As far as I remember there was more drunken kabob roasting then training of Ursine Commandos.
Sometimes when folks get to know me and find out that I am originally from Russia they ask me geopolitical questions.
And of course I hear the news every sodding day.
News like this:
…Which only tangentially touches on Russia but nontheless makes me raise an eyebrow like so:
Russia has an interest in the Ukraine?
Working against our efforts?
Excuse me. But, I’m Russian American with a Ukranian great grandfather (i.e. the countries are geographicaly and ethnically closely related).
Your efforts in the region are about as natural and warranted as the Russians building up a strong military presence in Mexico while funding La Raza (See Azov Battalion). Do you know anything about the region?
What is it with Americans and their psychotic fear of a sparsely populated but self sufficient country that doesn’t want to become a NATO vasal state? I get being even handed but this level of nervous toedipping into the idea that maybe the demonized side aren’t really demons seems to be peculiarly strong regarding Russia.
Being an American citizen raised here since a young age I don’t have any particular patriotism for Russia. But I do have a perspective that makes me ask what the fuck is going 9000+ times a day.
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I will never cease to be baffled by the pride that a good chunk of humanity seems to take in submitting to preistcraft. By preistcraft I do not necessarily mean religion.
In this broadened definition I include many ideologies and yes…among them I dare include that shibboleth called ‘science.’
Now, I am not a fan of comparing science to religion. This being due to the fact that science is not religion. But there is a sort of popular notion of science that may as well be religion.
It is both pro and prescriptive. It has a metaphysic. It has an ethic. There are within its dogmas not only cosmological claims but outright prophecies.
This is not the science of Spinoza or Feynman. That is to say it is not science. It is whimsy and hubris systematized. That is to say religion.
It has priests and teachers of the law.
I do not even so much here begrudge authoritarianism as I lament sloth. For its profound mental laziness that causes so many otherwise rational people to utter the demure prayer:
“I am not a scientist.”
Well…so bloody what?
Do you not have access to books? Or to get less medieval… to the sodding internet?
Ah but you require special training. These mysteries must of course be properly understood.
Yes, and did you not spend at least twelve years of your life in the school system?
Alright… I get it…that institution is deteriorated and generally rots the mind. Fine, all well and good. I too am cynical about the supposedly unalloyed good of mandatory public schooling.
However…even the most barefoot, twelve-toed, slug snacking Appalachian scion surely understands that the beauty of science is in its inherent democracy. Or if you prefer Libertarianism.
How is it that the experts to which you submit your reason came to their knowledge? Was it through sorcery? Did they approach a shewstone and therein decipher the mind of the most high God?
Or did they apply the fairly simple mechanisms of the scientific method to expand and expound upon the current body of knowledge?
You tell me that you cannot do the same?
Or are you in a roundabout way asserting that I cannot do so. That I must flagellate myself. That I should toss my critical faculties into the purifying flames of inquisition. That I should shroud my brain in the same Catholic darkness that gives you the jollies?
Suppose all those mea culpas ever bleeding from your rosary are valid. That we are both at sea before the vast incomprehensibility of the universe. That we require the confessional booth. That we must submit to a higher power.
Fine.
But I have a question…
WHICH?
To which higher power should I surrender? I suspect that your answer will depend entirely on your political persuasion.
If you do not know the things of which you are speaking of. If they are so arcane and require so many years of academic pilgrimage to fathom…then how…in all sodding Christendom do you know whether you agree.
Would it not be simpler to just vomit Druidic litanies?
Or at least more cough than humble bragging…
If you have ceased to be able to work with the facts and theories thus far achieved and must now entirely lean upon the insights of the clergy. How…HOW…pray tell is this science? The thing whose chief strength is mutability. A strength nourished by diligent scrutiny.
I guess there’s really not much use in railing against this madness. It seems to be more of a drive than a philosophical position.
I doubt I’ll ever understand it.
I guess I just don’t have that kinky submissive streak that plagues such a large chunk of humanity.
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Still dwelling in hotels whilst the house undergoes repairs. Speaking of house the thing needs to have the roof swept, the back and front yard raked, months of dishes done, the carpets cleaned, and the owner whipped. (I’m the owner.)
There have been too many of those small inconveniences like not having hot water to do dishes. These combined with my work schedule and familial duties have given my inner excuse machine hyper fuel. My creativity and assets have suffered as a result.
Being between places is peculiarly infuriating.
I think my several months of stagnation are proof of the importance of having good regimens in place before your infrastructure begins to give you grief.
TL;DR but mommy I don’t wanna go to school.
On second thought I’ll probably just have a pint.
Shame me into action by giving me your hard-earned cash. The more alcohol I can afford the more effusive my fingers. Tipppitiy tappaty! Clikaty clakaty! This is not an encouragement of drinking. I am Russian and thus a professional. Please leave the drinking to me.
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IRL fasting has many benefits. Check out P.D. Mangan’s amazing anti-aging site for more on this.
If that’s not enough.
Even Jesus loves fasting. There’s some juju out there that can’t be banished any other way.
Except maybe the internet.
Pictured: The internet in its most malignant form: Teh kittez. An ancient evil of possibly Canaanite origin.
So should you go on internet fasts?
Folks like Bryan Lunduke would probably say yes. Folks like me would probably say…maybe.
Fact of the matter is that I’ve been trying and planning to go on a no electronics sequester, where I produce a bunch of somethign, with a lot of focus; for well…it’s embarassing…for nearly….if not exactly a decade.
Sweet Elijah! You might cry. Your discipline sucks.
Absolutely. Yes. I’m a whimsical beast with very strong drives that are not easily tamed. Which is why I prefer letting them run free. Seems more humane. That is until they go over a cliff.
The nubmer one complaint with all things web related seems to be wasted time. The internet seems to be a distraction machine.
So, it is only natural that people throw up their hands and ask, “Hold on a minute! Hold on a minute! What if I wasn’t voluntarily pulled in a million directions at once! Wouldn’t that be…I don’t…sane?”
So all the goal setting and good intentions begin. Only to be shattered by the realziation that most of your work and social life depends on electronics. Even if you aren’t a blogger.
“Welcome to the machine.” – Roger Waters or some such hippy.
Yes. And now you’re booting up and logging on to answer e-mails or apply for jobs or write this or that and…boom now you’re on YouTube…and well….frankly…welcome to Hell and goodbye time.
Or so it would seem.
I’d suggest that there’s probably a happy medium, wherein you use your baser browsing urges to spice up the legitimate ones, and catalyze learning and productivity.
But at the same time perhaps some fasting would be good towards that end.
Not here to make proclamations just to ponder so…I dunno you tell me.
Or if you don’t want to chat with an overcaffeinated time slayer, then ponder your way to Vallhalla.
Speaking of Valhalla. Pillaging is no longer profitable and mead remains expensive. Please contribute to a thirsty bard.
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It’s bad enough to deal with the melodramatically apocalyptic ambience of Gen Z (or Omega if you’re Greek), the painfully temporally constipated notion of millenial, but now the generation that has never heard the dulcet tones of dial up is gonna be dubbed Zoomers…a name that sounds like all the MDMA and uppers that were involved in their conception.
This is not the generation that will restore conservative values.
These are the same exact reactionary snots that you were and your parents were.
Children are not the future.
Death and taxes are the future.
Drink now. Drink often.
Buy me a Whiskey
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CEO’s and commisars have more in common than you think.
Corporate culture kills the host.
Management builds nothing, manufactures nothing, and costs everything.
Optimization means making people work faster for less. See Outsourcing.
Sensitivity training exists because being polite is preferrable to paying your employees.
The NuMale ubermensch leveraging his way to success via endless seminars often craves an empathy pantsuit. But only because he’s not allowed to wear a dress.
As a commisar executive your core competency is building consensus on how best to disrupt the flow of funds from the productive class into your bank account.
The politburo Corporate exists for the sole customer-centric mission of reeducation marketing to leave the consumer with a lean and mean wallet.
At the gulag company you will build synergized ecosystems of equal parts cheap labor, propaganda marketing, and markups. This will be hailed as the pinnacle of capitalism despite getting most of your product from communist optimized countries.
You will be celebrated as the supreme soviet captain of industry that you are. Just remember to emote. You wouldn’t want to seem cheeky about the holodomor bonus you just got. As this will only make it harder to seize the means of production get bailed out in future.
I thought that by working blue collar I could escape all this…but alas new age incompetence has spread to something as unfuckable as putting a box on a truck.
Help me stay sauced and writing subversive poetry by donating.
Or if you prefer: leverage your money into my expense account to optimize output of literary junkfood.
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No longer is science a specific methodology for studying empirically verifiable data regarding a narrow set of physical and observable phenomenon.
No longer is science a constantly updated body of knowledge derived from the scientific method.
Science is an answer.
One that you can use to make airtight and unquestionable forecasts about the future.
If you disagree you are a heretic.
You hate science. I might not be a scientist. But I love science. And the scientists who agree with me.
The ones that disagree are paid by the patriarchy, Big Oil, and the Green Lobby and hence are not real scientists.
I am qualified to agree or disagree with scientists because of my humility. A humility demonstrated by my admission that “I am not a scientist.”
Nevermind that I don’t understand what I’m agreeing with and can’t explain it. I am humble you see.
Literate people who have gone through twevle plus years of schooling cannot fathom the various mystery schools of Science.
#I Fucking Love Science
The Current State of Entrepreneurship
Rejoice! You are no longer a shopkeep or a franchisee. No! You mighty one are an innovator. Your ability to get real worked up about minor accomplishments like printing out a business card or filing a 1099 have landed you a mediocore income selling novelty buttplugs to the emotional support baristas of redudant career women the world over.
What’s that skippy?! You’ve discovered e-marketing? Well, hot dog you friggin rascal! Nevermind that there are streamlined flowcharts developed over the course of more than decade. You’re a tech-savvy genius!
You my friend are on the primrose path to easy street! And you deserve it. I mean who else could marry the easily exploitable labor of third world sweatshops to Amazon and Ebay via a well developed digital pipeline!
Get em tiger!
Please donate. I needwine.
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The Fractal Journal 