Malevolent Men and Weak Men
Hey friends,
Today at The Stoa Samo Burja came in to share his thoughts on Institutions and Situational Awareness (video here). In the evening, A.J. Bond ran an amazing experiment called the Narcissistic Spotlight. So good. I cannot wait to have more of these.
Some new uploads to the YouTube and the podcast. Check it out.
Tomorrow’s events:
COVID-19 and Metamodernism: A Commentary w/ Daniel Gortz. April 16th @ 10 AM ET. Learn more. RSVP here.
The Gift Economy w/ Andrew Taggart. April 16th @ 4:30 PM ET. Learn more. RSVP here.
COVID to Post-Capitalism: Embodying a New World w/ Rhys Lindmark. April 16th @ 6:30 PM ET. Learn more. RSVP here.
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April 15, 2020
Jordan Hall said this at the end of his last Situational Assessment at The Stoa:
More or less, we are struggling with the fact that there is a small number of malevolent men, and a very large number of weak men. Alright, fair enough. We need to put weak men into a context where they actually have to be forced to use their weaknesses to make choices that are good choices, and we are going to have to find out exactly who these malevolent men are and get them out of the equation.
Something along the lines of the message coming through to the top and from the bottom is that justice will be returned, and we are coming, no matter what happens. That is a big part of this third attractor. There is a strength and energy to it. We’ve got to get the weak man realizing that the right choice right now is to stop making passive choices that are hurting everybody.
They either have to let go and let other people take over, or begin to actually recover their courage and do the right thing, and you get to put on notice, to the malevolent men: the days of malevolence are over. We are all going to figure out how to solve this problem right now, come hell or high water, we are going to figure it out together, but when it is done, we are going to burn this motherfucker to the ground and we are going to restore justice, on a global basis.
This has stayed with me. In a haphazard way, I have researched cratology, the study of power, and ponerology, the study of evil. Looking at these two together is useful, because one tends to lead to the other. The infamous Thick Black Theory, published in 1911 in China, argues that if you want power you need to have two things: a thick face and a black heart. You cannot allow people to ever see your true intentions, nor can you care about hurting those who get in your way as you aim for the top.
It is no surprise that sociopaths get selected for power. And it is no wonder that the trickle down ethics of these malevolent men creates a world of weak men. I have read enough, and talked to enough people who are much smarter than me, to have a sense of how sick and diseased things are. I could be wrong—I hope I am—and I do not think it is wise to talk about the details much here, but I want to flag this, because it might come up later.
I felt called to listen to this song right now. I was looking for a song to listen to, and this one called me. It has a righteous thumos. I am not interested in some virtue signaling righteousness, but a righteousness that demands we live in accordance with virtue. John said something in a previous session that also stuck with me: "steal the culture."
Putting brother John’s and Jordan’s thoughts together engenders a righteous thumos. A good thief does not announce his arrival: he is focused; he does not make any noise. He takes, without apology. Fuck those assholes who have kidnapped our culture. I want life, adventure, poetry, love. Not dead metrics. Not impression management. Not impotent awards or titles.
I do not want us to play their fucking game. I want us to play a new game. I want to keep this fire burning, and yeah, I am not going to be shy about it anymore: I want to emancipate the daemon. I do not know what will happen when he is freed—that is unknown—but at this point, I am happier to bet on the unknown than the known. Besides, I do not know if you saw the news recently, but there is no normal to go back to.
It is time to steal the culture and burn this motherfucker to the ground.
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