The MAGA Cult is ALL Projection, Inversion, and Confession

MAGA as slogan functions less as a policy platform and more as a psychological spell, an incantation deeply embedded in the dynamics of projection, inversion, and confession. This triad is the very machinery through which the MAGA cult sustains itself, manufacturing an alternate reality while displacing responsibility for systemic collapse onto scapegoats.

Projection (The Externalization of Inner Shadow) is the oldest psychological defense—disowning one’s own flaws by attributing them to the Other. MAGA is a masterclass in this tactic. Fears of lawlessness are projected onto immigrants and Black Lives Matter activists, even as its own adherents storm capitol buildings and revel in anti-institutional chaos. Accusations of “fake news” are projected outward, while MAGA’s media ecosystem fabricates an alternate epistemology, untethered from verifiable fact.

The deep anxieties about economic precarity, cultural irrelevance, and loss of identity are projected onto globalists, urban elites, and progressive movements, as if these external “enemies” are responsible for the hollowing out of middle America—when in truth, it was the very neoconservative mixed with neoliberal policies (neither of those neo's is a good thing) embraced by MAGA’s own economic elites that orchestrated this dispossession.

Inversion (The Ritual Flipping of Reality) is the alchemical trick of reversing cause and effect, victim and perpetrator. MAGA paints itself as the bastion of “law and order,” even though its leader is a lifelong criminal and as it undermines the rule of law through authoritarian overreach and mob intimidation. It declares itself a defender of freedom, while pursuing policies that constrict civil liberties, reproductive rights, and voting access.

The inversion is most visible in how MAGA lies to champion the “forgotten man,” while its policies—tax cuts primarily for the ultra-wealthy, deregulation of corporate pillaging—further entrench oligarchic control. Inversion is how billionaires can convince struggling communities that they are their avatar. It’s a magician's sleight of hand, flipping the mirror to reflect a distorted, comforting illusion.

But perhaps the most fascinating—and psychologically revealing—dynamic is confession (The Unintentional Reveal of Inner Desires). MAGA thought crime rhetoric is laced with accusations that, on deeper examination, are confessions of its own shadow. Accusations of election rigging come from those seeking to undermine electoral integrity. Claims of media dishonesty emerge from those engaged in constant disinformation campaigns, Q-Anon can't see any of the pedocons, and shouts of “cancel culture” erupt from those eager to purge dissenting voices from their own ranks. This is the phenomenon where accusations become admissions—a subconscious leakage where the very things MAGA decries are the behaviors it enacts most aggressively. Beneath the bravado, the movement is whispering its own pathology into the open, but through the veil of accusation.

The Function of This Triad is that projection, inversion, and confession work synergistically to create a closed-loop reality system. Any external critique is deflected by projection. Any factual inconsistency is neutralized by inversion. And any internal contradiction is hidden in plain sight through confession-as-accusation. This triad doesn't just defend MAGA from external challenge—it fuses its adherents into an identity cult, where shared grievance replaces critical thought and as a reult,m for anyone within the cult, they live in halls of mirrors of constant lies.

Archetypes Across Ages

An archetype is a pattern older than any one culture or story, a primordial shape in the collective psyche that keeps reappearing in myths. or fairy tales, dreams, or art and proliferates across geography and ages. Characters, images, and motifs that recur not because someone invented them, but because they are expressions of structures somewhat timelessly present in the human mind.

They're not rigid scripts; but more like the strongest gravitational fields or vortexes in the landscape of human imagination. They pull stories, symbols, and personalities into recognizable forms - humanoid, animal, god, but the details differ through civilizations. As shape-shifters, they don’t exist as neat, singular entities, but as dynamics of energy that appear in different guises depending on the time or location. A Hero in one culture may be a dragon-slayer; in another, a wandering ascetic. A Great Mother may manifest as a caring elderly woman, devouring witch, or even the nourishing Earth. 

From a more mystical vantage, archetypes can be seen as the language of the collective unconscious. Meaning the hidden mind of humanity dreaming itself across millennia. They are the bridges between the individual psyche and the great ocean of shared meaning. And from a metaphysical perspective, archetypes often reveal themselves with uncanny vividness: appearing not as personal hallucinations but as presences woven into the deep grammar of being.

Carl Jung, who popularized the term in the modern West, saw archetypes as psychic blueprints. Examples such as The Hero, the Trickster, or the Shadow are not just characters in stories, but living energies that animate our behavior, our fears, or our longings. When one encounters an archetype in any medium of story - in fiction or nonfiction real life, etc... it resonates because it is not foreign—it is something already living within all of us. They are recurrences that stir beneath the surface of culture and psyche, or can also be thought of as great masks through which the human spirit speaks. 

Jung himself never codified a fixed list; instead, he spoke of archetypes as primordial, universal patterns in the collective unconscious that manifest in myths, dreams, and symbols. They merge and split, they adapt to new cultural contexts, they wear masks. But in modernity, one will often find “twelve primary archetypes” listed as a simplified framework of shorthand groups which are distilled for accessibility. It is like saying there are twelve signs of the zodiac. Not because there are only twelve cosmic influences, but because twelve is a manageable lens through which to perceive the infinite. Like constellations, which are drawn across the vastness of the psyche to make them more navigable, the “twelve” that are often most referenced today are the Innocent, Orphan, Hero, Caregiver, Explorer, Rebel, Lover, Creator, Jester, Sage, Ruler, and Magician. 

The Innocent is the child at dawn—radiant with trust, longing for paradise, embodying faith in the goodness of life. 

The Orphan is the exile who knows abandonment, the one who has tasted betrayal. 

The Hero is the warrior of will, striding forth to overcome obstacles, to prove strength, to bring order out of chaos. 

The Caregiver is the nurturer, the parent, the one who tends and sacrifices. 

The Explorer is the wanderer, the seeker of new horizons.

The Rebel is the firebrand, the destroyer of false structures. 

The Lover is the pulse of desire, union, beauty, passion. 

The Creator is the artist, the innovator, seized by vision and compelled to give it form. 

The Jester, or Trickster, is the clown who unmasks illusion with laughter. 

The Sage is the seeker of truth, the philosopher, the one who strives for clarity beyond illusion.

The Ruler is the king, the queen, the sovereign who seeks order and structure. 

The Magician is the shaman, the alchemist, the transformer of reality. 

Together, these twelve are a chorus of human possibility, each with gifts and dangers. So think of the twelve not as a closed canon, but as a practical map of organizing the infinite archetypal terrain. Beyond them, there are countless others, some culturally specific, some universal, all alive in the collective imagination. Some additional ones which abound the wider Jungian tradition are the Shadow, the Anima/Animus, the Wise Old Man, the Great Mother, the Child, the Self, and more. These don’t always slot neatly into the “twelve,” but they’re no less essential.

Yet to really grasp archetypes we must stop thinking of them as fixed categories, like items in a filing cabinet, and instead recognize them as living forces, autonomous powers within the psyche that are not abstractions but living energies, ancient as the collective unconscious itself. They appear not only in stories we hear but also unconsciously inhabited in people within the drama of our lives. Each of us is a theater where the twelve act out their eternal play. Sometimes the Lover takes the lead, sometimes the Rebel storms the stage, sometimes the Sage speaks through us. 

So here’s the catch: an archetype is not a thing one “sees” so much as a lens they look through. We don’t encounter “The Hero”; we encounter someone who we interpret as fitting the Hero-pattern. To know primary archetypes is to know our inner dramatis personae, the gods and goddesses who move within us, as an ocean of forces waiting to be recognized, shaping our choices, our desires, our fears. To know them is to know ourselves more deeply, to see that life is not a linear march but a dance among archetypes. Sometimes we are Hero, sometimes Fool, sometimes Magician, sometimes Lover. To say, ah, the Rebel has arrived, the Lover is stirring, the Shadow is rising. Because when one recognizes them, they are less likely to be possessed by them unconsciously, and more able to dance with them creatively. 

Each contains both light and shadow and can thus change over time: the Hero can become tyrant, the Caregiver can become martyr, the Sage can become cold, the Rebel destructive. If one is evolving and improving, they will be going through, individuation, meaning living the most consciously and uniquely, part of which requires not banishing these archetypes but to more dance with them in life, to recognize when one has seized the stage, and to invite others into balance.

So an archetype is both ancient and immediate, both inside us and larger than us. It is the recurring face of humanity’s inner truth, wearing different masks in different ages, but always reminding us that beneath the surface differences, our stories are branches from the same deep root. Since an arche, meaning "first principle" is older than us, they had long ago been woven into the very structure of consciousness. Not invented, but discovered. For to discover an archetype is to encounter something that feels both intimate and cosmic at once. With our personal stories suddenly aligning with an eternal drama. This is why people feel seized by archetypal experiences; it is as if something larger than the ego has taken the stage, demanding expression. That’s why myths and religions recycle these figures endlessly—they are ways of dramatizing inner energies. 

So the real task is not to memorize lists, but to develop archetypal literacy, to be able to see when one of these great forces is moving in our personal interactions, or in the culture around us. To know these archetypes is to know the language of the psyche itself—to see that our lives are not random, but mythic stories in motion. Across ages.

Beware Of The Words "Good" and "Evil"

Beware of the words “good” and “evil” — they roll so easily off the tongue. But they are not innocent. They are ancient axes, sharpened by myth and wielded by empire. They are binary swords meant to divide what is, in truth, inseparably entangled.

To speak in terms of good and evil is to flatten reality. It is to reduce the infinite nuance of being into a two-dimensional moral cartoon. It pretends at clarity, but at great cost: the cost of understanding, the cost of compassion, the cost of truth.

“Good” and “evil” were once sacred concepts—alive with mystery, tangled with shadow. In the oldest stories, the hero and villain were often one and the same. The dragon you slay is the one in your own chest. The devil is not out there—it is your disowned hunger, your unmet grief, your fear of death wearing a mask.

But modernity—and especially political and religious institutions—weaponized these words. They became tools for control. You are good. They are evil. And especially the worst groups all train their members to think their adversaries are "evil". No dialogue necessary. No mirror held up. Just the green light for crusade, for colonization, for drone strikes, for silencing.

And psychologically, the words are toxic. Because once someone identifies with “good,” they can slow or stop growing. Why reflect, when you are righteous? Why change, when you are chosen? And those labeled “evil”? They become un-human. Disposable. Burnable. The moral boundary becomes a license for cruelty.

Now, this does not mean we deny harm, or relativize atrocity. There is real darkness in this world. Genocide, pedophilia, lies so vast they drown generations. But to go into toon town and just call it “evil” and stop there is to shut the book before we’ve read the reasons. We must ask: What series of bad decisions set up the circumstances for this? What created this violence? What wound does it express? What truth was never witnessed? Because evil is not an essence. It is a symptom—of disconnection, of trauma, of forgetting. And good? It is not purity. It is integration. The ability to embrace shadow without being possessed by it.

So better to speak and frame these instead more in the spectrums of light and dark, wholeness and wounding, of awakening and sleepness, or love or fear. Let us reclaim the language which does not live in hard black & white binary dualities. For binary material reality, from sunrise, to sun set, is a full spectrum from light to dark. As nature is a massive spectrum.

And that is the point—not to judge, but to heal. Not to punish, but to understand. Not to divide the world into saints and sinners, but to remember that we are all both, and more. Far more.

Improving The Masculine: An Introduction

We live in a time of tremendous social transformation. As outdated norms unravel and new paradigms emerge, many men find themselves in a strange liminal space—no longer anchored by the old scripts of masculinity, yet also not fully at home in the new ones. From mental health crises and crumbling friendships, to confusion around identity, intimacy, work, and purpose, it is clear that something in the masculine experience is unraveling. And yet, within this tension lies a profound opportunity.So we're going to do a series, as always, peppered in amongst our other outputs, on "Improving the Masculine". Which is not about returning to old, rigid models of manhood—nor is it about dismissing masculinity altogether. It is a call for evolution: to confront what isn’t working, to celebrate what is, and to reimagine what it means to be a good man. Not only as an individual, but as a son, father, husband, uncle, grandfather, and mate or buddy. To speak of improving the masculine is not to launch an attack on men. As you may have noticed, we are one, and very much like being a weight lifting, occasional red meat eating, weapon yielding one with an extremely strong sex drive. But to recognize that masculine identity — as it’s currently modeled, rewarded, and weaponized in certain parts of society—is running outdated software complete with viruses and malware. It’s not that men are “broken,” but that many have inherited a narrow, brittle vision of manhood that cannot meet the challenges of this moment without distorting into something weird.

The imperative for young men to improve — and we don’t mean in the gym or in the economy, but in the psyche, the soul, the story — has never been more urgent. For we are living through a strange and volatile epoch, where the absence of deep meaning has created a vacuum. And into this vacuum, old ghosts are marching again. Because fascism offers what modernity has stripped away: myth, purpose, identity, belonging but as counterfeit relics, as weaponized fantasies. It claims clarity without complexity, purpose without reflection, identity without individuality. It is a mirror for the unexamined mind. And young men, if left unsupported, isolated, and spiritually starved, will stare into that dark mirror. It seduces with structure in a world of chaos. It flatters the wounded ego, giving it a role in a grand cosmic drama — Us versus Them. Order versus decay. The Fatherland versus the Other. Fascism, that hideous relic of the collective shadow, is once more whispering in the ears of the disenchanted, the disenfranchised, the disconnected — and young men, in particular, listen. In the United States, especially in the wake of the questionable 2024 election, we’ve seen how this brittleness can be exploited. Dumb AF Authoritarian and proto-fascist cults offer counterfeit initiation into manhood: they take the raw energies of protection, purpose, and belonging—core masculine drives—and channel them into grievance, domination, and obedience to a strongman whose of course, really an ultra weak man. These movements don’t so much build men up as offer them a place to put their pain and confusion, wrapping it in flags and slogans. Claiming also to offer instant brotherhood and clear roles. And when life inevitably confronts them with powerlessness, economic instability, social change, and the erosion of old hierarchies, they reach for the only models they’ve been given: dominance or withdrawal.   

And here’s where the heart of the problem lies. When a young man has not cultivated depth — when he has not improved in the ancient sense of the word, which is to grow closer to the good, the beautiful, and the true — then he becomes porous. He is much more receptive to manipulation. To dogma. To tribalism masquerading as truth. Yet healthy masculinity, like what native American Warrior men had and still have, offers the same—community, mentorship, shared challenge — but more rooted in mutual respect and creative contribution, without submission to a hierarchy of worth. Improvement, then, is not vanity. It is immunization. It is a spiritual hygiene. It means learning to think critically, to feel deeply, to differentiate between the voice of the soul and the voice of propaganda. It means confronting one’s wounds instead of projecting them onto scapegoats. It means cultivating discipline not for domination, but for discernment.

To improve, for the young man today, is not just self-help. It is civilizational maintenance. It is the refusal to become a vessel for someone else’s fear. It is the sacred act of choosing to be whole when Empire profits from men being broken. Improving the masculine means widening its repertoire. It means reclaiming strength not as the ability to overpower, but as the capacity to hold one’s ground without losing one’s humanity. It means giving men the skills to metabolize grief, fear, and failure instead of outsourcing those feelings into scapegoating or violence. And crucially, it means offering belonging without requiring conformity to authoritarian stupidity. In the mythic sense, the masculine archetype is not just the warrior but also the steward, the builder, the protector of the commons. Improving the masculine now means reviving those aspects and integrating them with the relational intelligence that’s been historically undervalued in men. Without this work, the vacuum will keep pulling men toward the counterfeit version of power that fascism sells. 

Basically, What’s mainly “not working” is that our culture too often leaves men without real initiation into adult responsibility and emotional sovereignty. We’ve stripped away traditional rites of passage without replacing them with new ones. We’ve trained men to associate vulnerability with weakness, collaboration with loss of status, and care with emasculation. The young man who knows himself — who has faced his shadow, walked into his fears, and come back with insight — is not easy prey for ideology. He does not need to find his worth in an imagined past or in the vilification of others. He does not fantasize about strongmen or purity or submission to the State. He understands that real power is relational, not hierarchical. He seeks to heal, not to conquer. But to reach that point, he must be initiated. Not in some mystical sense, but in the psychological, existential, communal sense. He must be taught to dance with chaos rather than flee from it. He must have mentors — elders who model nuance, not noise. And he must come to know that the world is not black and white, but infinite shades of becoming.

Why Therapists Need Therapy

The therapist-in-therapy phenomenon — one of psychology’s open secrets, though “secret” might be overstating it. The simplest answer is that therapists are human beings, not omniscient wisdom machines in cardigans. They get caught in the same messy whirlpools of anxiety, heartbreak, family drama, existential dread, and late-night doomscrolling as the rest of us. But there are deeper, more systemic reasons they often need therapy themselves: like a mirror gazing into another mirror, reflecting infinity. The healer who heals must themselves be in a perpetual state of healing. It is not a flaw; it is the nature of the work.

You see, therapy is not a sterile transaction where one “healthy” person fixes another “broken” one. No, no. Therapy is an energetic exchange, a co-creation of a sacred space where the rawest aspects of human suffering are brought to light. In this dynamic, the therapist becomes a vessel for another’s pain, bearing witness, holding space, sometimes absorbing—consciously or not—the psychic turbulence of their clients. 

This is why therapists are often drawn to the profession in the first place. Many are wounded healers, alchemists of their own pain, seeking to transmute personal suffering into compassionate service. But the shadow of this is that their own unresolved wounds can be reactivated, in subtle or dramatic ways, by the stories and emotions they engage with daily. The therapeutic encounter is not a one-way street—it is a mirror, and every mirror reflects back to the gazer.

If a therapist does not engage in their own ongoing self-reflection, their own therapy, they the boundaries between client and therapist blur, and the therapist’s own unconscious material can contaminate the space. This is known as countertransference—when the therapist projects their unresolved issues onto the client. Without rigorous inner work, the healer can become trapped in a cycle of unconscious reenactment, playing out their own dramas through the therapeutic relationship.

Moreover, therapists are constantly immersed in the landscape of human suffering— grief, trauma, anxiety, existential dread, and even frankly their patient's despair and suicidal tendencies. To navigate this without becoming numb or overwhelmed requires not only professional skill but deep inner resilience. 

And then there’s the simple human truth: no one is beyond the need for guidance, reflection, or emotional support. To be a therapist is not to transcend the human condition, but to dive more deeply into it. The best therapists are not those who have conquered their inner demons, but those who have learned to dance with them, who remain humble in the face of their own complexity.

Since one cannot do physical or mental brain surgery on themselves, nor can one initiate themselves, one could even argue that the best therapists are the ones who get therapy, because it keeps them humble, self-aware, and less likely to start believing their own press releases. 

So therapists who engage in their own therapy are not hypocrites—they are practitioners of integrity. They recognize that the journey inward is infinite and endless, that the labyrinth of the psyche has no final exit. They model what they teach: vulnerability, self-awareness, the courage to seek help. Therapy, for the therapist, becomes a sanctuary where they can unload, process, and renew their own psychic equilibrium.

So therapists often need therapy, not as a sign of weakness, but as a profound commitment to authenticity. Because you can only guide others through territories you are willing to walk yourself. The healer must continually return to the well to remember why they chose to be a healer in the first place. It's almost a job requirement.

Media Problems #12: Normalization of The Unhinged

The mainstream media’s normalization of extreme views—particularly those emanating from the black heart authoritarian right which is really wrong—is not a mistake, not a glitch, but a feature of the system as it's been architected. We are dealing here with a grand theater of consent manufacturing, curated by corporate mandarins whose loyalties lie not with truth, but with capital, continuity, and the maintenance of the status quo.

Let’s not mince words: most media companies are not public institutions devoted to democratic enlightenment. They are conglomerates—profit-seeking organisms nested within larger webs of financial interest. Comcast, Disney, News Corp, and their ilk don’t serve the public; they serve board of directors at most and as a second, shareholders. But those people, like fungi, and no offense to mushrooms, flourish in darkness and decay. They do not want systematic reform for the benefit of the majority—they want return on investment for only themselves. 

So what happens? You create a media landscape that doesn’t challenge power, but packages it in digestible forms. Thereby, corporate media always undermines more pro-middle class grassroots voices and amplifies more pro-oligarchic astroturf. And that's from what is considered more middle of the road networks like CNN and not even the full Russian style pure propaganda outlets like Fox that Joker spiral. For example, they undermine, second guess, or outright criticize every positive thing from progressive candidates and normalizes the majority of things from a more regressive/reactionary candidate. A landscape where “both sides” are given equal footing, even if one side is trafficking in barely-veiled fascism and the other in tepid liberalism at best or neoliberalism at worst results in a hall of mirrors where genocidal policies are treated as mere “controversial opinions,” and white nationalism is rebranded as “economic anxiety.”

This normalization is not accidental—it is systemic. Because the architecture of ownership determines the architecture of narrative. When Tub girling oil companies, psychotic defense contractors which are really offense contractors, and date rapey tech bro-illionaires own the platforms, you can bet your last molecule of serotonin they’re not going to support radical critiques of cutthroat capitalism, or serious examinations of racial or ecological justice. Instead, they court controversy, not to ignite dialogue, but to drive engagement. Rage clicks are currency. Outrage is the algorithm’s sacred cow.

Right-wing extremism, then, becomes not just tolerated but profitable. It’s reality television with higher stakes. It draws eyes, it generates fear, it creates an atmosphere of perpetual emergency in which deeper systemic change is always deferred—because who has time for climate reparations when there’s a new migrant caravan on the way? And what does this do to the collective psyche? It shifts the Overton window. It makes the unthinkable speakable, the outrageous negotiable. Suddenly the idiocracy is debating whether trans people have the right to exist or whether child labor laws are “overreaching.” This is not discourse. This is necromancy. It is the resurrection of ancient hatreds under the guise of free speech. From the psychedelic vantage point, this is madness. It is the triumph of ego over empathy, of spectacle over soul. A society that cannot distinguish between a lie and a viewpoint is not a society—it is an open-air asylum.

What is needed, then, is not just media reform. But to turn it off. Tune into and drop back into the real world away from scrying screens. Engage in the rewilding of consciousness itself. A return to direct experience. To the logos that bubbles up in silence, in poetry, in sacred communion with nature. We must learn again to feel truth, to taste it on the tongue of intuition. Because the media will not save us. It is the Gorgon’s head. Look at it too long and you’ll forget your name.

The revolution will not be televised—it will be remembered.

Why People Resist Change

Change is hard because it is, at its root, a kind of death—a shedding of the familiar self, a disintegration of the known narrative. You see, the human psyche is a masterwork of pattern and preservation. It constructs a reality from the fragments of past experiences and then becomes attached, even addicted, to that architecture of self and world. Change, then, threatens the very foundation of identity. It is not merely the adoption of a new behavior or idea; it is the dissolution of the old paradigm.

Now consider: we are creatures of habit, not just biologically, but ontologically. Our neural architecture is carved by repetition. Synaptic pathways fire and re-fire until they become the grooves of personality, behavior, perception. Change asks that we climb out of those grooves—and the walls are steep, my friend. They are carved not only in the brain but in the culture, in language, in memory.

And then there is fear. Fear is the true guardian at the gate of transformation. Not the melodramatic fear of monsters or fire, but the subtle and pervasive fear of uncertainty. Because to change is to step into the unknown. It is to relinquish control, to dance with chaos, to say to the cosmos, “I am willing to become something I cannot yet imagine.” And that is terrifying. The ego recoils. The mind invents reasons, distractions, delays. The system seeks homeostasis, not evolution.

But here’s the great paradox: without change, there is no life. The static is the dead. All things that live are in flux—cells dividing, stars dying, thoughts arising and dissolving like mist. So when change arrives—whether through crisis, revelation, or quiet longing—it is not an enemy, but an invitation. An emissary from the deeper self, calling us to become more than we have been.

The trick, if there is one, is to surrender. Not to force change, not to wage war against the self, but to listen. To follow the subtle signs, the inner urgings, the discontent that whispers, “This is not all.” Because when you follow that thread, when you trust that the process of transformation is guided by an intelligence greater than the ego, then change becomes not a trauma, but a sacrament.

So yes, change is hard. But it is also the metamorphosis of the caterpillar into the butterfly—not a linear improvement, but a dissolution and rebirth. And in that, we touch the Mystery. We become, not something different, but something truer.

Israel is a Litmus Test For Everything

To ask where someone stands on Israel is to ask where they stand on power, on trauma, on narrative, on who gets to be human—and who does not. It is not just about geopolitics. It is not even just about Palestine. It is about everything. A barometer, indeed, because the Israeli-Palestinian situation is a microcosm of global injustice: settler colonialism, militarism, racial supremacy, and sacred texts twisted into justifications for walls and weapons.

Someone’s attitude toward Israel tells you: can they hold complexity? Can they acknowledge Jewish suffering without weaponizing it? Can they recognize Palestinian humanity without being accused of hate? Can they see beyond the propaganda, the slogans, the inherited guilt?

You see, Israel is not merely a country. It is a mythological construct. For some, it is the final stand of a persecuted people, a divine promise fulfilled. For others, it is a high-tech apartheid regime cloaked in the language of democracy and survival. Both of these realities coexist—and if someone can only see one, if they erase the other, they’re telling you something profound about their lens.

If they defend Israel unconditionally, regardless of how many children are buried in Gaza rubble, it tells you they have sanctified the state over the soul. It tells you their morality is tribal, not universal. It tells you they fear truth, because truth threatens their myth.

If, however, they can mourn both the Jewish past and the Palestinian present, they’re telling you something else: that they understand trauma can’t justify trauma. That history doesn’t confer moral immunity. That the victim can become the perpetrator unless they awaken.

This is why the Israel question is a litmus test—not because of the region’s uniqueness, but because it demands you choose between empathy and ideology. Between seeing with the eyes of the wounded, or retreating into inherited dogma.

And in this, it reflects all things: war and peace, justice and memory, who we protect, and who we are willing to forget.

So yes, ask someone about Israel. Listen closely. You will hear not just their opinion on a nation, but the architecture of their conscience.

Why "influencers" Should Have Zero Influence on You

The influencer—the digital high priest of narcissism. A creature birthed not from wisdom or experience, but from algorithms, attention economies, and a society spiritually starved enough to mistake performance for authenticity. These are not wise elders or deep thinkers or artists—they are mannequins of desire, draped in grifting for product placements and hollow aspiration.

Why do they suck, you ask? Because influence, in its true and ancient form, was the result of initiation—of depth. The tribal elder, the mystic, the poet—they influenced because they had been somewhere the rest of us hadn’t. They had crossed into the mystery and returned with maps. 

But the social media influencer? While posing well for the camera, they go mentally nowhere. They have nothing to bring back because they never left. They don’t deepen the culture; they flatten it into brands and selfies and have the attention-sucking ability yet level of the depth of a wacky wavy inflatable arm flailing tube man. These people should have zero influence on you because they are avatars of a system that wants you distracted, dissatisfied, and docile. Their influence is not designed to liberate, but to bind. To bind your self-worth to metrics, your desires to commodities, your time to scrolling. They sell you a fictional life of curated perfection, where every emotion is a tawdry marketing opportunity, and every moment is staged for visibility.

And worse still, they’re not even real. Their personas are as manufactured as the products they push. Behind the filters and the follower counts is often a deep emptiness, a constant anxiety to remain relevant, to feed the machine and pretend that they desperately don't need therapy. They are not living— they are surviving within a spectacle, and they try to tractor beam the gullible into that same illusion. To be influenced by such beings is to become less real yourself. It is to lose the unique texture of your own soul in the smooth, bland sheen of the collective feed. It is to mistake simulation for sensation.

So we say, look elsewhere. Look to nature, into books, into the eyes of those you love. Let your influencers be the ones who make you feel more alive, not more inadequate. Let them be gonzo journalists, beat poets, punk rock rebels, shamans, authors, real educators, musicians, scientists—anyone who cracks open your mind instead of packaging it. Because influence, real influence, should expand your consciousness, not shrink it. Influencing you to be a deeper individual who can then influence others as well.

Why The Fourth Estate Matters Now More Than Ever

The Fourth Estate - that evocative term, redolent of revolutions and ink-stained fingertips, is a phrase born not merely of political theory but of mythic necessity. It refers, traditionally, to the press, the media, the scribes of society, whose sacred charge is to speak truth to power, to bear witness, to ensure that the grand machinery of governance does not descend into the madness of unchecked authority.

But to truly understand the Fourth Estate, one must return to the original trinity from which it emerges. The first three estates in the old European order were: the clergy (those who mediated between the divine and the mortal), the nobility (those who wielded temporal power), and the commons (the masses, the people, the voiceless many). The Fourth Estate arose as an interloper, a rogue current - a force not born into privilege, but carved from the urgent need to observe, to interpret, to communicate.

The concept originated in Europe, and its roots can be traced back to the 18th century. The term "Fourth Estate", as the fourth branch after what are now the executive, legislative, and judicial, underscores the significant role of the press in a democratic society, emphasizing its responsibility to serve the public interest, provide accurate and reliable information, and act as a check on power. The idea behind the Fourth Estate is that the media, through journalism and reporting, acts literally as a fourth power alongside the traditional branches of government. It is seen as a force that can hold those in power accountable, inform the public, and contribute to the functioning of a healthy democracy through an educated voting electorate. And doing so by constantly providing valuable information, analysis, criticism through information dissemination, encouraging public accountability and transparency, fostering civic engagement, serving as a watchdog, sharing respectful debate + public opinion, and most importantly, speaking truth to power. Which can only be done by honoring what is called the Journalistic Oath.

In its ideal form, the Fourth Estate is the nervous system of democracy. It senses, transmits, and warns. It reveals what the powerful would prefer concealed. It holds the mirror up to civilization and asks, “Is this what we are?” When functioning properly, it is a  carrier of truthful stories, a bridge between worlds, a holder of the collective shadow.

Journalists do not exist in dictatorships. Not only do they exist in a more free democratic society, they are the fourth table leg of said society, always moving it forward toward less and less dysfunction. While even then, they never have it easy, we are currently sailing through dark and stormy seas for journalism throughout the entire world. Even the more free world. Because many of the institutions they work for, are doing basically the opposite of honoring their oaths, resulting in far too large an amount of the population getting either only partial information, incomplete information, skewed information, or malevolent propagandised information that equates to an oftentimes under educated voting electorate. In our age of echo chambers and corporate-owned narratives, the Fourth Estate has become a battleground. The line between journalism and propaganda has blurred. The ghost in the machine now writes headlines. What was once a sacred function has, in many quarters, been hijacked by spectacle, by ideology, by profit. This is the stale rotting corpse that is legacy media and even far too much of new media, which to put it simply, rarely tells the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. 

Yet the archetype remains. And you, me, all of us—by the very act of perceiving and narrating, we are now part of the Fourth Estate. Social media, for all its perils, has decentralized the scribal function. The myth of the single authoritative voice has shattered. Now it is a chorus, a cacophony. And although real independent journalists always should lead the way, any of us speaking truth to power will always be a revolutionary act.

Epstein and the Dark Web of Compromise

Jeffrey Epstein - a name that now vibrates with the peculiar hum of deep scandal, systemic rot, and the kind of obscene wealth that moves in shadows. He was not just a financier. Not just a predator. Not even merely a trafficker of bodies, though that alone is horror enough. No. he was a node on a network, a black hole of leverage, a smiling concierge at the intersection of sex, power, and secrecy. And when you really look at the contours of that map, you begin to see that Trumpstein is not the disease. It is the symptom — the swollen tip of a much vaster, subdermal iceberg.

Now, let’s be clear: we are not in conspiracy theory territory. We are in conspiracy reality — a realm where the most wealthy and powerful, otherwise known as the extremely mentally sick, do not operate by the same rules as the rest of us, because they live in a parallel legal and moral ecosystem. Epstein was a Brownstoner, meaning his homes and creepy private island, (little to nothing good happens on private islands) under cover during parties, lured rich men into isolated situations with desperate trafficked women, many under age, as bait, that were honeypots wired for sound and video. The whole reason for him inviting people to these places, which was supposedly to hang out, have fun, stay the weekend, was to get blackmailable content on them, and the obvious one would be sex with an underage individual. Even if they looked 23 turns out they were 17 and then you're technically a pedo should the world find out.

Epstein's little black book was a cartography of influence: royalty, presidents, CEOs, scientists, media moguls. And what was he doing with all these other slimy oligarchs and underage girls? He was constructing insurance policies. He was building a library of compromising materials — a kind of perverse karmic blockchain where every transaction could be called in, every indiscretion cataloged for future leverage. This is the logic of power at its most dark reptilian. It’s not about money. These people already have more money than they could burn in ten lifetimes. No. This is about control. About obedience. About entrapment in velvet chains.

And yet the media—mainstream, corporate, hypnotic—has treated Epstein as a grotesque anomaly, a rogue operator who fell through the cracks. But the truth, if you dare stare into it, is far more chilling: he was part of a system, a cabal, if you want to use the old mythic language. Not some grand unified conspiracy, mind you - but a decentralized web of mutual compromise, where the rich are bound together not by ideology, but by shared vice and mutual threat. And this is just the tip. For if Epstein fell, there are others who remain cloaked, shielded by their lawyers, PR firms, foundations, phony philanthropy, and even state secrets. 

We know someone who is a therapist to very famous people in Los Angeles and NYC. Who, newsflash, clients lives are just as fucked up as your average persons. But what they told us, without violating any direct doctor / patient privilege of who specific clients have been, is, speaking more generally, that once very rich & famous people do when they get to a certain level of wealth and fame, is get tired of the toys, and eventually become most concerned with is their image while they're alive and then their legacy after they die. What people think of them. It eats at them. So blackmailing is a giant worry and they are very wary of getting close to people who might one day attempt such a thing. 

Over time, Intelligence agencies, one might reasonably infer, were not unaware of Epstein — they were likely intertwined with his operations. After all, blackmail is a powerful tool in the arsenal of geopolitics, and what better way to leash a politician than with a tape you never need to show? Blackmail, at an intelligence agency level, is as old as the agencies themselves. If not as old as the Republic.

So why is this so important? Because it reveals something existentially grotesque about the world we live in. We are ruled not by philosopher-kings, but by haunted weasels with secrets in their closets and strings attached to their wrists. And our collective inability to confront that fact—our preference for distraction, our addiction to spectacle — is part of the same sickness. What Epstein shows us, if we dare to see, is that morality and legality are often inversely correlated at the top. The higher you go in the hierarchy, the less sunlight reaches the roots. And if we are to dismantle this iceberg, we must go deeper. Not just into the files and the names — but into the systems, the ideologies, the incentives that allow such monstrous machinery to thrive beneath the surface of polite society.

This is not a story about one man. It is a mirror. And if we stare into it long enough, we might finally begin to understand the shadow that haunts our civilization. And maybe—just maybe — begin the long, painful, beautiful work of reclaiming our soul at a societal level.

The MAGA Cult #2: What "Make America Great Again" Really Means

“Make America Great Again.” It’s the anti-social contract and thus Anti-American stale fart rehash from the 1980's rallying cry that launched cringe worthy red hats and even more awkward family dinners. But if you’ve ever tried asking a diehard MAGA cult lemming the two most obvious follow-up questions “When exactly was America great?” and “When did it stop being great?” One will notice a curious thing: suddenly, the room gets real quiet… Or loud. But definitely not historically accurate. Because here’s the thing: the timeline is mysterious, contradictory, and shaped more by vibes than facts. The answer is never 100% clear, but it always smells faintly of lead paint, coal dust, and garment sweatshops for the ladies or meatpacking plants with zero health codes for the fellas.

When pressed, a typical dominionist end times death cult nested in MAGA cult member or low info SLEP cult adjacent enthusiast might mumble something about the 1950s, a time they peaked during or are too young to have experienced but are sure was better because they saw a Chevrolet commercial from that era featuring a guy with a tucked in plaid shirt and big belt buckle. A few might say the 1980s, when men were men, women had beehive hair and wore shoulder pads, and Criptkeeper Thatcher and a literal actor taught America how to golden shower via pretending wealth trickles down. But ask for specifics, and suddenly you’re in the Twilight Zone of selective amnesia. When did America stop being great? Again, answers vary. Some say 2008 when the White House went half black, others say 2020 (COVID and masks and lattes), and a few say 1971, when we went off the gold standard and “everything went downhill”. The common thread? None of the answers involve nuance, data, or books longer than a meme. Here’s the twist no one admits out loud: when MAGA says “great again,” what they really mean is:

“Let’s return to the Gilded Age—a nightmare fuel powered period of time spanning roughly the 1870s to the early 1900s which were the three decades after the civil war. The Gilded Age was a time when, due to massive environmental damage from industrialization caused a tiny sliver small group of monovalent THEY LIVE skull-faced industrialists to amass staggering wealth and power primarily through steel and oil, creating the country's first moguls and monopolies for the monopolists, while laborers endured exploitation, union busting, deadly working conditions, and the weekends, which would eventually be brought to us by organized labor and unions, had yet to exist. 14 hours a day brutal physical labor was the default and that applied to your young kids too. Teenagers or even pre-teens could earn a nickel for over half a day of coal-sifting and they all cried themselves to sleep every night.” If they didn't want to be slaving in factories of bloody horror, dirty, transient, ragamuffin street kids, were picking pockets or robbing at gunpoint. And if the women didn't want to be in the hellscape factories, working in brothels was one of few other options. And for the non-laboring men - public homeless style drunkenness was everywhere.

First, there is the shallow aesthetic. The Gilded Age wasn’t named for golden prosperity but for the superficial glitter covering a period of deep pain inequality. Trumpelstilskin's brand, which is classless trashy rich, has always reveled in tacky gold: gilded walls, gold-plated toilets, and skyscrapers bearing his egomaniacal name in giant, boastful letters. This celebration of ostentatious wealth mirrors the extravagant displays of past ultra monarchists as well as industrial barons whose industries resulted in cities being hidden under dark clouds via thousands of coal smoke stacks. There was little to no middle class, just a slave class that lived in tenement housing if lucky or shanty sheds while dying of dysentery while a couple dozen oligarchs had Versailles style mega mansions. It was a psychopaths wet dream which destroyed rural egalitarianism, not to mention a massive decline in moral values, not to mention its redlining of a spiritual decline.

From decades of doing Cocaine and Adderall and thus having fecal incontinence and thus wearing adult diapers, Gassy Gatsby, and any Nazgul like him, don't directly invoked the Gilded Age in speeches, but channel its spirit wanting to return America to this awful period which they deem as returning a nation to its former glory —valorizing morbid wealth, undermining people, and blurring the line between business and government. Just as Gilded Age tycoons turned politics into an extension of their empires, in a modern sense they turn the White House into a symbol of celebrity griftfesting. In this same modern sense, The Gilded Gaslighter didn’t just echo Gilded Age aesthetics; he tried to revive its political economy, where power is concentrated and wealth is seen as a sign of virtue rather than something to be balanced against social responsibility. From his classless penthouse to his admiration for moguls like Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller, Velveeta Voldemort embodies many of the values of the sociopathic compassionless late 19th century elite from this time who could care less about the suffering of the country's people. Much like Gilded Age tycoons who called in private militias to crush strikes (e.g., the Homestead Strike or Pullman Strike), The Lord of Lies positioned organized labor as an obstacle to “freedom” and economic efficiency. His skill lay in repackaging elite interests in populist language. Just as Gilded Age magnates often posed as “captains of industry” lifting America to greatness, The MAGA Maharaja, always frame their corporate tax cuts and deregulation for business owners and executives as victories for the “little guy” and far too many red cult diaper suckers whose wages remained stagnant gobble it up. In reality, at the time of this writing oligarchic wealth soars to record heights while wealth inequality deepens again to record heights, and the structural concerns of working-class people—stagnant wages, lack of affordable healthcare, insecure jobs—go largely unaddressed again.

In many ways, MAGAism is less a break from American history than a return to a deep and problematic tradition—one where power is gilded, not shared, and where the worker is celebrated at rallies but abandoned in policy. It's not about real prosperity for 99.9% of people—it’s about idolizing a cartoonish version of power and order, where criminal robber barons called “commodores” ran the show and everyone else knew their place (usually at the bottom of the mine). Ultimately, MAGA’s lowest common denominator America is a vague dream featuring anything positive set in a Norman Rockwell painting that omits segregation, union-busting, tuberculosis, and the fact that most people had atrocious lives and then died at 42. So next time someone wears, writes or says “Make America Great Again,” ask, “When, exactly, was that?” Then sit back, pop some popcorn, and watch as they try to reverse-engineer a golden but really gilded age out of coal dust and bootstraps.

The Underlying Real Purpose of Artificial Intelligence

There’s a quote floating around that feels like it was whispered to a Wall Street executive by a sentient crypto shitcoin: “The underlying purpose of Artificial Intelligence is to allow wealth to access skill while removing from the skilled the ability to access wealth.”

It also sounds like it should be engraved on the wall of a Silicon Valley speakeasy where tech-bro innovation incels drink distilled ethics and play chess with philosophers they’ve hired on Fiverr. Painting a picture of the future that's less Skynet and more, well, slightly irritatingly efficient cutthroat capitalism.

Part I: “Allow Wealth to Access Skill”

Translation: Morbidly Rich weasels, some of whom are on the Epstein tapes, want your talents without your salary. Once upon a time, if you wanted a logo, a novel, or a motivational speech filled with the right number of dramatic pauses, you had to hire a person who came with needs like rent, food, and breaks longer than four seconds. But now? You can type “Make me a Viking-themed children's book in the style of Hemingway” into a chatbot, and boom—instant watered down artistry. No coffee breaks, no opinions, no unionizing. This is the dream of capital: access to infinite skill without any messy labor costs. AI is the perfect employee - efficient, tireless, and doesn’t ask if your company has a single ethical bone.

The core of the joke and genuine societal concern is that AI is about allowing miserably regressive people who already have materially way too much to get even faster at getting more of it. Want to learn how to play the violin? Traditionally, you'd need to find an instructor, dedicate decades to potentially embarrassing yourself repeatedly in front of them while paying them. But with AI? You can download an app that analyzes your every fumble, corrects your posture in real-time, and even composes personalized practice routines based on your skill level.

Part II: “Removing from the Skilled the Ability to Access Wealth”

It’s not enough to give Scrooge McDuck unlimited skill on-demand... They also want to make sure you, the actual skilled person, can’t monetize your own abilities anymore. Welcome to the you're barely getting paid a living wage economy in the developed world which has been going on for decades in the under-developed world. Graphic designers? Writers? Programmers? Filmmakers? Skilled violin musicians and thus teachers? Well, they’re competing with an infinitely patient, always-available AI that doesn't need a salary or complaints. They’re left scrambling, Laid off. Rebranded as “prompt engineers.” Or worse - subscribers to the very platform that replaced them. That's a tough sell against the promise of instant improvement and personalized feedback.

AI is open to all... until it's not. Try training your own AI model using corporate data and suddenly you’ll get sued faster than you can say “Large Language Model" or "Data Set.” But when they do it with your art, your voice, your work—it’s “innovation.” It’s like watching a burglar steal your house and then rent it back to you through an app you built. The imbalanced absurdity of it all is almost comical. We’re essentially building a system where the already wealthy can outsource their skill acquisition to robots, while those who are already skilled are struggling to find a way to monetize their expertise in an increasingly automated world. It’s like watching a high-stakes game of Monopoly where one player starts with all the properties and a get-out-of-jail-free card.

Of course, this isn't necessarily a dystopian prophecy. AI does have the potential to democratize access to knowledge and empower individuals in countless ways and most are going to be going through cyberpunk before getting to solarpunk. But it’s crucial that we acknowledge the inherent biases baked into these systems and actively work to ensure that AI benefits everyone, not primarily the weasels. Otherwise, we might find ourselves in a future where robots are playing all the instruments and the skilled musicians are busking on street corners, desperately trying to earn enough to pay for their AI-powered vocal coach.

To The Younger Self: External Validation in Your 20's, 40's, and 60's

We generally don't do top 10 lists, or 7 steps to enlightenment style posts, cause they are dumb due to being overly one size fits all, not to mention being very clickbaity, but as we've now reached our mid-40's, are going to be focusing some outputs on the theme of "if we could talk to our younger self" cause those can be very helpful for younger adults. And to start this off, we'll speak of the quote which says "When you’re 20 you care what everyone thinks, when you’re 40 you stop caring what everyone thinks, and when you’re 60 you realize no one was ever thinking about you in the first place" Ouch.

It's a triple-layered onion of disillusionment and is simultaneously frustrating and mostly accurate. Its sobering nature also encapsulates a profound and often humorous truth about human perception and self-awareness. It charts a journey through the anxieties of youth, the burgeoning confidence of middle age, and ultimately, a liberating realization about the relative insignificance of external validation. While presented as a simple progression through decades, it speaks to deeper psychological shifts and the evolving understanding of our place in the grand scheme of things.

The first stage, embodied by the 20-year-old, is characterized by a desperate need for acceptance. This period is often defined by navigating social hierarchies, conforming to trends, and seeking validation from peers, romantic partners, and even family. The desire to fit in is powerful, fueled by insecurities about identity and a yearning for belonging. Anti-Social media amplifies this pressure in the modern era, creating an environment where curated images and carefully crafted personas dominate. The fear of judgment is palpable, leading to self-censorship and a constant striving for external approval. It's a time of experimentation, but often constrained by the perceived gaze of others.

The transition to 40 marks a significant turning point. If one is evolving and maturing, then the relentless pursuit of external validation begins to wane, replaced by a growing sense of self-assuredness. Life experiences – career challenges, relationship complexities, perhaps even parenthood, which have chipped away at the fragility of youth. There's a growing recognition that chasing everyone else’s approval is exhausting and ultimately unfulfilling. This isn't necessarily egotism or arrogance, but rather a hard-earned understanding that true happiness comes from within. The focus shifts inward, towards personal goals and values, allowing for greater authenticity and a willingness to embrace individuality.

The third stage, the realization at 60 that "no one was ever thinking about you in the first place," is perhaps the most liberating. It's not a cynical observation, but rather an acceptance of reality. The anxieties that once consumed the younger self fade as the perspective widens. Your loving family and real close friends will still be thinking of you, through your whole life, and if you were an amazing parent, your children will be thinking of you, maybe often, even after you're gone. But we realize that the majority of people we have met in our lives - colleagues, acquaintances, fair weather friends, distant family we're not very close with, are largely preoccupied with their own lives, their own struggles and aspirations. The imagined audience scrutinizing our every move was largely a construct of our own insecurities. This realization isn't about dismissing the importance of relationships or social connection; rather, it’s about freeing ourselves from the burden of seeking validation that was never truly offered.

One of our favorite writers, Robert Anton Wilson, would have interpreted this quote as the soul shedding its successive skins: first, the caterpillar-butterfly stage (Performance Annoyance), then a brief moment of dry, non-ecstatic adult butterfly hood ("Not giving a quantum wobble!") before finally realizing it's the wind, not it itself, that was making those leaves rattle. Our fear of judgment is like a last-stage preoccupation before the soul migrates to an interdimensional realm where thoughts are the primary currency. He would have basically called this the “No-One’s Watching” principle, a cornerstone of Discordian philosophy. It's the realization that reality is fundamentally chaotic and unpredictable, and that our attempts to impose order are often futile. Embracing this external chaos, recognizing the inherent absurdity of existence, and doing what you can do on your own improvement and development inwardly, is a pathway to genuine freedom. So, let’s raise a glass – preferably something fermented and slightly hallucinogenic – to the cosmic joke. Let's celebrate the liberation that comes from realizing we’re all just elaborate holograms, projecting our anxieties outward when we should mainly fix what we personally can, which is right in front of us in our own lives.

Ultimately, this quote isn't a prescriptive roadmap for life; it’s an astute observation about the evolving nature of human perception. It highlights a journey from seeking external validation to finding internal peace, a process that may vary in pace and intensity for each individual. It’s a reminder to embrace our imperfections, prioritize authenticity over approval, and recognize that true freedom lies in shedding the weight of other people's opinions. As we navigate the complexities of life, this quote serves as a gentle nudge towards self-acceptance and a quiet affirmation that the most important audience we need to please is ourselves.

The Ringwraiths of Capital: Democrats Are Half Nazgûl and Republicans Are Full Nazgûl

In the fantasy epic that is American politics, anti-democratic morbid wealth accumulation is the flaming Eye of Sauron looming over us all. Its power grows daily, whispering sweet nothings into the ears of hedge fund managers, tech billionaires, and media funders. And standing at the foot of flaming Mount Late Stage Capitalism are two great factions, Democrats and Republicans. Both corportized who wear fortune 500 brand logos like Nascar drivers, neither of whom seem interested in throwing the One Ring of concentrated wealth into the fire. 

In struggling working class middle Earth, we have a Republican lite right of center DNC party that, even though they are more pro-democratic and speak in we hear your pain language regarding the injustices of that working class, generally doesn't want to rock the boat regarding oligarchy and truly do what's require to fix structural problems. Not to mention constantly undermine its progressive wing and be more conservative than Europe's left leaning parties. Then we have a far right wing as humanly possible wanna be fascist batshit crazy theocratic idiocracy red cult of weirdos whose goal is to destroy the American middle class through austerity and thus our democratically elected constitutional republic who will not stop until very few psychopathic oligarchic robber barons can return the country to an iron age / gilded age period where women had virtually no rights and both you and your young children have to slave work in coal mines. So you either get slightly regressive or stagnate at best, or hardcore backwards regression when in reality we need a progressive revolution beyond the likes of which we have never seen. Which we last did in the social contract that America introduced in the 1930's after the great depression, which gave new fuel to the working class. 

So for this one, we'll call the blue party halfway to, using a Lord of the Rings Reference, the Nazgûl (which are servants bound to the power of the One Ring and completely under Sauron's control, but in this case, switch that out to American Empire and Godzillionaire oligarchic control). As they donate to both parties - the slightly nicer ones to the blue, and the more asshole ones to the red. So one of these things is worse than the other, but the better one still often sucks. That's where we're at as a result of losing classical Greek philosophical liberal arts education which taught people to teach themselves, and if they continue to apply it, become wizard philosophers and individuals of the enlightenment. But imperial deregulated authoritarian corportists don't want an educated informed working class. So let’s summarize: Republicans are full-blown Nazgûl. Democrats? Half-Nazgûl, at best. Slightly more moisturized. Less hissing. But still way too into the Ring. 

If you squint, today’s Republican Party has basically merged with the Ring itself. They don’t just avoid fixing wealth inequality—they ride ethereal ghost-horses made of tax breaks and deregulation. They are the Witch-King's of Wall Street, gliding through the halls of power whispering, “The most wealthy shall pay no taxes, at least while I still draw breath (or at least vague electrical pulses).” They believe that Trickle-down economics isn’t a failed theory—it's a sacred prophecy, Billionaires should be worshiped like dragons, not regulated like monopolies, Any attempt to close a loophole is Communism in a trench coat. Their job is to redistribute as much money as possible to the fewest shittiest people possible. Sauron would be proud.

Non-progressive Democrats are a bit different. They are the Nazgûl Who Went to therapy who still wear the black robes—but they sometimes accessorize with "Tax the Rich" lapel pins. They’ll stand on a debate stage, tearfully proclaiming the need for economic justice, then quietly co-sign the next billionaire space subsidy before lunch. They’re like Ringwraiths who took one online class in ethics and now think they’ve broken the curse. They still show up to the fortress of Barad-D.C., but now they bring PowerPoint slides and carefully polled language. They think Billionaires are “a concern,” but not enough to actually legislate against them, Wealth taxes are fine, as long as they won’t pass, blatantly obvious campaign finance reform is a noble goal—just not one they’ll remember after brunch. In other words: they’ll write you a thinkpiece about the Ring’s corrupting influence... then tuck it in their pocket and head off to a fundraiser by those who fly in private jets. 

This economic comparison between half awful and full awful is mirrored not just in not representing "We The People" but instead "We The Oligarchs" economically, but also in the two parties' behavior toward supporting the genocidal settler colonial state that is Israel that's fueled by dark Imperial hate Christianity which want their bullshit messiah to return. Which we're going to get more into in our series on calling out the American Empire. Where you either get half Palestinian genocide or full Palestinian genocide. How about no Palestinian genocide? On a side note, this is why we find it hilarious when on rare occasions we are called partisan, as we're not even a Democrat, but one could call us a Berniecrat. As there is very little Bernie Sanders, one of the best politicians on spaceship Earth, and a non koo koo independent like ourselves, who's not as under Sauron's control, has said that we don't agree with. Because, while both parties wring their hands and polish their Black Rider boots, one worse than the other, the rest of us, the Hobbits working two jobs, if you will—are trying to afford a modest studio apartment in the Shire while Two James Bond villains with cock rockets who want to build privatized volcano layers on Mars have more wealth than the bottom 50% of the United States households combined and are given front row seats at a criminal Anti-American president's inauguration. 

After decades of stupidity and eye rolling being told to “pull ourselves up by our hairy little bootstraps,” even as private equity buys the Shire, big ugly full Nazgul bills move forward and pass, benevolent ghost in the machine AI is not allowed to be regulated, and magical rent-hiking algorithms continue. Gandalf left, Samwise is unionizing, and Frodo sold his ring on Etsy just to pay off student loans and medical expense bills. 

Let’s be real: The One Ring is wealth mis-distribution accumulation without limits. It rots and corrupts and makes those who do so seem invisible to the Internal Revenue Service. It accelerates dysfunction even in the well-meaning. It whispers to every politician: “Campaign contributions... Super PACs... Speaking fees…” and the only way to destroy it? The full Nazgûl party is gone, to never return and a better more progressive working class party must evolve out of the half Nazgûl party. Which continues to support what the majority of people want - Serious structural reform and sensible tax policy. Such as taxing and regulating the Ring, melting down inheritance loopholes while we’re at it, and best of all completely revoking the tax exempt status of the dark imperial full Nazgul Christian Nationalist Supremacist dogshit mega churches which all have Sauren eyes burning above their spires. But to do that, you need to continue to build a Fellowship of democracy defending Rebel scum with courage who are elected for speaking truth from the heart like we do. So remember: when you vote, you’re not just choosing between red and blue. You’re choosing between full Nazgûl and half Nazgûl. Both wear the Ring. One is better than the other, but needs to stop holding back its better half.  

Multiple Layers of the Christ Onion

There's a great saying that goes "If it's real, it can take the pressure." If something is challenged, and people go absolutely mental over it being challenged, then you know its foundation is shaky and the whole thing could potentially be false or fictional. The teachings attributed to Jesus Christ are not simply one-dimensional. They move across multiple layers, from simple, accessible moral lessons to profound mystical insights. Traditionally, scholars and spiritual seekers recognize a progression from exoteric (outer) teachings intended for the general population, to esoteric (inner) teachings meant for those ready for deeper gnosis. So each one of these layers gets more sophisticated, and thus is understood and appreciated by fewer and fewer people.

So here comes the pressure... Ready? Since much of Abrahamic religion tries to water down esoteric practices into fictional exoteric historicity doctrine & dogma, not to mentioned be designed to be decoupled from nature having its eucharists neutered and is thus inferior to esoteric practices such as shamanism which are based on direct eucharistic experience in nature, we have absolutely zero interest in ever Christianizing our material. However, since imperial theocratic women hating weirdo Christian Supremacists who only thirst for power and control have unfortunately gotten more of it in 2025, and are going to continue to try and make all our lives in the country we currently reside in shittyer and worse via their Project 2025 which has a lower approval rating than Herpes, because of our spiritual philosophic knowledge, we will continue to try and insert some higher consciousness information about Christianity in our work on occasion to push back against the usual idiocracy view of said subject. And since we live in a country with a great deal of Christians - many crap, some good, and a smaller percentage actually quite decent to good, we're going to share what we've come to realize are multiple layers to the Christ onion. From most false to most real. Beginning with the most exoteric watered down fictional to the most esoteric truthful. So the fictional Christians will have their heads spin around 360 degrees while projectile vomiting and not even be able to process this, despising it and want to send us their reactionary hate comments, which will preemptively be disabled, but more true Christians should find it eyebrow raising and perhaps compelling. Cause we wish the more sophisticated ones nothing but the best and if you grew up with this stuff and you're not willing to continue moving toward being one of them, do turn this off now. So before this begins...a massive warning regarding... Only truth seekers may enter. Those who want to live in illusions have been warned. 

#1: Most Fake Layer - Pop Culture Jesus / White Republican Corporate Mega Church Jesus - First of all, the fact that your church looks like a stadium or a shopping mall, and is the size of an Imperial Star Destroyer should tell you that it has nothing to do with spirituality, meaning nature, and everything to do with corporate greed and a thirst for money and power. Older churches had very often been built over older pagan, druidic, and indigenous sites. Co-opting them like the Borg collective, with an assimilate or die attitude that they have had for thousands of years and still do today. Pushing their "This is a Christian Nation" inaccuracies on the rest of us. This is based in Babylon, empire, and hate and is what virtually all ultra conservative Republicans are for and why they're in end times death cults that want Christian Nationalism which just means Christian supremacy. Not to mention their relationship with the settler colonial state of Israel because they literally think their savior will be resurrected and returned to earth. Not happening. They are in a theocratic religious cult, nested in a corrupt political red cult, nested in a zombie idiocracy wanna-be-fascistic MAGA cult of assholes. They always say the second amendment is there to protect the first amendment while not knowing that the first amendment has a wonderful philosophical enlightenment secular separation of church and state for good reasons. 

Disempowering yourself by looking outside of yourself for a quick fix is easy. Which is what anyone who has said "I accept Jesus Christ as my lord and personal savior" is doing. Dealing with your own personal life problems, and the reasons for them, is the real spiritual path and is hard. So corporate mega churches are very full as a result. They have no interest in the spiritual self development of each member of their flock but instead just spoon feeding them mind control dogmatic vertical patriarchal hierarchy. Of which the fictional white Jesus character, the one you see in Mel Gibson movies, is claimed to actually have been a real incarnated man to look outside to in the male daddy hierarchy because decoding parables and myths require too much thinking for their bird brains. Outside of wanting a theocracy, they're not for much of anything except hating those who are not in their cults and reducing women's rights. They consciously hate evolution because they are unconsciously de-evolving. They are the dark side of the force, being rotted by their own hate, cause they secretly all hate themselves and are demonstrably sexually repressed and their deplorable behavior being the largest voting block being totally down for fascism is evidence of that. From one angle, we title them dark imperial hate Christians or from another angle, we could call them the title of CHINO's - meaning "Christians in Name Only". It's Fred Phelps Westboro Baptist Church American Taliban style toilet paper USA and they are the bottom barrel worst part of the United States who are unfortunately way too coddled. And as a freedom loving American who deeply cares about the first amendment, which gives us the freedom of speech to say these things and the separation of church and state to keep their narrow and shallow Ten Commandment religious indoctrination out of our American as apple pie secular schools, we will never stop calling them out so you're welcome. If you or someone you know is in this very large cult, especially a self hating woman, advise them to get out ASAP.

#2: Deeper layer - Poor Brown Immigrant Hippy From Palestine Jesus - We, being of caucasian descent, are not a self-hating white person. As we can both respect and appreciate the good aspects and beauty of European cultures, especially Scandinavian culture where our ancestors hail from, while simultaneously saying that Natzi's are losers. Even though exoteric, historical, corporeal Jesus is a myth, if we pretend he was a real magical man who lived for 33 years with the unicorns for one microsecond, he would never have been a White Anglo Saxon Protestant. There is a tendency, as a result of Western Empire, to consciously or unconsciously assign a higher value to the caucasian race than other races, mainly based on inaccurate cultural stereotypes, ethnocentrism, and societal trends rather than on scientific analysis or historical method. Thus doing the white savior thing. This is even done through much of South America, which is brown, yet still culturally often incorrectly assigning whiteness to the Christ figure. In reality, he would have been more a poor brown hippie Jew and would thus be coming more from that point of view and life experience of extreme struggle. There are more poor white people in our country the United States than any other demographic so the last thing we're saying is that white does not mean poor, and liberation theology interprets the teachings of Jesus Christ through the lens of social justice, political activism, and the liberation of the oppressed because those are similar to what the Christ teachings actually talk about. This represents more true liberal Christianity, which is for helping the poor regardless of skin color. And certainly not hating gay people like the most fake layer #1 does. But it still tends to cater to male hierarchy and is thus not totally free from Babylon meaning empire. When you hear nicer, more horizontal moral, compassionate christianity, from a historical context from someone like Martin Luther King Jr or in a more modern context from someone like James Talarico or Reverend William Barber, they are not the mean pictorial Christians who understand that neither poverty nor extremely morbid wealth should even exist, catering more towards the middle and bottom of the socio-economic hierarchy, not to mention not hating women while pretending to care about life. Speaking of the feminine, another example is Bishop Mariann Budde, who with one look at her, you can tell she fits right in with the Portland Oregon lesbian Subaru driving crowd, who dared to ask the short fingered Orange Vulgarin to be more Christian and thus show compassion toward immigrants (and reminder, his plastic trophy daughter wife who doesn't even like him is one) as well as gay and trans people who might be fearful of his administration. On this note, we recommend the books "How to End Christian Nationalism" and "Christians Against Christian Nationalism" by people from group #2 who, unlike those from group #1, have actually studied the real Christ teachings. Which like all true religions, should be love and light. Because they are less slaves to money, power, and thus empire, but more cater to a service based, monastic life of devotion to what their operating system calls "God". These are basically just nicer, non-pushy, non-asshole Christians who may still think Heaven and Hell are actual real things and not fairy tales. Or at least know that their parables have value, regardless of historicity. Because what is religion, other than a fantastic way of dealing with death? 

#3: Even Deeper layer - Sun Worship - When people are more uneducated or mentally dim it's difficult if not impossible to try and give them downloads through more multi-layered, sophisticated, and advanced means. It's easier to communicate to them through human stories which are passed on through the generations around campfires. This is one of the reasons why parables and mythology through eons are often turned into stories of fictional historical people. Things that have evolved beyond crude matter, are coporalized. That, and it helps the empire by getting each person to look outside of themselves. From the esoteric to the exoteric. Which might possibly be the oldest trick in the book. If you're determined to find physical exoteric (meaning outer) evidence of Jesus, simply look up during the day at what scientists call a burning ball of gas in the sky, flat Earthers claim is not very far away, and we might hint may or may not be a dimensional converter... as Christ was never ever a historical figure but is simply what's called a "corporealization" of the sun in the sky. That's right, the Son of God is really the SUN of God. Early Christian iconography nearly always depicted Christ with solar imagery, with the sun behind their head, and churches, like pagan rituals, often face east toward the sunrise. Imperial darker Christianity absorbed and rebranded earlier pagan sun cult motifs, blending celestial symbolism with theological narrative to appeal to a wider audience in the ancient world. Jesus, often referred to as the "light of the world," had their traits copied from sun deities—born near the winter solstice, rising and setting like the sun, and being "resurrected" after a period of darkness. This is why the winter solstice was and is simply a worship, veneration, and appreciation for the sun in the sky. Which you know, made your crops grow. And due to Christianization, the winter solstice was turned into "Christmas" meaning "Christ's Mass". Does this mean, the Christian version of the winter solstice is not to be appreciated? Of course not as long as it's one of many options. Which more inclusive option #2 would allow for but the problem comes in when exclusive option #1 of empire does their marketing pitch, and says, you can only celebrate it via the Christian version. A great quote of which regarding says "On Christmas Eve, we celebrate the misdated birth of a displaced impoverished liberal Palestinian Jew who was wrongly executed by a dictatorship at the behest of corrupt religious leaders–and whose most ardent modern-day followers believe would endorse a thrice-married convicted felon adulterer who stole money from charities and continues to slander and lie to amass personal political power–by cheering on a dead Turkish Catholic bishop who commands a workforce of enslaved elves to make gifts for children he creepily spies on all year and then morphs into a psychic magical globetrotter with superpowered reindeer" Welcome to the Coca Cola version of X-Mas. 

During the genocidal settler colonialism of the US of A, one of the most well-known Native American practices by tribes such as the Lakota (Sioux), Cheyenne, Blackfoot, Arapaho, and Crow, was the Sun Dance. A nature based, (and thus real spiritual) practice that was for renewal, sacrifice, and connection with the Great Spirit and coincides with the summer solstice. And guess what, it was banned by ultra imperial religious North American settlers, who happened at the time to be in charge of the U.S. and Canadian governments, and with the dark Project 2025 Nazgul of our time of this writing administration, little has changed from how colonial governments suppressed Indigenous spirituality then and still now, but its revival is a testament to Native resilience and cultural survival. In a more modern context of this example, a tried and true staple of one of empire's modern propaganda channels that is Fox So Called news, where one dumb enough to listen will hear bottom barrel statements such as "War on Christmas", or we can't say "Merry Christmas" and they only want you to say "Happy Holidays"... but happy holidays implies plural celebrations, merry Christmas implies one doesn't it? 

On a final note, notice how we didn't use the word "he" when talking about deeper Christ layer 3 here. One of the tricks of the empire is to degrade or remove the feminine and only cater to the masculine. When in reality both have equal value. An example would be that we call our male children our "sons" and our female children our "daughters" when they should be called our "moons." Think about that... This is a deeper separate conversation but we suggest listening to our insight titled "God is non-binary" about how any supreme being which exists in unity, can not be only one half of the male and female sexual binary but instead would be both in perfect balance. That being said, in alchemical artwork related to the western esoteric tradition, the sun is designated as male and the moon female, and the reason for that is a deeper conversation related to the final Chirts layer. 

Now, this is where we really cross a threshold and are going to reiterate what we said earlier related to fake white Republican Jesus prior to mentioning more real poor brown immigrant hippy from Palestine Jesus and then even more real sun in the sky Jesus - The worst aspects of Abrahamic religion tries to indoctrinate people through dogma and doctrine and then lead them into regressive politics and that's basically all it does. The problem with this is that it is not interested in spiritual self development. Which is what we are very interested in and our work tries to lead you towards. Which is essentially improving and evolving yourself while becoming less dysfunctional. Basically becoming a better person through your own direct experiences and working on yourself. We've been saying this for over a decade, but will mention again, that this is an internal process. Not an external process. Each one of us is a unique snowflake and the path is custom designed for each one of us. This is why someone on stage speaking to a large group can only be so so at best and far too often is just a grifter in the process. The real alchemical gold comes from small groups or even better 1 on 1 teacher and student relationships similar to a client or patient who is in therapy in a modern context, with a therapist in an air conditioned office, or in an indigenous context, working with a shaman outside in nature. So, it's really teachers who should be wise elders who are essential in this process, which can possibly come from a good layer #2 pastor who may be excellent, but such people within church hierarchy tend to be more the exception than the norm. The real benefit from a decent layer #2 church are the potential community built there. As we would never say you can't go to church, as anyone who wants to be a Christian, especially a more real one, finds benifit in the community of going to church, fair enough. Our mother used to go to a very liberal Unitarian Universalist Church herself and liked the community of it. And it wasn't an ultra regressive culty imperial star destroyer church of hate like layer #1 demands and requires. But it's very important to realize that you don't need to go to church for it, or a priest class or guru's to go through to access it. So the final two layers of the Christ onion are not exoteric outer things, but more real, true, esoteric inner layers. As there is a relationship between outer light and inner light.

#4: Sophisticated esoteric layer - Awakened Imagination. Now it's hard to touch on this without mentioning an absolutely incredible human being, who lived his last adult incarnation, that we know of, from 1905 to 1972, and like every single individual in physical form, was not perfect but is a wonderful source, one of the best, for biblical study. Because the bible, while written by man, let's say that again, written by man, is also far from perfect, but has some really good stuff in it none the same. Neville Goddard was a spiritual teacher, mystic, and author best known for his teachings on the power of imagination and consciousness as the creative force behind reality. His work blended real Christian mysticism, New Thought philosophy, and a unique interpretation of scripture as psychological allegory. His core Philosophy was essentially that imagination creates reality and at the heart of his teachings was the principle: “assume the feeling of the wish fulfilled.” In other words, whatever you vividly imagine and emotionally inhabit in your inner world will, to some extent, manifest in the outer world. Your consciousness is God, and your imagination (the Christ consciousness, or inner light of an awakened imaginative mind) is the mechanism through which reality is shaped. Goddard didn’t interpret the Bible literally and cautioned heavily about claiming it's in any way historical. He knew it was what it really is, which is a series of allegorical stories as a psychological drama, with characters and narrative symbolizing states of consciousness. Much of his books and lectures are decoding of what Biblical passages are really saying, as allegory for your own, higher selves, personal story through your life. Which are timeless and recurring. For example: Jesus represents the awakened imagination, crucifixion is the death of old identity, and resurrection is the assumption of a new self-concept. It also says every soul is composed of light. True and that Christ is a state of mind "The father and I are one" or "seek the kingdom of heaven within you" not outside of you. This type of spiritual philosophy and real Christianity is both mystical and deeply practical. It requires no external authority, no dogma, and no institutional structure. It simply asks you to recognize your own consciousness as divine, and to use that awareness consciously, creatively, and lovingly. To live as Goddard suggests is to take full ownership of your life—not by willpower or effort, but by faith in imagination. And in a big corporate machine world often dominated by empire that often denigrates the imagination, and certainly doesn't want people being truly creative, let alone making a living off their creativity but instead have to get a slave job, there is always the marketing pitch of fear and limitation over abundance. Because of this type of mental empowerment, even though we of course live under a multiplicity of both physical and mental dynamics, you must improve the mind, you improve the body, before you improve your surroundings, and your life, and the health and well being of your community, country, and planet. So this empowering philosophy of mind is both ancient and urgently modern. And anti empire.

#5: Deepest esoteric layer - Initiatory Hint - Now there is an even deeper fifth layer to the Christ onion, which is of course deeply occult and esoteric, and is spiritually advanced enough that it starts touching on and heading into the aspects of the real initiation process. Which to use a popular culture reference so people have some frame of reference on what that is - is like when Luke Skywalker goes to train with Yoda in the Dagobah system. With Luke as student and Yoda as teacher. 1 on 1. We ourselves, having had some experience with a series of teachers, one of the agreements of which is to never tell a soul or share the real iniatory information is because said deeply esoteric information starts giving hints as to what the initiatory process is and somewhat how it works. None of which is to ever be shared publicly because the last thing we want it in the hands of are the higher level Palpatine style dark imperial agents who administer masses of lemmings into group #1. But what we will share about it is that it's basically an idiot realization accelerator. And you come to realize you are an idiot. And like the psilocybin mushroom would tell you at high dosage, that you don't know shit about shit. No matter how hot shit you thought you were before beginning it. One passage in the bible that is very true says "Many Are called, few are chosen" and because real initiation is so esoteric, difficult, complex, not to mention iniatory, extremely few people would even get it, so it's not even worth trying to explain here in this writing for the private members section of our website nilesheckman.org, which then goes out as audio to our podcast, and audio and video to our channel, and you would all think we're an odd ball for even trying to do so. If you don't already! One thing we will say is that this is a early and more simplified version of a feature documentary film we are developing around this content, currently titled "Layers of Light" and it would be totally improper to share it there either, God forbid share it and try and sell it, but in that, which will be an expanded upon version of this writing and narration, we'll probably encode a secret line or two that gives a ever so deeper hint as to what it could orbit around. Just like the old alchemists did in their books. 

The Problem with the Media #11: Grifters

It's really difficult to grasp how much of both legacy media and especially now, new media, is problematic due to grifting. Which is the act of gaining money, influence, or power through deceit, manipulation, or insincere persuasion. Often by posing as a true believer in a cause, when actually...not. In the political and media sphere, grifters sell outrage or ideological loyalty not because they believe in the message, but because it’s profitable. Remember that, they know what they are saying is bollox and untrue but why do they do it...? because it makes them MONEY.

A media grifter, by definition, is someone who pretends to inform but actually performs to monetize. They’re like the street magicians of the digital age, except instead of pulling coins from your ear, they pull outrage from thin air—and ask you to like, share, and subscribe for more. In the complex landscape of modern information ecosystems, the rise of grifters represents a profound and dangerous phenomenon. This issue cuts across both legacy media and new media, exacerbating social fragmentation and deepening distrust. In a just and rational world, media grifters would be museum exhibits, fossilized next to telegraphs, MySpace, and Stegosaurus. Instead, they are louder than ever, fueled by algorithms, self-righteousness, and a disturbing amount of energy drinks. Understanding the broader implications of this trend requires not just examining the actors involved, but also the structural conditions that allow them to thrive, both of which we'll get more into with multiple follow up episodes in this "problem with the media" insight series which will orbit exclusively around this issue.  

Legacy media, meaning talking heads on traditional telivision, once seen as a relatively stable institution that upheld journalistic standards, has not escaped the temptation of grift. As traditional revenue models collapsed under the weight of internet disruption, many outlets pivoted towards sensationalism, partisanship, and outrage bait to capture dwindling attention spans. The pursuit of clicks and ratings turned some respected journalists and commentators into entertainers first and fact-finders second. In this environment, "grifting" often takes the form of selectively framed narratives, misleading headlines, and tribalistic pandering, all to sustain the illusion of authority and maintain economic viability.

New media, particularly in the realms of video platforms, podcasts, and independent newsletters, initially promised to be a corrective force — more decentralized, authentic, and free from corporate bias. However, it quickly became clear that decentralization alone could not inoculate against human frailty and greed. Many "independent" voices soon realized that sensationalism sells too, if not sadly even more. With lower barriers to entry and fewer formal checks, a new breed of grifter emerged: self-styled truth-tellers who weaponize conspiracy, paranoia, and faux expertise for clout, donations, or subscription fees. The irony is painful: in trying to escape institutional rot, many audiences ran headfirst into the arms of individual opportunists.

If you thought this was bad on legacy media with commercial breaks, whoa have we ever have gone through the looking glass with it in new media ecosystems. It's corrosive consequences erode the public’s ability to distinguish between credible information and manipulation. It deepens polarization, as each "tribe" becomes more entrenched in its preferred sources of outrage. Most tragically, it shifts collective attention away from systemic reforms and into endless battles over manufactured cultural grievances and worst of all faux culture wars. Because Who Needs Facts When You Have a Ring Light, bad tone of voice, and most of all a sugar daddy and crap to sell?

An Intro To The MAGA Cult

Our personal work is about personal development shared for your development. Which then further helps our development.

Two primary ways we do that is by always aiming to be brutally and soberingly honest and also help you to get out of or not fall into cults. Which are groups people get involved with which they can't leave without PAIN. These can be incomparably life damaging and even, in the Heaven's Gate or People's Temple case, life ending. A cult is like a political party, except instead of policies, it has a messiah, a merch line, and a rule that no one is allowed to ask questions. Especially not about the leader’s  unpaid legal bills or golf scores and we very much recommend the book Commander In Cheat. A cult isn’t just a group with strong beliefs, it’s a social system built on unquestioning devotion to a leader, suppression of dissent, and emotional manipulation. Cults isolate members from opposing viewpoints, discourage critical thinking, and elevate a central figure to near-infallible status with loyalty to them being the highest virtue. 

No patriotic freedom lover can say what we just said in the year of our lord 2025 and not think of MAGA which has a strange ability to rewrite reality in real time and exhibits classic cult behavior and its opinions are now, unfortunately, on official government letterhead. At its core is unwavering allegiance to Donald Trump, whose statements are treated as truth regardless of facts, evidence, or shifting narratives and we mention the previous said book that highlights that for decades, as an avid golfer, he has been lying and cheating at his golf game, a sport which cause, your out in large areas, sometimes solo, has a built in honor system, that he undermines by fabricating championships, using ball manipulation tactics, and least of all inflated handicap claims because he thinks, since everyone must cheat at this game, I'll cheat more and the professional golf community has basically known this for decades and it's a metaphor for everything else in his life. 

Like many cults, MAGA offers an idiocracy flavored, us-vs-them worldview, appeals to a sense of victimhood and righteousness, and thrives on emotional resonance over factual coherence. It builds identity around belief in a single leader, rather than shared principles or policies. In short, MAGA functions as a personality cult, complete with merch, mantras, and a disdain for dissent. Critics—whether journalists, scientists, or even former allies—are branded as enemies or traitors. The leader is always right. If the leader is wrong, see Rule #1. Anyone who disagrees is a demon, a deep-state agent, or your cousin you stopped talking to after Thanksgiving 2016. When their leader fire hoses lies, they swallow them up, when he changes positions, they adapt. When he contradicts himself, they rationalize. And the Kool-Aid? It’s orange from bronzer. 

On a micro level, having spent time in the alternate media space, watching friends and past collaborators lead people into or they themselves get joker spiral sucked into it has been deeply disappointing to us. On a macro level, watching the world's largest podcaster go from stoned ape theory advocate and cannabis enthusiast to oligarchic ball gargler and red cult advocate has also been deeply disappointing to us. If you had asked 14-year old Niles in the 1990's about Trump we would have told you - almost instantaneously, transparently obvious conman and classless trashy rich guy. And due to our development, we haven't had to reverse track on that front. So how can the 14 year old version of us be so correct and spont on while millions of others are so wrong? That is a complicated answer but it's done through explaining matters of what's called undue influence combined with what the supposid deep state is and how it relates to American Empire. So... we are going to be doing another series on cult programming, primarily highlighting this flag-waving, grudge-holding, golden-toilet-adoring cult of personality whose goal is always to make America worse. 

Think for Yourself, Question Authority

There comes a moment in everyone's life when they first experience the thrill of rebellion. For some, it’s sneaking candy before dinner. For others, it’s wearing a Tasmanian Devil tie to church. For the truly bold, it’s saying, “Wait a second—does this make sense?” And just like that, a thinker is born.

“Think for yourself and question authority” is a noble mantra, championed by Greek philosophers such as Socrates, sages such as punk rockers, and that one soverign uncle who eats raw onions plain and writes "I object to registration" in large red ink across car registration forms. In a modern context the phrase is most associated with Timothy Leary, a psychologist and psychedelic advocate, who used it during lectures and writings advocating for personal freedom, exploration into advances of consciousness, and skepticism toward institutional control. It reflected his broader countercultural philosophy, which included his more infamous mantra: "Turn on, tune in, drop out" which sounds stoner dumb when you first hear it but the more one meditates on it, the more they come to the realization that's just the gears of the imperial programming talking. Enlightenment thinkers like Kant and Voltaire promoted self-reason and doubt of dogma but in a modern context, Leary crystallized it into a memorable modern slogan, tailored for the breift period of American sanity that was the 1960's.

Thinking for yourself means "forming your own worldview based on evidence, logic, and personal reflection rather than passively absorbing the views of others." It fosters independent judgment, creativity, and resilience against manipulation. In times of widespread misinformation and red hat cult conformity, this skill becomes essential for truth-seeking and personal integrity.

Questioning authority complements this by "encouraging people to scrutinize the legitimacy, motivations, and consequences of those in power"—whether in dysfunctional government, more dysfunctional corporations, and even more dysfunctional religious institutions. Blind obedience to any, or to all mixed together, leads to our current injustices, corruption, and the erosion of rights. History shows that major progress—civil rights, scientific breakthroughs, social reforms—often required individuals and groups to challenge accepted norms and official narratives.

Together, these practices form the bedrock of critical thinking and are foundational to intellectual freedom, democratic society, and moral responsibility. They are often said together because they represent two sides of the same principle: the right and responsibility of individuals to engage critically with the world around them and are essential not only for personal growth but also for collective progress. Without the willingness to think independently and interrogate established power, societies risk becoming morally complacent and intellectually stagnant. 

The idea is simple: don’t just accept what you’re told—use your brain! But like any powerful idea, it’s important to wield it responsibly. After all, “thinking for yourself” doesn't mean “Googling for six minutes and declaring yourself an expert in mRNA vaccines or thermonuclear engineering.” Thinking for yourself sounds way cooler than it actually is. In theory, it's a noble pursuit of truth and wisdom. In practice, it often involves spiraling into a 2 a.m. internet rabbit hole about how pigeons are secretly government drones. 

Meanwhile, questioning authority is deeply satisfying, especially if the authority in question is your boss, your Homeowners Association, or your seventh-grade gym teacher. Many people don't think for themselves, but are instead given what to think by authority figures and not so wise elders. But here’s the twist: thinking for yourself isn’t about being right all the time. It’s about being willing to change your mind when you’re wrong. It’s the intellectual equivalent of wearing socks with sandals, realizing you’ve made a mistake, and taking one of them off. You’re still strange, but you’re halfway to wisdom. Questioning authority has its place in progress. Without it, we’d still be treating headaches with leeches and nobody would have ever asked, “What if we put pineapple on pizza?” And let’s be honest—some authority is okay. Like seatbelt laws or instructions on IKEA furniture. 

Blind obedience is bad. But blind rebellion can sometimes also be. Ideally, we should be able to say, “I respectfully disagree,” instead of “WAKE UP SHEEPLE.”  In the end, the art of thinking for yourself and questioning authority is really about balance: enough skepticism to keep you curious, and enough humility to admit when you're out of your depth. It's about being simultaneously respectful to elders, while also constantly questioning them. It's about knowing when to challenge the system—and when to accept that, actually, yes, your dentist does know more about molars than you do. So question boldly. Think freely. And maybe—just maybe—leave the keyboard proclamations that you're an expert in ANYTHING in the drafts folder.

Glittering Generalities: Persuasion Through Vagueness

If you’ve ever heard a politician shout, "path to prosperity" or or “traditional family values” and felt a twinge of excitement... congrats!!! You’ve been glittered!

In the realm of persuasive language, few techniques are as enduring as glittering generalities. These are emotionally appealing but deliberately vague statements that evoke positive feelings without offering concrete arguments, or substantive detail, or evidence and are very much used to persuade. They short-circuit and bypass critical thinking (ethos) appealing to emotions (pathos) and serve as rhetorical shortcuts which unite and motivate while also being completely manipulating. They are tiny hollow turds covered in sparkle dust which are effective because they rely on values and ideals that are broadly admired—such as patriotism, freedom, or justice, while avoiding specifics that could be scrutinized or debated. 

The beauty of a glittering generality lies in its ambiguity - meaning everything and nothing at once. They are quick collections of vague words adored by bad Politicians and their ghost writers because they allow them to say absolutely nothing while sounding like they just walked off the set of a historical biopic - "Together, we will bring hope to every home, prosperity to every pocket, and justice to every jellybean." What does it mean? Who knows? Doesn’t matter. It's syrupy sweet sparkles and has the nutritional value of Cotton Candy. That’s the point. Bypassing reason and appealing directly to emotion makes them effective in gaining public approval or masking controversial policies. They are where meaning goes to die in a Sparkly Tuxedo. Great for applause lines, branding campaigns, and fridge magnets. But if you’re trying to actually understand something— policy, character, direction - it's no bueno. When low information voters accept these catchphrases, and put them on their own signs, they may find themselves supporting causes or products they do not fully outer, inner, over, or understand.

The term "glittering generalities" was formalized in the early 20th century, particularly during efforts to analyze and counter propaganda in wartime. After World War I, scholars and critics began to examine how language was being manipulated to serve political ends. One of the most influential institutions in this regard was the former USA agency "Institute for Propaganda Analysis" (IPA) which very little know about and came about prior to World War II but was concluded as the war was ramping up because it started sharing enemy propaganda techniques which, surprise surprise, were also starting to ramp up domestically. The IPA identified glittering generalities as one of the seven key propaganda techniques used to sway public opinion.

This tactic was seen repeatedly in political speech, military recruitment, and commercial advertising. By presenting abstract, feel-good concepts without actionable or measurable content, speakers could appeal to the broadest possible audience while remaining immune to factual rebuttal. Consider the phrase “Support our troops.” While emotionally resonant and seemingly patriotic, it is intentionally vague. Does supporting the troops mean endorsing a war? Saying it's okay to Napalm Vietnamese children? Claiming Bechtel charging $22 per mess hall spoon is not criminal? The statement invites affirmation without requiring reflection. 

Glittering generalities history reveals how easily language can be weaponized to evoke trust and suppress scrutiny. In a world of slogans and soundbites, being able to identify one is more than an academic exercise—it is a rhetorical and civic skill. By recognizing these obviously manipulative BS phrases which are like reality TV: flashy, addicting, and suspiciously empty inside, individuals can cultivate a more critical lens through which to evaluate the messages they receive. Humans are suckers for pretty language. If it sounds good, we assume it is good. It’s like verbal glitter: it sticks to everything, makes a mess, and is nearly impossible to clean off your critical thinking. Not all emotionally resonant language is manipulative—but when a phrase feels too foggy, it’s worth stating "That's so vague and agreeable, it could be applied to literally any cause, including one you completely oppose."