The Unconditional Human Spirit

Pre-notes: More on the still puzzling abandonment/rejection of Classic Liberalism by many Western liberals… Trying to understand what happened.

People like to believe that they are well-intentioned, and they often are, but being well-intentioned does not prevent us from causing great harm to others that are the objects of our compassion, if the policies that we embrace and promote cause that very harm. So the test is the “test of facts, of outcomes” of policies. What actually happens to people as a result of our policies. Like the 100-million plus deaths from socialist collectivization policies last century. All from socialist compassion for “equity” outcomes.

Again, the problem of the most dangerous people in society being those who believe that they know what is best for all others and will use state coercion to force submission and conformity to their policies. “Social-contract” type agreement from a population, under Classic liberal systems of law and institutions, helps us avoid the coercion element.

See reposting below of revised comment on Kristian Niemietz’s “Emotional satisfaction, not rational thinking, and despite contrary evidence, dominates our choice in beliefs.”

The human meta-story is the story of “exodus from the animal to live as truly human”, Wendell Krossa

Since the earliest exodus from our animal past to begin to live as human in civilization, our attempts at creating human societies have been undermined by those unable to control and repress the worst of their inherited animal impulses- i.e. the “evil triad” of impulses to tribalism, domination, and punitive destruction of differing others. The outcome has been the persistent manifestation of the elite/commoner divide in societies, a reversion to primitive animal-like existence (the alpha male/alpha female thing).

It has taken the passing of multiple-millennia for our developing human consciousness to understand and learn how conquer and subdue the animal inside all of us, and to fortify and energize our human impulses (Solzhenitsyn’s real battle against evil that takes place inside each of us).

We have slowly and gradually, across millennia, learned to discern what it means to be truly human in contrast with our animal past.

Just over the past few centuries we have made the stunning breakthroughs to fully grasp the ideals, principles, and institutions of Classic Liberalism that are the best that we have come up with to restrain the animal in us and to promote our human spirit. We now get, generally, that a truly humane society will protect the equal rights and freedoms of every individual from alpha elite meddling and control. Classic Liberalism is the best approach yet to subdue the animal and to promote the human. Classic Liberalism best gets us to human maturity. Read the rest of the opening comment here

See below “An inside job: Western liberal rejection of liberal values and policies”, and much more on elite domination of commoners…

The comments below probe the endless struggle against the elite/commoner divide in human societies. Classic Liberalism was created to liberate us from that primitive animal-like shaping of human societies and to protect the equal freedoms and rights of every individual. Classic liberals formulated systems of common laws and institutions to keep government institutions oriented to serving the will of commoners- “the people”, to prevent elites from using governments to meddle in, dominate, and control the lives of common citizens.

The struggle against the impulse of elites to dominate and control others is the struggle for equal freedom and rights for all.

Among other articles summarized below, this from Jesse Kline of National Post…

“Jesse Kline reviews Brendan O’Neill’s new book ,”After the Pogrom: 7 October, Israel and the Crisis of Civilisation”, that “sheds light on the morally bankrupt ideology that has caused many of our elites to turn their backs on liberal values and forge an unholy alliance with religious extremists”. Kline says that O’Neill blames the current worldwide eruption of virulent antisemitism on “modern progressive ideology, which is a complete bastardization of the values that liberals once held dear.”

“Western support for the genocidal terrorism of Hamas is, according to O’Neill, “the logical inhumane conclusion to a pseudo-progressive politics that judges people’s moral worth by their skin colour, their presumed privilege and their placement on a racial hierarchy fashioned by the unaccountable overlords of western opinion.”

Kline comments on the “hysterical hatred” once again being widely incited against Jews, with Canada leading the way. So also, we see the base tribal impulse stirring “hysterical hatred” against political opponents, illustrated notably in US society, but also across most Western nations and elsewhere.

This, by C.S. Lewis, deserves a reposting for nailing the sickness of the busybody personality that we are all currently suffering under. Relate this to the contemporary eruption of elites re-establishing the “elite/commoner divide” in our societies.

“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to heaven yet at the same time make a Hell of earth. This very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be ‘cured’ against one’s will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals”, C.S. Lewis.

What is this busybody impulse to meddle in the lives of others, to dominate and control others? What is this mind that believes it should “righteously” meddle with and dominate others for “their good”, the arrogance that claims it knows what is best for all others and will coercively use state mechanisms to manipulate and control others? Where is the Classic Liberal mind that embraces and promotes “Live and let live” as in respecting individual freedoms and rights to self-determination?

See also below, Libertarian Kat Timpf’s comments on John Kerry’s recent advocacy for neo-totalitarianism, his demand to set aside the First Amendment so he can “hammer out of existence” all dissent to his “consensus”. As Timpf said, “This is scary”. Read the rest of the opening comment here

The battle for freedom, Wendell Krossa (Note: The attacks on freedom are a bothsideism issue and problem, but obviously one side dominates more today, as noted below.)

Why do some among us incessantly try to meddle in other’s lives, to dominate and control others? Why do these people not understand that where there is no freedom- no individual self-determination as in Classic Liberalism- then there is no love. Freedom and love, that is to say “love” as the fundamental criterion of authentic humanity, are inseparable realities.

The latest commentary here continues to probe the totalitarian impulse, one of the worst of the “evil triad” of inherited animal impulses that has done incalculable damage in human relationships and societies across history (i.e. the destructive anti-humanism of the “elite/commoner” divide). Of particular interest here are the ideas that incite and validate this inhumane impulse, the archetypal themes that incite and validate this archetypal impulse.

“Archetypal” as in the deeply embedded impulses and validating themes of the human subconscious. The things that powerfully shape our lives even when we are not fully aware of that influence. The things that influence us to hold certain beliefs and engage certain behaviors because they are “emotionally satisfying”. As Kristian Niemietz states, “Emotional satisfaction, not rational thinking, and despite contrary evidence, dominates our choice in beliefs” (“Socialism: The failed idea that never dies”).

Domination of others as in the current trend across Western societies to ban free speech, is more base animal behavior than human. It is certainly not about “compassion for victims” as proclaimed by the Woke Progressive activists, the zealots for fighting “disinformation/misinformation” that then reaches beyond (concept creep) to censor and ban the free speech of any who disagree with the Woke Progressive overlords.

Some very interesting discussions…

Vivek Ramaswamy on Lex Fridman discussing the core function of government as protecting borders and protecting property rights. And the need for massive cuts to government beyond these two basic functions…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxtXuNX77Hk

Thank God we live in a time with free spirits like Matt Taibbi. This is beyond good, way beyond. I love the spit, fire, and spicy sauce of Matt’s language. I will soon post quotes from this… Read the rest of the opening comment here

New topics below:

“Historical Jesus was “anti-Christ” as in “against the Christology” that Paul used to radically redefine Jesus, Wendell Krossa”

“Some inserts before moving on to Bob Brinsmead’s great points on Paul replicating Greek thinking and theology in his Christ.”

“The Daddy thing driving me (i.e. there are no monsters), Wendell Krossa”

“My own experience of holding the “secular/ideological” version of apocalyptic millennialism, Wendell Krossa”

“Bob Brinsmead explains how Greek thought and practice shaped Christianity into another Hellenistic religion.”

“This on climate- “Media confirms the Earth is not abnormally warm. Rather, it is in its coldest period in 485 million years”, Anthony Watts, Sept. 25, 2024”

See data graphs at the link included in above report that show the much higher temperatures and much higher CO2 levels over the Phanerozoic history of life (i.e. the last roughly 500 million years of life). Both the much higher temperatures and the much higher CO2 levels were net beneficial to all life.

And for 80% of this 500-million year era there was no ice at the poles, benefitting life with extended habitats for more diverse life forms (the highest diversity of plant and animal life is in the warmer tropical regions). Backing this up- Fossils of both tropical plants and animals have been discovered in both polar regions. And you ask- Why then the contemporary hysteria over melting ice?

Our current “coldest ever world”, with ice at the poles, is responsible for 10 times more people dying every year from cold than die from warming (Lancet study). With the mild warming of the past century, the increase in lives being saved from cold deaths is more than any increase in lives being lost to warming deaths. Again, net beneficial.

Much more warming would continue to save life, not destroy it. Read the rest of the opening comment here

See below: Lines of historical descent: Plato depressed the Romans who depressed Paul and the rest of us (notably children) over subsequent millennia

A whole bunch more below, in this opening section, notably on the Jesus versus Paul’s Christ thing- “Honoring the wrong person and the wrong message: History’s greatest contradiction has shaped Western civilization for both good and bad” (playing a bit with Arthur Herman’s research on the influence of Plato and Aristotle on Western civilization).

As oft noted here- History’s greatest oxymoron (two contradictory things held in conjunction) has resulted in history’s most profound cognitive dissonance (holding two entirely contradictory beliefs), this “Mother of all oxymorons” is right there in the mixing and merging of Jesus in Paul’s Christ. Two entirely opposite persons with two fundamentally opposite theologies/messages. As Thomas Jefferson and Leo Tolstoy said, “Diamonds/pearls buried in ….…”. Ah,… the Canadian in me wants to be nice.

And some comment on good science versus philosophical materialism’s perversion of science (i.e. the dogmatic demand for materialist conclusions about ultimate realities and other mysteries, and the materialist’s constant crossing of the science/philosophy boundary, just like all others curious about the “spiritual”). And comment on materialism’s conflict with “spiritual” insights, spiritual as in “let 8 billion flowers bloom”, not religious spirituality. And more…

This from Humanprogress.org’s latest “Weekly Progress Roundup” (Sept. 15, 2024), a newsletter worth subscribing to that affirms that we live in the best time ever to be alive on Earth. Life is not declining toward something worse but is on a long-term rising trajectory toward an ever better future.

https://humanprogress.org/easter-islands-population-never-collapsed-dna-study-suggests/

This report responds to Jared Diamond’s tale of the collapse of Easter Island as his warning illustration of the coming apocalyptic collapse of human civilization, based on the fallacy of limited resources. Bill Rees referred to Diamond’s fable to buttress his own version of apocalyptic in his “Ecological Footprint” model (yes, I took most of his courses at UBC). What these apocalyptic prophets missed was the unlimited potential of human minds- the “Ultimate Resource”, according to Julian Simon. And they missed the fact that though varied societies have ended across history, the overall human venture in human civilization has progressed from strength to strength on a grand trajectory of improvement. Place that emergence and rise of human civilization in the larger context of our exodus from animal existence- the meta-story of humanity.

See “From Retaliation to Unconditional love- the story of humanity’s exodus/liberation from animal existence to become human”, Wendell Krossa

http://www.wendellkrossa.com/?p=9809

These quotes from the Humanprogress.org link above…

“The history of Easter Island has long served as an environmental fable.

“The popular “ecocide” theory claims that, during their escalating obsession with building the famous Moai statues, the native Rapa Nui people deforested their once-verdant island, creating an ecological crisis that led to population collapse, cannibalism, and a complete reordering of Rapa Nui society.

“A new study raises serious doubts about this narrative. After analyzing the remains of 15 ancient islanders, researchers found no evidence of the drop in genetic diversity one would expect after a population collapse. In fact, the genomes suggest Easter Island’s population grew steadily until European contact. According to archaeo-geneticists Stephan Schiffels and Kathrin Nägele, “the study concludes that there were never more than 3,000 people living on Rapa Nui — a number close to that observed by the first colonizers and far from a previous estimate of 15,000 inhabitants — implying that the hypothesized collapse was always a fantasy.”

“Clearly Easter Island was deforested, but it seems the Rapa Nui adapted to that environmental change and continued to thrive for hundreds of years. Humanity has once again proven to be more resilient than we give ourselves credit for.”

Malcolm Cochran, Digital Communications Manager

Added note: Bill Rees, father of the Ecological Footprint as “apocalyptic prophet”? Huh? Yes, in a later online discussion with Bill (after I left the School of Community and Regional Planning where Rees was director), I mentioned to him that his views, and EF model, were very apocalyptic in nature. His response: “Well, apocalypse is true, isn’t it”. Sheesh, eh.

This is a stimulating discussion on Joe Rogan Experience (JRE), episode 2201, available on YouTube or Spotify. A discussion with researcher Robert Epstein.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Azu8XnZdxeA&t=6122s

The YouTube blurb on this episode of JRE:

“Robert Epstein is an author, editor, and psychology researcher. He is a former editor-in-chief of “Psychology Today” and currently serves as Senior Research Psychologist at the American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technology. He also founded the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies.”

Epstein adds that he is a Democrate who voted for Hilary in 2016.

Epstein presents disturbing research on the bias of Google in presenting tailored information to searching individuals and the political manipulation that goes on with that presentation of information, that is basically, as Rogan says, “interference in elections”, interference that influences millions of votes. Epstein says that due to this secretive manipulation by Google, there have been no free and fair elections since 2012. Our democracies are an illusion. Read the rest of the opening comment here

This good science below from sources like “co2coalition.org”, where atmospheric physicists like Richard Lindzen, William Happer, and others like 2022 Nobel laureate in physics John Clauser, post their research. My point is to focus on the physics of CO2 which shows that the warming influence of CO2 is now “saturated”, meaning it will contribute very little if any to further warming, if such warming should continue to occur.

Takeaway from their research? It is natural factors that are mainly responsible for climate change, not CO2. And warming has not and is not becoming a “crisis”. It has been mild (roughly 1 degree C over the past century) and hugely beneficial to all life, just as the increase in CO2 has been hugely beneficial to all life in adding some 15% more green vegetation to the world since 1980.

Again, there is no good scientific reason to tax carbon or decarbonize our societies.

Climate facts:

Outgoing longwave radiation (thermal radiation) spans wavelengths from 4 to 100 micrometers (UM). CO2 absorbs that radiation at 15 micrometers on the longwave spectrum. CO2 re-emits the absorbed outgoing longwave radiation in all directions, sending about 50% back downward to contribute a minor influence to any warming.

This quote from the third link below…

“Although there is little-to-no evidence of any significant changes in the earth’s climate since the post-industrial age [2,6,7], man-made global warming proponents are concerned because measured CO2 levels have increased by about 30% over the past 100 years (0.028% to 0.041%), and CO2 has been identified as a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming.

“However, skeptics argue that not only are current CO2 levels in the atmosphere negligible compared to levels seen in the history of the planet, but that the infrared radiation wavelengths that are absorbed by CO2 are already saturated, so the maximum CO2 effect on the earth’s temperature has already been reached, as will be discussed further below. Thus, adding more CO2 beyond current levels is not likely to have much effect on global warming.

“In fact, warming of the earth is related to many other factors, including the natural variability of the climate. In any case, the role of CO2 itself is insignificant compared to that of water vapor, which is present in the atmosphere up to 4%, i.e., 100 times more than CO2. In addition, the H2O molecule has a higher warming potential than the CO2 molecule. Moreover, man’s contribution to global warming gases is tiny compared to that of natural processes, as will also be described below.”

https://co2coalition.org/facts/the-warming-effect-of-each-molecule-of-co2-declines-as-its-concentration-increases/

https://co2coalition.org/media/how-co2-saves-the-earth-greenhouse-gas-have-vital-warming-cooling-effects/

https://co2coalition.org/publications/why-human-contribution-to-climate-change-is-minimal-and-negligible/

New comment below: The narrative themes that are driving the climate alarmism crusade. No different from the same old myths that shaped “the profoundly religious crusades” of Marxism and Nazism, and all previous apocalyptic crusades. Note David Redles’ good historical detail (“Hitler’s Millennial Reich”) on how Hitler used apocalyptic millennial ideas to carry Germany into mass-death. As that military guy warned about ISIS- you can defeat such eruptions of violence with force, but they will only keep erupting and re-erupting until you go after the fundamental ideas that incite and validate them. Read the rest of the opening comment here

“Well, there are always wonderful words to describe things that are not very wonderful”– Thomas Sowell and his “the test of facts” that expose the impacts of well-intentioned policies. Think also the “psychopathology of left-wing compassion” in this regard, also known as “the psychopathology of left-wing authoritarianism”, today’s “real threat to democracy”. Michael Shellenberger, Matt Taibbi, and others in alternative, independent media probe these threats to democracy regularly.

After the early 1990s collapse of communism, who would have thought that we would be facing the greatest threat to freedom from within our liberal democracies? That the formerly “liberal” side of our societies would reject Classic Liberalism for extreme leftist Woke Progressivism, a newly framed version of collectivism with its varied new fronts of DEI, ESG, etc.? DEI? Yes, the new tribal dualism of opposing classes of oppressor/oppressed, victimizer/victims, still embracing the old dualism of capital owners vs capital-deprived peasants/workers but now with the opposing classes also defined by race, by skin color. Whatever happened to Martin Luther King’s dream of colorblind society of equally free and uniquely differing individuals?

Warning re the outcomes of alarmism crusades, Wendell Krossa

The apocalyptic millennial scholars noted below present stunning evidence that Marxism, Nazism, and now environmental alarmism, are “profoundly religious crusades”. And more unsettling for true believers, these researchers expose the fundamental role that Christian “apocalyptic millennial” themes have played in the above mass-death movements. I take that further and argue that their histories of these themes point to the line of historical descent over the past two millennia that runs directly from Paul’s apocalyptic Christ.

My point relates to the comment below on the recent speech by atmospheric physicist Richard Lindzen who offers the quote from Voltaire that “Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities”. Lindzen warns that leftist revolutionaries have co-opted and perverted climate science and are bent on destroying Western civilization.

Lindzen is right to pushback against the absurdity of climate alarmism “science” with the better evidence of good skeptical science. But then the question- Why does that evidence change so few alarmist minds?

Kristian Niemietz offers some insight on why factual evidence changes so few minds. Niemietz explains this in relation to Socialism but it applies equally to climate alarmism, a similarly apocalyptic crusade.

From my previous summary of Niemietz: “Emotional satisfaction, not rational thinking, and despite contrary evidence, dominates our choice in beliefs.”

“Kristian Niemietz brilliantly explains the psychopathology of why people continue to embrace and affirm this failed ideology (“Socialism: The Failed Idea That Never Dies”), how emotional satisfaction, not rational thinking, and despite contrary evidence, dominates our choice in beliefs. Think also “confirmation bias” in the mix. Read the rest of the opening comment here

Topics in this section (below Brinsmead post):

New comments below on the “social contagion” of childhood “climate anxiety”. The prominent outbreak of child abuse today as adults panic and traumatize children with the apocalyptic crusade of irrational and unscientific climate change hysteria.

Viktor Frankl on the search for meaning. “The primary motivation for living is to find meaning.”

Ken Hapaala on “The Week That Was: The Science and Environmental Policy Project.” “The common assumption that carbon dioxide is “the main driver of climate change” is no longer true and is scientifically false.”

Hapaala on “A Strong Historical Case for Nullification.” “The ‘peoples of the states’ are the sovereigns.”

This from Bob Brinsmead. See also https://bobbrinsmead.com/

For those who may have missed this below and want to know who the “Historical Jesus” really was and what he actually taught, Brinsmead is among the best at explaining these things. Bob has long exhibited the finely tuned ability to see core issues in relation to anything that he is looking at. And he does so without resorting to “ad hominem attack” against any who disagree with him, sticking to the core issues at play. A great human spirit.

Here is a recent post from Bob that presents his research on this subject of how the man Jesus was transformed by Paul into the Christ of the New Testament. In that process of “developing Christology for early Christianity” the Historical Jesus was deformed utterly to represent something entirely opposite to who he actually was and what he actually taught.

Both Thomas Jefferson and Leo Tolstoy have made brutally blunt conclusions about what happened with Paul’s Christology as burying the “diamonds/pearls” of Jesus in (pardon my quoting of their actual terms) “dung, slime and muck, garbage”, the “product of lesser minds”.

“(The early Christian development of Christology- Jesus as the Christ, deification of an ordinary human person) meant taking the focus away from the teachings of the messenger and putting all the focus on to the person of the messenger”, Bob Brinsmead.

The outcome of the multiple-century process of Christology was a hideous deformity of the person. Read the rest of the opening comment here

Some goodies below…. See J.D. Tuccille’s article below on the “less state regulations/more state regulations” positions of this year’s candidates for US president/VP. Good points on politicians with no business experience campaigning to run/ruin major economies, versus the value of candidates with business experience. Interesting comment included from US Senator and presidential candidate George McGovern, after he was involved with a business venture and became truly “woke” about that. So also, the leader of the Communist faction of Mitterrand’s 1980 coalition of socialists/communists became really woke after ruining the French economy with typical collectivist nationalization projects. They had the sense to back off their nationalization projects and he then concluded, “We must respect business as the creator of wealth in a society”. Well, holy shit, eh.

Again, I refer to the US situation because it is so illustrative of major issues/trends in all our Western, formerly liberal democracy, societies.

Topics added to bottom of this opening section:

The Gutfeld panel comments on the new totalitarianism that Michael Shellenberger warns below is “accelerating” as governments of what we thought were “liberal democracies”- i.e. Britain, the US, Canada, Australia, etc.- are clamping down on freedom of speech and criminalizing the online comments of people who dissent from state-approved narratives.

And Matt Taibbi and Walter Kirn do a new discussion of “weird” shaming, a new propaganda tool to kowtow independents and dissenters back into the conformity of the consensus group.

And a new one from Bob Brinsmead on how Hellenism shaped the Christ myth of Paul, taking the focus off the teachings of the man Jesus to re-orient focus to Paul’s new theory about the man- i.e. the Greek God or Christ myth that Paul created to explain the man, that was entirely opposite to the actual teachings of Jesus. This illustrates why I consider Brinsmead one of the finest theological minds on the planet.

Also, some added inserts from scholar, and solid empiricist, Thomas Sowell. His “test of the facts” approach that expose the fallacies in many assumptions about race, elite arrogance in “social engineering” approaches, and other issues.

This site will continue to probe varied sources of research on the great meta-narratives that have shaped human behavior and societies across history, including today, and what are the outcomes of those narratives. The ideas/ideals that constitute our narratives are the themes that guide our lives. They shape how we think, how we feel, they motivate us, and they influence how we respond and act in our lives. They matter in the ordinary and mundane of daily life- how we treat one another. Read the rest of the opening comment here

These two topics are in the next section just below this top section:

Kristian Niemietz- Emotional satisfaction, not rational thinking, and despite contrary evidence, dominates our choice in beliefs. The question of why people continue to hold to the fallacies of socialism and climate alarmism?

And…

A quibble with Joe Rogan’s doomster narrative on ocean fisheries, Wendell Krossa

I have a quibble with Joe Rogan’s doomster position over ocean fisheries- a persistent one that he brings up repeatedly about ocean fisheries dying over this century, becoming exhausted and ruined. Balance this quibble with my strong affirmation for his excellent podcast and endless series of fascinating discussions with diverse guests.

Joe’s alarmism illustrates the larger psycho-pathology of apocalyptic alarmism in our societies that dominates narratives religious, ideological, and even scientific.

‘Sitesplainin’ qualifiers: Wendell Krossa

Despite my, by all appearances, negative comments regarding religious traditions and the dark themes still dominating those traditions, I affirm very much the majority of people who are able to selectively comb through their tradition to find humane, positive, and comforting insights, to select out life-affirming ideals that are common to all humanity (i.e. found in human rights codes/declarations, constitutions, Bills of rights). My affirmation of such “pick and choose” approaches? Go for it. I am all for that.

I am trying to point out what weakens, distorts, and buries the better ideals and insights in religious traditions, and that we need to clean off the deforming “muck” (Leo Tolstoy’s term, similar to Thomas Jefferson’s) that dominates in the surrounding contexts of religious holy books and other supporting material- i.e. the teaching on themes like judgment, tribal exclusion/discrimination (true believers included, unbelievers excluded), deity dominating humans (humans created to serve the gods), the threats of punitive apocalypse and hell, etc., all the nasty stuff in religious traditions that messes up the good stuff.

Isn’t this a basic obligation for all of us- to discern and sort out the good from the bad, everywhere in life? Nothing out of bounds- i.e. protected “under the canopy of the sacred”?

This from the best: “The search for God cannot wait. And love one another”, the final words of George Harrison.

Another good one from Michael Shellenberger

We can only fight for and defend freedom when we understand what and where the real threat to freedom is coming from. This by Shellenberger is the best of independent journalism and speaking truth to power, exposing abuse of power. Read the rest of the opening comment here

A Jordan Peterson insight

Good point, affirmed by psychology, that if we confront what terrifies us, if we confront that voluntarily, engage it, just do it, then we become stronger. Part of that is realizing that the thing we fear has been exaggerated in our minds and is not the monster that we thought or imagined it was. This process of facing and conquering our fears is a gradual and ongoing process throughout life.

Kristian Niemietz- Emotional satisfaction, not rational thinking, and despite contrary evidence, dominates our choice in beliefs. The question of why people continue to hold to the fallacies of socialism and climate alarmism? Wendell Krossa

Why does fact/evidence change so few minds, as we observe in regard to the apocalyptic climate alarm? Because we live by emotional attachment to our beliefs, beliefs that just feel right. They seem true (a ring of truthiness) because they have been beaten into human consciousness across multiple millennia through endless iterations of the same old primitive mythical themes that have become deeply embedded in the human subconscious as archetypes.

The complex of themes that have shaped human narratives from the beginning and still dominate today:

“Original paradise. Corrupt humans ruined paradise. Life then began declining toward something worse, toward apocalyptic ending. Now humanity faces the demand for atonement, for sacrifice/payment/suffering as punishment and redemption. There is also the demand to engage a righteous battle against some evil that threatens life (the hero’s quest to conquer a monster or evil enemy), followed by the promise of restored paradise or new utopia.”

So, for example, many people hear a contemporary version of an apocalyptic narrative like climate alarmism, and it just feels right and true to them. It resonates. No need to rationally analyze it any further. Read the rest of the opening comment here

I will soon post a full summary of Kristian Niemietz’s great analysis of the 24 Socialist experiments over the past century, their inevitable failure, and the defensive excuse-making of socialists after every failure. This sample quote from Niemietz…

“Socialism in the sense which self-identified democratic socialists define it… a democratized economic planned collectively by ‘the people’, has never been achieved anywhere and could not be achieved. Economic planning can only ever be done in a technocratic, elitist fashion, and it requires an extreme concentration of power in the hands of the state. It cannot ‘empower’ ordinary workers. It can only ever empower bureaucratic elites.”

Note revisions below, such as this….

“Kristian Niemietz brilliantly explains the psychopathology of why people continue to embrace and affirm this failed ideology (“Socialism: The Failed Idea That Never Dies”), how emotional satisfaction, not rational thinking, and despite contrary evidence, dominates our choice in beliefs. Think “confirmation bias”. He bases his arguments on the research of social psychologist Jonathan Haidt. Add here the research on how deformed (i.e. narcissistic) versions of compassion for the oppressed can result in people supporting approaches that harm the very people they claim to have compassion for.”

If you want to “run as you read”, then skip this opening part just below and go to the main comment below on “The Jesus/Paul contradiction” (Historical Jesus versus Paul’s Christ myth) and how the Christ element in this contradiction has profoundly shaped everything in Western consciousness and society today. Notably, the feature of apocalyptic in Paul’s Christ myth has been most responsible for embedding and affirming the fallacy of apocalyptic in subsequent Western narratives and consciousness, in narratives religious, “secular/ideological”, and even “scientific”. Apocalyptic has been “the most violent and destructive idea in history” (Arthur Mendel in “Vision and Violence”) and central to inciting alarmism in populations that are then rendered susceptible (due to incited survival impulse) to irrational salvation schemes that destroy society to “save the world”. Note Net Zero decarbonization here.

The Jesus element in this contradiction is critical for overturning the fallacy of apocalyptic. His “stunning new theology of a non-retaliatory God (hence, non-apocalyptic)” guts entirely the old primitive deity of past mythical and religious narratives. His “greatest contribution to the history of human ideas” (James Robinson) transforms the cohering center of the “lost paradise, decline of life toward apocalypse, demand for atonement/salvation” complex of myths. Unfortunately, the stunning new theological insight of Historical Jesus has been buried for two millennia by the Christ myth of Paul (conclusion of Thomas Jefferson and Leo Tolstoy). Read the rest of the opening comment here