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Getting out of the Crazy

“Men are freest when they are most unconscious of freedom.The shout is a rattling of chains and always was.”
— D. H. Lawrence

—–

It’s true. We’re most free when we can just take our freedom for granted.

But you see the problem there, of course. Our not thinking about freedom leaves control freaks free to pursue our enslavement. Then by the time we’re aware of what they’re doing, it may be too late.

In theory, it’s possible to set up bulwarks that operate more-or-less automatically against government-gone-mad (constitutions, decentralized political structures), but in practice few of them work very well or very long.

Now, living an age of despotism whose manic growth we’re compelled to witness during 24/7 news cycles, we have to be on constant watch, right down to a fight-or-flight biological level. Because even if we’ve chosen the course of maximum freedom we still need to know, and move in response to, what’s coming at us.

HOW we move in response is up to our discretion, and I think most of us realize that political action — other than on the most local levels — is just playing the game Our Glorious Rulers want us to play.

Later this year, barring some more dramatic form of manipulation, we’ll cheer as the R-party broom sweeps the D-party dust out of office. Pundits will pund. Hands will be virally wrung. The End of Democracy will come ’round once more. On the winning side, cheers will be cheered. Promises will be promoted. Freedom will be rung. Swamps will be threatened with draining.

And not a damn thing will change. Except a few cosmetics, which the next power turnover will being back.

Still, we will watch the coming turnover and want desperately to be happy about it. Because the alternative is …

—–

Well, the alternative is for us to get, or stay, free of course. We’ve talked about that how many times? But damn, it gets harder by the day.

Ours can’t be the blissful Anarcho-Edenic freedom of never having to think about tyranny, of course. It beats the other alternatives, but we still have to watch the March of Despotism. And war. And economic collapse. And the deadly whipping-up of mobs.

Or perhaps I should say not the march, but the drunken staggering of despotism.

While all despotisms descend from tragedy into absurdity, our despotism has already descended into absurdity on a level never before attempted in the history of humanity.

It’s the CRAZY, people. The Crazy is the latest (and possibly most dangerous) form of despotism we have to watch and work our way around.

You know The Crazy I’m talking about. It takes many forms, but it’s all anti-rational, anti-REAL.

Men can have babies!

Paper masks can withstand viruses!

It’s GOOD and necessary for hired adults secretly to twist the sexual attitudes of five-year-olds!

A government can print money to create prosperity forever!

The president is in full possession of his mental faculties!

Women can have a penis!

Epstein and Maxwell trafficked underage girls … to nobody!

Because some vaccines are useful, this untested vaccine is therefore useful!

Your infant is an oppressor and must bear the guilt forever!

Children not old enough to make decisions about drinking, smoking, piercings, or tattoos are competent to demand that that their bodies be permanently altered!

If I’m vaccinated and you’re not, it’s YOUR fault if I get sick!

Vladimir Putin caused inflation that began a year before he did the thing that supposedly caused the inflation!

A body built with massive quantities of testosterone is exactly equal to a female body!

Patriarchy is the problem! But we want to turn your daughters into men!

Racism is anti-racism!

Be-LEEEEEVE The Holy Science! Without question!

—–

I could go on. But whatever Crazy I write down today will be supplanted by some crazier Crazy tomorrow (until and unless major forces of reality impose sanity). Yep, these are The Crazy Years Heinlein predicted. And they’ve even arrived during his projected time frame.

Maladaptive behaviors are tolerable in individual humans. But when a society and virtually all its institutions, church, state, and private, go nuts … different story.

The thing — as always — is what we, personally, do about it.

We can’t ignore it. But nor can we fling our entire lives at combating it and still consider ourselves free. Voltaire was right about the purposes and effects of this.

I’m going to solicit your views on what we, as individuals and small groups, do about it. But here are a few ideas for starters.

  1. First, any children that we can get away from the Crazitude, we should get away from it. The worst of the Crazy is aimed at twisting their brains — and will violate their bodies when it gets the chance. Get them out of schools that program, rather than educate. Homeschool. Unschool. Whatever.
  2. Do your best to limit the kinds of entertainment available to the very youngest.
  3. Mock. Always mock. Remember that rational argument can’t work on crazy people — but boy, does this particular variety of crazy people hate not being taken seriously.
  4. Refuse compliance. Don’t go along to get along, whether it be vaccines or office politics or pronouns. The Crazy is their game; you can’t win it by obeying their rules.
  5. If you have to quit your job to get away from The Crazy, consider that this might just be a hill worth dying on — OR an opportunity to create a new sanity-based career.
  6. As much as possible, quit buying from corporations that indulge in the Crazy. (Yeah, not always doable, but definitely “do our bestable.”)
  7. If you must go for political solutions, keep them local. You can overthrow a school board more reliably than you can abolish all government schooling, even though the latter is a worthy goal.
  8. Start your own school? (Some locals where I live did it, and after 20 years, they’re doing great.) Teach reading, writing, math, basic economics, hands-on work, art, the scientific method, and logic, then let the kids explore.
  9. Find, form, or acknowledge your own tribe and increasingly move more of your life within it.
  10. No matter how thick The Crazy gets, keep your head above it. Whether your best tools are intellectual, literary, logical, religious, or other, keep your focus on what makes sense. Eternal verities exist — and can pull the world back together one day.
  11. Collect and preserve classic movies, art, and literature.
  12. Keep on mocking. (Yes, this is a duplicate, but it matters.) Laughter and contempt are powerful weapons, especially against those whose entire identity and life purpose depends on having their nutty ideas taken seriously.

The Crazy — and the Crazies — will not win. In the long run, they can’t win because the world operates on realities, and realities always reassert themselves. Kipling knew. Everybody with a grasp of how reality operates knows.

The Crazies can do — and are doing and will do — a whale of a lot of damage in the short run. And the short run could last a painfully long time. They’ll blight a society and perhaps even bring it down. They’ll provoke a backlash that could lead to a Nehemiah Scudder or worse.

Havoc they will create. Suffering they will impose. Confusion they will sew. A million individual tragedies they will have to answer for. Tyranny they are already grimly advancing. But win? No, they will not. Because reality always triumphs in the end. And in that battle the Crazies are by definition on the losing side.

But now … let’s hear your ideas for accelerating their loss while keeping our own (and our children’s) sanity and freedom.

26 Comments

  1. Comrade X
    Comrade X April 18, 2022 12:07 pm

    +1 to everything you have said!

    This reminds me of a few of Ayn Rand quotes;

    “When the common good of a society is regarded as something apart from and superior to the individual good of its members, it means that the good of some men takes precedence over the good of others, with those others consigned to the status of sacrificial animals.”

    I feel as if that is where our current society is today.

    She also said;

    “An individualist is a man who says: “I’ll not run anyone’s life – nor let anyone run mine. I will not rule nor be ruled. I will not be a master nor a slave. I will not sacrifice myself to anyone – nor sacrifice anyone to myself.”

    and

    “Individual rights are the means of subordinating society to moral law.”

    IMHO the solution lies in the individual, not the collective, we must all seek to survive as individuals and seek out those who have the same goals; the same moral law of not taking precedence over the good of others in our survival.

    If we do not want to be slaves then we should not live as slaves; slaves to debt, slaves to addictions, or slaves to what the collective demands of you. Be independent in your thoughts and deeds.

    Promoting the individual and the rights of the individual is where our answers can be found.

    Become independent and find others that are too, because no one will be coming to save us, we will have to save ourselves

    I could list all the ways but I do believe every one of us knows what that means however all of us including myself need to act on what we know to be true in our souls and that is where the going gets tough, don’t ya know?

  2. Old Trainer
    Old Trainer April 18, 2022 12:13 pm

    Glad to see this posted. I’ve got to agree with Comrade X and the observations made. I too see the future not as a collective thing but individuals who collaborate and those individuals are Us. Yeah, sort of Pogo like but it is still valid.

  3. Granny
    Granny April 18, 2022 12:14 pm

    I love this. Good list. I no longer have to work in “corporate America”, but it wasn’t as crazy then as it is now. They hadn’t outsourced everything to other countries. We actually made silicon chips here. Now, there’s a diversity officer in seemingly every corporation and seriously, they are a big problem as they implement “diversity and equity” that discriminates against people who aren’t the popular color, religion, or politics. But, I digress.

    To me, the answer to getting out of crazy, is to actually do it. Get out of the cities and try to get some land and a humble home where low cost of living meets self-sufficiency. The people I know, some in my extended family, just don’t see the risk… yet. They still want convenience and vacations and lattes. There is nothing more I can do to convince them that if they don’t get away from large populations of Crazy, they are inherently at serious risk. In my immediate family the risk has been acknowledged; the children will not be in public indoctrination centers or exposed to rainbow colored unicorns of dubious gender who want to play questionable games with them. All their activities are supervised – you name it, swimming, soccer, church activities, etc. Woe to the person who attempts them harm.

    In seeing the handwriting on the wall for some time, I went from corporate, big city, to farm girl. I’m very muddy as I write this. LOL. I don’t miss the fake social scene or keeping up with the Joneses. I don’t miss the gossip, drama, or various trysts between co-workers (married co-workers). I have a television but it’s never on. I don’t broadcast crap into my home 24×7 and don’t do social media, so all that stress garbage doesn’t touch me.

    If the Crazies decided to wander up to these here hills, there would be a dozen rifles trained on their every movement without them even knowing it until an assessment was made of their stability and intent. Crazy just doesn’t live here. Country folk do. It’s quiet and calm other than the drama livestock can cause. One thing about city life is it is “frenetic” and some people thrive on that constant stimulation. But, I’m older now so it doesn’t appeal. I think the younger ones might be more challenged and need to “see the world” – and that’s really important – so as parents it’s critical to get them out to see the Arts and experience various Cultures. They need to be able to see the difference between Crazy and beauty/tranquility. Just sayin’.

    My primary goal is to avoid Crazy in every way possible. I no longer need to “understand” it. Nor do I need to “accept” it. Nor do I need to “validate” it. The problem with being extremely tolerant is, as we have discovered, the Crazies just keep pushing their Crazy on everyone. I agree, mock them relentlessly, but my primary tact is extreme avoidance. I don’t think I’m the only one who has chosen the avoidance path. It’s how we naturally end up living amongst like minded folks – all of us John Galters.

  4. Buzz
    Buzz April 18, 2022 2:19 pm

    One more Rand quote that does it for me.

    Dagny: We never had to take any of it seriously, did we?
    Galt: No, we never did.

  5. Toirdhealbheach Beucail
    Toirdhealbheach Beucail April 18, 2022 9:38 pm

    I gently mock where appropriate, but honestly more and more I simply stand back and let others ask the questions. People are sometimes crazy, but when things impact them personally – and economics is as personal as it gets – it gains attention as nothing else will.

    For the rest – I do as little I have to. I likely could not tell you a show made in the last 10 years, perhaps a song or to – and certainly nothing that has climbed to the top of the best sellers list. To the greatest extent possible, I simply go about my way.

    In a real sense in a world that is looking towards progress and the future, I look more and more to the past – not the nasty and regrettable parts (they certainly, factually, existed), but the reasonable and good parts that have been thrown out along with everything else (which also certainly, factually, existed). And oddly enough, the less “modern” I become, the more “myself I seem to be.

    Read the old books. Listen to the old music. Watch the old movies, or old dramas done as they were originally meant to. Remember when things were meant to entertain and be enjoyed and provoke gentle self-growth and introspection or inspire us to greatness, not for proselytizing and confrontation of the self designed to destroy the self.

    Spend time in Nature or with animals, and behold in the leaf of a tree or the eyes of an animal a simplicity of existence that does not agonize about the past or the future, but experiences the present in the fullness of the moment.

    The world is passing me – us – by at this point. And the farther I go, the more I find that I am at peace with this.

  6. larryarnold
    larryarnold April 18, 2022 11:37 pm

    13. Get out of cities, particularly ones run by Democrats. Now. Before November. No matter the cost.
    The End of Democracy will come ’round once more.
    My sociology degree and my history minor are agreeing with my infantry training, predicting 2023 will be an order of magnitude worse than 2020.

  7. Jeff2
    Jeff2 April 19, 2022 5:08 am

    In each life, the only thing each of us is responsible for is being true to oneself. I only remembered this recently and have been focusing on applying it daily, in as many decisions as I have to make.

    The world that I grew up in and programmed me is fake. It was always fake. I now launch myself into the great adventure of discovering my true reality, which has nothing to do with all of the human created drama, which is not REAL. They exist only because we choose to believe in some words spoken from a soapbox (a radio, a video feed, a street corner political propagandist). Most of us recognize that what is happening is entirely the fault of control freaks and manipulators that are trying to run things. But, they still only have the power we give them by choosing to follow their directives.

    I am relearning how to say NO. NO, Thank You!! I will not comply. I have my own desires and services to offer. But I choose who and when I serve. No one else.

    In the end, this life is just an exercise. When it is done I will go on to the next.
    But I will have the lessons learned from this one to advance my journey of self.

    And I will grow with these lessons.

    Let the crazy happen. I find myself listening more and lecturing less. If you let these souls prattle on about the fake causes they have aligned themselves with, they eventually contradict themselves so much that even they see. The lack of argument from me seems to set in and suddenly a quiet understanding takes place.

    It doesn’t always happen. Maybe a few times a year. But when I witness this transformation, I often feel that I have served in the best possible convergence of light and love.

    I am not here to save the world. I am not here to save my community.
    I am here to serve others in finding the truth of our reality. That we choose how we want things to be. That it is ALWAYS individual choice that evolves our being.

    Once I rocognized all of this, my fears evaporated (mostly, I am still unlearning and unprogramming all of the fear that I was taught). As that happens I am more and more convinced that life is just a play. I have my part as does everyone else. The show will go on and when my part ends and my character meets his demise, it will be with the knowldge that I played my part perfectly and will be ready for the next adventure.

    Peace to ya’ll.
    Live life on your terms.

    Be at peace with yourself and the world will evolve around you.

    Jeff2

  8. Jolly
    Jolly April 19, 2022 6:21 am

    LOL – yesterday my company had a “sustainability conference” where ideas were batted-about on how to reduce our “carbon footprint.” At some point everybody was expected to tell the others how THEY were working sustainability.

    Naturally, lots of people talked about picking-up trash on the highway, and ensuring that their recycling got into the right bins.

    I said, “I help by being a Boy Scout Troop leader.”

    Naturally, I was corrected – ‘taint BOY scouts anymore. Just SCOUTS, and I was showing my male bias or whatever.

    The Boy Scouts of America had a lot of good stuff going for it for 100 years. It has been under withering assault since the 1980s and finally succumbed to allowing girls in a few years ago.

    Even as they were being bashed for being horrific – the end game of the attackers was to push for girls to get-in to the organization. One has to wonder if the org was SO BAD, why did they want their precious girls to participate?

    But, as usual, they just blank-out, and not see the contradiction. Now that the BSA has been castrated [sic] – they’ll move onto other targets, I’m sure.

  9. Val E. Forge
    Val E. Forge April 19, 2022 7:36 pm

    Jolly – Yeah, Scouting is but a shadow of it’s old self. I remember it fondly and grieve it sadly.

    All – Its a little off topic but as today is April 19, 2022, it is the 247th Anniversary of Lexington and Concord.

    HAPPY (REAL) PATRIOTS’ DAY!!!!

    FOUR-NINETEEN!!!!!!!!!!

  10. John Wilder
    John Wilder April 19, 2022 9:33 pm

    Here and ready to continue mocking, ma’am, on your command!

  11. pyrrhus
    pyrrhus April 21, 2022 1:17 pm

    Democracy ended in these United States early in the morning on Nov.4, 2020…But it can still win in your small town, or even your State occasionally–thank you Ron De Santis and the State of Florida! There is big trouble looming due to the crazies, eventual bond defaults all over the place, shortages created by outsourcing, world food shortages which may spread to the US, and a serious energy shortage…But if the good people stick together, take back the schools or homeschool, and start doing positive things, we can outlast the Crazy Years…

  12. Towgunner
    Towgunner April 21, 2022 1:28 pm

    This certainly explains our current situation. However, such insanity has happened before. If you look at history there are periods when society seemingly goes insane. It hasn’t gone insane in the ways its going insane right now. They call this phenomenon Mass Psychosis. The good news is these periods tend to burn out rather quickly. Also, radical social experiments were performed in communists societies. This included radical sex education. What I can tell you is this will not last. Yes, it seems very well entrenched at the moment, but please make note, so was the Khmer Rogue. Unlike previous periods of insanity ours occurred on the cusp of substantial changes, which are unraveling right now. The system, which is decidedly and regrettably “woke” is going to collapse, likely with in the next 12-18 months. The primary drivers are 1. the end of our easy monetary policy and 2. the collapse of the global dollar system. As you can see, both of these items are related. Basically, tectonic changes are occurring. When tectonic changes occur it very much effects things like culture. Therefore, what I can say with certainty is that radical change is coming. Now, this benefits us, tremendously, because it will change the status quo and the status quo is “woke” or the crazies. Also, I wouldn’t dismiss the growing conservative backlash. We’re taking ground. People don’t realize how abortion is on the retreat. Also, the whole “trans” thing is no where over and from celebrities to actual legislation this is going down. Why? Because its anti-reality and real action is happening. Lastly, the crazies have actually lost and in a big way. Its now obvious they support pedophilia. pedophilia is indefensible. The entire leftist agenda has led us to pedophilia, therefore, the entire leftist agenda is evil and completely invalidated. Start to think how you want to world to be on the other side, because its coming at us quickly.

  13. just waiting
    just waiting April 21, 2022 3:21 pm

    Mock. Yes, I do it every day. My mere presence makes a mockery of gov’t. (And love it!)

  14. Not Sure
    Not Sure April 22, 2022 4:09 am

    “For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie…” II Thess.

    It all makes sense if you sub the word crazy for lie.

    But this does not mean we just roll over and yield to the crazy, but stand against the crazy with every tool we have left to fight with; for this is how we will be judged when we stand before our God.

    Yes, but can we mock? Yes we can! Just read how Elijah mocked the priests of the Baal in I Kings 18. It worked then and it will work now.

  15. Simmerjet
    Simmerjet April 22, 2022 4:28 am

    I have mastered the mocking, I have mocked my County Sheriff when I delivered paper masks in cheap, Chinese, cardboard boxes clearly printed ” Made in China” ( pointing to the lettering, and making eye contact, Care to pose for a photo op for re election?) .. I mock businesses that put a date on ending mask requirements, ( Did you give the virus a pink slip or will it Just not receive a check and does it qualify for unemployment?)

    Oh the fun we have with the window lickers who ride the short liberal School bus… wait.. was that insensitive of me?

  16. Old Woodpecker
    Old Woodpecker April 22, 2022 4:54 am

    We mock them with non-compliance, no vax in this household of 4, and no Covid. Our families in 4 other households (many who ridiculed us) passed Covid back and forth for two years despite being “fully protected.” They all have city water, jus’ sayin’.Now they all are feverishly mining the net for information on lab funding, intubation statistics and snake venom theories. Finally, they stir awake. and those PEDOS.. their goalposts as always are set at the gates of Hell.. this “education” thrust is specifically to drive the issue to crest at consent of toddlers to rape. See it for what it is.. Because with liberals (especially TEACHERS) it’s never about what they say it’s about.

  17. Fred
    Fred April 22, 2022 5:34 am

    “Pundits will pund.”

    I need this to be a Dr. Seuss-ish mockery of the news industrial complex in his classic sing-song form. I just feel that it should exist.

    Prepare for the rebuild. If you had to build a civilization what knowledge would you need? Get them now in hard copy. Teach them to any that will listen, especially the young.

    “A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children’s children: and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just.” – Proverbs 13:22

    What better inheritance than the knowledge to rebuild? All they’ve stolen through wickedness will return to the children of just men. Our generation has a lot to answer for in letting things get this bad so we could at least plant some seeds for the future.

  18. sonofnunn24
    sonofnunn24 April 22, 2022 6:25 am

    You mention a bunch of predictors Voltaire etc. The God of the Bible predicted this 2000 years before them, When evil is good…

    We are close to the end, and judgement Look up?
    Maranatha

  19. Dave
    Dave April 22, 2022 8:41 am

    Great ideas, I do most of them, and lost my job for refusing to disclose my vaxx status. I’m much happier now not having to deal with corporate insanity.

  20. Tony
    Tony April 23, 2022 10:01 am

    I work in a female-centric, generally liberal profession. For those who don’t, a brief lesson in psychology. AWFLs (Affluent White Liberal Females) have extremely strongly-held opinions. These opinions are based on nothing, other than what they heard this morning on The View or last night on MSNBC, or some snark they saw on Facebook/Instagram/TikTok that they thought sounds edgy and smug. I repeat, they literally (yes, I know what “literally” means) have no idea why they hold these opinions. What’s more, an AWFL’s strongly held, confidently asserted opinion today could be different tomorrow, depending on what what Don Lemon or Rachel Maddow tells them to think. It’s fascinating. But these AWFL creatures must be handled carefully. They can transform, if challenged, from amiable drones to shrieking, short-circuiting anger-bots in a matter of seconds. And they are definitely going to HR because they feel unsafe and patriarchy/racism/mansplaining/transphobia etcetcetc. Btw nothing really happens if they complain but there’s a meeting and a memo and a phone call and a whatever-whatever and I’d rather spend my time fishing and riding my motorcycle than cooped up in an office listening to Karen weep about how my comment didn’t make her feel empowered.
    So. To mock, I just use their own words and phrases, just as they do, in a neutral manner, very straightforward, not in a confrontational way. Curiously, when I say the same things they say, it sounds outlandishly absurd.

    AWFL: oh you have three kids? Boys or girls?
    Me: I don’t know. I’m not a biologist.

    AWFL: what do you think about men competing in women’s sports?
    Me: I was unaware that this is happening. An athlete’s gender is what she says it is. Lia Thomas is a woman.

    Etc. There are a hundred more examples but you get the idea. Simply say what they say. They know you are mocking them but can’t do a thing about it. Then you can go fishing.

  21. larryarnold
    larryarnold April 23, 2022 5:32 pm

    AWFLs (Affluent White Liberal Females)
    Isn’t it “Affluent White Female Liberals?” [/nitpick]

    I note that Affluent White Liberal Mothers, though, are coming to a different mindset. “Not with my kids you don’t!”

    Of course, where I live Moms and Grammas who herd their kids through 4-H are a totally different breed.

  22. Granny
    Granny April 24, 2022 12:02 pm

    Hi y’all!
    My dairy cow calved a few days ago. I consider myself a cow midwife now. I was a wreck and have been exhausted ever since! Gorgeous calf! I haven’t had time to read all the great comments until now. I love it! Speaking of crazy, I have a relative who makes certain to share with me the latest C19 drama as if it’s the most important thing in the world. So many times I wanted to ask “do you still think your vax and boosters are working since this is, what, the third time y’all have passed that virus around??” But, rather, since that truthful response would have evoked an argument (arguments I’m tired of), I said instead, “I’m so sorry y’all keep getting sick” and left it at that. That was immensely satisfying. I did not say, “Well, bless your hearts!” like I wanted to. I’m over wanting to engage in drama and conflict. To each his crazy own.

  23. Tony
    Tony April 24, 2022 1:49 pm

    Larry you are right. I’m not as facile with acronyms as I’d like.

  24. larryarnold
    larryarnold April 24, 2022 6:26 pm

    Tony, may it be your big mistake of the month.

  25. Antibubba
    Antibubba April 30, 2022 7:18 am

    “Returning the favor” to the opposition isn’t justice. It’s revenge, and if we’re to maintain the high moral ground, we have to refrain from it.

    Let’s make everyone who votes have ID. That’s fair. What’s not fair is to then make getting those IDs a long, difficult process–in only SOME areas. Do you want to reduce fraud by restricting mail-in voting? That’s reasonable. What isn’t is to then reduce the number of polling places–in only SOME areas.

    Historians will debate which American election was the last one to be “free and fair”. I doubt the last one will be, and I doubt the next one will be either.

  26. Dr Gina Lewis
    Dr Gina Lewis May 26, 2022 6:43 pm

    You are so spot on. I can hardly believe how crazy the world has gone. Here is my tip.
    Talk to others about the crazy and openly mock the ideas of the crazy. I have been doing this in my office and surprised at how both young and old think our current administration is off it’s rocker. One lady today told me ” that guy doesn’t have the mental faculty to decide what to eat; I know I did elder care for years” We collapsed into belly laughs in the office.

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