Seeking Power Over Others vs. Seeking Mastery Over Yourself

I witnessed an interaction on Facebook on the day before I shut down my account that made me decide that it wasn't worth my time even just for networking with musicians.

There was a person on there who was utterly convinced that "nazis" deserve to be punched in the mouth and that my friend was a "nazi".

And while listening to Spellbound: Book II of the Grimnoir Chronicles on the next day, there was something a character said about another character about how they'd make a good "secret policeman in a police state".

It makes me wonder just how much people ask themselves whether they, themselves, "would make good secret policeman in a police state" if they practiced what they preached?

Do they ask themselves whether they would make a good Inquisitor during the Spanish Inquisition?

Do they deem themselves to be worthy to judge, jury, and executioner?

The claim to moral goodness often seems to imply the power to use force over others.  And that's how a person gets to a point where punching so-called Nazis without any due process seems like a good idea for how to organize a civil society.

A Self-Interested Moral Goodness

There is such a thing as a claim to moral goodness that doesn't imply a desire for power over others.  

This is the moral goodness of making your bed in the morning.  

It's the moral goodness of a job well done whether anyone notices or not.

It's the moral goodness of keeping yourself in good physical condition even though you're in a committed and monogamous relationship.

It's the moral goodness of a commitment to know and face the truth regardless of how uncomfortable it makes you feel.

These are the moral goodnesses of a personal nature.  It's between you and your conception of the good (what people call God).

It's a self-interested and self-investing moral goodness.  It's building yourself into a person of character and authentically worthy of pride.  

It is self-mastery: the conquering of your own laziness, disorderliness, cowardice, and greed.

This kind of moral goodness doesn't seek power over others.  It realizes that the only way for others to achieve this kind of good is to undergo the unique struggles that their lives have handed them.  

Struggle is a guarantee in life, along with death and taxes.  How you deal with struggle is the only question that has ever mattered to any human being.

Peak Bullshit: Turns Out The Dalai Lama is a Hateful Figure

Apparently, even privileged fucks from China can exploit inclusivity and diversity to shut people down. You know... hateful people like the Dalai fucking Lama.

Now I don't agree with the Lama or his ethos, but come on... he mostly talks about dealing with your own garbage and tending to yourself.

If you needed any more evidence that Social Justice is morally bankrupt exploitation of feeling over fact (and feeling over the exercise of individual judgment), there you have it. Calls for diversity and inclusivity, with rare exception, imply an abandonment of reason, which is the only bullshit detector you have.

Our relationship with our own faculties of reason come down to practice. It's use it or lose it. Either we call things as we see them or we're the next mark for whomever figures out how to push our buttons.

But, if our commitment to the truth is strong enough and we form convictions based on our long-term practice of clear thinking, we can be like the immovable stone in the river... the manipulations will flow around us like so much water.

We don't need to fix the world or anyone else's flawed notions. But we do need to look upon the world call bullshit when we see a steaming pile of it.  We are at peak bullshit right now (or hopefully heading toward it).  You've never needed your reason more.

There Are Four Lights!

From "Chain of Command - Part 2", a season 6 episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation

Joe Rogan Experience #877 - Jordan Peterson

Jordan Peterson is a clinical psychologist and tenured professor of psychology at the University of Toronto. https://www.youtube.com/user/JordanPetersonVideos http://www.selfauthoring.com/ 100% off the Future Authoring Program code: "ChangeYourself" - The offer is extended until the end of December 7th

I've only checked out the episodes of Rogan that friends have said I have to listen to except for this one, which I have listened to with no recommendation.

Rogan has proven himself to be a really smart and knowledgable host who can hang with nearly anyone, at their level. This one has an amalgam of philsophy, psychology, and mythology and it's pretty dense at times but it's a great discussion about the cancerous effects of Postmodernist philosophy and its war against clear thinking and elevation of feeling over fact.

Peterson has decided to take a vocal stand against recent legislation in Toronto in regards to gender pronouns and I first became aware of him from Sam Harris's podcast but this conversation flows a lot better than the ones between Harris and Peterson.

This is a 3-hour chat. It is profound and worth your time.

Justice, of the Social Sort

Social justice only happens when we treat people as individuals in accordance with their conduct.

However, most of what writers try to float as "social justice" is some variant of robbing people like Paul to pay people like Petra. The Pauls are given less than their conduct deserves out of some warped notion of tribal guilt.

That is not justice of any kind.

What Social Justice People Want From You

South Park: Randy Marsh apology for the "N" word to Jesse Jackson. "Kiss it".

People who make a lot of noise about social justice aren't very clear about what the end game is for all of their noisemaking.

They can't name it explicitly because, deep down, whether they know it or not, their end game is your guilt. And your guilt is their power.

They can win this only with your assent.

DON'T GIVE THEM A FUCKING INCH

Live your life the best you can playing the hand you were dealt. Live like your long-term happiness and well-being are your primary goal.

Sure... help others from time to time, but for your own reasons. Share your truth for your love of the truth. Share your knowledge for the love of knowledge. Share with people whom you enjoy because of their love of their own lives.

Never let sacrifice or guilt become your motive power. Never apologize for your priority of fact over feeling.