Politics – WildernessPunk

WildernessPunk: I feel like I’m taking Crazy Pills

What is happening to our world and why do even the professionals, making hundreds of thousands of dollars to understand these times, seem so clueless?

With no attempt to proclaim any sort of personal aptitude, why is it I was almost one of the only people pointing out (even if it was just to my wife and a handful of internet associates) that tRump’s Memorandum of Understanding was failed before it started? Not to be Captain Obvious, but the first line item included the need for Isreal to cease hostilities against Lebanon. Of course this wasn’t going to happen, in fact the opposite of this happened, the horrific nation of Isreal went out of their way to avoid military targets and just murdered dozens of civilians to insure there could be no confusion they were continuing to follow their pro-genocide holy book, to engage in genocide themselves just like they claim their sky daddy would want.

This is not any anti-Isreal article, although every American from Mr. Maga, to Wilma Woke should be against that country. Instead, I want to look into how nearly every news source praised this obviously flawed and hollow attempt at a peace deal like it was real or even had a 1% chance of happening.

News, and the explosion of memes and comedians, instead focused on the 300 billion dollars promised to Iran and a side salad of reflecting pool nonsense, while the giant glowing first promise of the whole agreement wasn’t going to last 24 hours. Why wasn’t every talking head pointing this out or debating over if there was any chance Isreal might stop being evil and cease killing innocent men, women, children, and babies?

I would suggest the 300 billion was included to distract us from the obvious, but we can’t even be let off that easy since it’s Iran’s idea and I don’t think they are trying to distract people from how evil Isreal is, just the opposite.

Sigh… I lived through the Iran Hostages year and if you told me then I would live in a world where Iran is fighting against terrorists and Isreal is the evilest country in the middle East, I might have had a very hard time believing you.

So now I looking at this mess of dual wars and seeing an almost zero chance of this being able to work out easily. I see only two ways out of this and talk about a zero chance of something happening…

Methods to Finish these Conflicts

The US could cut off all aid to Isreal, freeze their assets, and block all trade until they cease their attempts at Genocide.
The US could say ‘peace out’ to the rest of the world and force the American Oil Companies to cease selling any of our oil to Europe and elsewhere for higher profits and ensure they only sell the oil they produce to their fellow Americans.

Both of these strategies would work but are as sure as fuck not going to happen. In fact, I may have discovered some of the only things less likely to happen than Isreal stopping its murderous assault on the civilians of Lebanon.

Again, I ask for people to see through the noise and propaganda and look directly at the issues themselves and use logic to not only understand what is happening but to attempt to find a way to fix the issue.

The US is going to have a very hard time taking over Iran so we can steal their oil which I’m sure was the administration’s original intent. tRump has admitted as much on several occasions. With this off the table and the economy of the world damaged as we struggle to make outdated systems cling to life as overpopulation meets climate change and declining prosperity, real choices must be made.

Will the US continue to rob from the poor to give to the rich, while beating the drum of 1980s economics or will there be any chance of real innovation happening? I’ll answer that one for you, or at least make a prediction. As resources dwindle and the wealth of the mega rich increases the leaders will seek to tighten their grip on the balls of the people and will attempt to rape the last of the worlds resources while building a stronger fascist control over the lives of people like us.

I guess the real question is… what are we going to do to stop them?

You can grab some WildernessPunk or find out how it started at its main site here.

WildernessPunk: Within the Evil Empire

Looking back at my younger days I think I was sixteen when I first began to become enlightened enough to know most of what I was presented with was manipulation, lies, and undue sense of temporal importance. During college, my Anthropology degree exposed me to the swath of horrors the US and the rest of the more developed world inflicted on the underdeveloped countries. By the time I reached a Punk Rock crescendo in 1992, while publishing my underground Zine C.H.A.O.S (Collected Humans Against Outdated Systems), I was around twenty-five and I decided that many of the larger US corporations, and the government which was owned by them, were more evil than not.

Funny how they attempted to keep those things hidden back them.

Not anymore.

But what do you do when you live within an evil empire? Some things like funding Israel, invading Middle Eastern countries so we or they can oppress people, and the like, have always loomed over us. Things are no longer half hidden deals made by the elite behind closed doors, we live in an age where you can see how vile and dangerous our country has become on an hourly basis.

I’ve mentioned before that in an issue of C.H.A.O.S I predicted when the environment degrades to a level which effects profits and resources become scarcer, the rules would change. The government, and the money which controls it, will no longer bother playing nice. Instead of investing in green technology or funding schools instead of soldiers, they will lock themselves in their mega-mansions and refuse to change a game they are winning. The billionaires and their sick-o-phants have chosen to bleed every drop they can from the plants, animals, and peoples of this planet until it wastes away. Even then, the military will protect them so they can live off the corpse they created as long as they can.

This article is not about exposing the horrors of the ultra-rich, that’s already been done. Instead, I am asking myself and you… what do we do when we are living within a country set on the edge of becoming an actively evil empire, both without and within?

I mean this on a daily basis. What should you do now? What should you do tomorrow? What is it alright to do on a casual basis? Is it okay for me to post funny memes on Facebook or should I be trying every minute to fight back against the system which has threatened to do their best to transform the people they don’t arrest and kill, into little more than employed slaves staring at screens and hoping we can still afford food next month.

There is something to say for the “Don’t Let the Bastards Grind You Down,” contingent. “I not going to let them ruin my life,” is a worthy sentiment. Certainly, we should keep and cherish the moments we get to spend in nature, and with friends and family. We must remember what we’re fighting for and what normal is. Also maintaining a sense of humor, even through the worst of times, is a noble and powerful thing.

Yet we also must avoid ignoring the tragedy of our times and treat this as a, ‘New Normal.’ As the environment starts its death throes, and this is hurried along by data farms, all of us will have to define our own New Normal. Clinging on to our past assumptions and lifestyles like some half assed versions of the elite which are roasting us while they prepare their bunkers, doesn’t seem like a long term solution.

But is harping on it with daily memes to people who mostly agree with you doing any more? I get the need to make a statement about how much it sucks to see the world screwed over by assholes you wouldn’t let into your Dungeons and Dragon’s game, but is this any better than showing people food pics?

If I decided I wanted to do something to fight back and posting memes wasn’t the way, what would I do? Political action? Fight like tigers against a gerrymandered system to let in people who won’t grow the military but will let it remain at its ponderous size, while hiring more police, and still only using fractions of our wealth to provide for the people living on the edge? The poor get a bandaid while as the climate, health insurance, and economy grows worse there will just be more and more poor and homeless as AI erases jobs and tears through the environment.

Protest? Besides some cool drone shots on CNN have the two biggest protests in US history stopped us from killing people in Venezuela? Has voting kept someone who we 100% knew was evil out of the White House?

So what can we do?

How about everything we can. Spread the word. Make people think. Outside of your own bubble would be best. Don’t preach to the converted use guerilla tactics to spread ideas. We live in the information age but if people’s eyes are whitewashed by propaganda it doesn’t matter because they don’t have a chance to see reality. They need to have a chance to find it out themselves.

Perhaps Truth could be the new conspiracy theory. People can research unseen web sites and discover…oh wait. I didn’t know that was real. I never looked at it this way before. No one has ever told me about this.

Maybe stickers would do what algorithms can’t. Perhaps it is time to stop living and arguing online and through talking heads and instead, be in the same room and engage. That guy might be wearing a MAGA hat, but unless he’s more than a millionaire we’re all going to be swimming in the same flash flood in the next few years.

Personally, I give the US about one more year, maybe fourteen months.

Time to do two things. Fight for every inch you can and get ready for the real battle to come.

Dak is ordered to hunt down renegade clones. His main problem, he’s in love with one.

WildernessPunk: Propaganda, Falsehoods, and Lies

I’m not setting out to write some whiny article about why I’m mad about being lied to or to point out how the United States’ government currently has a foundation built on falsehoods. Instead, I’d like to dive into why some people tend to believe all sorts of nonsense they are told, as long as it is spewed by the right pairs of lips, while others hesitate to make important decisions and use logic and critical thinking to attempt to ensure the choices they make are as sound as possible.

I think many people have experienced situations where a speaker is obviously spouting lies and spattering people with his toxic imagination. You, the listener, find these lies painfully easy to disregard as falsehoods, but crowds of people are cheering and discussing the fabrications as facts later.

So why does it happen? Why do some people swallow the nonsense with vapid glee, while others walk away scratching their head wondering how even a single individual could believe such inaccurate ramblings?

Reasons why people might believe obvious falsehoods

They respect the liar
They were raised in religious environments where impossible fables are accepted as facts
Lack of education
Apathy
Failure to research things they find important
The lie reinforces what they already believe
The lie reinforces what they want to believe
Failure to develop critical thinking skills
Not reading
Emotions and beliefs are seen as more important than facts
The lies reinforce types of hate which they feel elevate their self-worth by making them feel superior to others
The lies might help them make money or get a mate
They suffer from one or more forms of mental illness

With these causes in mind, we have a chance to understand why someone might believe statements which others find laughable dribble. Another aspect of lying which benefits the liar is engaging in a consistent approach. Could you imagine Barak Obama talking about hope and elevating the American people and then suddenly switching gears and diving into how he must flush his toilet twelve times? Yet when tRump discusses such ridiculous notions, it doesn’t mess with his flow of speech because it is just as worthless and stupid as the thing he said before it and what he will ramble on about afterward.

This would also occur in some places like churches. If someone just told you about how a divine being rained fire down from the heavens to kill hundreds of innocent people, and you believed it was true, why wouldn’t you believe this divine power was also concerned which bathrooms humans used? Since neither make any logical or coherent sense, they become equalized in their embrace of irrationality.

I discussed why people might accept lies, but while some open their mouths to be fed obvious gobbledygook by the shovelful, others discard such fabrications with ease. I could make a list of why this might be, but much of it will simply be the opposite of what I outlined above. Things such as having an open mind, engaging in critical thinking, and being well read are good starters.

All this is fine and good, but I think there is one attribute which stands miles above the others and this is the strength to accept you could be wrong about a subject and possess the ability to change one’s mind.

Think about how much better life would be for all of us if people could put their pride aside and not always assume they are correct on every issue. The jails and prisons would certainly have less inmates if the false sense of pride could have been removed from many people.

“I’m not going to stand for being disrespected!” Why because working at Jiffy Lube makes you infallible? “I’m perfect and can never be wrong!” Why because you got Cs in high school? Why is it so many people are bursting with pride over nothing more than being the 9,786,456,236^th person to work hard during their life or make a family? “I haven’t read a book in five years and get most of my news from Facebook, but it’s inconceivable I could be wrong about anything.”

Where do such thoughts come from? Why do many of the people who have done the least have the most swollen pride? Perhaps all they have is the feeling I don’t take crap from anyone. Still not taking gruff isn’t the same thing as believing one is always correct, but at times they do appear related. Many have often stated the more educated in a subject you are, the more you realize what you don’t know. Perhaps the inverse is also true. The less you know about a subject the more certain you are right about what you know about it.

You can see this often during man on the street interviews where people tell you they are against things such as Critical Race Theory, but then are unable to define what CRT is.

So how can we solve this? I’d tell people to have an open mind, be able to admit you are wrong, and be open to changing one’s opinion. The problem is the people who can’t do these things won’t be reading this or anything like it.

The only real answer is for each free thinker to do their best to help a few people evolve to stronger ways of thinking as we travel on our paths through life. Most who need this advice will resist you, but you might help a handful of people along the way and one can hope they will pass these values onto their offspring and over time humanity has a chance to improve.

Remember less than two hundred years ago half the population thought slavery was acceptable. Some races and even woman weren’t allowed to vote until very recently. Every year the percentage of people rejecting primitive religions is increasing. Humanism is winning, but these things take time and there will always be backsliding and with the weakened environment creating more economic hardships for individuals and families, we might see a lot of two steps back.

As the environment collapses, the mega rich grab a larger percentage of family’s income, and fascists fight to control the people easily influenced with hate, the free thinkers have a hard road ahead of them, but this has never stopped the real heroes, and if you can put away your pride and admit you might be wrong about a subject, one of these heroes is you.

You can grab a Taste of my fiction here Can Dak be a detective and Anarchist at the same time?

WildernessPunk ShitIdiot

I invented a new word. Shitidiot. Kind of has a nice ring to it, don’t you think? I swear I wasn’t inspired by Trump, okay, perhaps a little. But this word isn’t about him.

Think on it. There are two major categories of people you might not want to hang out with. Evil people and stupid people. Still each of these things on its own has some level of respectability. For instance, the wealthiest one percent. They are shit ass evil, but they aren’t idiots. The people who vote for them might be, but they are living large and are an inspiration to, so many would be evil scumbags.

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.Conversely, you have the idiot. This might be just a guy whose goals and choices are much simpler than yours. Anyone who watching more than four hours of sports a day while growing less fit themselves or the guy who thinks facts are not obstacles to slow you down while seeking the truth, falls in the idiot zone.

The evil one percenters, might by their nature, be getting more evil accomplished on a wider scale, but then again, you almost have to give them some level of respect. When they go to war with a country to steal its resources, they have no delusions about it. They have come to grips with their desires and are willing to fulfill them regardless of the consequences. There is a certain honor in just admitting, “I’m going to strive to be self-centered and take whatever I want for me and mine. Call me evil, I don’t care. I will kill, confuse, and trick my way and no rules apply, unless I get caught. Even then, nine times out of ten I’ll figure a way to forge ahead.”

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“Would you like to grab my wife’s pussy Mr. President or perhaps walk into my teenaged daughter’s room while she changes?”

Idiots can be annoying as well, but sometimes dumb hijinks are fun too. Honest laughter over nothing important can be releasing. The simple life can take a load off your shoulders. Sometimes being with certain folk is like being in the woods with friends as a kid. Hey look, a frog.

It’s when the two combine which takes reality to a new level of annoying. Yes, I know the richest 1% weld an evil which overwhelms some random dumbasss holding a tiki torch in a Klan march, but how often do most of us ever met such devils made flesh?

Instead most of us are plagued by a lower level of a malign fool and depending on how well you managed to insulate yourself for the rest of the world, it could easily be on a daily basis. If you work at the wrong place, it could be hourly or every few minutes.

I had a friend once who was an idiot. Just a dumb ass. The guy that would try to punch you and then fall in the mud. He’d come to visit and pour himself a half gallon of vodka and OJ before I would wake up and start heckling the people walking by in front of my place. Just a knucklehead. Then he tried to rape my girlfriend’s roommate. You just became a Shitidiot.

How could an evil person lower they standing to Shitidiot? Oh, it’s easy. If someone somehow believed the religion they used to control the masses was real, it would be a good start. Add to that racism and homophobia. People who believe these things are both evil and dumb, welcome to the world of being a Shitidiot, loser patrol worshipers.

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From the annoying guy at work who’s taking about how the ‘fill in the blank’ group ruined the USA, between his celebrity worshiping fixation, to both of your boss, who hates, ‘fill in the blank,’ many of us have some serious Shitidiot issues to deal with each day.

So for the more enlightened, I give you this new term to help speed through conversations so one can get to the meat of the story. “Yeah when I was at the store this real Shitidiot was in front of me and…”

You can thank me later.

Alex of the Gods

You can check out some of my fiction here if you feel inclined.