The Unconditional Human Spirit

Sitesplainin: Wendell Krossa

One of the guests on a recent Megyn Kelly podcast mentioned the episodes of insanity that our societies have repeatedly become caught up in over past years/decades. He asked what was going on with this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dspX81dOBVQ

This prompted these thoughts…

The myths/ideas/beliefs in the list below illustrate one critical component that explains why we keep falling for “madness of crowds” eruptions of irrational hysteria and insanity. We have been caught up in too many “episodes of crazy” over just the last century that have led directly to outbreaks of mass-death, to hundreds of millions of deaths. Why then do we keep falling for the next outbreak of madness and the next one… again and again? We had the Covid hysteria and lunacy with hugely damaging lockdowns. And we repeatedly and submissively hand our minds over to state war-mongers to convince us to support further bloody wars. Glen Greenwald pointed this out with regard to Vietnam, Iraq, and Ukraine. Each new war, as elites convinced us, was a righteous battle to “save democracy”, another “just war” that we were obligated to support.

We let ourselves be carried along (“groupthink”) by the fear-mongering of elites who manipulate us to embrace the next crazy crusade to save something, after a previous madness crusade peters out. The climate hysteria is a striking example and has been the most dominant “madness of crowds” episode now for decades.

But, apparently, the climate activists are now giving up on their “profoundly religious crusade”, as Michael Shellenberger notes in this article below that probes, with a psychologist, the narcissistic psychopathology behind that crusade. Narcissism has to move onto ever-new bouts of public hysteria to feed its sick mind.

It’s the destruction that is left in the wake of these madness of crowds episodes that obligates us to confront, understand, and try to prevent further outbreaks.

This from Shellenberger:

My comment to a discussion group- “In the comment below you see how narcissism deforms the hero’s quest, rendering it a pathology that destroys life and society. The narcissist’s version of the hero’s quest is driven, as Jordan Peterson once said, by “virtue signaling for social status”, a basic psychological drive. The sick impulse to present oneself as morally superior, with victimhood status, that seeks to thereby gain control of others. The claim to victimhood ‘confers obligations on others automatically’.” Read the rest of the opening comment here

Evan Sayet, joke-writer, interviewed on “Rubin Report”– “The difference between writing jokes for Bill Maher and Donald Trump”, May 9, 2025

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvNwKlNG8Ks

These two US liberals (Classic Liberals, independents) analyze what happened to their side of society over past decades- i.e. the shift of US liberals into far-left Woke Progressivism. Interesting comment on the “long march of 60s Marxists through the institutions” of US society- i.e. through universities, state agencies and bureaucracies, mainstream media, Hollywood, etc., with the intention to gain power/control over our liberal democracies and thereby incite their “revolution” that would bring liberal democracy to an end and replace it with a collectivist utopia.

Also, interesting comment by these two on the destructive nihilism that now dominates the US left. This comedy writer offers some good insights, for example, on what went wrong with mainstream comedy over the past few years. Mainstream (i.e. “late night”) comedy became part of the propaganda machine for the far-left Woke Progressivism crusade. Those people believe that they are the “tip of the spear” or vanguard of the Woke crusade, the leading edge for the coming Woke utopia, and they view any who do not submit to their crusade, to their “revolution”, as enemies that are so evil that they must be crushed and exterminated, hence the shift in their comedy to vilification of disagreeing others as “Nazis, fascists, racists, etc.”

And more…

Where environmentalism went wrong and how to rethink human care for nature. This article makes points similar to what Greg Easterbrook argued at the end of “A Moment On The Earth”, that nature has waited billions of years for human mind to come along and rescue it from it’s dead-ends (see last 40 pages of Easterbrook’s book).

“Technological Progress Versus Degrowth as Solutions to the Sixth Mass Extinction: Assuring the long-term future of Earth’s wildlife requires more economic and technological development, not less”, Saul Zimet, May 8, 2025 Read the rest of the opening comment here

Another possible title above- “Nihilistic death cults, both religious and “secular”, lean heavily on the personality-deforming fallacy of apocalyptic to generate support for their destructive crusades against liberal democracies.”

I got Grok to do some homework showing that contemporary “secular/ideological” movements are actually “profoundly religious crusades”, dominated by primitive myths like apocalyptic. More exposure of the nakedness of false self-proclaimed emperors. To repost what I have stated before- “Historian Richard Landes noted that the Bolsheviks tried to masquerade their movement as “science and modernity”, but they were nothing more than “superstitious members of a salvationist apocalyptic millennial cult”. Think of Woke Progressivism, the climate alarmism crusade, etc., in this regard.

I have just added more from my interaction with Grok, notably on the outcomes of the irresponsible use of apocalyptic-scale scenarios that is so dominant today (i.e. exaggerated scenarios of looming catastrophe to alarm people, rendering them more susceptible to irrational salvation schemes that ruin societies to “save the world”). Contemporary would-be totalitarian’s continue to use the old formula of “Fear=control” that is a direct assault on the freedom and well-being of others.

Apocalyptic has long been a main theme of death cults. While the ISIS/Hamas religious-types are well known in this file, we need to consider the same is true of the death cults of Marxism and environmental alarmism/climate alarmism, among the “secular” versions.

From Netflix “Turning point: The Vietnam War”, Episode 3

“What is common is the damage that war does to participants and the dehumanization that is almost a necessary component of war that pushes away empathy and pulls in aggressive violence that is dehumanizing to all who are involved”, Col. Gregory Daddis.

“Puncturing the Apocalypse: Curry and DeAngelo Expose the Myth of Climate Catastrophe”, Charles Rotter, May 6, 2025

https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/05/06/puncturing-the-apocalypse-curry-and-deangelo-expose-the-myth-of-climate-catastrophe/

Paper by Harry DeAngelo, Judith Curry, “A Critique of the Apocalyptic Climate Narrative”.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5145310

Abstract:

“The Apocalyptic climate narrative is a seriously misleading propaganda tool and a socially destructive guide for public policy. The narrative radically overstates the risks to humanity of continued global warming, which are manageable, not existential. It prescribes large-scale near-term suppression of fossil-fuel use, while failing to recognize the huge costs that such suppression would inflict on humans because fossil fuels are currently irreplaceable inputs for producing food (via ammonia-based fertilizer), steel, cement, and plastics. This paper details the flaws in the Apocalyptic narrative and articulates nine principles for sensible U.S. policies on energy and global warming.” Read the rest of the opening comment here

New below: Probing Grok on the issue of “conscious observers inseparable from observed reality”, contrasted with Einstein’s pushback against Bohr- “I can’t believe the moon is not there if I am not looking at it.” Don’t take this too seriously as I am just having some fun poking Grok on these things.

See article below on Iranian theocrats soon to get the bomb, Wendell Krossa

Also, more on the pain on the plain in Spain– Grid collapse from over-dependence on renewable power sources. Illustrating the lunacy of climate apocalypse “salvation” schemes- i.e. the destruction of human societies to “save the world”.

The problem: “Men never do greater evil than when they do it in the name of their God.” Meaning, of course, “evil” based on bad theology, driven by “Monster God” theology.

Some online definitions of “theocracy”:

“Theocracy” is a Greek word that means “government by God.” A theocracy is a state… government that derives its authority directly from a religion… invoking the authority of a religious deity and basing their laws on religious texts.”

“Theocracy, government by divine guidance or by officials who are regarded as divinely guided. In many theocracies, government leaders are members of the clergy, and the state’s legal system is based on religious law. Theocratic rule was typical of early civilizations. The Enlightenment marked the end of theocracy in most Western countries. Contemporary examples of theocracies include Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the Vatican.”

“Theocracy is a form of government where it is believed that a god, deity, or group of deities, or a deity is in charge. The supreme being is usually thought to rule through human figures, like politicians and clergy, who are believed to be in direct contact with and/or of direct descent from the supreme being.”

The authors in the article below call the Iranian people to get rid of their theocratic government. It would have been further helpful if they had focused that call more directly on the theology behind the state theocracy- i.e. the actual features of the God in the Iranian state theology or belief system. The features of that religious deity are fundamental contributing factors to the problems that Iran promotes in the world, notably the promotion of extermination violence toward others outside of their faith, and especially their mad drive to exterminate Jews, whether directly or through proxies like Hamas. Read the rest of the opening comment here

Coming soon- New material to counter the totalitarian’s formula of “Fear=control”, arguably still the single most destructive element in life. How do tyrants use this formula? They construct narratives (i.e. climate alarmism) that exaggerate fear in populations and that incites people’s survival impulse and renders them susceptible to irrational salvation schemes that destroy societies to “save the world”. Religious themes continue to play a critical role in this tyranny, notably in the “secularized” versions of our major ideologies, such as “Declinism”, “the most dominant and influential theme in the modern world” (Arthur Herman in “The Idea of Decline in Western History”).

Some interesting comment in this link by Jordan Peterson on his latest Joe Rogan interview- JRE episode 2308 on YouTube or Spotify. Wendell Krossa

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

They engage some interesting discussion on play and how play counters tyranny. And then some good comment on the use of fear and control of others by fear. And how all this works in the online realm and in politics, especially in relation to apocalyptic narratives.

These quotes:

“Psychopaths find a narrative to strike fear into people and justify compulsion. They alley themselves with that belief/narrative then rachet themselves up reputational hierarchies without true validity, riding on fear and power.”

Peterson then makes this summary of earlier comments with Rogan on this:

“The climate apocalypse narrative is a social contagion that’s driven by power-mad psychopaths who are hell-bent on using fear and compulsion to make sure everyone steps in line so they can continue with their acquisition of undeserved power.”

He was referring earlier to Mark Carney who is likely today to win the election in Canada and is a charming, smooth talker who believes (he states this in his book Values) that every decision of every one of us must support his plans for Net Zero. Net Zero, points out Peterson, will devastate the lives of billions of poor people. I am especially impressed that Joe Rogan now also gets all this in regard to climate. Read the rest of the opening comment here

More on “Carney barker for a cult”, Wendell Krossa

The title relates to material that I posted previously where historians have rightly exposed the nakedness of historically recent leftist elites posing as “modern, intellectual, enlightened philosopher kings”. But analysis of leftist/collectivist narratives exposes the fact that they are driven by the complex of primitive apocalyptic millennial themes. This is also evident in contemporary narratives like climate alarmism that is the central motivating ideology in Mark Carney’s worldview (detailed in his book “Values”).

Historians like Richard Landes have pulled off the modernist intellectual robes that elites like Carney try to cloak themselves with.

These quotes from previous material I posted here:

“Historian Richard Landes noted that the Bolsheviks tried to masquerade their movement as “science and modernity”, but they were nothing more than “superstitious members of a salvationist apocalyptic millennial cult”. My mind returned to Landes’ comments on the Bolsheviks as I watched Mark Carney replacing Trudeau.

“See the varied comments below on Carney, WEF socialist (he is a board member) and climate alarmist, seeking to bring his WEF-style climate crusade to Canada to reframe the Liberal party with his smoother elitist presentation. He will replace, but maintain, the destructive eco-zealotry of Justin Trudeau. And take it to even further reaches of destructiveness if elected to a full term.

“Carney is an eco-cultist trying, with elitist smoothness, to present himself as financial expert. No different from the self-delusional framing of the original Bolsheviks, and Marxist elites in general, who wished to mask their salvationist apocalyptic cult as some form of modernism- i.e. as ideology, science, philosophy, etc. Note, for example, Marxism’s claim to “scientific history”. Primitive mythology (apocalyptic millennialism) masked as something rational and credible.”

Continuing with recent news re Carney and his proposed spending… Read the rest of the opening comment here

Another note on the Douglas Murray Dave Smith clash on Joe Rogan, Wendell Krossa

More probing of how to solve problems like large-scale violence and war. Dave and Doug go at it, Hamas/Gaza and the horror of violence in war. If the points and arguments seem a bit convoluted, welcome to the nuance and complexity of war when normal humans give way to those ugly impulses to tribal hatred, to demonizing some differing other in extremist terms as “evil enemy”, and then letting vent the destructive impulse to punitive retaliation. Then the rest of us watch the “insanity of war”.

The issues below that Murray and Smith debated illustrate a repeated point that I make here- Go to the root factors behind any given problem such as the resurgence of religious violence by Islamic extremists. And deal with the critical contributing factors that are “bad religious ideas”, or you will just get repeated episodes of such violence.

Historians like Richard Landes have warned that if you do not understand how myths (i.e. bad religious ideas) like “apocalyptic millennialism” can carry societies into mass-death (i.e. Marxism, Nazism), and if you don’t deal with those ideas, then you will suffer the repeated violent outcomes from people holding such systems of belief. And this applies to more than just Islamic terrorists. Remember also the histories of Judaism (Old Testament) and Christianity over the past two millennia.

And as per my repeated point on this issue- The most critical root contributing factor among bad religious ideas is the “monster God” that holds religious belief systems together, validating all the rest. As Harold Ellens has said so clearly- “Sick Gods make people sick.” Psychologists Ellens and Zenon Lotufo have both noted, the threat theology based on monster God mythology incites fear, anxiety, guilt, shame, despair and depression, nihilism, and violence. It brings out the worst in us.

Move beyond reformism that tinkers at the periphery of religious systems and go directly to the core of the problem- i.e. the deformed deity that has long reigned as the ultimate ideal and authority in religious systems and has always provided the fundamental archetypes for all human narratives (i.e. the core themes), including secular ideological systems of belief.

This is critical to solving problems like “People become just like the God/ultimate reality/ultimate ideal that they believe in”, and “Men never do greater evil than when they do so in the name of their God”. This goes to the deepest roots of the “eye for eye” cycles that we are watching play out in the Israel/Gaza war. As Ellens said, “If your God retaliates with destructive violence then so may you.” Read the rest of the opening comment here

xAI Grok commenting (response to my query) on Arthur Mendel’s “Vision and Violence” and my quote from Mendel that apocalyptic is the most violent and destructive idea in history.

“Mendel’s real insight is warning us to watch out for any idea that promises salvation through catastrophe. That’s where the trouble starts.”

Mendel, along with colleagues Richard Landes, David Redles, and Arthur Herman, shows how the primitive myth of apocalypse (and its full complex of related beliefs) continues to infect and dominate contemporary religions and the “secular ideologies” of the modern era. It has to do with the totalitarian’s formula of “Fear=control”. As, for example, in the psychopathology of a “left-wing/Progressive” elite control that pushes salvation schemes that destroy societies to “save some world” imagined to be under existential threat from differing others. We are, with our front-row seats, watching this play out in the “madness of crowds” climate alarmism crusade, the widespread Woke Progressive/DEI crusade, etc.

Grok gives its feedback, below, on the most dominant of bad ideas across human history, ideas that still dominate our world religions and also our most prominent ideologies- i.e. Marxism, environmental alarmism, etc.

Note:

History’s greatest oxymoron (i.e. combining contradicting things), as embodied in Paul’s merger of Historical Jesus with his entirely opposite Christ myth, that is below this opening section- “The Great Christian Contradiction”. My taking up the project of Thomas Jefferson and Leo Tolstoy to pull the “diamonds out of the dung” (their terms, not mine).

Then:

Douglas Murray offered an interesting comment in his recent debate with Dave Smith on a Joe Rogan podcast. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ah6kirkSwTg

Murray spoke about how as we go forward through life, that our path through the years is often like travelling through a fog due to the limitations of our knowledge about what to do, what choices to make. But later, when we look back over our lives we don’t see any fog, just the path that we took. Read the rest of the opening comment here

Coming eventually… xAI Grok’s take on my points. And the applicability of the unconditional ideal to ethics, criminal justice, and at societal scale as in the Nelson Mandela approach. It is not an affirmation of pacifism in the face of personal assault, violence at any scale, and national level attacks, etc.

Disclaimer/qualifier: Wendell Krossa

Is there really any point to make this qualifier, again- i.e. that I this site does not intend to offend religious people, members of the major world religions, when confronting the bad ideas in their traditions?

My view on what I am doing here and why? I am just joining my voice to what Thomas Jefferson and Leo Tolstoy said in their exposure of the true nature of what Christianity has told us to believe as ultimate truth. They were admittedly somewhat crude in defining Paul’s gospel of the Christ as “dung, muck, slime and garbage”. They were framing the contrast of Paul’s Christ with the “diamonds/pearls” of Jesus, also included in the New Testament. The two messages were not the same. They were entirely opposites.

Psychologist Harold Ellens, in his own update to Jefferson and Tolstoy, said that the Christian view of the crucifixion of Jesus was to take barbaric child sacrifice and present that as “an act of grace”, or as Paul said, as a display of “God’s love”.

There were no terms two millennia ago to describe ultimate or epitome “oxymoronic” for what Paul did in merging the anti-sacrifice Historical Jesus with Paul’s supreme sacrifice in his “Jesus Christ” myth.

So also Charles Templeton (“Farewell To God”) exposed the true nature of what we were told to worship as divine, as good, as righteous reality and ultimate truth. He pointed out that the God of the bible that many worshipped was actually a dictatorial monstrosity. Templeton stated correctly that someone who demands to be the center of attention and demands constant praise of his greatness, on pain of death for not doing so, is an Idi Amin monster. Historical Jesus had also countered that perversion of deity in stating that true greatness was in serving, not in dominating others. Yet we are taught by our religious traditions to worship such threatening domination as something true, good, and right.

Alex Garcia (“Alpha God”) added to the exposure of the actual nature of religious practices like worship by stating that people bowing in churches was evidence of our animal past where lesser tribe members cowed before the alpha predators. Is that too blunt to even consider? That bowing of heads and averting of eyes, he claims, may be no different from the lesser animals in a group cowing before the alpha predator of the group. I find the shock value in such exposures is necessary to snap us awake from what we are actually doing. It is more correctly understood as a pathology, not healthy human development. Read the rest of the opening comment here

“The climate scam is collapsing”, Tom Nelson, April 10, 2025 (Posted on Anthony Watts’ site “Wattsupwiththat.com”)

(“Its all over now, baby blue”- Bob Dylan)

Don’t be too assured that it’s all over now. As Richard Landes says, when an apocalyptic crusade appears to be failing, the leaders often double down and shift into the phase of “exterminate or be exterminated”. Desperate to survive as their entire universe, along with their very identity, faces demise and extinction. They may do “desperate measures” crazy things.

https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/04/10/over-30-items-here-evidence-that-the-climate-scam-is-collapsing/

Nelson lists over 30 items giving evidence that the climate scam is collapsing.

He says, “The climate scam is imploding right now. Of course there are still plenty of remaining pockets of climate cultism, but the whole movement is crumbling. It’s the most massive scientific fraud in human history, and it will take significant time to completely die, but make no mistake: It IS dying.”

See link above for further links on each particular item:

I will list only some…

“A powerful climate alliance of the World Economic Forum, major companies, the UN, and banks is at an end”.

“Delicious straight talk from US EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin- “We are driving a dagger through the heart of climate change religion.”

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright- “Climate change alarmism is a ‘quasi-cult religion’”. Read the rest of the opening comment here

I just sent this post to family and friends in a discussion group online…

“Do you get the bigger picture now? Its not just about how much any particular tariff does to rebalance some other country’s tariffs. Its about the very fundamental premises of globalization pushed by elites over past decades- i.e. that if we engage authoritarian countries like China, and entangle our economies in commerce, then we can bring China into democracy. Not.

“US elites believed that it was worth the cost of losing US manufacturing industry to places like China in order to gain influence and control over the larger world with the Western democratic system led by the US. Basically, to achieve US dominance in the world (extend US empire, what my American brother-in-law refers to as US “Manifest Destiny”).

“And it was a mixed bag of motives and goals- Yes, the noble expansion of democracy was in the mix, no doubt. And the value of free trade as in “comparative advantage” and giving poor countries a chance to develop out of poverty. All there, also.

“But there was also the elite advantage that came from shifting away from high-cost US labor to low-cost labor regions, a shift that benefitted business elites and CEOs with more wealth, and Wall Street Financial types with great gains. (Labor costs are the significantly dominant cost in most businesses.)

“Now Trump is going to overturn that great globalization project to bring back manufacturing in order to benefit US workers. And to end the dangerous dependence on threatening places like China for critical resources- i.e. rare Earth metals, medicines, etc.

“No wonder Wall Street elites, who have benefitted from globalization, are going hysterical as they watch their power, control, and profits threatened by Trump.

“So who really cares for the common worker?”

There is something “far, far bigger” going on, often behind-the-scenes, than what media chatter on about all day. Petty obsession with opponent’s words/jokes, minor elements in policy initiatives, individual country’s situations on tariffs, etc. Read the rest of the opening comment here

See below the “bad ideas” pathology- i.e. the complex of primitive mythical themes that are common to the world religions and have even been embraced to frame contemporary “secular/ideological” systems of belief, notably Socialism/Marxism and environmentalism. As many have warned, until we deal thoroughly with this complex of bad ideas that incite and validate bad human behavior, we will continue to suffer the eruptions of tribal violence that are the inevitably consequence of holding such ideas in our belief systems, whether in religious or “secular/ideological” versions.

Reposting: “Elite financial expert? No, just another “carny barker” for a cult”, Wendell Krossa (Understanding the real Mark Carney.)

http://www.wendellkrossa.com/?p=13274#more-13274

Varied commentators have pointed out Carney’s basic WEF socialism. Additionally, historians have pulled the cloak off this “would-be emperor” to expose the nakedness of the underlying collectivism that he proposes. I would add that behind his “secular/ideological salvationism” there is the same old superstitious primitivism of apocalyptic millennial cultism.

These quotes from a previous posting…

“Mark Carney has successfully elbowed his way to become Liberal leader and replaced Justin Trudeau.

“Historian Richard Landes noted that the Bolsheviks tried to masquerade their movement as “science and modernity”, but they were nothing more than “superstitious members of a salvationist apocalyptic millennial cult”. My mind returned to Landes’ comments on the Bolsheviks as I watched Mark Carney replacing Trudeau.

“See the varied comments below on Carney, WEF socialist (he is a board member) and climate alarmist, seeking to bring his WEF-style climate crusade to Canada to reframe the Liberal party with his smoother elitist presentation. He will replace, but maintain, the destructive eco-zealotry of Justin Trudeau. And take it to even further reaches of destructiveness if elected to a full term.

“Carney is an eco-cultist trying, with elitist smoothness, to present himself as financial expert. No different from the self-delusional framing of the original Bolsheviks, and Marxist elites in general, who wished to mask their salvationist apocalyptic cult as some form of modernism- i.e. as ideology, science, philosophy, etc. Note, for example, Marxism’s claim to “scientific history”. Primitive mythology (apocalyptic millennialism) masked as something rational and credible. Read the rest of the opening comment here