Random Thoughts or, Tweets I'm Too Lazy to Send

Not every thought that occurs to me deserves 500 to 1,000 words. If I’m being honest, they probably rarely do. But below are a few random items I thought I’d share anyway.

Allies

The great Charles Haywood has popularized the term “no enemies to the right” (I believe he has since tweaked it to “no enemies on the right"). The one point he makes about this phrase is that if you have a problem with something someone says or does on the right, you are to handle the issue privately. Don’t let your enemies see you in-fight.

As an example, if you criticize people publicly and state, “That person is dead to me,” most people’s egos won’t allow them to backtrack and say, “I was wrong.” Additionally, the kind of person who does that to one person will usually end up doing it to several. Eventually, they end up talking to their own four walls. Maybe some people have reached the point where they believe they can live on an island by themselves. I have not.

Black Pills

If you’re black-pilled at this point, it’s of your own doing. Sure, there may be a few of you out there being targeted by a government agent or something similar, but for the most part, you have to recognize what is happening around you. I used to remind people that Twitter isn’t real life, but it has become the public square. And whatever your opinion is of him, Elon Musk has allowed people who are our allies to say their piece (and I really don’t care what you think his motives are). Elon has even jumped in with comments that are astonishing. Here, here, here. Now I’ll wait for people to contact me privately to let me know that Elon is not “our guy” and can't be trusted. (I have never said Elon could be trusted here or anywhere.)

Control

There is no greater control that can be held by one individual than the ability to control the way other individuals think. Examining why I held a belief, especially one that could possibly become a part of one’s identity, was not easy for me. You may be shocked to find out that I’m stubborn. Sarcasm aside, being able to examine a belief that I held and to not only be able to tweak it but to completely discard it was difficult, not only because of cognitive dissonance but also because of the aforementioned identity crisis it could create.

People ask me all the time what I identify as now, and most times I struggle to answer. But that doesn’t cause me pain or discomfort in the slightest. Being in a box where you must have approved speech and opinions, otherwise your in-group will expel you, is hell. Anyone who has ever called themselves a libertarian or anything within that realm will tell you that the worst enemies you’ll have are people you agree with on 95% of issues. Which leads right back to how you deal with your allies.

Decisions

It is our choice whether to be happy or not. And I’m not only coming at that from some “self-help book at the airport gift shop” angle. Our lives should be all about choices. Who we associate with, how we worship, and especially who we allow to have authority over us. And that’s not me channeling some leftover libertarian/anarchist remnants in which I reject hierarchy. To the contrary, hierarchy is natural. There is nothing keeping us from deciding that those who now govern us are inadequate, or even detrimental to our safety, and choosing a new path forward. Obviously, I am not calling for violent revolution; however, the fact that groups of people can’t just decide they want new governance, disregarding the present one as inadequate to their needs, points to a mindset that leaves us tied to rulers who regard us as cattle and little else. Being able to choose who you associate with seems so logical that accepting the opposite seems insane. If insanity is our default, how do we move forward?