit for memorizing those? Lol).
I don’t think skepticism of vaccines in general is defensible since they at least eliminated smallpox. But every vaccination is a tradeoff and some won’t be positive for the person receiving the vaccine, or possibly even positive for strangers who might get sick from increased disease prevalence.
I suspect the benefit is usually positive but I also don’t trust the CDC to be honest because their stance is to say whatever is best for the general public (as far as they know), even if that means lying.
I linked to an older article explaining my position! I think some vaccines are effective and the pros outweigh the cons, whereas others -- in particular newer ones -- may not be as safe or as effective as advertised (e.g. the Covid vaccines, flu shots). Others are for illnesses that were not a particularly big deal (e.g. chicken pox), which I find questionable. But I'm very critical of the idea that "vaccines" are the primary cause of, for example, autism, as there are multiple other, better causal explanations available.
They certainly dissembled if they didn't outright lie. But it's normal for vaccines to offer imperfect protection so overstating their effectiveness was dishonest. They did so because they wanted more people to take them... but in doing so, undermined their credibility.
I'm actually not worried about the experimental nature of the vaccines because my belief is that medical research is forced to work at a crawl by the FDA. Producing a highly effective vaccine in months is what I expect of our civilization... but we can only do so when the political will outweighs the bureaucracy of the FDA.
(People working for the FDA aren't bad people but the organization has become absurdly risk-averse by adapting to blame from political outcries in the past.)
Oh also, IIRC the J&J vaccine was made using old tech so there was no need to take the experimental, mRNA vaccines... assuming you could them in your area. It was still made quickly but had a well-known mechanism.
We seem to be a growing population. I've seen a lot of former "leftists" start to identify as "conservatives" sort of by-default (because the woke progressive left classifies anyone who disagrees with them on even one or two points as "conservative"). I get why people do this, but I prefer "politically homeless"; I'm yet to stumble across a mainstream ideology or even intellectual cohort where I agree with them on all points.
I'm Canadian, so am spared that particular decision. I was never team Democrat really, in Canadian terms I favoured the further-left NDP over the Liberal Party (Democrat equivalent). I liked Bernie Sanders for a while. Now I just feel jaded lol.
Hi Jonina, I appreciate you taking the time to comment and let me know your feelings. But I think you've misinterpreted this essay.
Regarding the comment about white male pilots -- this is literally the *only* time in this essay where I suggest white men are better at something than other people. Literally every other racial reference I make favours non-white people. For the record, I believe the *average* neurological differences that make white males better airline pilots are the same ones that make them less capable doctors than Indians (etc), and make them on average more "autistic" -- in several other essays, I'm quite clear that this underlies much of the disconnection to nature, to Spirit/God, to community-mindedness, and to their own bodies, I suggest in both this essay and in others that it leads to worse parenting (and one of the authors I mention here talks about how many Indigenous parenting practices worldwide result in healthier and happier children, something I discuss in other essays) and to other negative outcomes and behaviours. For the record, I suspect that Indigenous people are well on their way to overtaking white people in several industries, by merit. I implied in the section on Big Pharma that Indigenous, Indian, and Chinese understandings of medicine and healing were incredibly valuable and superior for a wide range of conditions (in particular chronic ones).
I state in this essay that the group I'll be most critical of is white people, and this is reflected in other posts. If I'm to be accused of bigotry against any group, it should be white people.
"Individually we have gifts" --> I absolutely agree. I tried to make that clear here; again, all but ONE example I gave where I suggested there were *average* differences between races favoured non-white people. I agree there's historically been systemic barriers to certain races (and to women) entering various professions (etc) and I don't think anyone should be locked out of a profession on the basis of their skin colour or sex; however, I also believe that rewarding merit will not yield equal representation in all industries. I gave two examples where pushing for representation could potentially put the lives of people at risk. I think this is more dangerous than acknowledging (with a source cited you can look up!) that male men might have an advantage at piloting or Indians might make unusually good doctors (click the link! Look at the study!).
The essay is called "Why I Left the Left", not "Why I Think the Right is Right." I am obviously opposed to white supremacy; for many reasons, but among them I am married to a Jewish man, one of the historic prime targets of white supremacists. I suggested white men have an advantage when it comes to flying airlines, very specifically, in an essay and on a Substack that otherwise skews towards criticism of white people.
I realize "woke" was originally a term used by Black people, but things have changed. The essay I linked to regarding "wokeness" being seen as mostly a "white" thing was written by a Black man. One of the "Why I Left the Left" essays I link to at the top is written by a Black woman. Many people of colour (and Jews, if you are among those who consider them "white" now) see "wokeness" as being a predominantly "white" thing.
I don't put a lot of stock in IQ tests; I think they measure some aspects of intelligence reasonably well, but they miss far more and I've argued elsewhere that they overestimate the intelligence of people high in autistic traits, which you could extrapolate to they overestimate the intelligence of white people.
Jewish people have been less than 1% of the population throughout history but greatly overrepresented in numerous industries, among Nobel laureates, and have had an outsized influence on the world. In every society they've lived in where they haven't been actively oppressed, they have risen to fill a disproportionate amount of the upper-middle-classes and "elites", from Rome to today. In many ways, I think denying that Jews as a people are unusually gifted is far more dangerous -- because if you believe that all unequal outcomes are a result of oppression, conspiracy, or nepotism, then this inevitably leads to antisemitism when confronted with the reality of Jewish success. I also did not say Jews were "better", I said they were more capable, and indicated that I believed that was a mixed blessing.
I also said this:
"Just because I discuss average differences and group trends does not mean I think any one group is monolithic or that we should make assumptions about individuals based on race, sex, sexual orientation, or any other characteristic. I don’t do this in the real world and I have no intention of doing so here."
Send me an email with it! (That's really frustrating re the copy and pasting, I'm not sure why it would do that). And feel free to text me to set up a call.
Take care of yourself, and I'm sorry to hear about your friend's son -- I appreciate you engaging here, and I understand where you're coming from. I think racism is alive and well, and unfortunately, it will always be a "thing"; I can only hope it will continue to become less of a "thing" with time. I have a deep respect for cultural differences and wish for us to all learn from each other. I think the Western world is making a grievous mistake not listening to the wisdom and knowledges of other cultures -- especially when it comes to medicine and childrearing. It infuriates me, for example, that many immigrant doctors are not allowed to practice medicine here without redoing their training, especially when they come from countries with superior medical schools (e.g. India).
My disengagement with leftism isn't a rejection of all beliefs within it, just a rejection of ideological labels and groupthink because I need and desire freedom to pursue truth. Which is often all too complicated and difficult to talk about.
Sending lots of love <3 and if you ever do want to talk or get together, I'm here.
Your husband actually recapitulated an argument in the Talmud by thinking "that one of the ways Jews are 'chosen' is that they are 'chosen' to need the guidance (and assistance) of G-d and wisdom traditions more than other people." From https://www.sefaria.org/Beitzah.25b.7?lang=bi:
"For what reason was the Torah given to the Jewish people? It is because they are impudent, and Torah study will weaken and humble them. . . . Based on their nature and character, these people, the Jews, are fit to be given a fiery law, a hard and scorching faith. Some say a different version of this baraita: The ways and nature of these people, the Jews, are like fire, as, were it not for the fact that the Torah was given to the Jewish people, whose study and observance restrains them, no nation or tongue could withstand them."
In secular terms, perhaps one could say that Jews require intellectual and moral rigor. If we abandon our own traditions, we may look for (or try to impose) a "hard and scorching faith" elsewhere.
Hahaha yes, my husband didn't study the Talmud so I guess he needed a little spiritual help to get him there! He was secular, and is now getting much more into the religious and traditional aspects of his Jewish identity. We're (slowly) learning together. Mushroom downloads tend to be of information that's been long-known, but not known to you.
This column really nails what a lot of people, myself included, have been feeling. Maybe being politically homeless isn't such a bad thing. It's the chance to improvise and improve on old ways of thinking about politics. According to some astrologers, we're in the midst of a new astrological configuration where old ways of doing things are dissolving, opening the door to better solutions: https://youtu.be/lSqlVSb3mjE?si=rDs79qMFed79hrfg
I'm listening to this now. It does feel like there's a cosmic shift of sorts. An awakening. Since 2020, it's seemed to me like there's a divide, with some people stuck in old ways of thinking and many others experiencing a shift in consciousness.
You're still a phenotypic leftist, even though you're not a political leftist anymore. Meaning, you are humble, curious, care more about kindness and justice than respect for authority, group loyalty and rigid boundaries (or being put in a box). Am I right?
I think so? It's probably at least a little genetic / in my blood. My Italian great-uncle (biological) told me I'm descended from socialist-y Calabrians, and on my dad's side I'm a great-great-great-something niece of the Scottish poet Robbie Burns, who was from a poor family and had a bit of a radical edge (in addition to being a giant slut). Also, I'm the product of people falling in love and making babies outside of their religion/ethnicity/class. But I swear the present-day left is nothing like what I thought the "left" was when I was a kid.
I've never hear Robert referred to as "Robbie". Or a "giant slut". As a proud Scott, I find that rather offensive, and am canceling you.
My apologies, I guess it's "Rabbie", not "Robbie" haha.
Slàinte! Much better.
Hahahaha, he WAS though! The family story is that a lot of my branch of the family was embarrassed by the relation! He had like a dozen kids by four different women. Anyway, I invoke my right as someone who shares maybe a fraction of a percent of my DNA with the guy to repeat stuff my aunt told me about him.
No, I was just kidding!
Also I have a handful of hippie-ish folk-musician second cousins, my mom's half-brother definitely leans left (also a successful musician), and one of my first cousins was a big-time Bernie Bro. The romantic poet-blood runs strong.
There might actually be a genetic component to one's "phenotypic" right/left spectrum, though early childhood development (and one's cultures of origin) probably also plays a role.
That’s the old definition of liberal when being red meant being communist… and being blue meant patriotism.
The turnaround has been hijacked by the woke surreptitiously did away with the draft so we will never be able to defend ourselves and making patriotism an antiquated value, dumbed down our children at early ages through mindless television and now “smart” (ironic term) phones, infiltrated our media, taken over our universities (and brainwashed those students), our houses of representation (i.e., members of the squad in congress) and the police departments (in Minnesota for starters) all done without dropping a physical bomb.
If we’re not careful, in another generation, those of us who remember freedom won’t recognize this country at all because all will be woke and those who fail to conform will pay the price through cancellation, imprisonment, torture, and death…
Just watch what Hezbollah, Hamas, the Taliban and so-called peaceful, loving Arab countries who haven’t lifted a finger (and in fact, are enablers) to stop this from happening in their own countries (no less ours) and our own government officials who won’t speak out (for fear of being xenophobic and losing the vote of those who are taking over in places like Michigan…. Coming to a neighborhood near you soon) have done to our freedom, to see where we will be if we don’t take back what the woke police have been stealing from us while we weren’t on guard.
We really have only ourselves to blame for having given those enemies of our freedom the keys to the front and back doors of our democratic homestead and for letting them babysit our children from early ages, all while we were sleeping or on mindless vacations, “thinking” that freedom will take care of itself.
I’ve done mushrooms three times and got very fucked up on one occasion and laughed hysterically (in a good way) on the other two. I’m afraid there’s very little spiritual (or otherwise) depth in me to get much more out of them than that.
I’m having this strange experience right now after reading your piece in that I feel I can agree with about 50% of what you’ve written …only I’m not exactly certain which 50% it is. I think we agree on the important points but on the whole what I got out of this is that I’m very excited to have found someone to read who is so intellectually daring and without self-imposed boundaries, if I’m making myself clear. Looking forward to reading more. Thanks!
Haha wouldn't write off the spiritual depth yet ... I have a post with a psilocybin tea recipe that can enhance the healing process. But also, hot tip, try giving up fluoride (e.g. filtering your tap water if needed and switching to a non-fluoride toothpaste) for about a month or so and then take like 5 grams and see if it gets a little more ... spiritual.
See? This is where you lose me. In the past five years I’ve quit smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol, and given up pretty well all processed foods and most of the so-called healthy carbs, but I draw the line at fluoride. My first wife cost me a bazillion dollars in dentistry because she grew up with well water and had very poor teeth as a result. I know that’s what they call an N of 1 but I’m in my 60s and still have pretty excellent teeth due, in part (I believe), to the abundant fluoride in my city’s water supply. I do think I’ll try your mushroom tea (no promises — I’ve also given up recreational drugs for the most part) in part because Sam Harris is also a fan. But I can’t go with you as far as the fluoride. At least not without some more research and a serious chat with my dentist, who is one of my favourite people.
Haha you don't have to give it up if you don't want to. But the theory behind it is that fluoride calcifies the pineal gland and so might be affecting your ability to have a "spiritual" experience on mushrooms. You can still get a lot out of them without that, and, to be honest, it can be a tad scary / intense when the spirits show up. My city doesn't add fluoride to the tap water and a lot of people still have good dental health! I've actually found my oral hygiene has improved since making the switch (I use David's natural toothpaste now), but I wouldn't recommend it unless you've also purged most of the refined sugars and citric acid (the synthetic kind) from your diet, because that stuff is really hard on your teeth.
I’m a somewhat recent fan of Gary Taubes and Nina Teicholz and am convinced now that there’s no place in my diet for refined sugar. By cutting out sugar and most other carbs I dropped thirty pounds in 3 months and went from an A1C of 6.5 (the start of type 2 diabetes) to 5.5. When you get to my age all sorts of shit starts to go wrong and so I’m madly trying to turn this barge around rather late in the voyage. For the first 60 years of my life I treated my body as a temple … of doom.
I dunno about scary spirits. You’re wiggin’ me out now, man. I want to get back to your ideas about the left and antisemitism and being politically homeless and WASP culture, etc. 🤣
Hahahah fortunately that's MOST of my content. The psychedelics stuff gets a bit weird, I'm aware.
I'm looking forward to it! Thanks for humouring me tonight.
Yeah. I am homeless too. Hanging out online with the right wingers, mostly, these days. They at least have a sense of humor.
Resonate completely with your summary on mainstream medicine, adding "acute care" as conventional med. accomplishments. I became an "antivaxxer" during covid. I think the bad effects vary dep. on vaccine. But the purveyors have lost my trust for good. I am even leaning toward autism being linked to them, among other things. Why? Because the Amish are the control group. If someone does a study on unvaxed Amish kids who have autism, I will change my mind.
Oh and I am reading up on the history of medicine, and it is... awful. People are sidetracked by the medical historians dwelling on the the particular heroes like Vesalius. But when you look at what doctors were actually doing to patients? Nasty brutal destructive crap. And the historians are pretty reluctant to admit it.
I have a soft spot for Marianne Williamson, and she once observed this: "What does it say that Fox News is nicer to me than the lefties are? What does it say that the conservatives are nicer to me. It’s such a bizarre world. I’m such a leftie, I’m a serious leftie. I understand why people on the right called them godless. I didn’t think the left was as mean as the right, they are."
I have mixed feelings on vaccination and autism, but agree with you. I think the autism connection has multiple mediating factors (I have another essay about this). The history of Western medicine is horrifying!! Good for acute care, a disaster for chronic conditions.
You know what I hate the most about the woke lefties? They no longer talk. If you say ANYTHING that goes counter their narrative, they just walk away in a huff. This, for people who used to be all into dialog and non-violent communication. Was it all a sham?
The culture of silencing and cancelling, of tiptoeing on eggshells around vulnerable personalities, makes one sick. The body cannot handle inauthenticity, the suppression of our instincts, and that is demanded. For me, breaking away and regaining my health went hand in hand. Meeting my husband too. He was also on the left, but we started talking about stuff in 2020 after we met. I suspect some friends think he led me away from the left, but it was more the other way around. I was looking stuff up I wasn't supposed to, bringing up taboo topics. He was willing to talk and listen, and started his own journey alongside me.
I've wondered this too. I think there's a lot of good people with good intentions on the left, but the underlying driving forces are vulnerable narcissism, childhood trauma, addiction and gut dysbiosis, and disconnection / disembodiment. I've tried to write my essays on this Substack in such a way that they could potentially reach those on the "woke" left. This has mostly been a failure.
I am still trying to stick it out on the left, but it might be that it is because I have nearly no contact with people who are on the left. I mostly just try to investigate facts and find that right-wing people tend to be more often wrong.
But I understand your point. The whole COVID response of leftist activists was really strange. It was an enthusiastically masochistic submission to government power and a very "safetyist" attitude. How is that revolutionary? I didn't understand what is going on. The best way I can make sense of it is this:
1) the narrative changed, instead of talking about heroes (good, strong) who save victims, it revolved more around victims (good, weak) who are not saved by anyone
2) then it somehow turned weakness into a virtue itself, it became fashionable to talk about chronic illness
3) this in turn turned into safetyism, in a "your lack of mask triggers my anxiety" way.
I don't want to reject all of my "leftist" beliefs either. It's more that I feel like I need to remove all labels from myself to think and write freely, and to engage with other thinkers neutrally.
I relate a lot to this column. At times I've felt politically homeless, but there have been a couple of things that have helped me feel otherwise.
First, I realized that the purpose of a political party is to get its candidates elected. It's not to implement specific policy, nor to ensure promises are kept. It's simply to get its candidates elected. This means that I can participate politically without feeling like I owe any kind of allegiance to a political party. I think the Democratic Party in the US has gone completely batshit crazy, but I don't and will never feel any kind of obligation to the Republicans. I don't have to align with one party or the other. I don't have to have some kind of obligation to support corrupt or stupid politicians just because they have affiliated with "my" party.
Then, Thomas Sowell's philosophy has also helped me: "There are no solutions; only trade offs." I'm not marrying a candidate. Nor am I joining a political party like I join a church. I don't need to find candidates who perfectly match my beliefs and priorities (which is good, because I never will). I simply need to understand what I believe, look at the challenges we face today, and prioritize what matters most. Think about the trade-offs.
There is no political party platform that completely matches what I believe. But I can still confidently vote for people and platforms that will best handle the priorities that I think are most important.
I'm in the middle of Sowell's newest book. What an incredible mind that man has.
The two 20th century writers that I have found the most wisdom from are CS Lewis and Sowell. And you're right, what an amazing mind Sowell has.
Been thinking what I would add to your already very comprehensive list. "Fuck safety culture" comes to mind. :-) We have a forest fire nearby, lots of crews in town, and there are signs everywhere telling them to "stay safe." And I am thinking... if they wanted to stay safe, they would not have chosen firefighting. They thrive on danger, and thank goodness they do! So much BS, so little time.
Feminism. I have so much pain inside me over this. I had so much hope, way back when. Loved Mary Daly and Elaine Morgan. Then came the 80s with shrill Andrea Dworkin and her clones. And "slut walks." Huh?! I waited it out, telling myself it will pass, and they did good with starting shelters for women, and changing the domestic abuse laws.
And then, it got worse. :-(
I was always bothered by the feminist rhetoric that women shouldn't be warned not to walk alone at night or to guard their drinks, instead men should be "taught not to rape". It almost feels malicious. Men who want to rape aren't going to listen to a feminist lecture and be like "oh man, I thought drugging and raping women was okay, but now I know better!" Like they don't want women protecting themselves.
Haha, so true. With the personality disordered, only consequences make an impact, not curt notes. :-)
I wanted the next phase of feminism to be about getting our own house in order. Ok, so we know now what goes on, and how men sometimes act to trip us up. So how do we evolve to handle things better on our end? Let's step into more responsibility. (And I don't mean it in the enabling sense of "what can I do differently so he doesn't abuse me." I mean it in the sense of growing inner strength, no matter what happens. And the skills that go with it. )
Instead, the blame game went off the rails completely.
Oh and the whole "rape culture" bullshit. OMG. We live in the safest culture for women like, ever. There really are rape cultures in places, but the feminists avert their eyes from those and berate the men in ours.
Domestic abuse refuges were thought up by Erin Pizzey (in the UK and Ireland) and Anne Cooles (USA)
Feminists took them over in hostile takeovers.
They wanted the money and power that came with it.
Did not know them! Thank you.
Pizzey was a feminist herself, but became a target due to her views of abusive couples, seeing the women as equally violent. Which,, in my experience, is quite biased; nevertheless, she is entitled to her views. For that, she was ostracized and abused. It shows you... feminism became a cult where differing opinions or schools of thought were treated like heresies. Mindboggling.
I was just reading about Pizzey this morning and it seems she noticed that about 2/3rds of the women seeking shelter were equally or more violent than their male partners ... just over a 1/3 she thought were one-sided victims. I've always assumed women would be less likely to be physically violent and more likely to use psychological abuse, but honestly I just don't trust a lot of what I've been told by feminists anymore :-/ I suspect there would be a selection bias with the kinds of people who show up at shelters, e.g. they might be more likely to be dysfunctional in general (which is a reason (not the only one!) they might lack other support). In other words, women who are one-sided victims of abuse and not abusive themselves might be more likely to find help from friends and family and not need the shelter system?
Pizzey also has commented that men are less likely than women to look after each other, which made opening men's shelters more difficult.
Love those coincidences! :-)
All other things being equal, women cannot be as physically violent as men. They haven't got the strength to match the other. I do think it's valid to point out that women play a part in an abusive relationship... it takes two to tango. Some women can even be more violent than some men. But -- it simply isn't symmetrical.
I was once in an abusive marriage. The abuse was psychological, but at one time he tried physical violence. I acted in a way that immediately scotched his tendency in that direction. It was not something that I was about to tolerate. But the psych abuse went on and deepened. I was horribly naive about people, and had no skills to recognize and protect myself from power games and malicious manipulation.
My increasingly feeble efforts to defend myself went awry. Some of them were of the "yelling back" variety, and some were manipulative in turn. That was all I knew.
I eventually took responsibility and learned the skills of recognition and "defense from the dark arts." Changed my life. :-)
Boris and I were talking about this stuff in the comments on another article, which is why I looked up Pizzey (he told me to). But yeah, I suspect that when abuse is (more) one-sided (which, of course, happens all the time), it's probably way more likely to be psychological / manipulation than physical.
Lundy Bancroft is great on this. And he is (after several decades working in the field) very emphatic that men are far more the culprit (in the serious stuff). If the physical equivalence was there, they would see these women in court ordered therapy. But they don't.
By which I don't mean that the psychological stuff is not serious. But getting slammed against the wall by your neck is... well. Nuff said.
Two wings don’t make a right,
but three rights make a left. So, when you
‘left the left’, seems like the right thing to do. :)
Been thinking, Meghan, that it could lead to some amazing discussions if you split the topics above into their own posts. I have just had a very interesting discussion on another substack about "chosenness" of the Jews. A fraught topic! Trying to clarify my own understanding.
Another "edge" topic that just emerged elsewhere was about what bringing the gays out of the closet has done to society, and whether it would not serve them better to be discreet and blend in (without the old persecution).
Cheers! Hope you are feeling well.
Oof, I don't think I have more material (at this time) on the "chosen" thing. Regarding the latter topic though, you should check out Josh Slocum's Substack because I believe he's addressed this! (He's gay).
Oh cool! Will do.
Wow. Awesome. So glad I found you (off of Midwestern Doc's quote!)
Will be back.
So good.
As a Jew, what do you think of my husband's revelation?
I don’t know your husband’s name but it sounds like the words of Joshua.
I'll need to revisit my copy of the Bible!
He succeeded Moses and led the Israelites out of the wilderness into the Promised Land. Among other accomplishments.
I've found that 99% of the stuff that comes to you while on mushrooms can be found in some thousand+ year old book or wisdom tradition or another, haha.
Yes, I was fairly confident I wasn't the first person to receive this download!
Oh, yes, sorry, I know WHO he is, but not any details or anything he said. Agnostic childhood, most of my Judeo-Christian knowledge as a kid came from a kids' Bible I had and Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals (do I get any credit for memorizing those? Lol).
You really got my attention with this. Your trajectory is very similar to mine. Looking forward to reading more!
I don’t think skepticism of vaccines in general is defensible since they at least eliminated smallpox. But every vaccination is a tradeoff and some won’t be positive for the person receiving the vaccine, or possibly even positive for strangers who might get sick from increased disease prevalence.
I suspect the benefit is usually positive but I also don’t trust the CDC to be honest because their stance is to say whatever is best for the general public (as far as they know), even if that means lying.
I linked to an older article explaining my position! I think some vaccines are effective and the pros outweigh the cons, whereas others -- in particular newer ones -- may not be as safe or as effective as advertised (e.g. the Covid vaccines, flu shots). Others are for illnesses that were not a particularly big deal (e.g. chicken pox), which I find questionable. But I'm very critical of the idea that "vaccines" are the primary cause of, for example, autism, as there are multiple other, better causal explanations available.
https://thecassandracomplex.substack.com/p/no-vaccines-are-not-the-primary-cause
Ah I interpreted that link as only being about vaccines not causing eg autism, not for the full statement. My bad. Thanks!
I've taken all my vaccines needed throughout my life.
I just had an issue with an experimental jab.
They said you wouldn't get covid if you took the jab, said you could go to the pubs and restaurants.
They said you wouldn't pass the virus on.
They lied.
More, they hid the truth even after it was obvious they lied.
They certainly dissembled if they didn't outright lie. But it's normal for vaccines to offer imperfect protection so overstating their effectiveness was dishonest. They did so because they wanted more people to take them... but in doing so, undermined their credibility.
I'm actually not worried about the experimental nature of the vaccines because my belief is that medical research is forced to work at a crawl by the FDA. Producing a highly effective vaccine in months is what I expect of our civilization... but we can only do so when the political will outweighs the bureaucracy of the FDA.
(People working for the FDA aren't bad people but the organization has become absurdly risk-averse by adapting to blame from political outcries in the past.)
Oh also, IIRC the J&J vaccine was made using old tech so there was no need to take the experimental, mRNA vaccines... assuming you could them in your area. It was still made quickly but had a well-known mechanism.
Of course, trying to get your ( the royal you) research papers hidden for 75 years doesn't do much for trusting what you've done.
Also the silencing of critics and people who came out claiming they were injured by the vaccines in some way.
This is a great podcast episode on this ... https://www.meghanmurphy.ca/p/naomi-wolf-reported-on-reproductive
We seem to be a growing population. I've seen a lot of former "leftists" start to identify as "conservatives" sort of by-default (because the woke progressive left classifies anyone who disagrees with them on even one or two points as "conservative"). I get why people do this, but I prefer "politically homeless"; I'm yet to stumble across a mainstream ideology or even intellectual cohort where I agree with them on all points.
I'm Canadian, so am spared that particular decision. I was never team Democrat really, in Canadian terms I favoured the further-left NDP over the Liberal Party (Democrat equivalent). I liked Bernie Sanders for a while. Now I just feel jaded lol.
Gah. It looks pretty bad, doesn't it?
Hi Jonina, I appreciate you taking the time to comment and let me know your feelings. But I think you've misinterpreted this essay.
Regarding the comment about white male pilots -- this is literally the *only* time in this essay where I suggest white men are better at something than other people. Literally every other racial reference I make favours non-white people. For the record, I believe the *average* neurological differences that make white males better airline pilots are the same ones that make them less capable doctors than Indians (etc), and make them on average more "autistic" -- in several other essays, I'm quite clear that this underlies much of the disconnection to nature, to Spirit/God, to community-mindedness, and to their own bodies, I suggest in both this essay and in others that it leads to worse parenting (and one of the authors I mention here talks about how many Indigenous parenting practices worldwide result in healthier and happier children, something I discuss in other essays) and to other negative outcomes and behaviours. For the record, I suspect that Indigenous people are well on their way to overtaking white people in several industries, by merit. I implied in the section on Big Pharma that Indigenous, Indian, and Chinese understandings of medicine and healing were incredibly valuable and superior for a wide range of conditions (in particular chronic ones).
I state in this essay that the group I'll be most critical of is white people, and this is reflected in other posts. If I'm to be accused of bigotry against any group, it should be white people.
"Individually we have gifts" --> I absolutely agree. I tried to make that clear here; again, all but ONE example I gave where I suggested there were *average* differences between races favoured non-white people. I agree there's historically been systemic barriers to certain races (and to women) entering various professions (etc) and I don't think anyone should be locked out of a profession on the basis of their skin colour or sex; however, I also believe that rewarding merit will not yield equal representation in all industries. I gave two examples where pushing for representation could potentially put the lives of people at risk. I think this is more dangerous than acknowledging (with a source cited you can look up!) that male men might have an advantage at piloting or Indians might make unusually good doctors (click the link! Look at the study!).
The essay is called "Why I Left the Left", not "Why I Think the Right is Right." I am obviously opposed to white supremacy; for many reasons, but among them I am married to a Jewish man, one of the historic prime targets of white supremacists. I suggested white men have an advantage when it comes to flying airlines, very specifically, in an essay and on a Substack that otherwise skews towards criticism of white people.
I realize "woke" was originally a term used by Black people, but things have changed. The essay I linked to regarding "wokeness" being seen as mostly a "white" thing was written by a Black man. One of the "Why I Left the Left" essays I link to at the top is written by a Black woman. Many people of colour (and Jews, if you are among those who consider them "white" now) see "wokeness" as being a predominantly "white" thing.
I don't put a lot of stock in IQ tests; I think they measure some aspects of intelligence reasonably well, but they miss far more and I've argued elsewhere that they overestimate the intelligence of people high in autistic traits, which you could extrapolate to they overestimate the intelligence of white people.
Jewish people have been less than 1% of the population throughout history but greatly overrepresented in numerous industries, among Nobel laureates, and have had an outsized influence on the world. In every society they've lived in where they haven't been actively oppressed, they have risen to fill a disproportionate amount of the upper-middle-classes and "elites", from Rome to today. In many ways, I think denying that Jews as a people are unusually gifted is far more dangerous -- because if you believe that all unequal outcomes are a result of oppression, conspiracy, or nepotism, then this inevitably leads to antisemitism when confronted with the reality of Jewish success. I also did not say Jews were "better", I said they were more capable, and indicated that I believed that was a mixed blessing.
I also said this:
"Just because I discuss average differences and group trends does not mean I think any one group is monolithic or that we should make assumptions about individuals based on race, sex, sexual orientation, or any other characteristic. I don’t do this in the real world and I have no intention of doing so here."
The left make shit up all the time to justify their bigotry.
Send me an email with it! (That's really frustrating re the copy and pasting, I'm not sure why it would do that). And feel free to text me to set up a call.
Take care of yourself, and I'm sorry to hear about your friend's son -- I appreciate you engaging here, and I understand where you're coming from. I think racism is alive and well, and unfortunately, it will always be a "thing"; I can only hope it will continue to become less of a "thing" with time. I have a deep respect for cultural differences and wish for us to all learn from each other. I think the Western world is making a grievous mistake not listening to the wisdom and knowledges of other cultures -- especially when it comes to medicine and childrearing. It infuriates me, for example, that many immigrant doctors are not allowed to practice medicine here without redoing their training, especially when they come from countries with superior medical schools (e.g. India).
My disengagement with leftism isn't a rejection of all beliefs within it, just a rejection of ideological labels and groupthink because I need and desire freedom to pursue truth. Which is often all too complicated and difficult to talk about.
Sending lots of love <3 and if you ever do want to talk or get together, I'm here.