ndzwork.bsky.social

3/3: How appropriate. How wonderful. How chimpanzee. Article titled: "What happens when the human race has more than one reality?" Sebastian Junger

2/3: Ironically, it may be bipartisan opposition to data centers that saves this country from itself. The courts have failed us, Congress has abandoned us and political leaders have sold us out, but opposition to data centers may be the ultimate way to stop the new alpha male elite.

This is a great write up by Sebastian Junger. You'll find it on his Tribe newsletter: 1/3 Even among chimpanzees, coalitions of males - and occasionally females - will gang up on a domineering alpha that has worn out his welcome.

"A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both." - Dwight D. Eisenhower 1953 First Inaugural Address

“..When some political or ecclesiastical pamphlet, or novel, or poem is making a great commotion, you should remember that he who writes for fools always finds a large public. A precondition for reading good books is not reading bad ones: for life is short.” Arthur Schopenhauer (HT; Shane Parrish)

Do with this what you may... "I trust that none will stretch the seams in putting on the coat, for it may do good service to him whom it fits." Henry David Thoreau from Walden & "Civil Disobedience" Pg 4

Read the book "Vigilante Nation" by Jon Michaels and David Noll. It'll open your eyes on many topics you have suspicions about much like the book "The Fourth Turning is Here" by Neil Howe will.

Interesting read. Consider turning a page or more and seeing for yourself. Vigilante Nation - by David Noll (Author)

“Fascism is a system whose weakness lies in the fact that it can never show itself to be weak.” - John Whitaker

Be careful with how much you tolerate.... You're teaching "them" how to treat you.

“It is only those who have never heard a shot, never heard the shriek and groans of the wounded and lacerated…. that cry aloud for more blood, more vengeance, more desolation.” General Sherman; from a letter sent in May of 1865 in the midst of his march to the sea.

“If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things.” – René Descartes

Have you ever watched someone confidently insist that they’re right … while being spectacularly wrong … Congratulations! You have just witnessed amathia, the ancient Greek word for willful ignorance. Thanks to Dr. Tyrone Grandison for the explanation.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer's 3 conditions for the kind of stupidity that destroys societies: Outsourcing your thinking to an authority, willful ignorance (not resolving your lack of knowledge / facts), and conformity. Philosopher Jonny Thomson has a great video on this topic.

"Anti-vaxxers are coupling up on apps for ‘Unjected’ singles. (This could really save Darwin some work...)" Great one Dave!

"Humans don't mind hardship, in fact they thrive on it; what they mind is not feeling necessary." - Sebastian Junger - "Tribe" I have to agree.

Lincoln's 1858 "House Divided" speech was rather prescient. Part of it that hits home for me: "...this government will become all one thing, or all the other." The speech is worth the read in full. But his comment "that a House divided against itself cannot stand." made an heavy impression on me.

"You are one of one, unprecedented in the history of human evolution. There’s only one of you. So to give your voice to a machine to say speak for me, I’m going to be silent, is such a crime against yourself. It’s so dystopian, beyond anything I could do in a dystopian novel, and I did a lot.”

Thanks to Dave Eggers (and Dave Pell for sharing it), in my opinion, words that need to be stated are indeed being shared: “This is the first time in history when a whole generation is being told or tempted to have a machine write for them.

The NY Times article about Mr. Musk "colonizing earth" is pretty much what one might expect I guess.... But ya gotta love Dave Pell's quip: (In retrospect, ET got out just in time...) Thanks for the smile, Dave!

"We can judge our progress by the courage of our questions and the depth of our answers, our willingness to embrace what is true rather than what feels good." - Carl Sagan

Page 231 of "The Fourth Turning is Here" shares an interesting observation by Michel Foucault. It is his reversal of the Clausewitz dictum that he shared during his 1976 Society Must Be Defended lectures: "Politics is the pursuit of war by other means." Pretty accurate by today's behavior I'd say.

Chapter 7 of The Fourth Turning is Here is a very powerful and informative use of your reading time. Consider replacing scrolling time with it.

Thomas Paine could just as easily have been speaking about today's struggles and those involved in them.

but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks for man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have the consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph."

This morning, at the top of Chapter 6 of The Fourth Turning is Here, I came across these words by Thomas Paine; "Dec 23, 1776: THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country;

I don't know who "said" it... But I sure think many in the country have lost sight of its meaning: "If you want to thank a Soldier be the kind of American worth fighting for."

As I read through the daily posts by so many of "us", I come back to my same comment a few weeks ago: The Fourth Turning is Here. Read the book by Neil Howe, and I believe you will come to a similar POV.

The Fourth Turning is here. Read it.